Product development
WATCH BUILD
Scope: My dream project has always been to develop my own watch. This journey started with a very first sketch and ended up with a one-of-a-kind 300m depth rated automatic watch in stainless steel and titanium.
01.
Sketching & Planing
Since this was going to be a personal timepiece, I could design it completely after my own preferences. Embracing the engineering and materials I wanted it to be as clean as possible with very few but eye-catching design elements.
There was a lot of sketching of case shapes and dial configurations as well as research of movements, hands, and overall watchmaking in this state of the project.
02.
Prototyping & Specifications
Some of the best sketches were 3D modeled in CAD and printed on my 3D printer to get a better understanding of form and feel. After several prototypes, I was confident that a 39mm case with a bit of thicker and curved lugs was best fitted for my wrist.
I did a list of requirements for what the watch should include and withstand. This helped me find out what type of movement, gaskets, crown, crystal, etc. that was needed.
03.
Detail drawings & Calculations
Many calculations had to be made to make sure the watch would be water-resistant to significant depths. This involved a lot of reverse engineering of other dive watches to understand where to put gaskets and how to design the case to handle a lot of pressure. Another important step was to make a good fit for the movement and clearance of the dial, hands, and crystal. The measurements and tolerances were put into the detail drawings.
04.
Movement & Material selection
A customized Swiss STP 21-11 automatic caliber is the heart of this watch. The extra high frequency of 28 800 bpm makes the second-hand float seamlessly unlike many other automatic watches.
The watch is manufactured from 316L stainless steel, has a grade 2 Titanium dial, and an unscratchable doomed sapphire crystal.
05.
Material processing
By heating titanium, several colors will appear at different temperatures in an anodization process within the metal. This was an experimental phase where i tried out what colors to aim for on the actual dial.
I build a jig to use a screwdriver to do the radial brushing with different grit sandpaper.
06.
Branding
The fact that you can take photos of a whole collection way before they even are manufactured is a great sustainable advantage. The demand for certain models and colors can be investigated in advance, which reduces any unnecessary production.
07.
Manufacturing & Assembly
The provided two-dimensional drawings and tech packs are interpreted and constructed into a 3D model. All this is done in a CAD environment to be a 1:1 representation of the real product.
FINAL RESULTS.
Final Results
SAIVA FIELD WATCH
These are some examples of how the final renders and animations can turn out.
