Toothpaste

[kenlinliu1419]

Last night, I took out one of my vintage Rolex watches and noticed that bracelet had tarnished badly. My brother-in-law commented that I could use toothpaste to polish it out, and surprisingly it worked!

I have taken some images of how bad the tarnishing got but unfortunately, I didn't take these shots until I had managed to smother a lot of the toothpaste over the worst areas. So I hope you can image how bad this was.

Later tonight, I am going to go to continue to get into the smaller and fine areas to clean it all up.

BTW. I used Sensodyne whitenening toothpaste. I wonder if Colgate is any better.

The polished look AFTER I have rubbed it all on...


The sides show how bad it really got...

[ten10]

Nice job bro!

Let's see how it looks after you complete the entire watch. Incidently, I used toothpaste also to repair my slightly scratched CDs.

[jackjack]

Interesting. Waiting to see the complete work. How long have u left the watch untouch?

[hmsg]

Thanks for the tip! Will do that if necc.

[kenlinliu1419]

The best I could do..

This is the best I could do in the half an hour I spent polishing it. I can't believe how much "gunk" gets into a simple bracelet. I mean look at the cotton swabs!!!

Sorry about the quality of the images. All taken using my camera phone.



As you can see, given more time and attention, I can probably do better.

[watch passion]

i have been doing polishing a long time with my 100 pieces of junk watch by using darlie. You use autoso n brasso can create harm to your watches.

[tyongchi]

Wow use Sensoydn some more! Ordinary Colgate or Darlie will do I supposed.

[flakkampf]

Wow! is this 15505 with bracelet...... very nice

[kenlinliu1419]

Adventurous? Why do you say that bro?
I kind of find it soothing to do whilst listening to the radio at the same time. A little bit like ironing clothes.

personally i would let the experts handle polishing
toothpaste on a rolex bracelet sounds too adventurous

[kenlinliu1419]

This is from the 1960s. It's a solid 18k casing with the bracelet added on during the 90s. My dad gave this to me as my first watch for passing my A levels.
This is more vintage than you thought. It's much older than I am.

Wow! is this 15505 with bracelet...... very nice

[kenlinliu1419]

Here's a better shot of the watch.

[jackjack]

Here's a better shot of the watch.

I like this pic a lot. Just so classic and elegant in all aspect. Date just / Date is a timeless evergreen design.

[Ian Limm]

personally i would let the experts handle polishing
toothpaste on a rolex bracelet sounds too adventurous

using toothpaste to clean watches in my view is not just safe but very safe!
Reason:
toothpaste is made to clean one of the most delicate items in the world... our set of teeth which is I understand is like Porcelain. So if your tooth is not damage from years of toothpaste brushing and cleaning then Gold and stainless steel will survive too ha!

[jackjack]

Is toothpaste abrasive in nature? Will it leave swirl mark?