A system including two components intended to be in friction contact with each other in a given direction, wherein the friction occurs in a functional area, wherein the system is at least one of the two components including, on a surface in the functional area, a texture formed of a series of troughs of rounded shape separated by peaks or a series of bumps of rounded shape separated by troughs, the troughs extending parallel in the given direction and allowing for the evacuation of debris produced by friction and serving as a reservoir for a lubricant. A method for manufacturing at least one component or a mold by the DRIE (deep reactive ion etching) process, wherein surface defects on the sidewalls machined by the DRIE process are used to form the troughs.

A method for manufacturing a micromechanical timepiece part starting from a silicon-based substrate, including, forming pores on the surface of at least one part of a surface of said silicon-based substrate of a determined depth, entirely filling the pores with a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, in order to form, in the pores, a layer of the material of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores. A micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate which has, on the surface of at least one part of a surface of the silicon-based substrate, pores of a determined depth, the pores being filled entirely with a layer of a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores.

Provided is a watch component made of silicon and including a front surface, a back surface, and a side surface intersecting with the front surface and the back surface, the watch component including a first recessed portion formed at the front surface side, a second recessed portion formed at the back surface side, and a communicating groove causing one of the first recessed portion and the second recessed portion to communicate with the side surface.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electroformed part favorable for an assembly part of a timepiece or the like and a timepiece using the same. The present invention relates to an electroformed part, which is an electroformed part composed of a nickel-iron alloy constituted by nickel, iron, and unavoidable impurities, containing iron at 5 to 25% by mass, and having a roughly layered form portion in which a stacked form portion having an inclined iron content in a thickness direction is repeatedly stacked a plurality of times. It is preferred that the stacked portion is constituted by crystal grains having an average grain diameter of 50 nm or less.

A process for producing a part provided with an external element includes: providing an electrically conductive substrate having an upper surface and a raised pattern with a crest on the upper surface; depositing an electrically insulating layer onto the upper surface around the pattern to a thickness less than or equal to the distance between the crest and the upper surface; depositing a metal layer onto the crest by galvanic growth so that the metal layer partly rests on the insulating layer; dissolving the insulating layer; covering an assembly including the substrate and the metal layer with a mass of a base material of the part to form an imprint; separating the mass and the metal layer from the substrate, the mass then exhibiting an external element formed by a recess, the shape of which corresponds to the imprint and the base of which interfaces with the metal layer.

A method for manufacturing a silicon timepiece component (1) with a functional external profile.

The process for manufacturing a ceramic timepiece component includes:manufacturing an intermediate component (E1) in the form of green body based on ceria-zirconia;totally or partially debinding (E2) the intermediate component to obtain a debound intermediate component:partially impregnating (E3) the debound intermediate component with at least one solution comprising at least one metal salt, on one portion only of its surface, to obtain an impregnated debound intermediate component:sintering and thermally treating (E4) the impregnated debound intermediate component by performing at least one heat treatment under a reducing atmosphere (E42; E41).

A method for manufacturing an external component of a watch, of a fashion item or of a jewellery item, including depositing an inner layer on all or part of the surface of an inner face of a substrate made of a transparent material, localised ablation of the inner layer, so as to conserve a part of the inner layer on a first portion of the inner face f the substrate, the ablation being performed so as to form at least one pocket opening onto a second portion of the inner face of the substrate and so as to structure the second portion of the inner fa of the substrate, treating the surface of the inner layer and of the second portion of the inner face of the substrate.

A watch component includes a substrate including a first region where a plurality of first recesses is formed in a surface, and a second region where a plurality of second recesses is formed in the surface, and a multilayer film covering at least a part of the first region and the second region. In a cross-sectional view obtained by cutting the substrate in a thickness direction, the plurality of first recesses is defined by a first side, and a second side tilted with respect to the first side and being in contact with the first side at an end portion. In the cross-sectional view, the plurality of second recesses is defined by a third side, and a fourth side tilted with respect to the third side and being in contact with the third side at an end portion. In the cross-sectional view, an angle of an inclination of the second side with respect to a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the substrate and an angle of an inclination of the fourth side with respect to the direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the substrate are different from each other. In plan view as viewed from the thickness direction of the substrate, the first region and the second region have a value of a brightness L* in a L*a*b* color space of 5 or greater and 20 or less.

A method including obtaining an at least partially transparent object (1), providing a mask (6) defining at least one opening (8) wherein the contour corresponds to a profile of the anti-counterfeit marking to be structured, the mask (6) covering a surface of the at least partially transparent object (1) at the areas not to be structured, structuring the anti-counterfeit marking by bombarding the at least partially transparent object (1) by an ion beam (14) through the at least one opening (8) of the mask (6), the mechanical properties of the mask (6) being sufficient to prevent the ions of the ion beam (14) from etching the surface of the at least partially transparent object (1) at the areas where this surface is covered by the mask (6), removing the mask (6), and placing the at least partially transparent object (1) in a bath (16) at alkaline pH.