robertsr
Tyme Machine
- Joined
- May 14, 2015
- Messages
- 1,531
So there I was, browsing the 'Bay and minding my own business when I come across a sad photo of one of the Androids that is still on my hit list...
The kindest thing you could say about this puppy is that it was clearly well loved.
Note the two screws in the bottom left hand corner of the crystal. They give you a hint about how the Mystique "floats" a movement in the case. There is a very clear wafer of some kind of polymer that the movement is held to with those two screws. That wafer of plastic takes the place of a conventional dial face and it nearly invisible.
In any case, it was in super-bad shape. The first thing I needed to do was replace the bracelet. It was heavily damaged and would no longer clasp, so I sourced a butterfly clasped solid stainless bracelet that closely matched the original. Once that was in, it was time to head to the shop.
I used a combination of 200 grit sanding pads and a rag wheel with SS polish to work the worst of the scratches out of the case and bring it back to a mirror finish. Interestingly enough, the mineral glass crystal was so darned hard that I had to use the exact same combination to make any headway there. I consider where I've gotten to be about half done.
It's wearable right now. It certainly passes the 12 inch test for the case, and it's getting there with the crystal. I don't know how much further I'll be able to go in re-buffing the crystal, but I'm going to try for quite a bit more improvement. It was hammered pretty hard, and to tell the truth, I'm impressed at how far we've been able to come already. Taking a look at the before picture still makes me cringe.
Thanks for looking!
The kindest thing you could say about this puppy is that it was clearly well loved.
Note the two screws in the bottom left hand corner of the crystal. They give you a hint about how the Mystique "floats" a movement in the case. There is a very clear wafer of some kind of polymer that the movement is held to with those two screws. That wafer of plastic takes the place of a conventional dial face and it nearly invisible.
In any case, it was in super-bad shape. The first thing I needed to do was replace the bracelet. It was heavily damaged and would no longer clasp, so I sourced a butterfly clasped solid stainless bracelet that closely matched the original. Once that was in, it was time to head to the shop.
I used a combination of 200 grit sanding pads and a rag wheel with SS polish to work the worst of the scratches out of the case and bring it back to a mirror finish. Interestingly enough, the mineral glass crystal was so darned hard that I had to use the exact same combination to make any headway there. I consider where I've gotten to be about half done.
It's wearable right now. It certainly passes the 12 inch test for the case, and it's getting there with the crystal. I don't know how much further I'll be able to go in re-buffing the crystal, but I'm going to try for quite a bit more improvement. It was hammered pretty hard, and to tell the truth, I'm impressed at how far we've been able to come already. Taking a look at the before picture still makes me cringe.
Thanks for looking!