DLC, or diamond-like carbon, is a coating used in Formula 1 cars, drill bits and super cool watches. It’s incredibly resistant to abrasive wear which made it our material of choice for the limited-edition Signalman DLC of yesteryear. When you break the DLC through to the underlying substrate the stainless steel shows as a silver mark and touching it up is particularly difficult. However, years of experience bring one rather unromantic DIY quick fix and trust us, we have tried many different solutions and this is simply the best.
Use a Bic permanent marker as this most closely resembles the shade of the DLC. Make a tiny dot on the mark and then immediately rub with your thumb. Repeat as necessary. Depending on the location of the scratch the ink should adhere permanently but it doesn’t always work on the square edge of a bezel. We can accept no responsibility for any accidents that occur whilst using permanent markers.
Another Schofield DLC secret (now revealed) is to put WD40 on a soft cloth and wipe it down. This oil coating smooths the finish and prevents the case from fingerprinting. We have always delivered new DLC watches with a thin coating of oil.
