The Bulova back from plating and re-assembled

[767Geoff]

Back from the plating shop, done in one day!

All the pushers and crystal were removed and the case sanded free of dings etc. The platers then remove the residual original gold plate. They plugged the holes for the screws in the back

Case polished on back top and front top with satin graining on side (done with 200 grit wet/dry). The back plate gasket was in good condition. I soaked it in liquid silicone over night, let it air dry and applied silicon grease to both sides before installing. I replaced both pusher gaskets and applied silicon grease to them. The movement was free of corrosion and a damp qtip with alcohol was used to clean the circuit above the LED display. I applied a very thin layer of non conductive silicon grease to the circuit board.



The led's are bright and complete, I like the way all led's are tested as the last setting is made (the angle of the photo distorted the last digit)


Refinished the back and battery hatches.


View of the side with the graining applied

[rewolf]

Wow, beautiful 8). Looks like new. Great job!
But, err, the strap, it isn't original, isn't it :wink: But it fits the gold quite well, IMHO. Yes, the strap is also fine :)

[767Geoff]

Yep, the strap is not original, any help here would be appreciated. I chose the red to go with the red crystal.

I assume the original strap was a sculpted metal bracelet that tapered from the edge of the case to the buckle.

Don't know and if anyone has an original picture of the watch with correct strap I would appreciate it.

Cheers, Geoff

[bruce wegmann]

Is this 14 or 18K; how many microns? Cost...?

[azimuth_pl]

the small downside on this one is that without having removed the button-wells, you had to file down the raised surroundings of the command button. thus there might be a tiny gap in between the case and the button.
you can minimize the visibility of the gap by placing a thin wire or microscopic sheet of metal from the inside so that the button will be "sucked" inside by a thousand of a mm.

Andy from Oz managed to punch out the entire button-wells from the case for his black chrome plating.
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/andyz/BC-Driver.html
wonder how he did it without any damage?

I don't know if you have also plated the buttons - this is possible but difficult as they are very small and there is hardly any material in them that can be grabbed by a wire in order to dip them in the plating tub.
I used a very thin copper wire (hair thickness) around the pins of the buttons (a few turns) and then soldered the copper "coil" to a thicker wire that can hang easily in the plating tub.
you can also solder the button-pins directly to a thick wire but afterwards you might have difficulties in assembling them back correctly and fastening them in the case with those tiny "clasps" (don't even know how to call them?)

[767Geoff]

Okay, I will try to answer some questions. The following watch has a 20micron plated case:



as stamped between the lugs. After 42 years absolutely no wear through. The Bulova driver was plated to 10 microns, similar to the original Bulova plating.

I thought about removing the plugs but did not want to risk damaging them. Also did not know which way they are inserted, whether or not they are tapered to fit etc. They are not filed to flush but were well worn to the case so appear to be flush now.

The pushers did not need plating strangely enough but I have also plated these with the copper wire method.

The watch has been pressure tested in my friends Bulova vacumn tester and passed with no leaks. The Bulova tester comes up on Ebay occasionally and comprises of the following:

A hand pumped vacumn chamber and liquid soap. Like testing an inner tube, apply the liquid soap around the buttons and the case back to case seam. Place in chamber and create the vacumn. Any leaking air will cause bubbles to form. No bubbles, then at the least, water resistant to rain, probably better then that but I am conservative when it comes to water. The tester says good to 30m.

Hope this helps. I have had quite a few of the vintage winding watches plated here and have absolutely no wear problems, even when dressing the case for graining so I know it is a durable finish.

Most of my Omegas have gold caps on stainless. This is a real gold, one piece, 120 micron cap that is bonded to the steel case with heat and pressure. It is almost like Rolled Gold Plate in that dense real gold is used to cover the base metal. The problem with plating is that it is very porous to chemical intrusion although it looks and polishes correctly. If there is a large pore or flaw in the plating then the acids of the skin can penetrate through the plating and corrode the base metal (usually brass).

Hope this helps, the watch by the way looks much better in person then on the photos, not as harsh.

Cheers, Geoff

[bruce wegmann]

Beautiful Breitling... The difference between gold plate and goldfill has been discussed elsewhere, but if you have a 42-year-old watch with 20-micron plating that hasn't worn through anywhere, what it tells me is...this watch wasn't worn very much. 20 microns is less than a thousandth of an inch [.0008, to be exact], and is toward the bottom end of useful plating thickness. Wear resistance is inversely proportional to the gold content; that is, the higher the gold content, the softer and less wear-resistant the alloy is. A jeweler once told me "There's only one material worse than 14K gold for a watch case...18K". GP watches and HP-01 bracelets often suffer from the thinness and softness of their plating, even with light wear. Time Computer used 80-micron goldfill, and Omega follwed suit [although I have heard that some Omega watches were 120-micron]. Cases and bracelets were often done in different thicknesses [80-micron case, 20-micron bracelet].

[fronzelneekburm]

20 micron is really not much if that watch is intended to wear. When plating watches for my own (more or less daily) use, i prefer a much thicker plating. (which takes a bit longer but is definitely worth the time)

I can give you a good example: The Compuchron on my Avatar was 20 micron gold plated. after just 2 month of wear the clasp started "getting bald spots" in the gold plating, after 6 month it was nearly completely off on the clasp. Yeah, just the clasp as i often rest my palms on it when working at the computer.

[azimuth_pl]

bracelets on Compuchrons and many other watches were never 20 microns.
even Pulsar plated their bracelets 50% thinner than the cases

[bruce wegmann]

Just to keep the record clear; Time Computer NEVER plated anything...all their non-solid gold watches were Goldfill. Typically 80-micron cases, 20-micron bracelets [even the mesh ones]. Pulsar did everything high-end, and goldfill was the more durable, and expensive, process.

[azimuth_pl]

I know, just wanted to make it the short way.
but goldfill in the watch industry rather applies to cases whereas RGP rolled gold PLATE ;) was used for most casebacks and bracelet links

[Gino]

Very nice!

From the images I have (attached - I hope!) the B&W one seems to suggest a crocodile style strap. By the way, I have an 'N6' Accutron spaceview which by then was very 'old hat' indeed.