AIS Collective’s BronzePen can restore your bronze watch to factory-fresh – or let it tell its own story

Time+Tide

Bronze watches occupy a curious space in modern watch collecting. The whole point of bronze is its reactivity: each watch develops a patina unique to its wearer, shaped by skin chemistry, environment, and use. This patina is actually a protective layer, but it also makes each bronze watch unique to its owner. It’s a living material that records a journey – it’s kind of romantic. But sometimes that journey gets messy. Sometimes you want to hit reset. Sometimes you need that factory-fresh glow back.

Enter the AIS Collective BronzePen, a specialised version of the Swiss accessory brand’s popular ChronoPen cleaning kit that’s engineered specifically for bronze watch cases. Where the original ChronoPen handles stainless steel, gold, platinum, ceramic and more, the BronzePen zeroes in on bronze’s unique oxidisation challenges with a formula designed to gently strip away copper oxide patina without aggressive chemicals or abrasives.

The design mirrors the ChronoPen’s clever pen-shaped format: a 30ml cleaning solution housed in a precision applicator with an extra-fine brush head. That brush is dense yet featherweight, getting into lugs, bezels and crown guards without leaving scratches behind. The kit also includes an extra-thick cotton polishing towel to buff away residue and bring back that warm, rosy bronze finish.

But why would you want to remove patina? It’s a fair question. Bronze’s oxidisation is what makes each piece personal – the greenish-blue verdigris that forms on a diver after saltwater exposure, the darker browns that develop from daily wear, the lighter tones that emerge in drier climates – but not all patina develops evenly. Fingerprints leave marks. Grime accumulates in recesses. What starts as character can turn into gunk, and sometimes, you simply want to see the watch as it was meant to be seen: clean, bright, ready for a new chapter.

The BronzePen gives you control: keep the patina you love, strip away the bits you don’t, start fresh before a special occasion, or document your watch’s transformation over time by periodically resetting it. It’s about agency: choosing how your bronze ages rather than letting chemistry decide for you.

Each BronzePen is good for around 60 uses, making it a long-term companion for bronze aficionados who want to maintain their watches with precision and care. The solution is safe for all bronze alloys, though it won’t work on leather straps or fabric (AIS Collective offers a separate ChronoLeatherPen with a silicon rubber brush head for that).

Bronze watches are popular precisely because they’re reactive, authentic, and unpredictable. However, even authenticity requires maintenance, and those who’ve owned a bronze watch know how challenging it can be to maintain a bronze watch’s patina perfectly. That’s why we like the BronzePen, because it doesn’t erase your watch’s story – it just gives you the option to write the next chapter on a clean page.

The AIS Collective BronzePen retails for A$99 and is available now from the Time+Tide Shop and our Melbourne Discovery Studio. Find out more here.