Reply With QuoteYep. Especially for the poor bloke machining it!Originally Posted by aldfort
Not sure about pure tungsten but Hastelloy or Stellite might be interesting.
Yep. Especially for the poor bloke machining it!
I was thinking about ice-hardened steel. I've had a word with a suitable manufacturer.........
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
:thumbup:
:wink:
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Amen :D
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Whoop whoop whoop :D
Aleluya I may had.... :D :D :D :)Amen :D
:cry: - anything else will be a big disappointment
Surely an ultra-durable ceramic watch that turns out to be not so durable would be even more of a disappointment? I think it's better to avoid shatter-prone ceramics and go for something that really is durable.:cry: - anything else will be a big disappointment
Maybe when ceramic technology improves it will be possible to return to it: The Dark Image II? :-)
I posted here on this - viewtopic.php?f=24&t=141572&p=1478390#p1478390
If you design for a ceramic you get good performance - avoid sharp corners and use radii & fillets - avoid areas where it'll be in tension. If you re-make a part (that was designed to be metal) in ceramic then chances are it'll fail - as evident in above post.
Back in my Sheffield Uni days I did quite a bit (3.5 years) of research work on ceramics & not all ceramics are that brittle.
Zirconia - not the cubic fake diamond type - but the partially stabilised Y-TZP has a similar fracture toughness to cast iron (which is good for a ceramic) and are widely used for industrial applications. ...& some knives ...& you can change the colour by varying the oxygen in the sintering atmosphere.
So the summary is - if you use a ceramic - spend some time on case design and it'll come out good.
If you simply re-make a metal component in ceramic - it'll come out bad.
z
Very interesting. Two questions occur to me:
(1) What is the drop resistance like: Will a properly designed ceramic watch case survive a 1m drop onto a hard surface?
(2) How would you rate the Dark Image design that Eddie showed in the first message in this thread? (I realise you may feel that this is a commercially senstive question).
1) Depends on the specific material chosen.Very interesting. Two questions occur to me:
(1) What is the drop resistance like: Will a properly designed ceramic watch case survive a 1m drop onto a hard surface?
(2) How would you rate the Dark Image design that Eddie showed in the first message in this thread? (I realise you may feel that this is a commercially senstive question).
2) To quote the above: "avoid sharp corners and use radii & fillets", stress risers are bad, worst for ceramics. A good FEA might be in order...
All good points.
As for drop resistance - you can bounce ceramic cylpebs off walls [alumina or doped zirconia] and not have an issue.
The supplier is critical though. If you have a contaminant in the powder, such as a hair, it'll burn out to leave a residual pore that will be the weak point in the structure. I'd love to handle a broken ceramic case and actually look into what the cause was.
Well said. For example the lugs of this Junghans may look ‘traditional’ from the front but from the back you can see that they are massively re-enforced.
I did actually destroy the Junghans when I finished with it (I just had to know how strong the stuff really was)* … and I can categorically state that the Junghans case can survive the balcony test. One of the primary factors would be the weight of the watch, the heavier the watch the more kinetic energy it would store …
The biggest problem with ceramic (for me) is that it’s too light.
john
* My own personal worry was that if a banged it and it shattered, it might create sharp shards to cut my wrist. I was riding bikes at the time so ‘the banging’ can be intense. All this happened long before watch forums so there are no pics which is a great pity.
THIN is the new BLACK
I think others here have answered these points already - it looks good - but my main concern with any ceramic case would be the lug area. This is the region where it would be possible to expose the ceramic to tensile loading - which is generally bad news.Very interesting. Two questions occur to me:
(1) What is the drop resistance like: Will a properly designed ceramic watch case survive a 1m drop onto a hard surface?
(2) How would you rate the Dark Image design that Eddie showed in the first message in this thread? (I realise you may feel that this is a commercially senstive question).
I think it would be fairly simple to remedy - as with the Junghans post above - by reinforcing the lugs - or perhaps it would be an opportunity to be a bit more innovative and design a fixed bar type case (with smooth transitions to avoid stress raisers) - could be quite nice.
z
Just going back over the in the pipeline watches and this SQ is another definite on the future purchases - That makes three of Eddie's finest on the list for future purchases. It is a good job the launches are usually a little extended between each, allows me to bank the additional cash for the DN GMT and the Stealth (B2-Spirit):)
It's just a matter of time...
Wow I would love one!
Beautiful Eddie
Is it indeed ceramic?
The original plan was but it is up in the air about the case material.
If i'm honest, not too many watches make me go "oooooooh"
But that one did.
Any update or ETA? I don't care what it's made of!!
IESH a good African word that means Feck me that is wonderful.
Love that.
Eish btw. :)
Very old thread, but I'd definetly like one of these. If they happen.......
Yes, it's certainly time to speak with the clairvoyant again.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I already did and i,ll have one on my wrist on 23/09/13 8 minutes after noon 8)Yes, it's certainly time to speak with the clairvoyant again.
Eddie
Last edited by jimmerjammer; 1st August 2012 at 20:22.
LOL I have additional questions to ask... LOL
Whether ceramic or metal PVD, this is a good looking watch
It would be even better if anybody actually wanted to make it.Whether ceramic or metal PVD, this is a good looking watch
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Then the time has come for the Rado Swanbourne.
Any update?
This is one if a handful of quartz watches I'd quite like to own.
It's just a matter of time...
I'd still like to do this but getting hold of HEQ movements isn't easy. I've approached both Citizen and Seiko about using one of theirs but they don't sell them outside the company.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
That news somewhat limits things. What about an ETA derived superquartz? Would that be possible?
It would be nice to see a selection of TF watches catering for higher price/lower price and both automatics and quartz within these sectors - but I am sure that would take some time to achieve effectively.
Still, it would be great to see this project reach completion at some stage. Fingers crossed for the future.
It's just a matter of time...
This is a good looking project and very interesting to see some of the older ideas.
Presumably there is no way to cheat for the source of the movements? What would the cheapest viable donor watch be?
Could say 200 of us have accidentally broken our HEQ in such a way as to require a new movement?
Just wondering what happened to the dark image superquartz ?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
ETA discontinued the movement I wanted to use. Both Citizen and Seiko don't sell their own superquartz movements outside.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Dead now then, or still sleeping?
M
Sleeping.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
shame , i had that down as the new dreadnought
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Intriguing :)
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
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