This was a stunning piece and we had a chance to admired this beauty when passed through our shop. We've seen web photos along the way but web photos certainly don't do it justice.
With any timepiece bangs and nicks are nearly unavoidable. Unfortunately they happen, but when they do these damage spots can be filled with new. The client has seen our Rolex Forum posts of repair jobs we have done in stainless steel but commented repairs done to precious metals such as 18k Rose gold were hard to come by. Well here's one to add the collection.
As usual we jumped right into the repair and forgot to take before photos. The client was nice enough to send us copies of his before photos to aid our write up!
The damage wasn't too bad. One of the right bottom lug and one in the end piece.
Rose gold comes in many shades so it helps with to test on a test piece with several shades until you find one that is just right. For us it took a few tests. Like our write up on laser welding stainless steel, precious metal laser welding require specialty fill wire designed for laser welding. They come in different gauges and different metal types.
For this watch we used 30 gauge 18k Rose Gold fill wire and used nice overlapping puddles until the area was built up above the original height. This allows us to primarily work the new material minimizing the contact with make with the original gold on the case. This is what the watch looks like with the new gold added.
After working down the new gold until smooth with the rest of the case we gave the watch and bracelet a light polish and restored all the factory finishes to Rolex spec. And now the after shots.
Side by Side
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Until next time old friend.