Adventures in case-making.

[Dimman]

Rough bronze case castings are on the way. Picked up some silver and bronze dial experiment castings. These are quite thick for a dial, intended for a hand height HH6 2824. Finishing by the casting house is mediocre. Best of the bunch is antique silver (2nd one) finishing.

Polished. Not enough contrast. Didn't get into detail areas well.


Antique finish. Better, but could be still improved.


Bronzes with different model, one is polished one is raw. Only difference is slightly smoother background on one.



So next case project will be designed for thick HH6 dials, and cutting these out round, drilling hand hole and spot facing for dial feet on back. Later.

[geoffbot]

Very cool. Hokusai?

[Dimman]

Very cool. Hokusai?

Yes sir. Turned a high res image of his most famous print into a vector, then extruded different colours of it to different heights in 3d. 3d file goes to a specialist casting house in NYC that 3d prints a high definition wax of the model, then lost wax casts it in metals.

Technology is amazing sometimes.

(But this could be improved with better hand finishing...)

[geoffbot]

Very cool. Jean Richard used that image once - I almost bought one https://www.ablogtowatch.com/jeanric...-watch-review/

[Dimman]

Very cool. Jean Richard used that image once - I almost bought one https://www.ablogtowatch.com/jeanric...-watch-review/

I got motivation from the $125000 Blancpain version:



I became annoyed that for all the Japanese inspiration they used for the watch (traditional alloys and patina techniques), they utterly missed the point of the print.

The Hokusai print series is Fugaku, which has nothing to do with the wave. It's about Mount Fuji. And the print's name is usually mis-translated as simply the Great Wave of Kanagawa. But it's more correctly *Under* a great wave off Kanagawa. And this references both the fishermen trying not to get swamped, as well as the position of Fuji on the print. Both the Jean Richard and Blancpain miss these important subtleties.

I just did a 3d conversion in silver for Hokusai, keeping the elements.

[Dimman]

Alrighty then...





Went from Stage 1 3d-printed prototype to current Stage 2 cast CuSn8 bronze prototype. Next step is crystals, crown and case tube, threading, gaskets, more styling suitable dial and hands, etc...

[rodia77]

[Dimman]

Thanks, but this was the easy part. All the little details need to be done now. Long way from done.

[rodia77]

Man, your 'easy parts' is magic happening in front of my eyes. I only used the 'clap' smiley because there is no 'jawdrop'.

[Dimman]

While procrastinating from the laborious task of polishing this bronze case blank, I continued my never-ending internet deep dive into non-horological industrial processes that can be used for horology.

I came across one. A good one.

So this model from the thread beginning:



...didn't do well in the casting, one of the thin lugs warping, either the wax during investment or during the metal pour.


(Bottom right lug isn't straight.)

So I've found an alternative method from companies in Boston and in Belgium.

Going to be getting 3 pieces of the main case done in 20 micron (minimum order value is over 2 cases) Grade 5 Titanium. And one of the caseback (didn't do a proper job sorting out their minimum order value) in 50 micron Grade 5 Titanium. They also both do 316L.

This opens up sports and dive watches for the future. As well as bracelets/clasps. (Provided I don't stay permanently distracted by new stuff and never finish anything. There is precedent for that unfortunately...)

Very exited for when they show up.