# Why on earth Anonimo won't reburbish its bronze cases?



## Lazaro

I just don't understand! :think: Also, most people won't touch them. If bronze is such a fragile material that specialists are afraid of it, it shouldn't be used on so-called performance watches!! And about corrosion resistance, ha! Let me tell you that my Dino Zei Glauco bronze case wasn't that corrosion resistant after intense exposure to a highly humid and salinzed environment. A very thick patina formed, yes, and the watch looked cool, but when I tried to remove it to go back to its original "look" I saw that "something" had eaten into the actual bronze. Extremely shallow marks that are relatively easy to buff out, but they were over the case, especially the bezel! Now, I know they were easy to buff out because I ended up doing the job myself with the help of my friends Elbow Grease, Right Tools and Patience Itookme Hours (to fantastic results, I might add, precisely because bronze is "soft") because Anonimo won't touch it, Stoll won't touch it and it seems and almost no one will touch it. Bronze has a beautiful look and feel, but it sucks as a case material. Personally, I'll avoid it from now on.

Be very careful on putting a deep ding on any of your Anonimo bronze watches. The only way of getting rid of it is by altogether buying a new part, such as the bezel or middle case.


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## nelsondevicenci

I understand your frustration, NEWS to me that Anonimo dont touch it... but we need to clarify... Anonimo Usa? if is the case they don't perform anything like that here in USA the only ppl can do ANonimo work as you said is Stoll&Co.

When i call them few months ago they told me that the Bronze piece needs to be send it to ANonimo Spa on Italy.

My friend just called me when Im seeing this thread and he have sent you an email

Good Luck !


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## phunky_monkey

I may be wrong, but I believe Peter (Timefleas) had his bronze case refurbished by Anonimo SPA, though he definitely had some service issues with time etc.


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## torromoto

Sorry you feel that way..First of all why would you expose your watch so intensively to a highly humid and salinzed environment? You treat all your watches like that? Anyways I've owned my Bronze Glauco for 2-3 years and I've never been so happy about a watch like this one. I've seen other Bronze watches on the web, turning green and with ugly spots and mine his patinad wonderfully..ANONIMO's Bronze is the best...It's OK to use a Bronze watch and steel also for that matter but when you abuse any kind of material it will corrode..
I find it hard to believe ANONIMO Italy won't refurbish your watch as it is very easy to polish up using cape cod, brasso etc....Do you have any before and after pictures?? (pics of the watch you cleaned up yourself)..
Best guillermo


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## timefleas

phunky_monkey said:


> I may be wrong, but I believe Peter (Timefleas) had his bronze case refurbished by Anonimo SPA, though he definitely had some service issues with time etc.


Just to clarify, I had a Bronze Polluce 10 Anni, and had to have its movement repaired--the Anonimo Far East Regional Service Center could not open the case back (they said...) and had to send it to Anonimo SPA in Italy. It took about 7 months, $700, and a LOT of direct communication, including ADs and other interested folks on this forum contributing directly, before I even heard anything about it (news came at about 5 months). The watch was repaired, returned (and THEN I got the estimate!), but incredibly (not reported earlier) they damaged the case--I had to sand and polish out a gash on bezel edge myself. They did give me two nice new Kodiak straps free, though. Long story short, my problem was not a bronze case problem, but it does speak to the quality of service issue of Anonimo, both at regional service centers and at the SPA--personally, I would now never send it to Italy, and would do as Nelson does, and either send it to Stoll, or his magical repairman.

A note on the rapid deterioration of the bronze case--'patina' is just a fancy word for 'corrosion' as it is applied to bronze cases--really, you simply cannot let any bronze watch go so far in the 'patina' process as to allow it to have a chance to start eating away at the base metal--you must polish it a bit, every once in a while--that's the nature of bronze--not really an Anonimo-only issue, more of an ownership issue--it acts just like rust, you let it go too far, and the metal below is eaten away permanently. With that said, can't see why Anonimo should not only take this type of repair seriously, but do it as a regular feature of their service--they do, after all, pride themselves in being one of the premier leaders in the bronze watch-case making industry--turning someone away for addressing the maintenance and restoration of these cases is an odd way to act in such a position, if that is indeed what they did. Good luck with yours.

Peter


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## phunky_monkey

Thanks for clarifying Peter, apologies for my mistake. :-!


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## Lazaro

To clarify. I only refer to Anonimo USA service centre (Stoll) and I have no plans of sending it to Italy having read Peter's and other people's experiences. Stoll didn't turn my request away for addressing the maintenance and restoration of these cases. Far from it, they (Karen) have always been very kind. They say they won't touch it because as sophisticated as their operation is, they can't restore the factory finish of the bronze case. I understand this is so because of the inherent properties of the material and yet, I also think like Peter. Anonimo should provide all their authorized service centers with the necessary tools, materials and know how to restore the factory finish of bronze cases. Buying a new middle case or bezel is not an appropriate restoration option for any watch, it is akin to making them practically disposable.

Why did I expose it to an intensely salinized environment? It is a divers watch and it is a performance watch made of a corrosion resistant material to boot, this is so as far as I know and as Anonimo markets it. I simply used it for what I understood it was built. The patina it acquired looked great and I let it rest for about a year, I guess that's what corroded the bronze leaving marks that are very superficial and microscopic, but they simply don't look well.


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## phunky_monkey

Do you have any images Lazaro? I'd be interested to see how bad the pitting was.


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## StefB

Check this out (from the SJX watch blog) - a picture of the celebrated Panerai 382 "Bronzo" after just 10 days with some of that period spent swimming. (This is on the wrist of the popular owner of the famous French watch store, Chronopassion.) Not a pretty sight.

I love my Anonimo bronze pieces, (they "patina" beautifully and slowly), but as Timefleas aptly stated, you have to at least clean-up your bronze piece or else it will eventually be a mess on the wrist, even if interesting on a table.

I love them during years 1-2, but still have mixed feelings about bronze watches for long-term wearability.


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## Jebhut

Wow! So much for a bronze Polluce or San Marco in my future! (Guessing Panerai will be getting out of the bronze market!!)


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## primerak

So that begs the question what is the best and simplest way to polish a Nimo bronze on your own w/o sending it in? I love the color the patina brings on but don't want it eat away at the metal if that is the case......


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## timefleas

Nelson has a thread on this, but most have found that non-abrasive toothpaste (coat case completely, set for 4 hours, clean off, buff up with polishing cloth--repeat a second time if necessary) works well--it did for me. Others have suggested using ketchup also works well, don't have first hand experience on that one, though. I also use a Cape Cod cloth, and a special jeweler's treated polishing cloth--color coded for different metals--I actually use the blue, which is normally used for stainless steel--works good on bronze as well.


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## torromoto

Aaahh that clarifies a lot.."some very superficial microscopic spots"...................I see you guys found the PAM382 pics with "patina"'....Scared the [email protected] out of me when I saw it..Always rinse your watch with fresh water after use in salt water..Not only for the case but primarily to keep the gaskets exposed to salt water as minum as possible..I love patina but that aint it!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I call patina!


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## Lazaro

Alright, here are the pictures.

This is the oldest one I have. Here I had already polished the bezel without removing it from the middle case. You can appreciate the patina on the middle case. It is very reichly colored and it looked cool. It laso had a very unusual feel that I can't describe. You can see how this patina is very, very thick and matte in color all around.









Then I tried to remove the patina because, you know, I am fickle and changing as the moon when it comes to watches. I used Brasso and toothpaste and the result was that even though the very thick patina coat was removed, the case still had some weird patina bumps on it. I got no pictures of the whole case, but the caseback of my watch as it is now still suffers from this.









Now, no matter how much toothpaste I applied, the patina bumps didn't go away, so I decided to go the "mechanical" way and I pulled out my watch refinishing tools and materials and began to brush the case very carefully! As the work progressed I noticed that beneath the patina bumps, some slight scars had been left on the bronze, a situation akin to squeezing a pimple, scratching off the scab and realizing that now you had a permanent scar on your face, yeah! This same thing had happened to the bezel before I took the first picture. So, now i had a scarred bronze case, as if it had been hit with a terrible case of acne rosacea. So much for corrosion resistance. The highly salinized environment had chemically altered the bronzo and caused it to produce the patina. As of why it developed "spots" is beyond my understanding. So there I was, watching my beautiful Anonimo watch looking like pizza face. The scared spots were microscope, but all over the case. Then I thought, well, the case is ruined, what else can I lose if someone refurbishes it? I contacted a few professionals but got no response. Then I contacted Stoll and they told me they wouldn't touch it, that only a replacement bezel and middle case were viable options. The only person willing to work on it is Nelson's guy, Eddie, but by the time I got a reply from him I had lost my patience and did the job myself.








Not too shabby, huh?








The only issue is that the lateral portions of the middle case were originally polished, but brushed look fine to me.

Now, you must be wondering, "it looks good to me, why this guy is complaining like a five year old?" Well, on top of being fickle with my watches I have OCD regarding its finishing and so far I wasn't able to wholly remove the scars from the bronzo. This needs either the work of a professional or me putting in more hours on it. on this two picture you will finally appreciate the now famous scars. They can't be seen unless at a specific light angle, though, but like I said, I have OCD.

















Now, that I think of it, perhaps the best solution to this situation is to stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on these objects that, for the many joys they've given to me, I've also received many a disillusionment. I think I should focus on much more productive things..... hmm

Anyway, this is the situation. If you are wondering also, Where did this bronze Glauco got an SST bezel? Well, this watch is a super, duper special edition. I had to go to Italy to get it... Ha! No, not at all, I just pulled the old switcheroo! This is how the other watch looks like.









Yeah, just like the new Nautilo limited edition! And I didn't have to wait for it to hit the market! And yes, Anonimo's bronze acquires a nice, even color as long as you don't expose it to an intense environment, or at least that is my experience.

So, this is it. Watch after your bronze watches, unless you want them to look like pizza face or like that Panerai which looks like engraved monkey crap with a dial or alike an Yvan Arpa dinosaur dung watch :Ex-Romain Jerome Yvan Arpa to create dinosaur dung watch | James Spotting

Take care and thanks for bearing my rant and asinine sense of humor :-d


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## samanator

First of all let's be clear there are a number of finished on each Anonimo watch case. I had a Magnum Bronze that had polished, straight grain brush, circle grain brush plus bead blast in varying areas. To do this properly everything must come apart since the varying patters go under bezels, crown, HEV valves and screws. The process that Nelson showed a few months ago did show the complexity, but did not restore the watch to the original finish(No bead blasting). Add that these generally remove the sharp edges. This probably makes a restore far more costly and out of reach for many. Polishing is also an option, but then it is not original. 

In the military we used never dull (impregnated gauze with tarnish remover)to polish bronze buckles and everything else exposed to salt water. So this is what I used quite effectively. I dove my Magnum about 10 times and never had a corrosion issue. Like all my watches first thing back at the house the watch (strap and all) was throughly washed with hand soap and rinsed twice. Once a month I would give it a quick cleaning with the never dull. Mothers has a similar product for polishing car wheels.

I grew up around Gettysburg PA and there are hundreds of bronze statues there. I've only seen thing develop the green tarnish like the Pam after years of element exposure? It appears with so many out riding the bronze watch phase quite a few manufactures have not gotten exactly what they ordered from their bronze suppliers. I'm not going to speculate on the source, but I have my suspicions.


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## Janne

Texcellent thread. I am quite surprised of the pitting. Surely Anonimo uses the same Bronze as they use in marine applications? Aluminium Bronze? That alloy does not oxydise in that way. Thevscrews are immersed for years.

Look how Bronze looks like on zarcheological artefacts. Brownish layer.

Maybe Anonimo received a lower grade Bronze in one batch?

That PAM is puzzling. No tarnishing around the protruding bits on the bezel, I would expect more tarnishing there. The case and bezel must be treated somehow, the treatment wears off everywhere except where it is protected by the protrusions.
Quality Bronze should not develop a Verdigris patina. Brass does.


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## nelsondevicenci

Lazaro is so funny because when we want to hang out on your beautiful country MEXICO ! I saw this post in the hotel but I forgot about it !

Let's clarify something about the Dino Zei Bronze watches :

Finish is not Sand Blasted, the bezel, the case sides are satin finish like Anonimo perform on the SS pieces even more like the Gold bezel finish.

The angled parts are high polished.

About the toohpaste treatment you need to be patient... and follow the golden rule ( I know is so hard to follow this one ) wait at least 4 hours to the toothpaste do his work removing the patina... remember toothpaste is to polish our teeths so needs more time to work on the metal.

Also you need to apply as many times you want to be happy on how you like it.

Don't use Brasso... that is made to deep clean metal so his results are faster but make damaged to your finish... stay on toothpaste and be patient.

I forgot to mention, I actualy like the satin finish on the Bronze Anonimo timepieces... I like the patina? yes, but not too much... Also I like High polish thats why i paly time on time makeing my Glauco Shiny !!!!!

But also like a lot the fresh Anonimo Bronze finish and on My Magnum Chinese Dial, Polluce Nemo ( Orange dial ) I keep it clean time on time with a Jewelry Care Cloth ( I got them from Topper Fine Jewerly ) using only the inner treated cloth becaue the outer cloth is to obtain a brillian shine... and on this pieces i like to keep the factory fresh finish.









Lazaro... I love the blue dial my friend very unique contrast with the bronze case.... you do a nice work in your timepiece many congrats !!!!


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