Why You Aren't Supposed to Polish a Watch

According to Christies and the vintage watch collecting community at large, polishing a case is about as big of a no-no as you can possibly get So what about case polishing, in particular, is so egregious? According to vintage watch dealer Eric Wind, "I advise people to not have their watches polished or buffed since it ends up removing metal and changing the architecture of the case." Polishing, naturally, removes metal that you can't really add back If you want to retain as much value of your watch as possible, you can work with an independent repair shop that will more likely heed your demands to leave the case unpolished.

"With service centers, their goals are timekeeping and water resistance and aesthetics are an afterthoughtfor collectors, the case and the dial are everything," says Beau Goorey, head of LA Watch Works, a watch service center that primarily specializes in the case refinishing of vintage Rolexes If there's an argument for refinishing cases, its the work that LA Watch Works does, mostly because his refinishing work involves restoring watches that have been polished by jewelers or unskilled watchmakers While they're not original, they are certainly an alternative to having a watch with a rounded and malformed case.

Most vintage watch retailers will offer some insight into whether or not the watch case looks polished, but there are a couple of ways to discern for yourself if you're purchasing from a source that doesn't make any such claims. . Source