Cleaning a bronze watch

When exposed to air, moisture and from wearing over time, each bronze watch develops a darker appearance due to the natural process of patina which can also create a build up of greenish coating in areas of the watch.

Most customers love this, as it adds character to the bronze watch that is unique to each wearer.

However, we do occasionally get asked by some customers about how to clean their bronze watch, so we’ve provided some instructions  on how to do this, it’s really easy and only takes about 30 minutes.

Before you start cleaning your bronze watch you will need to have the following items handy.

A polishing cloth or soft cotton
A small plastic container
A lemon or lemon juice
Baking powder (baking soda)
Rubber gloves
A soft toothbrush

Now make a paste that you will use to clean the bronze watch.

Place approximately 2-3 desert spoons worth of baking powder into a small plastic container

Squeeze a lemon and pour the lemon juice into the baking powder and then mix until a soft paste is made. Add lemon slowly and mix until there is no more powder.

You’ll now clean the watch using the paste.

Apply the paste with your fingers and / or the soft toothbrush.

Rub the case with your fingers, and gently brush the case with your soft toothbrush, especially in-between the harder to reach areas like the area around the lugs.

Continue to apply baking powder and rub / brush and ensure that the paste covers the case.

Leave the bronze watch case for 20-30 minutes with the paste still on it

Remove the paste and rinse to finish.

Rinse the watch case under warm water and dry and polish with your cotton cloth ensuring that all of the paste has been removed

If any patina still remains then repeat steps 6-9 again.

Your watch will now be cleaned and should look almost as good as new. From cleaning the demonstration watch pictured, we’ve found that the majority of patina has been removed but there are still subtle changes in colour which is to be expected.