Like most watch lovers, I have my rituals. Whenever I get a new piece, I grab my old soft toothbrush and go to work with some soap and water. I do the same thing once a month thereafter because I like my watches to sparkle, and if I’m not lying I just like doing it.

After doing some research, it seemed that wearing the bracelet too tight or too loose didn’t matter. Keeping it on a winder didn’t matter either. What mattered was keeping the bracelet very very clean. Enter ultrasonic cleaners, everyone was talking about them. I jumped on amazon and picked up this reasonably priced Ultrasonic cleaner. So far, I’m having a blast with it, and the particular one I got came with a nice cloth and gently cleaning solution.

The mechanism inside an ultrasonic cleaner generates high-frequency sound waves, well beyond the range of human hearing. These sound waves create thousands of vibrations per second. As these vibrations pass through the cleaner’s tub of soapy water, millions of tiny vacuum-filled bubbles form in the water. These bubbles reach into the smallest crevices in the watch and implode, an effect known as “cavitation”. The cavitation effect removes dirt, dust and skin oils from the watch and washes the contaminants away in the soapy solution.

Ultrasonic cleaning basically works by vibrating a pool of water with an object in it. The vibrations create tiny bubbles which glom onto small particulates of dirt and debris and pull them off. Jewelery stores often offer jewelry cleaning, using the same appliance, for $30 per session. Well for basically the same price, an ultrasonic cleaner can be yours to use whenever you want.

The rules of ultrasonic cleaning when it comes to watches seem to be:

1. DON’T PUT THE WATCH HEAD IN THE CLEANING BATH

Because of the cleaning process two things can apparently happen. First, the vibrations can push bubbles past the seals and gaskets and second, the frequency of the vibration can mess with the frequency of the balance spring. The kit I bought has a special watch stand that holds the head above the water while draping the bracelet into the cleaning bath below.