Salesman's P1 Reborn

[abem]

Hi.

My 1971 saleman's P1 has just returned from being restored and re-plated back to its original sparkling, gleaming 18KT finish courtesy of the esteemed (and very nice) Mr. Peter Wuischpard.

There will be more to post at a later date when I get it re-assembled and photographed properly, but I thought I'd share a few initial snapshots.

Case Front and Back:


Case Front:


Case Back:


-abe.

[J Thomas]

[Led-Time]

That looks stunning Abe... , are you going to get a working module for now.

I've a few questions for you as I've been thinking along same lines but having a P2 Date II gold plated...what is the thickness and colour of the gold plate, was the button removed for plating, on the brushed area's did you re-brush them after plating to get a matt finish or was the plating left shiny.

[abem]

Jeff,

That is a great idea. If I had planned better, I would have a series of images with matching camera angles and lighting, but at the time I hadn't worked out a decent system for handling the photography. I'm still tinkering with techniques, actually, and the P1 is a bit challenging because it has all those flat surfaces which tend to either catch the light end end up burned out or not and end up too dark. But I can probably put together something to tell the story, even if it's not perfect.

LED-Time,
That is an interesting idea since I haven't seen a gold filled P2 date come up for sale in ages. A gold P2 date would have the style of the P2 with the practicality of having the date function. You could also go the route of installing a strikes and spares one button time and date module in a gold one button case, but that wouldn't have the rarity of a gold P2 date.

If you have a case plated, it will be done using an electochemical technique which will result in a layer just a few microns thick. Gold plated cases are pretty fragile and can't be re-brushed (or even aggressively polished) without going through the plating. So, on the P1, the surfaces were brushed to acheive the proper texture prior to the plating process.

Mr. W told me that it took quite a while to settle upon the proper plating process to retain the proper color, which is very rich and warm (and difficult to photograph). I'm told that there are at least 100 recognizable shades of gold. Pulsar's lead designer chose some rather unusual shades with warmer tones than is common. I don't have a gold P2 or P3, but the gold P4 is an interesting coppery gold not seen in many watches, which tend to be mostly yellow. So, when you have your case plated, you may want to seek out someone who can try to match the original Pulsar color.

The gold models that Pulsar and Hamilton offered were gold filled rather than plated. Gold filled or "rolled gold" surfaces are made by bonding a gold layer about 80 micons or about the thickness of a piece of paper to a base metal under heat and pressure.

Gold filled surfaces can be rebrushed and restored to look like new. Many watch cases are 20 microns gold filled which can be brushed or polished through if you're not careful, but Pulsar and Hamilton always went first class all the way with a nice durable 80 micron process. 80 micron gold filled cases can be pretty scratched up and still be returned to an almost like new state with some careful polishing to even out the surface and then rebrushing it again to restore the finish.

If you have your case re-plated in gold, it will be more fragile than an original and you won't be able to rebrush it later. However, if you refinish and brush the case properly prior to having it plated, it should look quite nice. It's difficult to tell from the P1 photographs, but the gold plating preserves the brushing quite well. The brushing is fine enough that the noise reduction of the camera tends to blur it over so I had a hard time photographing it, but the surfaces to maintain the distinctive Pulsar brushing even after electro-plating.

-abe.

[Led-Time]

Thanks for the Info Abe,

The P2 is my favourite watch I've plenty P2 dates so one can be used for gold plating, I'am quite lucky as there is a company local to me that specialises in gold plating my only concern is plating on top off the stainless brushed finish...it should be matt I've had a look at my 14K P2 and the finish has no sheen on it what so ever. I suppose I could give the company an old P2 case to play with to see how it turns out.

Pic...


I'am looking forward to your additional pictures...

[abem]

Your case looks quite nice - no deep scratches or nicks. You should be able to refinish this to look just stunning with a little rebrushing followed by new plating.

There's a lot of advice around about rebrushing, here are a general basic set of steps:

1) First, give the case a good cleaning.
It's always a good policy to clean the surface prior to doing any work on it. Cleaning removes any grime that might interfere with the surface repolishing and it makes the actual surface of the metal easier to see. A lot of second hand stuff (even nice and expensive stuff) is sold in a shockingly filthy, grimy state and a little cleaning and de-griming does wonders.

2) Remove the time screen.
You won't be able to get the front bezel evenly brushed without removing the time screen (also, obviously it needs to be removed before re-plating). The screens are just epoxied in, so if you heat your oven to 400 degrees and put the case in the oven for about 10 minutes, the screen usually will pop out with out too much trouble. Use a dish rag or clean pot holder to press against the crystal to pop it out of its settng. Remove the old gummy epoxy from the case and crystal while it's still warm and soft.

3) Remove the button.
Technically, to really refurbish and re-plate the case properly, you'll need to remove the button. The buttons are soldered in so you'll need a soldering iron or high temperature micro butane torch to remove them. It's not easy. Replacing the button requires quite a bit of patience and skill, so this is by far the most difficult part of the operation. If you're not replating the case, then I recommend leaving the button alone, but if you're going to have the case replated, then unfortunately, you'll need to remove the button. Make sure not to loose any of the tiny parts.

4) Remove noticable scratches
If there are any noticeable scratches, you may want to attend to those before re-brushing. If they are very fine scrathces, then they can be removed with 1500-2000 grit sandpaper. If they are deeper, then you'll probably just have to live with them. They will be less noticeable when the case is brushed.

5) Polish
I like to give the case a bit of polish using a bit of sunshine cloth (magical stuff) right before applying the brushing. This makes it easier to see the curvature of the metal and any imperfections that you might want to attend to before re-brushing. If the case looks good polished, then it will look fantastic brushed.

6) Get Abrasive Pads
Get your hands on some abrasive pads (3M, Scotch Brite etc). The squishiness of the pads allows you to get the surface more even than if you were to try to use fine sandpaper. They are available in a finer grade (green colored, I think) and a coarser grade (grey or dark red). I like to use the coarser variety for stainless because they give you more noticable and more durable brush marks.

7) Re-Brush Surface
Carefully drag the abrasive pad across the case in the correct direction. Be careful that you don't get sloppy at the ends of the range of motion - the sweeps must be absolutely straight if possible. Start slow and examine the brush marks after each pass. If you goof up and get a few crooked sweeps in, just keep going - the straight sweeps will even that out. For stainless steel, you have to be pretty aggressive with the brushing because of the hardness of the metal - use the coarse pads and put a bit of force into it. For gold filled cases, the opposite is true - use the finer pads and brush them gently.

8) Re-plate Surface
The case should now be free of its button and time screen and have the final finish that you want - brushed where you want it to be brushed and polished where you want it to be polished.

9) Re-solder or glue buttons.
This is very tricky. Resoldering the buttons is the preferable approach, but in a pinch you can also re-glue them in place instead.

10) Replace the time screen
This is easy - just reglue the time screen in place using a hard two part expoxy glue. Be sure not to use too much glue or to get it on the pristine time screen.

For many of my Pulsars that I wear a lot, I need to periodically apply a little bit of careful touch-up rebrushing from time to time (without removing the screen or buttons). I'm not sure if you can get away with that for a gold electroplated piece. I think you'd be best off to keep it clean and then leave the surface alone.

-abe.

[retroleds]

abem - that looks fantastic, congrats to Mr. W!

If you have your case re-plated in gold, it will be more fragile than an original and you won't be able to rebrush it later.

I have a different take on this point - I'm thinking even 20 micron platings or replatings can withstand some brushing or rebrushing 3-10 times, depending on how aggressive you are. Since most plating processes, while free of lines, leave a microscopically stippled or matte finish, they generally still need a light polish to get a really great shine on polished areas. I'm thinking the sides of your P1 were polished after plating.

[abem]

Ed,

I'm glad to hear that the plating is likely to withstand a bit of light polishing or even brushing. The plating is a bit thicker on the case than on the bracelet, where it is quite thin and I'd be reluctant to mess with it, even with a polishing cloth.

I had the unhappy experience of polishing through the plating on a (Bulova driver's case) once, so I tend to be a bit leery of plated surfaces. Filled, no problem, plated makes me nervous.

The sides of the case have a brilliant mirror finish, whereas the underside of the case and case back have a matte finish (similar to how they were before plating), so, yes, I'm guessing that the sides were polished (quite nicely) by Mr. W after plating.

-abe.

[retroleds]

The plating is a bit thicker on the case than on the bracelet, where it is quite thin and I'd be reluctant to mess with it, even with a polishing cloth.

Sorry I don't remember what your band was(solid or g.f). I'm guessing g.f. - tricky thing there is, if the plating has broken through to the stainless, same with the base metal of a g.f. case, you can't plate gold directly to most copper or zinc based base metals without an adhesion layer of nickel. Same with stainless. The nickel only need be a few atoms thick to do the trick, so you almost never see this "silvery" layer when the gold fill gets broken through on a case or band. But you do have to flash the nickel on if you suspect there is even a pin-hole of break-through to the base metal...otherwise, pit in the gold plating where the pin-hole was. Note: it only take a few minutes to get a visible layer of nickel over most copper or znic based base metals.

I wonder if Mr.W left the caps in the back while plating...one of the easier way to avoid the "growth" problem that comes from both male and female threads being dimensionally changed by the plating. Makes the threads stiff. Sure you can run the hatches in and out a few times to break them in, but that would require aggressive turning of the hatches. I'd recommend using a small "case back ball"("super balls" work pretty good) for turning the hatches. http://www.esslinger.com/watchcaseopeningfictionball.aspx

I remember aggressively over plating a case in nickel...forgot it in the tank waaay to long. Had to tortuously scrape out the threads to get the case back ring even started.

[charger105]

I recently picked up a WGF Omega TC1 which is a bit battered. The SS bracelet is nice, and the timescreen is acceptable.
On the case, the rhodium has worn off almost everywhere, and the WGF has worn through in a few places. I've been investigating getting it re-coated in rhodium. I went down to the re-plating place today, and he agreed to plate it in nickel, and then plate it in rhodium. $40-50 which I thought very reasonable .

I've got a few questions I hope someone may be able to help me with:

1. The plating guy seemed hesitant to plate the button separately. Would it be a problem to plate the case and button without removing the button ? He said there isn't really anything to hold the button with, and the nickel tank is 1200 litre, so if he loses it in the tank, it's gone !

2. Is the brushing all horizontal on the TC1 ? Seems to be from what I can find online.

3. Will the green scotbrite pad, as mentioned above, give the appropriate brush-grain for the TC1 ?

Any other help or advice would be appreciated.
Rgds,
Andrew.

[retroleds]

1. The plating guy seemed hesitant to plate the button separately. Would it be a problem to plate the case and button without removing the button ? He said there isn't really anything to hold the button with, and the nickel tank is 1200 litre, so if he loses it in the tank, it's gone !

2. Is the brushing all horizontal on the TC1 ? Seems to be from what I can find online.

3. Will the green scotbrite pad, as mentioned above, give the appropriate brush-grain for the TC1 ?

Any other help or advice would be appreciated.
Rgds,
Andrew.

1. I'm thinking, remove the button, clean, brush,etc., then reinstall and plate all at once. Your case back ring will be the real bitch - you might want to just stick with the stainless and not bother trying to plate it. And , you might want to leave the ring IN all the way (without the back), so that the threads don't GROW and make starting and removing the ring next to impossible. Been there, done that - heed my warning
2.Yes
3. Yes, but a little on the weak side after the plating. You might want to use the maroon/burgundy pads, which are the next grade courser. The "flash" layer of nickel tends to fill the brushing in, and the gold will continue that. You'll need to use the green pads gently afterwords. Or a fine, brass bristled brush. Look where they sell shoe/leather polishes...the fine brass brushes used to burnish/polish leather goods work excellently on gentle gold finishes.

I've done a fair amount of plating, both gold and nickel & nickel-chromes, but I don't believe in selling it(gold) to other people, other than occasionally redoing items that were already just gold electroplate. The nickel is fine - that goes on thick.

Abe - the P1 looks fantastic.