How to Clean a Vintage Automatic Watch by Hand

Found at a flea market, taken apart, cleaned, and brought back to life.

Willem found a Citizen Automatic at a flea market — dirty, stopped, forgotten. Instead of leaving it, he took it home, opened the case, cleaned every component by hand, and got it running again. Here's how.

A vintage automatic watch doesn't need batteries — it runs on the mechanical energy of your wrist movement. When one stops, it's usually not broken. It's just dirty.

Willem's restoration process: open the case back with a case wrench, remove the movement, clean the dial and hands with a soft brush, clean the case and crystal with soap and water, inspect the gaskets, and reassemble. The movement itself was left to a professional — but everything around it was done by hand.

The result: a watch that was heading for the garbage bin now runs within seconds per day and looks beautiful on the wrist. Total cost: the price of a flea market find.

From Willem's collection on watches and time.