What does a "silver bath" mean, regarding dial cleaning?

Modest_Proposal
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A German told me that a watch I'm looking at was serviced and that the dial was cleaned. I asked in what way it was cleaned and he told me "...just dipped in a silver bath - no other treatment!".

Perhaps it is a strange translational issue. Does somebody understand what he's talking about?

Dial:
 
s-l1600 12.49.49 PM.jpeg
Canuck
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Probably some sort of a liquid silver cleaner designed to allow an item to be dipped. Goddards and Hagerty (as well as many brands available at your supermarket) make it available as a fork cleaner. But it might work on a metal dial, as well. At your risk, by the way,
 
MtV
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Not sure if this helps you in any way, but a “silver bath”, or “Silberbad” in German, would usually be a mixture of water, salt and baking soda that silver is dipped into for a couple minutes. I’ve done that with silver cutlery and it’s clean and shiny afterwards - I can’t imagine doing that to a dial, though. Even if the dial is solid silver, surely the printing would suffer from the aggressive baking soda (sodium bicarb)?
 
Caliber561
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If the printing is baked enamel, then a bath might not harm it like regular tampography dial.
 
Archer
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Caliber561 Caliber561
If the printing is baked enamel, then a bath might not harm it like regular tampography dial.

Yes, most silver dials on vintage are quite robust and can be cleaned rather aggressively without damage.
 
MtV
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Caliber561 Caliber561
If the printing is baked enamel, then a bath might not harm it like regular tampography dial.

Very interesting! Didn’t know that. Well, in that case, the “Silberbad” might have actually been what we were thinking.

As a collector of mainly 50s Omegas with those delicate dials the thought of dipping a dial into a bath with chemicals still makes my neck hair stand up though. 😁
 
JimInOz
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I have access to some, not actually mine, more "hers".

IMG_1639.JPG
 
ahsposo
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It's a lovely dial. I would like to see some more pictures of that watch.
 
Modest_Proposal
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I appreciate your responses. Should I receive it, I will gladly take more photos of the watch.
 
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