You have been wearing your watch for a while now and started seeing it getting dirty. Its entirely normal for a watch which you often wear to get some marks on it.
You might wonder how to get rid of those and have your watch clean and shiny again.
In this guide, I will show you every step you need to take to clean your watch correctly without damaging it.
Read on if you want to find out how to get your watch cleaned.
1. Tools Which You Will Need
Before we start getting into the cleaning part of your watch.
I want you to grab the following tools to clean it properly.
- Microfiber washcloth
- Microfiber dry cloth
- Soft (tooth)brush
- Two bowls of hot water
- Dish soap
- Spring bar tool (Another tool to take off your bracelet/strap)
After you have gathered all these tools, we can start preparing your watch to get it cleaned.
2. Take Apart Your Watch
I might have tricked you by saying theres one thing you need to do before starting to clean your watch.
Well, there are two things we need to do before the cleaning can take place.
The second thing is taking your watch apart.
Not like the whole watch, but take the bracelet and watch case apart.
I am not sure what kind of strap or bracelet you might have.
But for most watches, the bracelet is attached by two spring bars.
With the spring bar tool, you can loosen these bars and take off your bracelet.
To make it easy, take one side off first and then move on to the second side.
3. Make Your Watch Watertight
Just one more thing before we start cleaning your timepiece.
Because we dont want to do any harm to your watch.
You need to make sure its sealed.
Check if the crown is fully screwed in.
And make sure other moving parts are closed as well, like pushers on a chronograph.
Lastly, check your watch its water-resistance rating .
Every watch under 3 ATM (30m); I do not recommend getting underwater.
4. Wash Your Case
Finally, after a lot of preparation.
You can start cleaning your marvellous timepiece.
Get your 2 bowls of hot water, and put some dish soap in one of them.
Now using the dish soap water, start cleaning your watch with the washcloth.
For tighter spaces like in between the crown, you can use the soft (tooth)brush.
Repeat this process until you have managed to get all the dirt and oils off your watch.
Remember here, that we are just cleaning it.
Cleaning will not take away any scratches, so do not try to get rid of those.
When your watch is no longer dirty.
You can use the bowl of clean water to get rid of all the soap that is left on the watch.
If you see that more spots need to be done, you can take care of those by using soapy water.
For your bracelet, you can repeat the same process.
Do not get a leather strap wet! Use leather oil to maintain it; water will damage your leather strap.
5. Dry Your Watch
Use the soft dry cloth to dry your watch.
Be gentle with this, as putting too much pressure on it could scratch your watch.
You can also use a hair dryer to dry your watch.
If you want to use a hair dryer, use it only in its lowest setting.
6. Put Your Watch Together
After letting your watch dry for a couple of minutes.
You can put it together again.
Dont forget to check if your bracelet is fitted correctly.
Now you can wear a clean and shiny watch again.
Video Guide
Its without a commentary, but I hope this video will give you a better view of how to clean your watch.