Home Forums General Discussion Forum Cleaning a Silverode Watch Case

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  • #49540
    maitai11
    Participant

      Hi Fellas,

      I’m carrying, as a daily watch, this beautiful Elgin built in 1917, and it’s housed in a Silverode watch case built by The Philadelphia Watch Case Company. The case is really beautifully made – simple, shiny (when clean,) has a good feel in the hand, and overall is a joy to carry.

      Should I de-case it and throw it into the ultrasonic, or use some other method? First time Silverode cleaning, here.

      Thanks in advance Guys. Pics attached :)

      Tim :)


      Inside and in


      Inside and out


      See that greenish hue at the bottom? It used to be silver!!!

      Tim :)

      #62407
      david pierce
      Participant

        Tim,
        Watch some of the GRAY AND SONS watch restoration videos on Youtube. They take nasty looking watches and turn them into restored masterpieces.
        david

        #62408
        maitai11
        Participant

          Thank you David, will check it out!

          Best,

          Tim :)

          #62409
          chris mabbott
          Participant

            Silverode cases are basically a mix of other non precious ingredients, I can’t remember the exact composition, but there is no silver whatsoever in the mix, apart from the word ;)
            They are fairly common, in about the same quantity as air molecules 😆 they were made as a cheap, none tarnishing alternative to silver, but if you google the term you can see what’s in there… I seem to remember magnesium was also used, mainly because its a tough hard wearing material, makes sense.

            If you know your ingredients it’s very easy to make a tasty cake 😆 so as David suggests, get to know what you’re working on, then study what you can actually do to enhance the materials appearance..

            You’ll usually find lots of unkept silverode, silveroid, silverine, cases, you just have to find your “technique”.

            Here’s one that was pretty bad and became the The CASE OF THE GREEN CASE :mrgreen:

            #62410
            randy
            Participant

              Tim,
              You can ultrasonic it.
              You can also just scrub it with a toothbrush, hot water and some Dawn liquid detergent.
              It cuts the grime quickly…and pipe cleaners will let you get into the neck.

              I use MAAS polish. You can buy it on Ebay. The stuff is basically a suspended rouge paste, but it has a come really good anti tarnish stuff in it.
              Nice looking Elgin BTW !

              RB

              #62411
              maitai11
              Participant

                Thanks Fella’s,

                That’s all very good to get me started.

                Randy, when I bought it, I asked, “has the watch been serviced?” and got the standard response, “I’ve oiled all the accessible lubrication points.” When I pressed, the guy had a little meltdown.

                No, it hadn’t.

                He then proceeded to tell me how his favorite method of cleaning watches is to soak the entire watch in lighter fluid overnight.

                So, I’ll be servicing it real soon. You can bet your bottom dollar on that one. Oh, and thanks, I really, really love this watch. I can hear it ticking from 8-12 feet away in a quiet room.

                Best,

                Tim :)

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