Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsIt' not Rodico, it's still useful, but read all of my review before you buy it!
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
Since most people haven't tried their hand at watchmaking, this review probably won't mean much to them. For those who do work or "tinker" with watch movements this may perhaps offer some perspective on this Watch Cleaning Putty. There's an amateur watchmaker who puts out YouTube videos of his work on vintage watches, and he's very personable and good at what he does. He's stated that Rodico is somewhat like "Play-Doh," and after using it in my own watchmaking attempts, I agree with him. It has a similar consistency (soft), but is more cohesive, including a dry yet tacky surface. This makes it very useful for so many applications in doing watch repair and maintenance. By comparison this "Putty" is slightly less soft, more plasticky with a bit less surface tackiness. Is this a bad thing? Well, it depends. This "Putty" is capable of doing some of the things you might use Rodico for, but not everything. Where Rodico can be used to "clean" an area or a part of just about "everything," the "Putty" doesn't do as well. It works, just not as thoroughly. Where Rodico can be used to prop up or hold a part while being working on, this "Putty" will do that, almost but not quite as well. Where Rodico will hold onto a part really well, yet release it and it remains perfectly clean, this "Putty" holds on to a point, but beyond that point it lets go, sometimes abruptly. Rodico can really clean up a dial or crystal without leaving any observable residue at all, this "Putty" does almost as well. It doesn't seem to leave the surfaces it's used on with any residue, but it also doesn't seem to clean as easily or thoroughly. So when it comes down to it, is this "Putty" an inexpensive replacement for "Rodico?" IMO I would have to say it's not a replacement. I would say it's an "adjunct" to Rodico, ie. it's worth buying to have in addition to Rodico. It can be used in a lot of cases to save your more expensive Rodico for the situations it does a better job in. I plan to keep some of this "Putty" around because it does provide a less expensive way to deal with those times when you might need to hold a larger part to your bench or cushion a part that the pressure of the work is directed more straight down rather from an angle. For the price, the best way to find out if this "Putty" is useful is to get stick of it and try it. Your money won't be wasted, just be sure to keep your supply of Rodico on hand.
Followup: It's been a few days since I wrote the above, and I've put the "Putty" to work on one of my projects. Above, when I stated that "it doesn't seem to leave the surfaces it's used on with any residue," I hadn't used it to hold down any parts that have small openings (e.g.screw holes, reducted areas machined into a piece, etc.) or delicate parts (e.g. hair springs, screw threads, etc.). I was removing a hair spring from a balance cock from one of my Seiko auto-wind watches and needed to hold the balance cock steady, in an upside-down position so that I could leverage the hair spring plug from the regulator. The "Putty" was so soft that as I held the balance cock on top of it, the "Putty" allowed it to sink well down into it. In doing so the "Putty" stuck to parts of the hair spring and filled in the screw holes. It "smooshed" itself around and into the parts of the regulator and the shock spring on the captured top-jewel. It this had been Rodico it wouldn't have so easily got into everything, and it would have much more easily released whatever it was on. This "Putty" did a number on the hair spring by the time I got it off of it and there's still a good deal of it still stuck in and about the shock spring. I can only blame myself for putting it to use on a balance assembly, as I have found out that while this "Putty" resembles Rodico in amount and shape the way it's sold, this is still a different "animal" from Rodico. I'm disappointed with this outcome. Not just because this is not a good economical substitute for an expensive name-brand product, but it actually took a simple repair into the need to order replacement parts. I'm not throwing the "Putty" in the trash, but it will never be used again on any delicate or or easily damaged parts. As I stated above, it can be used as a padded surface to hold things, but I'll make sure they're nothing more than like a main plate or a watch case or crystal. If you buy this "Putty" to try it, be sure to do a lot of tests with it prior to putting it to serious use! I down-rated it from 5 stars to 3.