Cleaning a Citizen 6000 automatic watch

Rediscovering old beauty under layers of dirt

Aug. 23, 2020 - Willem L. Middelkoop

This week I was cleaning my closet when I found an old watch. It came from my grandfather’s house. It looked like it had an adventurous live, full of wear and tear. I recognised that it had an automatic mechanical movement. Upon picking it up it almost instantly started running again. I wondered how cool it would be if I would gently clean it.

Continue reading

Wear and tear is a great thing on a watch: it communicates the story of adventurous wrist time

Replacing the original metal bracelet for a nylon NATO strap

Dirty bracelet

You can rotate the case back and remove it from the watch head to reveal the movement

Especially the parts facing the human skin can pick up interesting collections of dirt over time, giving rise to microbial ecosystems

Removing the bracelet from a watch is easier with the right tools

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