I'm not sure if this is common knowledge to most - or not, so thought i'd post a thread in the hope that I can help someone with getting scratches out of their beloved oyster bracelet whilst retaining the beautiful brushed steel finish.
There are probably other methods, but I have had the absolute best results by using this product, its wonderfully easy to do, and due to the product being fairly solid rubberised material (i.e. not a cloth/fabric/scotch pad) it means its easier to control - so you're less likely to round edges on the bracelet with repeated re-brushing over time.
Also, where the product can be cut to shape easily with a knife, you can more precisely get at brushed links adjacent to mirror polished links (as seen on some two-tone subs or GMT's).
Background:
I have a colleague that owns a Gen 16610LN submariner and he remarked to me one day that he needed to buff some scratches out of the brushed steel bracelet so i enquired as to how best to do it. And he showed me, he had ordered some Garryflex, which is like a rubberised sanding block that is impregnated with some sort of abrasive material (diamond dust / quartz maybe).
He got the block, cut off a small section with a penknife, and then proceeded to gently rub it on his bracelet in the direction of the brushing and the surface marks were all but eliminated in seconds. He mentioned that he had used the scotch pad method before on other watches but it wasn't great at removing stubborn marks and it was harder to not round off edges over time, or accidentally rub the mirror polish on the side /centre links of some bracelets.
Being relatively new to the rep community, i have just acquired a 116610 and I have tried the same method on the 904L steel bracelet of the VSF submariners and the results are exactly the same, it leaves a beautiful factory finish brushed steel and removes surface scratches wonderfully.
If ordering, get the 240 grit (brown) fine block, I have not attempted to use the other grits in fear they may be too hard on the bracelet. In theory you could start with a tougher grit block and gradually step down to a 240 grit to remove excessively deep marks, but if doing this you would also remove a lot of material in the process and this isn't advised IMHO.
Note: these measure approx 50mm x 76mm x 20mm blocks, and you only need to cut off a small amount, so one should last a lifetime.
Links to the product (GARRYFLEX 240):
- Newark Link (USA):
https://www.newark.com/garryson/garryflex-block-240-grit/block-240grit/dp/24M2284
- Farnell link (UK):
https://uk.farnell.com/garryson/garryflex-block-240-grit/block-240grit/dp/7009148
- Cousins link (UK & WORLDWIDE), need to select the brown, fine 240 grit version, part number P4936:
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/blocks-garryflex
There are probably other methods, but I have had the absolute best results by using this product, its wonderfully easy to do, and due to the product being fairly solid rubberised material (i.e. not a cloth/fabric/scotch pad) it means its easier to control - so you're less likely to round edges on the bracelet with repeated re-brushing over time.
Also, where the product can be cut to shape easily with a knife, you can more precisely get at brushed links adjacent to mirror polished links (as seen on some two-tone subs or GMT's).
Background:
I have a colleague that owns a Gen 16610LN submariner and he remarked to me one day that he needed to buff some scratches out of the brushed steel bracelet so i enquired as to how best to do it. And he showed me, he had ordered some Garryflex, which is like a rubberised sanding block that is impregnated with some sort of abrasive material (diamond dust / quartz maybe).
He got the block, cut off a small section with a penknife, and then proceeded to gently rub it on his bracelet in the direction of the brushing and the surface marks were all but eliminated in seconds. He mentioned that he had used the scotch pad method before on other watches but it wasn't great at removing stubborn marks and it was harder to not round off edges over time, or accidentally rub the mirror polish on the side /centre links of some bracelets.
Being relatively new to the rep community, i have just acquired a 116610 and I have tried the same method on the 904L steel bracelet of the VSF submariners and the results are exactly the same, it leaves a beautiful factory finish brushed steel and removes surface scratches wonderfully.
If ordering, get the 240 grit (brown) fine block, I have not attempted to use the other grits in fear they may be too hard on the bracelet. In theory you could start with a tougher grit block and gradually step down to a 240 grit to remove excessively deep marks, but if doing this you would also remove a lot of material in the process and this isn't advised IMHO.
Note: these measure approx 50mm x 76mm x 20mm blocks, and you only need to cut off a small amount, so one should last a lifetime.
Links to the product (GARRYFLEX 240):
- Newark Link (USA):
https://www.newark.com/garryson/garryflex-block-240-grit/block-240grit/dp/24M2284
- Farnell link (UK):
https://uk.farnell.com/garryson/garryflex-block-240-grit/block-240grit/dp/7009148
- Cousins link (UK & WORLDWIDE), need to select the brown, fine 240 grit version, part number P4936:
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/blocks-garryflex
