How to Clean a Stainless Steel Watch

Stainless steel is forgiving, and that makes it easy to neglect. Skin oil, soap residue, sunscreen and dead skin collect between bracelet links and under the clasp, turning a bright finish dull and grey. Left for months, that paste holds salt against the metal and can leave brown spots even on good steel. Cleaning it properly is cheap, quick and the single biggest improvement you can make to how an older watch looks. It is also easy to do harm with the wrong product, so start with what the watch can handle.

Before you start: check what the watch can take

• Water rating. Look at the caseback or the listing. If the watch is rated for swimming or more, a brief rinse is fine. If it carries a basic splash rating, or no rating, keep water to a damp cloth. If you are unsure what a rating actually means, our watch glossary explains the terms.
• The crown. Push it fully in, and if it screws down, screw it closed. An open crown is the most common way water gets inside.
• Age and history. Seals harden over the years. A watch that has not been serviced in a long time should be treated as not water resistant, whatever the dial says.
• Strap material. Steel bracelets, rubber and fabric straps can be washed; leather cannot be soaked.
• Finishes. Gold tone, rose gold tone and black finishes are thin surface layers and need gentler handling than bare steel.

What you need

• A soft toothbrush, new and dedicated to the job
• Mild, unscented dish soap
• A bowl of lukewarm water, never hot
• Two microfiber cloths, one damp and one dry
• Wooden toothpicks for the gaps between links
• Cotton swabs for the bezel edge and around the crown

Skip anything abrasive or aggressive: no toothpaste, baking soda, bleach, window cleaner or metal polish, and no paper towels, which leave fine scratches on polished surfaces.

Step by step: case and bracelet

1. Dry clean first. Brush the dry bracelet and case all over with the toothbrush to loosen surface dirt. Run a toothpick along the gaps between links and around the clasp hinge. You will be surprised how much comes out.
2. Mix the solution. A few drops of dish soap in the bowl of lukewarm water. It should feel only slightly slippery.
3. Wash the bracelet. Dip the brush, not the watch, and scrub the bracelet link by link, inside and out, with small circles. Open the clasp and clean inside it, where most grime lives.
4. Clean the case. With the same brush, gently clean the lugs, the caseback and the edge of the bezel. Use a swab around the crown and any pushers rather than scrubbing.
5. Wipe the crystal. A damp microfiber cloth, nothing more. Brushes can mark a soft crystal.
6. Rinse, only if rated. Hold the watch under gently running lukewarm water for a few seconds, crown closed. Otherwise wipe the soap off with the damp cloth, then again with a clean damp cloth.
7. Dry completely. Pat dry with the dry cloth, then leave the watch face up on the cloth for an hour so water can drain from between the links. Shake the bracelet gently to clear trapped drops.
8. Finish with a dry buff. A light pass with a clean, dry microfiber restores the shine on polished surfaces.

Deep cleaning a bracelet

If a bracelet is heavily soiled, take it off the case. Most bracelets attach with spring bars that release with a spring bar tool. Once detached, the bracelet can soak for ten minutes in the soapy water, or go into a small ultrasonic cleaner, which shakes dirt out of the joints with high frequency vibrations. Brush, rinse well and dry fully before refitting. Never put the watch head in an ultrasonic bath unless a watchmaker has checked it.

Leather, rubber and fabric straps

Leather absorbs sweat and will eventually smell however carefully you clean it. Rotating straps and letting them dry overnight lengthens their life more than any product.

Gold tone, rose gold tone and black finishes

Colored finishes on steel are thin surface layers. Clean them exactly as above but with lighter pressure, and never use a polishing cloth impregnated with compound or any metal polish: those work by removing a microscopic layer of surface, and on a plated finish that layer is the color. A plain microfiber is all a gold tone watch needs.

What about polishing out scratches?

Treated polishing cloths and abrasive pads can soften hairline marks on bare steel, but they also blur the boundary between brushed and polished surfaces and round off sharp edges, which is what makes a well finished case look crisp. On a brushed surface, rubbing in the wrong direction leaves a cloudy patch. If the scratches bother you, leave refinishing to a watchmaker, or accept them as signs of a watch that gets worn. See watch care mistakes to avoid for more on what not to do.

How often to clean

• After heavy sweating, the beach or a pool: rinse or wipe the same day. Salt and chlorine are the main enemies.
• Every three or four weeks for a watch worn daily: the full bracelet clean above.
• Before storing a watch for any length of time, so dirt does not sit in the links. How to store your watches covers the rest.

A clean bracelet, correctly sized, does more for how a watch looks than almost any upgrade. If you want to take that further, how to make a cheap watch look expensive has the other easy wins.

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