Like any other restoration project, you will almost certainly find that when the case has been restored, the tarnished bezel and back may 'let the side down'.

To clean the bezel and its surround takes only a few minutes, and if you have a mechanical aptitude you can easily remove it from the movement, polish and refit it. However, if you are worried about damaging the delicate movement, take it to a specialist.

Around the outer edge of the bezel there will be a variety of screws. Two of them may hold the movement straps that held the clock in the case, and there may be more. Carefully remove these screws and withdraw the movement from the bezel and glass. Make a mental note of which holes lined up with which.


The outer screws

Do not touch or remove any tapered clock pins. These will be holding the clock together and you can hurt yourself and damage the clock by removing them if you do not know what you are doing.

Don't touch the pins

When you have removed the screws, the movement should come away from the bezel. Using brass polish, or better still using a clockmakers cleaning fluid such as Horolene, clean the bezel. A light coat of clockmaker's lacquer will help prevent it from tarnishing later.

This is a good time to give the dial a wipe with a cotton wool pad moistened with some mild soapy water.

Reassemble.