The Soul Of Patina
Main points:
- What is patina and how does it happen?
- The difference between patina and damage.
- How do I preserve the patina on my watches?
- Some really cool examples
The definition of “Patina” in the Oxford dictionary is:
“A green or brown film on the surface of bronze or similar metals, produced by oxidation over a long period”.
But when we're talking about wristwatches, it’s so much more than that.
To give you a very robotic description of what patina is in the horology world, it’s the wear that a watch ends up showing over time. This can happen on the dial, the case, and just about anywhere on the watch, but this explanation doesn’t explain the soul of patina all that well.
“Wear” is usually thought to be a bad thing, but sometimes it can turn out to be absolutely beautiful on a watch.
This may be confusing right now (or maybe not), but very soon you’ll understand why patina is often celebrated when it comes to wristwatches.
When buying a vintage watch, many often dislike the idea of visible wear on their watch and wish it looked exactly how it looked the day it was put together. What these people don’t really understand is that patina isn’t just a sign of wear, but a way in which the watch tells its own personal story.
It shows that the watch has had its own life, lived through its own experiences, and has seen the world.
In my opinion one of the coolest things about patina on watches is that you could have 2 of the exact same reference of watch, both exactly 50 years old (for example), and they WILL have aged differently. They WON’T look the same. And this goes with every single example of patina. It will never be identical to the patina on any other watch. You could argue that if your watch has a patina, it’s a 1 of 1 piece!
Another nice thing about patina on watches is that in a lot of cases, it simply looks nice. And don’t take that from me, take it from the big manufacturers such as Rolex, Omega, Squale, and many others that have attempted to emulate the beautiful effects that time has left on vintage watches on modern pieces (such as the one below, photo via European Watch Company - The Great Debate: Fauxtina). Some do this by, for example, by using brownish hues of the stable Super-LumiNova on the hands and hour markers, whereas others go a step further by installing real aged parts of the watch during assembly, such as a completely radium toasted dial.
People often say that “damage” and “patina” are the same thing. And at a technical level, they aren’t wrong. Patina is a type of wear, and wear is considered as a type of damage. But there IS a difference.
All patina is damage, but not all damage is patina.
So let's clarify some differences between them.
- When we're talking about watches, patina is what happens when the materials on a watch naturally degrade over time, whilst damage is what happens when the watch is roughed up (for example cracks in the crystal, scratches, rust, and water damage).
- Patina is often desired by vintage watch collectors, whilst damage is not.
- Damage usually affects the watch’s structural integrity whilst patina does not.
Now that you know (hopefully) that patina is something that shouldn’t be frowned upon, but celebrated, you might be wondering “How do I preserve the patina on my watches?”.
Well, there's a few things you have to keep in mind.
- Avoid exposure to harsh conditions.
Exposure to sunlight, humidity and high temperatures may all speed up the development of a patina, but too much of it will probably have more of an effect than you desire.
- Cleaning
If you want to maintain the patina on a watch, you should definitely avoid using any form of cleaning or polishing compounds, you shouldn’t even use water! Just stick to a soft dry cloth/microfiber towel, it will do the trick.
- Wrist time
You might not want to hear this, but you should avoid wearing a watch with a patina too often. Wearing it for special occasions is completely fine, but if you want to maintain the patina, I wouldn’t recommend it being your daily.
- Storage
If you don’t want the patina to be altered over time, it is essential to store the watch properly. I recommend keeping the watch in a dedicated watch box, in a cool, dry environment. Humidity is your worst enemy!!
- Servicing
This doesn’t really have to do with preserving the patina itself, but it's important to get your watch serviced periodically, just to make sure that the movement keeps running smoothly. (P.S. Make sure you get your watch serviced by a skilled watchmaker/servicer, as they will know how to service the watch without altering the patina.) (P.S. I am a skilled watchmaker/servicer lol, check out the Watch Servicing page if you watch to be sure that your watch is in good hands.)
And finally, let's see some cool examples of patina (from the website).
This is a typical example of patina for 60s watches that have a radium loom. Over the years the radium has degraded, leaving a really cool yellowish-brown hue on the dial. The uneven colouring developed over the years adds to the visual appeal of the watch.
Rolex 1601 36mm Datejust 1960
[SOLD]
This type of patina is common for vintage watches with blue dials. The reason this happens isn’t very clear, but from my experience it is most likely because of a reaction that happens between the blue lacquer reacting with the copper base plate, often used for watches from that time.
Tudor 7019/3 Date Day 1968
[SOLD]
This is a super cool example of how a patina can affect the charisma that a watch has. The reason for the uneven colour change on the dial is most likely due to moisture. I don’t know about you guys, but I think this looks so much cooler than a totally uniform dial!
Omega Bumper Yellow Gold Chronometer from early 1950s
[RECENTLY ADDED TO STORE]
I want to end this (hopefully) informative article with this point…
Patina is not just wear, it is a visible sign that a watch has its own story, and it should be enjoyed, NOT frowned upon.
(P.S. If you want to be the first to know when watches with this beautiful trait are put on our website, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the website and subscribe to the free newsletter!)