Home Forums General Discussion Forum cleaning. Reply To: cleaning.

#58125
david pierce
Participant

    Bob,
    It looks like the chemical you used anodized the silver. I know that BRASSO makes a brass polish and I believe they also make a silver polish. I use naptha for the watch parts in my ultrasonic cleaner and lacquer thinner for the hairsprings. The naptha (lighter fluid) is used in the ultrasonic cleaner and have had no problems with it so far. For lacquer thinner I just dip the balance into a small jar, but a shot glass would work. I do not use the laquer in the ultrasonic cleaner.
    Shellac is the original hot glue and is strong enough to hold the jewels in place. Super glue would certainly hold the jewel in place but would create a problem if you wanted to replace it or make an adjustment. I would not recomend using anything except shellac on these parts. If you turn to the Watch Repair Channel on Youtube you can see a video shellacking a roller jewel. Mark Lovick uses a standard watchmaker alcohol burner but almost any source of heat should work as long as it is controlled properly.
    david