WATCH POP

I am sure this has come up before, but would like to hear some thoughts on this.
My Langes are actually my first watches in gold. I was never much of a gold person but I love the look and feel of the Langes and so went this direction.
I have found that even with extremely careful wear, I have gotten a lot of hairline scratches on the bezel and yesterday noticed a small ding that I have no memory of. Do you find that in time these marks are less noticable as the case develops a patina of wear? Does this make sense? Do you wear your Lange on a regular basis or it it just a "special occasion" only watch?
What about repolishing when sent back for service? Do you do this only to know that it will "age" again once worn for awhile?
Any thoughts appreciated. Please help this overly anal watch lover not stress over this.. :) Ok, I have been a Patek collector for a very long time. Recently I bought my first Lange Perpetual in YG. I was surprised how easily the Lange gold case picks up scratches compared to my other watches. I speculate that Lange's 18K alloy is somehow softer. However, I wouldn't polish it until you absolutely can't live with it anymore since you will never get back the metal that you are polishing off. I wonder whether Lange would replace a bezel for a fee if requested? hi,
I got my lange 1 almost one month ago and I wear it every day, 7 days a week, as its my only watch. I love watches but I'm not a collector. My lange is plat. but although it is a harder metal it still collects hairline scratches. Sadly they cannot be avoided. To start with they annoy you, trying to remember how and when it happened and slowly they matter less and less. I would wait till service time to have the case polished if reqd. You will get the watch back looking like new again. I cannot imagine leaving my pride and joy to develop a patina Its just not me, but everyone is different.
kind regards and happy easter,
henry I've never sent my Lange for service, but I know that there are a number of posts in the archives with photos of post-service watches - and they are all very impressive. I also know that they can remove small dings. Again, check the archives.
But as a general matter, I try not to stress too much over it. It is of course inevitable that a watch will pick up scratches and even the occasional ding. And I think it helps to keep in mind that you can always have it polished and restored at service time.
I have also polished the deployant and buckle on my watch with some success. I just used a cloth I got from Roland Murphy (of RGM) that has a little rouge in it. I would be too afraid, however, to polish the case given: 1) the sandwich construction with polished and brushed layers; and 2) the coating on the crystal, which can be scratched.
"Does this look too big for my wrist?" Hi Dale
All gold watches scratch farily easily. Unless it really bothers you, I wouldn't do anything about it. In fact some people even request that the watch NOT be polished when they send it in for service - it makes it less "their watch" and the fear of scratches would then start all over again. I may actually fall more into that camp. While I don't like scrathes, I like the fact that I was wering the watch when they got there.
Time is the quality of nature that keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working. I wear my watch quite often and to work as well. What good is purchasing something if you get no use out of it. Your right precious metals do scratch significantly easier than ss. The flip side to the coin as people have already stated is that when you take it in for servicing they can have it looking new again, the downside is you can't replace the metal that was taken away. I guess you just have to pick your battles.
Jorge P. Actually - I had heard that Lange can "spot weld" if this is the correct term - gold to fill in a ding and then polish it down so that you can't tell it was there. I would assume that this would aviod losing material from the case by having to polish it down below the level of the ding. Anyone know if this is correct? don't worry too much about the hairline scratches...over time they make a very beautiful patina. Most of my gold watches...and platinum ones do feature dings which I have no memory of...perhaps the brain blocks out painful moments...:-)
If you send it back to the factory, small and even very deep scratches can be removed. Hairline scratches are removed by polishing. And large gorges are filled in by new material, laser welded, then polished. The result in both instances result in cases which look new. Search for a thread where I have some pictures of my Lange 1 as it came home after her spa in Glashutte - looked brand new.