# Titanium bracelet = can I "polish" that by myself ?



## Marc-B1

or has it be done by a "prof" ?:think: 
I am looking to buy a 2nd hand Titanium Aerospace ( = not 100% sure yet, but yeah, I'm dreaming...:-d )

but i HATE those tiny "hair scratches" on a bracelet due to normal use....

So can I "polish" such a bracelet, so that he is looking brandnew ?

I doubt if it is possible, because titanium is has a rather "non-shiny" ( in dutch, we call it "mat" ) presence...

So, if anybody van give me some good advice...:think: 

Thx in advance ! :-!


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## Cinq

Hi Marc,

There are glass-fiber 'pens' for this but it is hard to get the same effect as on the rest of the bracelet.

Kind regards,

Cinq


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## Marc-B1

Thx !
And where can I find such pens ? :think:


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## Eagle

Search eBay for 'Bergeon' and 'finishing pens' and 'pads'. 

In fact, I think this is currently the only seller on eBay who does the pads.

http://cgi.ebay.com/_W0QQitemZ180072110996

Good seller too.


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## G M Fude

Yes Marc, mat or more usually matt and sometimes even matte are the appropriate words for the non-shiny titanium finish on the Aerospace. I'm wearing my Avantage right now.

Believe it or not, I actually was successful buffing out some scuff marks (not really scratches) on the clasp I got from an airline seatbelt buckle by using a Sotchbrite pad -- one of the curly plastic things stuck to a sponge that is used for scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen. Note that it was the plastic one, and not a metal pad!

Took a bit of rubbing for a minute or so using some water as a lubricant, and the scuffs came out very nicely and it didn't shine up the surface.

I don't think it was actually a 3M Scotch brand pad, I'm using the term 'Scotchbrite' generically. Probably there are a lot of different specifications available for these things. I know that particular one has since been thrown out (someone was actually using it for scrubbing greasy pots and pans!).


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## Zennmaster

Marc-B1 said:


> Thx !
> And where can I find such pens ? :think:


I'd also try:

http://www.mywatchmaker.net

Some great prices, superfast shipping, and all the things you want to hear about someone running an internet business.


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## Marc-B1

G M Fude said:


> Yes Marc, mat or more usually matt and sometimes even matte are the appropriate words for the non-shiny titanium finish on the Aerospace. I'm wearing my Avantage right now.
> 
> Believe it or not, I actually was successful buffing out some scuff marks (not really scratches) on the clasp I got from an airline seatbelt buckle by using a Sotchbrite pad -- one of the curly plastic things stuck to a sponge that is used for scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen. Note that it was the plastic one, and not a metal pad!
> 
> Took a bit of rubbing for a minute or so using some water as a lubricant, and the scuffs came out very nicely and it didn't shine up the surface.
> 
> I don't think it was actually a 3M Scotch brand pad, I'm using the term 'Scotchbrite' generically. Probably there are a lot of different specifications available for these things. I know that particular one has since been thrown out (someone was actually using it for scrubbing greasy pots and pans!).


Hallo Steve, I beleve you, because the same thing was told me by a friend-watchmaker. Ik tried it once out with a shiny Casio metal band, but the results were not good. ( but i tried it "dry" whitout water...); I stopped and used orinary toothpaste instead with a marvellous result. :-!

Then I finished the job with BRASSO polishing wattes.
see here an example:

http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Brasso_Duraglit_Metal_Polish_Wadding_75g.jpg

After it I thourogly rinsed the wath with a soft soap and much much water.

And then dry it.

But that was shiny "bling-bling" metal and not mat-tittanium.

I even wonder if toothpaste is also good for titanium ?


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## Marc-B1

Eagle said:


> Search eBay for 'Bergeon' and 'finishing pens' and 'pads'.
> 
> In fact, I think this is currently the only seller on eBay who does the pads.
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/_W0QQitemZ180072110996
> 
> Good seller too.


In fact those pads look a little bit like ( "expensive" ) Scotch-brite (kitchen)pads :think:


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## Lou

Marc,

You could also use xxxxx grade steel wool, as this has worked both on my hercules and my seawolf bracelet, one steel other ti.


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## webvan

Bump for an interesting topic, just got a used Aerospace myself with a pretty "beat" bracelet, I thought Titanium would resist better than that, and was wondering if there had been no developments as to how one can spruce up a titanium bracelet. Did an ebay search for "finishing pens", and got http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270448616736 is that what was linked above ? Thanks !


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## ditw

A nice service from breitling will refurbish the bracelet to a perfect finish plus you will have water gaskets changed full overhaul of movement , year warranty etc etc... i know is tempting to fix the hairline scratches but what if they get worse? just playing devils advocate here....


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## webvan

Yes, that's another option, the watch is only two years old so I might consider it when the battery runs out. I read they change the gaskets when the battery gets changed but not sure about the polishig or if they only do that during an "overhaul". Can't be too cheap either !


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## termite

I have posted this a number of times on both WUS and TZ:
Having had literally dozens of Ti watches by now, including many breitlings [Emergency, Seawolf, CA, CA M1, Aerospace, etc.], I can attest to the following as both safe to the watch and perfect for restoring a factory finish: if there are significant scratches start w/ #000 steel wool and rub w/ the 'grain' of the piece being touched up. work it w/ moderate pressure and make sure that you are moving it parallel to the grain and not in a slight arc [which is what your fingers seem to want to do]. after a few minutes of #000, repeat w/ #0000 steel wool in the same fashion but decrease the pressure and increase the speed. when you see no more marks on the Ti, rinse w/ water, windex it and you are done...I have sold many Ti watches on TZ w/ a 90-95% rating after restoring the finish and every single buyer has said that the watch looked as new. Absolutely no need to send it to BUSA for that issue...I just did an Omega Ti/rosegold chrono for a friend who wore it as a 'beater' for two years and it showed. 30 minutes and it looked new...


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## webvan

Thanks, weill give that a try on the bracelet of my Aerospace. Breitling must use some "hardening" (like Citizen's Duractec) on the case because it's perfect, but the bracelet is really beat!


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## webvan

Having looked into this a bit more, what would you say is the "grain" of Ti on the "Professional Titanium II Bracelet" http://www.breitlingsource.com/bracelet_professional_titanium2.shtml

Is it going from head to clasp, i.e. "vertical", or "horizontal" ?


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## dogboy

I just put it on a Zulu, or rubber strap. Ended my titanium bracelet problems. 
As far as a hardening on the head, I don't think so. I have an engraved back, and the back was getting scuffed unacceptably by the bracelet after only a few weeks. 

Nope, rubber or Zulu for me. Keeping the bracelet for it for the "set," but it is likely to rarely ever go back onto the bracelet.


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## termite

webvan said:


> Having looked into this a bit more, what would you say is the "grain" of Ti on the "Professional Titanium II Bracelet" http://www.breitlingsource.com/bracelet_professional_titanium2.shtml
> 
> Is it going from head to clasp, i.e. "vertical", or "horizontal" ?


on the clasps, unlock the foldover and leave it up. use the #0000 on the clasp going the long way [perpendicular to your arm if you were wearing it]. the locking part of the clasp or foldover is done perpendicular to the bracelet...this is how i always do it and when you finish it looks factory...


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## webvan

Thanks, do you think anything can be done about the links too ? That would be "vertical" I assume. Here's what mine looks like by the way :


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## termite

webvan said:


> Thanks, do you think anything can be done about the links too ? That would be "vertical" I assume.
> 
> parallel w/ the bracelet; just 15 minutes ago, i did a bracelet on a CAM1 that i bought this a.m. looked a whole bunch worse than yours and now would pass for 90-95% new...


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## webvan

Ah that's encouraging !

I added notes to the picture just to make sure I've got it right :


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## termite

perfect! start w/ #000 if they are deep and finish w/ #0000...forgot to add that after you polish out all of the marks the bracelet will look a bit more silver than it did beforehand. this will fade back to grey pretty quickly as the Ti oxidizes...


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## webvan

Ok ! Looks I've got my work cut out for tomorrow evening ;-)


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## webvan

Well it wasn't easy but I'm pretty happy with the result !

First problem was finding #0000 steel wool, it seems ratings vary from one brand to the other and the #000 I already had handy didn't seem too different from the #0000 I bought, that same brand had #000 that looked coarser than mine...oh well

The links were the easiest to do, it's quite something to see the scratches fade away as you rub away with the #000! At some times the color seemed to change in some areas, maybe a "layer" going away, but with more rubbing it evened itself out.

The clasp was more of a problem, there were deeper scratches and the partial discoloration appeared again and wouldn't go away this time, even after many minutes of rubbing with the #000 or #0000...finally I broke down and dug out some 3000 (or was it 1200?) sandpaper I'd gotten for an old CPU "lapping" project back in the day and by rubbing very gently I was able to even the color out and then buff it out with the #0000 and it looks good, albeit with a tiny remaining scratch, not sure how that one could be made to go away. Not sure what happened with the color, have you seen that before ?

The foldover wasn't too easy either and still doesn't look great, a bit "scraped", not sure the "grain" is really horizontal (perpendicular to bracelet) on mine.

Anyway a great projet, thanks for the tip !

Does steelwook work best on Ti or would it to the trick on steel too?

I hear some people dip their bracelets in sewing machine oil to make them "smoother", any sense in doing that with the Ti of the Aerospace ?


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## termite

the color is merely oxidation of the Ti...in my experience it returns fairly evenly in a short amount of time unless you polish the absolute crap out of it to make it look like stainless. GP does this on one version of the Seahawk II PRO. I haven't found that the steel wool that I use [amateur wood worker, furniture maker] varies that much but I guess that I have been lucky. If it is a deep scratch, try red scotchbrite and then steel wool. Steel wool won't do anything to stainless but the red scotchbrite does a nice job on the brushed finish parts of a Steelfish that I had...


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## webvan

What's GP ?

I'll see if I can locate some red scotchbrite. I had ordered a fiberglass pen and while it doesn't cover as much surface as the steel wool I'm finding that it works well on the odd scratch here and there on the Ti. I still couldn't get rid of that deeper scratch on the clasp though.


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