A method for manufacturing watch components in batches.

A method (100) for depositing over a substrate (1) a coating (20) absorbing visible light for the formation of an item (10), such as a watch component, including: providing a substrate (1); depositing an underlayer (21) covering at least one portion of the substrate (1) by application of a first liquid mixture including a binder, a solvent and pigments having a d90 percentile of nanometric dimension, the underlayer (21) being formed by evaporation of said solvent; depositing a stack (25) of a plurality of layers (22, 23, 24) with different particle sizes between each layer n of the stack (25) by successive application of a plurality of liquid mixtures including a binder, a solvent and pigments with different particle sizes; each layer of the stack (25) being formed by evaporation of the solvent and each layer n at least partially covering a preceding layer n1.

A method may produce a ceramic part with a mother-of-pearl effect, in particular for watchmaking. Such methods may include: forming a ceramic body; depositing a layer of an oxy-nitride component of the OxNy type on at least a portion of the ceramic body; and oxidizing at least a portion of the oxy-nitride layer, preferably by heating.

A timepiece dial including a base having a first region having a coating film provided at the surface of the base, a second region where laser light is radiated to the first region to remove the coating film, and a third region, in part of the first region, where the coating film is penetrated and the base is dug down, and the surface roughness of the third region is smaller than the surface roughness of the second region.

A case includes a main case body and an exterior member. The exterior member is welded to the main case body with laser light. The laser light is irradiated onto an irradiation surface. A welding part of the main case body and the exterior member is formed on the inner periphery surface extending along a height direction of the case and is formed such that the irradiation surface is perpendicular to the incident laser light.

A method for decorating a timepiece component, particularly a skeleton type watch dial. The component includes at least two different visual appearances, each visual appearance being the unique combination of a surface finish and of a colour. The decoration has the following steps: i) providing a component blank with a first unfinished surface (10a); ii) creating on said first unfinished surface a first termination possessing a first surface finish; iii) applying to the first termination one or more layers of atoms so as to give the first termination a first colour; iv) creating a second termination having at least one breaking of a corner on the blank in order to form at least one bevel or at least one chamfer having a second unfinished surface; v) creating on said second unfinished surface a second termination conferring a second surface finish, and vi) using electroplating, PVD or ALD, to deposit a metallic layer, preferably a layer of rhodium or of gold, on the second termination so as to give the second termination a second colour.

A method for producing an applique (1; 1; 1) for a timepiece dial, the applique (1; 1; 1) having at least two distinct portions (10, 20; 10, 20; 10, 20) made of a first material and a second material, respectively, the first and second materials being different, wherein the method includes a first phase (E1 to E4; E1 to E4) involving forming at least a second blank (20a; 20a) made of the second material within or at least partially within a first blank (10a; 10a) made of the first material so as to obtain a blank (1a; 1a) of the applique for a timepiece dial, then a second phase of machining (E5, E6; E5, E6) each of the two blanks (10a, 20a; 10a, 20a), so as to modify the shape and/or the surface state of each of the first and second blanks of the applique blank (1a; 1a).

A watch part manufacturing method includes: preparing a metal raw material; manufacturing a watch part material including a processing target portion to be cut by performing forging and heat treatment on the metal raw material; and cutting out a watch part from the processing target portion of the watch part material by cutting, and polishing the watch part, in which in the forging, the metal raw material is shaped using a die designed such that a magnitude of distortion of the processing target portion in the watch part material falls within a predetermined range, and the heat treatment is performed under a heat treatment condition set according to the magnitude of the distortion of the processing target portion in the watch part material shaped by the forging to make a crystal grain size of the processing target portion uniform and to make a crystal orientation isotropic.

The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a mechanical part based on at least two precious or noble metals or alloys thereof, the process comprising a step of atomizing the various precious metals, positioning the resulting powders in a mold so as to form an assembly of unmixed powders, and a step of sintering at temperatures below the melting temperatures of the metals used. The invention also covers a mechanical part produced by such a process, as well as a timepiece comprising such a mechanical part.

Disclosed is a process for cutting a metallic-glass strip, comprising applying to the strip a pulsed laser beam of wavelength shorter than or equal to 555 nanometers, the pulsed laser beam being formed of a succession of pulses each having a duration shorter than 10 picoseconds, and advantageously shorter than 1 picosecond, the crystallization temperature of the metallic glass being below 500 C., and the light energy of the laser beam incident on the strip being comprised between 1 and 10 microjoules per pulse.