“Never polished”

[ericisback]

When looking at used watches for sale, I see several listings that say “never polished”. What is the disadvantage of polishing a watch during service?

[sillo]

Originally Posted by ericisback

When looking at used watches for sale, I see several listings that say “never polished”. What is the disadvantage of polishing a watch during service?

There's not much of a disadvantage. Just preference as some prefer unpolished examples and selling it as unpolished lets the next owner decide what they would like to do with it. Personally for me, I don't care about polishing my watches because they're just going to get scratched up again anyway. I'd rather keep the original case lines when possible.

For older watches, unpolished examples tend to trade at a premium.

Polishing isn't bad. Poor polishing is.

[Seibei]

Originally Posted by ericisback

When looking at used watches for sale, I see several listings that say “never polished”. What is the disadvantage of polishing a watch during service?

This can range from no disadvantage in the case of minor refinishing to get rid of some light scratches to a huge disadvantage if the watch is so severely polished that the case or other parts have lost the definition/sharpness that they came with from the factory. So, have a look at pictures of the watch and decide for yourself.

You also need to figure out whether the statement "never polished" is a lie or the truth.

[79280_116520]

So the "never polished" is a marketing thing grey market sellers used in the past 10 years to milk a premium on top of the going market prices of watches they sold.

Certain owners took OCD to levels never seen before in that they would need to polish their watches daily even if they breathed on it(*exaggerated*). To save $, some went to hack job cheap jewelers who lacked the knowledge and skills and went to town on the lugs, causing them to look deformed.

It's hard to fix a hack job polishing unless you find a "highly skilled" watchmaker who is able to weld back metal on the lugs and do a polish from scratch.

Many grey dealers do a slight polish on almost all the "used" watches they sell. Buyers just want aesthetically pleasing watches.

[capote]

Unless the original buyer is selling I would be a bit sceptical about a never polished listing, especially older pieces. You can find listings for 70 year old watches that the seller claims never been polished.

[georgekart]

Originally Posted by ericisback

When looking at used watches for sale, I see several listings that say “never polished”. What is the disadvantage of polishing a watch during service?

Watches do tend to have a dip in value when polished so that's one. The other one is that it can be polished bad. Overpolishing leads to case and/or bracelet losing shape. Edges aren't as crisp, they become rounded. On models like Explorer II and Daytona (pre ceramic) the writing in bezel is damaged due to paint being taken away. But IMO, if polishing is light and done well it isn't an issue. If watch has deep scratches it is bad since the only thing polishing does is remove around the scratch to be even with the scratch. At that point new material has to be welded on.