As many of you know I have a ceramic doppel blue dialed pilot watch. One of the advantages of ceramic is that it can supposedly stand up to reasonable knocks better than stainless steel. I did not wish to test this on my watch.
But last week I accidentally banged it against some type of metal as I entered a doorway in a store. At first glance I did not notice anything. But upon returning home I noticed a metallic scratch which traversed about 3/4 inch of the side of the case. So I took off the watch got a soft cloth and some soap and water and... well nothing. The scratch was still there. It looked like the ceramic had been compromised and the metal below it had come to the surface. It really looked bad. I should have taken a picture but was too upset to think of it.
What to do? So I just figured I would have to wait until the watch needed service and hope there was some type of process to re coat the watch. After a few days I took a closer look and decided I would try something else. I noticed if I slowly rubbed my finger on the scratch that it appeared to be above the surface. I used a slightly abrasive ink eraser and very carefully tested one edge of the scratch. After about 10 seconds of very careful rubbing the scratch was less visible. I used water to clean it again, let it dry and rubbed some more. I worked my way along the scratch rubbing and cleaning and after a few minutes the scratch was gone.
My conclusion is that ceramic will pick up metal residue if it gets scratched or rubbed against metallic objects. But a careful cleaning will remove the metal staining and return the watch to prior condition. The ceramic advantage, at least with respect to the metal I encountered was validated.
I looked over the edges of the watch and found several more areas where the watch had obviously rubbed against something hard. I cleaned off those as well.
