Horological Meandering

Who loves blued steel (or indeed other metals) in their watches? Screws, hairsprings, hands. Other parts?

 

Bluing is a passivation process whereby a ‘protective’ non-reactive layer, only nanometres thick, is created or applied to the metal. In the case of steel these are usually oxides, like magnetite, that protect against further rusting.

 

I am a sucker for blued screws. I know they can overpower a movement, but I find it hard to say “no”. Perhaps it started when I tried to heat-blue my own screws in a GO Masterclass in 2007? You have to be observant and quick to get the colour hue just right.

 

This particular photo of the Breguet La Tradition, taken in the evening light, seems to catch the blue hands and screws.

 

I would love to see your photos of blue bits!

 

Andrew

Paul Gerber provided this video to demonstrate how he blues his screws:

“I screw the screws into a plate for grinding. I then polish the screws to a very high finish. After cleaning, I heat the screws while still on the plate and dip everything into a blue salt process, increasing the heat gently to acheive the desired blue color. Then I immediately remove everything from the solution and allow to cool. I then clean the screws and they are ready for assembly.”

I'm a bit disappointed that he seems to be taking the stock plated screws from the movement and just polishing the plate off the head before bluing, leaving that garish "white" screw-slot....

Is that a molten salt he's using to keep a stable temperature or a hot-dip chemical blue? It's hard to tell from the term "blue salt"
A

Hi Aaron, I agree that it would be aesthetically preferable to have the slots polished and blued. It looks like Paul uses the same blued screws on the Retro Twin, but uses polished steel screws for the Model 33 (including the screwed chatons) and Model 41.

 

I will ask for more information on the bluing process, but it is summer holidays in Switzerland which will delay a response.

 

Regards

 

Andrew

Over the years I have captured a few:

My inherited Bernex from Grandpa, showing years of daily wear since 1945-1987...Almost scary how well the hand has stayed blue over the years!

Blued Habring chrono hands...

Blue Surf with it's blued movt.

Peter's blue Foundation style hands are superb...

Lot of blue here!!! The PSM Thalassa:

The Marin 1's blued hands filled with super luminova...

Peter strikes again!

All blue, UN's Blue Surf, one of my fav. summer play watches

PS-M's blued hands and calendar discs:

The blued steel Serpent Calendar hands:


Hands and numerals blue!

My VH Classic with Vianney's richly blued steel convex hands

More PSM blue hands...

Habring blue hands and markers on his COS chronograph

A galvanic blue dial....

A friend's gorgeous DB15 in platinum with the blue hands and surrounding of the moon

Blued steel Shimoda hand

Yes, Breguet does a good job on their screws, amongst other parts...

My hands on my platinum Piccadilly..

Peter's blued steel Gianfranca hands:

That's all for now folks,
Great thread Andrew,
Cheers,
Tim

Thanks for all the great pics and so many unique and beautiful watches.

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a stunning set of pics!

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Awesome collection you got there, Tim. Respect. 

Many of them, yes, but several are owned by friends...I have had the fortune and pleasure of viewing/handling some amazing pieces over the years.

Cheers,
Tim

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This amazing piece is owned by gentleman purist friend of mine, It is the prototype Marin 3, meaning that it contains the design by Peter of the regulator and jumping hour mechanism, executed by one watchmaker in it's entirety over the course of 3 months. The springs, levers and cams are all cut and finished from raw metal, no CNC machines produced these parts, and then hand finished with surface graining and anglage. The twelve spoked hour wheel is 18K gold and the anglage is is wonderful.
The mechanism is amazing in that it runs forwards and backwards and is something to behold when observing it click over at the hour marker.

The serially produced Marin 3 will include this complication, together with a date and his signature "Topping tool motif' second hand at 9 o'clock. It will alosbe based on the SM2 caliber. These pieces although hand finished to a high degree, will have the parts produced by CNC machine/ wire erosion, as is the way with most manufacturers these days.

This is why this particular piece is so amazing and compelling, to be truly hand made is very rare, there are a only a handful of watchmakers making anything handmade in this day and age.

Cheers,
Tim

Truly one of the most compelling pieces I've seen in a long time.  Massive props to Peter.

Cheers,
Daos

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Thank you so much for the write-up and incredible pictures. I love everything about this watch.

Question--what are the fine, curved mechanical wings, or whatever you call them, that are on the open face, and what do they do/how do they work?

Cheers,
Daniel

Cheers,
Tim

This watch is a new dream watch for me. Amazing.

DJK

thx for sharing this!  what a stunning piece--the craft as well as the mechanics involved are just remarkable!

J

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Thanks! Especially liked the shot of the Vianney Halter.

 

Best

Andreas

The habillage found in Vianney's atelier is second to none, putting aside the designs of his watches, his finishing of the case, hands, dials is absolutely incredible when one begins to examine them under magnification. Those rivets in the crown and bezel and even on the buckle! Quite something and I'm thrilled to have gotten my hands on one of these before he finished the series production of only 250 pieces total.

Cheers,

Tim

His stunning Grand Seiko with applied arabics and those hands!!!

Here in the company of a Vianney creation, the lovely VH Goldpfeil, snapped at IGOTT2 almost 2 months ago...a great reminder of the variety and wonderful collection of timepieces being shown by all participants.

Cheers,
TIm

Thx for sharing. Great watches and pictures

Hagwe

Hans

HAGWE too!

Cheers,
Tim

A movement I can look at all day. 

A great topic - I like blued components a lot - it seems to be a very traditional technique that is both functional and decorative at the same time. I look forward to seeing what some others come up with.