Ultrasonic Cleaning.
 

Hello All. Long Time.....

Anyway, I want to clean my GMT's Oyster bracelet in an ultrasonic cleaner. The question is, What liquid cleaner do I put in the ultrasonic cleaner to do the best job?

Thank You For Your Help.

I think you just use water.

I suppose I could just use water. It's not like I'm going to hurt a SS Bracelet....
Thank You for the quick response.

I use dish soap and it works fine.

:cheers:

Thank You, I'll Try That Too!

warm water and dish/hand soap.

Ultrasonic Cleaning.
 

There are some ultrasonic jewelry solutions that work fine. Most include an ammonia rich detergent component vs. soaps.

Soap works best when surface agitation is accomplished by a brush, cloth or even furious fingering. The fats and oils in various soaps work best that way - but not as effective in an ultrasonic cleaner.


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I usually just remove the bracelet and do the Warm Water / Soap routine with a soft bristle brush. But Now, I'd like to achieve a deeper into the links & pins cleaning to avoid unnecessary wear.

Thank You For Your Reply.

When I took in a particularly dirty bracelet on a watch, I always did ultrasonic. But I had a triple play plan.

Step one was removing it, doing a soak in warm water with a clear liquid soap solution. Then soft brush on both sides laterally and horizontally.

Step two: Long rinse and then into the ultrasonic. Ammonia in that solution helps the cleaning effort. And when dumping the ultrasonic bath liquid you can see fine grains of dirt.

Step three: Long rinse and then steam shots while on Turkish toweling or folded paper towels. Even after the first two steps, some more grey stains appear on the toweling. This last step insures no soap, ammonia or detergent remains on the metal.

So I think the 3-step method gets the best results.


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There It Is! The Full Monty. Thank You. AND, Thanks Again To All That Responded.

What Kind (Make & Model) of Ultrasonic Cleaner do you have?

Thanks, --- Jim

Hey Jim!

I have an Elmasonic Easy 10 H model, not 'too' costly and I use the Sharpertek "Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Solution".

I got all my products from Tovatech in New Jersey.

The cleaning solution is their part number CLN-SH-JWL and you dilute it before use. One quart bottle should last a very long time.

Be careful what you use for a cleaning fluid. Some may contain chemicals not suitable for various metals. You can buy specific solutions for a multitude of uses.

Also some tap waters may contain undesirable chemicals.

My US unit works amazingly well to bring out crud from deep within a metal bracelet.

Anyone ever tried teeth clean fluid? :)


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Thank You Very Much. Another Option NOT Made In China!

I distributed laboratory commercial ultrasonic cleaners for quite a few years (11].

There are specialised cleaning solutions/surfactants that increase the efficiency of these units depending on the type of contamination and the material of the item that requires cleaning.

Water is an average cleaning solution compared to some of the proprietary solutions that are available.

I use WristClean solution in my ultrasonic cleaner and I immerse the watch after a pressure check.

The low Watt ultrasonic cleaner I use does not have enough power to cause a problem with the seals.

After cleaning I run the solution through a fluted filter back into the bottle.

Scottish thing I suppose but it still works just fine.

I use warm tap water with a drop of Yes dish soap. You might want to use distilled water if your tap water is hard.

[QUOTE=77T;10660407]There are some ultrasonic jewelry solutions that work fine. Most include an ammonia rich detergent component vs. soaps.

Soap works best when surface agitation is accomplished by a brush, cloth or even furious fingering. The fats and oils in various soaps work best that way - but not as effective in an ultrasonic cleaner.

Don't use ammonia as it has adverse effect on Viton seals/o-rings used by Rolex.

My wife worked in a Jewelry store for many years. They had 3 locations. They used Mr. Clean and water 50/50 for all gem stones and metal objects. Comes out sparkly clean!

When I use the ultrasonic, I use a small amount of straight ammonia with hot water. I don't ever put the watch heads themselves into the cleaner though - I remove the bracelets first.

But, most often, I use a steam cleaner and just steam the bracelets.

[QUOTE=Robf52;10726820] This is correct. Liquid ammonia is one of the few chemicals that attacks fluorocarbons, including Viton.

[QUOTE=fsprow;10811076] This would be specific to the watch head as opposed to the bracelets though?

Rolex repair and sales here 30+ year company and we use gemoro brand concentrated cleaning solution in our ultrasonic daily. We use it for bracelets, bezels, cases, screws, jewelry, any that gets polished, gold links, platinum links, diamond links etc etc. Drop bracelet in, run the machine for 15-30min depending on how dirty, remove from solution- scrub down with soft bristle brush, wrap in cloth or paper towel to dry. Use toothpick for fine removal of excess dirt or polishing compound. You don't need anything fancy

[QUOTE=wesdaniel;10811316] Indeed. I have seen watch repair people (won't use the word watchmaker) dump the entire watch in the ultrasonic machine. When I questioned one in a mall, he said he'd been doing it for 20 years !! Oh well.

Hi there,

Sorry to join very late but there might be an additional aspect.

I have not (yet) used my ultrasonic bath to clean my Rolex bracelets, neither for vintage nor for modern Rolex bracelets. I know that the little screws, which fix the individual bracelet elements, are glued by Rolex with a tiny bit of Loctite (or another product). In my view, the ultrasound might loosen these fixations, mostly depending on agitation time and frequency.

Therefore, I would not risk a potential disassembly of one or more bracelet elements, which might happen during wearing the watch.

Understandable concern. Though I've never had an issue with it.

But, now that I have my jewelry steam cleaner, I hardly ever pull out the ultrasonic. I think the steam cleaner works much better and is easier to do on a more regular basis.

If you don't mind me asking, what brand/model steam cleaner are you using?

It's a Gemoro, but couldn't tell you the model. Before I had that, I had an old "shark" style steamer that you used a wand on. It worked really well, but was a little awkward to use.

:cheers: Looking them up now...

[QUOTE=77T;10660440]When I took in a particularly dirty bracelet on a watch, I always did ultrasonic. But I had a triple play plan.

Step one was removing it, doing a soak in warm water with a clear liquid soap solution. Then soft brush on both sides laterally and horizontally.

Step two: Long rinse and then into the ultrasonic. Ammonia in that solution helps the cleaning effort. And when dumping the ultrasonic bath liquid you can see fine grains of dirt.

Step three: Long rinse and then steam shots while on Turkish toweling or folded paper towels. Even after the first two steps, some more grey stains appear on the toweling. This last step insures no soap, ammonia or detergent remains on the metal.

So I think the 3-step method gets the best results.

Need to be careful with the ammonia, which is one of the few chemicals that will degrade Viton seals/gaskets.

I just use a general jewelry solution made for ultrasonic cleaning. I then give it a thorough rinse in warm water to get it all off. Nice and Simple