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Horological Meandering

Different process ...

 

from AP.

AP is using a mold to cast a case, whereas Guy Ellia is milled out from a solid block of forged carbon.



The mold with thermocouple wires (for close monitoring of temperature) is put into an oven and heatup to a certain temperature. After which it will be removed from the oven and transfer to the high tonnage press.


The high tonnage press will apply 50 times the load over what the aerospace industry applies today.  Exact tonnage to compress the carbon fibre is a secret.  After subjecting to the pressure, it will also have to wait for the mold  temperature to drop to a certain number before opening the mold and remove the forged carbon.


This is how it looks like....the fibre form has become a solid piece.


Typically, the structure should be stronger if milled out from a single block of material as the resin are compressed better and could align the molecules.  Whereas in molding, due to the shape,  there are flow lines and parting line which are always a challenge as they are the contributing factors of possible structural issues.

Kong

 

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15 Comments view entire thread 

Sincere Watch - Guy Ellia Press Event

 
By: Kong : October 25th, 2009-11:33
Related Read : 1) Guy Ellia, does it ring a bell? 2) Guy Ellia New Carbon Fibre Jumbo Chrono 8 October, 2009 Singapore - Sincere Watch organised a press event to launch the Guy Ellia Collection. The founder and designer, Mr Guy Ellia, was supposedly to be...  

Nix the bling...

 
By: aaronm : October 25th, 2009-17:42
I wasn't expecting to like them, based on what I had seen before of the GE collection, but I kinda like the QP (no diamonds). I wonder where I'd get a chance to see one in the flesh A

Very interesting watch...

 
By: patrick_y : October 25th, 2009-20:02
There are definitely some interesting devices in these watches and one of the watches is very thin. Very interesting and quirky fashion forward watch. Thanks for the report Kong!

Thanks for an interesting post Kong.

 
By: fernando : October 25th, 2009-20:38
Having never encountered this brand before,I'm quite impressed with the design and creativity of GE.My favorite is also the QP(plain). Also interesting to note his use of forged carbon for the casing in the other piece. cheers fernando

Kong, do you know if the forged carbon used by Guy Ellia

 
By: AnthonyTsai : October 25th, 2009-20:54
is the same forged carbon process that AP uses? One thought that came up in my mind when I saw that forged carbon piece was "Does forged carbon mix well with a super thin watch case?" Initially, my mind says no so it'll be interested to see one of these i... 

Different process ...

 
By: Kong : October 25th, 2009-21:14
from AP. AP is using a mold to cast a case, whereas Guy Ellia is milled out from a solid block of forged carbon. The mold with thermocouple wires (for close monitoring of temperature) is put into an oven and heatup to a certain temperature. After which it...  

Moulded or Cut/Milled forged carbon case

 
By: ling5hk : October 26th, 2009-03:01
Kong, Does it mean that the Cut/Milled forged carbon case needs higher cost to produce, is relatively higher quality and has longer life span compared to moulded one? Regards Ling

I can only explained from ...

 
By: Kong : October 26th, 2009-04:08
my previous plastic injection molding experience. It is not necessarily accurate to say machining approach is higher cost, as the one with the mold incurred tooling and machine cost too. I don't have the any figures, so I could not advise accurately. Will...  

very stimulating post with quite complicated processing steps.

 
By: FanFrancisco : October 26th, 2009-09:03
by the way, learnt other interesting news from your post is that KC will be COO of Sincere. i hope after all, Sincere can still be the leading player in Singapore. thanks, Kong. stefan

You cannot forge Plastic.

 
By: BDLJ : October 26th, 2009-19:13
Those photos and explanation of the process are excellent. I like when companies disclose their processes and methods. That said, and I'm sorry if I've written this before, but you cannot forge plastic. And that's what these cases are, chopped strands of ... 

No, no, Thank you. I'm just the...

 
By: BDLJ : October 26th, 2009-22:10
....guy who editorialises over this stuff. It's guys like you who get this first hand information and write up these reviews in the first place that deserve all the credit.

It is good to have ...

 
By: Kong : October 26th, 2009-22:27
someone familiar checking over my writeup. If it is inaccurate, I learn and will be sharper in questioning next round. Thanks. Kong

super report. thank you Kong

 
By: Tony A.H : October 30th, 2009-13:51
i'm quite new to this Brand. but very impressed with their Designs. so impressive and thin!! i like the Quantiem Repetuel a lot. thanks for sharing.. Tony

This is one of those rare instances where IMHO "the ice maketh the watch".

 
By: tony p : November 6th, 2009-05:39
The QP with added bling looks (at least in Kong's wonderful photos) even better than its de-iced cousin. This is hardly surprising, given Ellia's professional provenance as a jeweller. I visited the Guy Ellia booth at Baselworld this year and I'm telling ...