Case "Brassing"

Hi Bob

 It has been my experiance that the only thing you can do is to refinish the case and plate it.  It's not hard to do, just time consuming and a bit expensive.

 You first need to clean the case in a ultrasonic cleaner, Then polish out all the brass areas, not to leave any line between the plating and brass area.  If you need to fill any holes , this is the time to do that.

 The base metals are useually brass, copper, or nickel.  most of the time, you can do your filling with 6 karet, low flow solder, Then finish down the metal smooth. Once this is done, then you need to plate the case. You will need the gold plating solution (14k is about $125.00 a quart) and a dc power supply that puts out at least 6v. dc and then heat up the solution to 100 degrees , then you can put the product on   the negative lead and the anode (small piece of a gold ring will work) dip both the case and the antode into the solution. It will take only about 30 seconds and you will see the plating covering the case. , Do this twice, then remove the case, Repolish, and ultrasonic again, Repeat the plating again, and clean again. If after the case looks after the 2nd polish your done, If you need another plate to cover the mis color, then do it again. 

 The case will look brand new again,  If your trying to plate with rodium, it;s the same process, but it's about $300.00 for one pint of rodium. 

 Hope this helps   Mike..... 

Wow, great post. I'd love to see this in action.

Do you know of any online videos showing the procedure?

I have not seen any vidieo's but you might find electroplating vidieo's on youtube. Most of the process are the same, but some metals like copper need to be nickel plated before you can gold plate over them.

Some base metals react differant to a spacific plate. and alomst all plating needs a electro plate cleaner to prepair the metal before your actual plating. ( one step I forgot to metion in above post.)

 There are alot of plating books out there that will help. I know that I had a vigor catalog, that showed all the solutions, base metals and the complete process on how to achive the desired look. 

 This is fun to do your self, but I must tell you that most electroplating is very corrisive! and the plating solutions contain cyanide! (that will kill you!)

 If your not going to do this for a part time investment, your ferther ahead to pay someone $50.00 to refinish your case for you.

 Hope this helps.   Mike... 

Mike,

Interesting post. I was under the impression that only the Silver base metal Cases could be sucsessfully re-plated.

Also, doesn't the old plate need to be scuffed to promote the bond to the new layers, or removed completely to attain an even finish?

ML.

Hi ML,

 The base metals are differant metals, the only differance, it the process in achiving the desired look.

I believe that copper bases, or metals that have a large copper content, need to be plated with nickel first then the gold will stick , just like before you can chrome plate, you need to nickel plate first.

 Some white metals also need that nickel plate before you can gold plate. You can find in the vigor plating book what metals can be plated and the process to plate with.

 When it comes to plating  the base metal should all be prept in the desired look as the plating will fallow your lead, if you take and polich a metal to a mirror finish, you will get a mirror finish after plated, if you take a scoth brite pad to the metal before you plate, then you will have a brush finish after you plate. 

 This is why your prep work is so imporant. If you just took a old watch case and replated it without polishing it first, then you will have a rough look when your finished.

 I like to polish several times during the plating process , plate/ polish/ clean/ plate /polish /clean/ then plate/ polish and your done, this will give you a nice deep shining plate, that looks wonderful.

 I think that as you plate, that the base metals oxidize and bring any reprocity to the surface and this can cause it to have a dull finish, but if you polish between the plates, you knock down the reporcity (impurities in the metals) causeing a cleaner finish.

 Hope this helps.  Mike..

Sorry Bob, I missed your post.

  The anode is a small piece of metal the should be the same as the plating solution 14k yellow plating solution / 14k yellow peice of gold ect.

 Electricity flows from positive to negative, theirfore you product needs to be on the negeitive side and the anoded goes on the positive side. When plating the small material in the solution and metal comes from the anode, to plate the product.

 Gold rings are easy ti find, you can use your wifes wedding ring to use as a anode ( just make sure to repolish it before you give it back to her, LOL)

 Now the plating solution can be bought at any jewelry supply store as well as you can find it on Ebay.

I want to mention that 10k solution will give you a very nice soft yellow look and 14k will more yellow and 24k solution will be very yelllow, so it is my opinion for the vintage look you stick with 10k or 14k solution. 

 Plating solutions are expensive, corrisive, and caustic! Please use extreme care when plating, use rubber gloves, medical mask and plate in a well ventalated area.  I would also suggest that you dont fallow, my steps, but read some official manuals to help find spacific metals and use the correct solutions.   

 Hope this helps.   Mike.. 

Mike,

It does. The process You describe is 'electroplating', plating using an electrical current which is a different process to the rolled plating methods of times gone by. Not an expert in any way butI would be cautious to electroplate over a rolled plate finish.

The electroplate process interests Me in a particular circumstance:

Starting In the mid-late 1920's and into the '30's the 'White' metal Bulova Cases were offered in 2 finishes, one being called a 'Bright finish' that is very similar to Chrome plating and possibly the reason a lot of these older cases are still with Us.

Do You know what that plating consisted of, was it Nickel based like Chrome?

The rolled gold plate is what is say's , They would take a base metal like brass (hence brassing) they would take a flat peice of metal and put a thin layer of gold and apply to the top or the top and bottom of the metal, they would then roll it through a machine under ultra high pressure and fuse the 3 peices together (hence rolled gold plate) then they would stamp out the case as one peice having a good gold plate top ot top and bottom. This is how they achived the twenty years cases. Page 47 of the 2011 guide to watches book will show a example of this. the example is in all the books, just not sure what page in older books

 The vintage case in white we see today were plate in chrome , nickel, or rodium, Chrome is very brite, and the rodium plating would be the white cases we see that have small pits and a softer white finish.

 The chrome finish is very hard and they would take a peice of say brass or white metal, they would then copper plate the peice, then nickel plate, the the chrome would stick to the nickel. This is the way they still make chrome bumpers for our cars today.

 The rodium plate is much softer and it would scratch easier and that is why we see cases that look bad in rodium, they would scratch through the plate and the base metal would oxidize and the oxidation would come out through the little scratch revealing the bad look. 

Electro plating is the only way a novice person can restore a case today easiely, as we dont have the meens to do rolled gold plate. The finnish product will look like it was manufactured that way if it is done right.  

 Hope this helps.

I wanted to point out one ore thing. There is a small electro plating machine available for around $350.00 that is a pen plater. This pen has a cotton tip on it like a Q-tip and the solutions for it are a paste style solution. The tip come in differant shapes and you can plate small area's with it. This makes it ideal for plating a two tone case, or just plating the tips of a diamond stone setting, ect.

 another nice thing about this machine is that you can get small quanity's of gold solution if your not going to use alot, like 1 oz bottles.

 I know thw solutions come in 10, 14, 18,  24K as well as  pink, yellow, and green gold. and I'm sure that you can get copper, rodium, nickel, and maybe a few other metals

 You dont need beakers, and it's not real messy. You just clip one lead on the case itself, and the other lead plugs into the end of the pen, simply set voltage level, dip the pen tip into the solution and it will plate any place that you touch the tip too.  I believe that this method of plating reduces reprocity and less polishing is required to achive a desired look

 If anyone would like to play with the plating systems, This would be a very good way to start. 

 One can find them at any jewelry supply , Ebay, or online.   

 Hope this helps.  Mike.....

Plating with a copper solution before gold plating will help with repairs. You can get a thicker coat on, it polishes more easily and will fill small damaged areas, for instance the "step" where the gold has worn away to base metal. Adjusting the voltage can be tricky, if it's to high the gold will burn and turn black. Pen plating can work well but the whole object needs to be plated because colour match is close to impossible. Finally remember that elctroplating will put maybe 10 or 20 microns of gold on the surface which will wear away very quickly and easily and a watch case that receives constant rubbing and abrasion.

I have experimented with pen plating and hands that need replating without a lot of success. Preparation is very difficult because of the size and for the same reason stopping the gold from burning is also very difficult. They look OK, but certainly not like they should.

Double edged Sword.

Electroplating over a Rolled plate finish would look nice for a Watch placed on display only, but You've just killed any value it had by subjecting it to the process as any serious Collector would note the repair.

Electroplating a Watch to be worn? forget it. As el-oose stated the new surface won't stand up to the use for long plus add the loss of value factor mentioned above and it's best to leave it alone IMO.

el-oose,

For Hands there is a Gold leaf foil available used in crafts that may work.

Any thought?

el-ooose,

Your right about the copper plate first, it can help resolve basemetal issues, and help to give a nicer finish,   when you plate with copper then gold, it will tend to give you a bit darker yellow finish and if you nickle plate after the copper, it will give you a lighter color base and the yellow gold will have a softer yellow tone to it.

Fifth Ave,

 Your point is valid as well, most collectors will not buy a watch that has been restored like this unless it is ultra rare.  This is a good way to make a old watch look good, but the wear factor is very noticable.

 I guess a collector would never buy a watch that had pits and brassing through out the case anyway, so if the case is this bad to start with you will make up your own mind if it is worth it to you to restore or not.

 Mike...

Yes I have given some thought to the gold leaf idea and I reckon I'm going to give it a try. Trying to locate good original hands is a continuing nightmare. The poor old Bulova stockist must have really struggled to maintain his inventory with hardly any interchagabilty. Why did Bulova do that?

Oh and I have had cases done that it would be next to impossible to tell, but it's not a cheap way to go. As fifth Ave says, unless it's a rarity it's just not worth the effort and expense.