PVD-coating - what is it? The use of PVD coating in the watch industry

The modern watch industry offers a wide range of products on the market, in which it is sometimes difficult to understand. In the production of Swiss watches very often use PVD-coating. What is it, does not everyone know. But the aforementioned sputtering plays a crucial role in protecting the product from moisture and not only.

In addition, there are other methods to improve the wear resistance of watches and their other characteristics. This, for example, gilding, galvanic coating of nickel and palladium, ion spraying of steel and others. It is problematic for an inexperienced person to find out for himself, which method is the best and the above methods differ from each other. Let's try to figure it out.

PVD-coating - what is it?

Recently, watches having the above-mentioned spraying are widely popular. What is a PVD coating? What it is?

Specialists note that in the watch industry the above type of coating is applied in a vacuum. That is, on the body of the product, titanium nitride (super-hard) is applied, over which a very thin layer of gold is coated.

There is also another designation for this method of protecting the watch surface, such as a PVD coating. What it is? This is a coating technique that is carried out under high pressure in a vacuum by bombardment with ions, evaporation-condensation, sputter metallization.

It is thanks to the above chemical processes that such a superfine deposition is obtained without any impurities.

Application of vacuum deposition

This type of spraying is used to create on the surface of tools, parts, equipment coating with a functional overtones. For example, the manufacture of frames of gilded glasses or watches with PVD-coating. This spraying has the following properties: corrosion-resistant, wear-resistant, conductive, erosion-resistant, insulating, barrier, antifriction.

Metals such as titanium, tungsten, aluminum, molybdenum, nickel, iron, copper, chromium, graphite act as materials for deposition. Also, an active chemical gas is sometimes added to the process mixture. For example, oxygen, nitrogen or acetylene.

With the above-mentioned vacuum deposition method, manufacturers are able to produce ultra-thin coatings from 2 angstroms to 2 microns in thickness. Specialists note that after applying PVD-coating additional processing surface of the product does not require.

What is the difference between PVD coating and gilding? Methods of applying protective coating

Both of the above ways of protecting the watch from moisture are widely used in industry. Experts argue that the main difference between this spraying and ordinary gilding is precisely the thickness of gold on the bracelet and watch case.

It should be noted that there is steel with PVD-coating - partial or full, yellow or white. Thanks to this coating, the watch case has excellent water-repellent properties and high wear resistance. The thickness of this sputtering is in the range from 3 μm to 20 μm.

Specialists say that the gilding is erased with time. In a year, the thickness of gold on the watch body decreases, according to average statistics, by about 1 micron.

There are also other methods of applying protective coatings:

• Galvanic coating with palladium (a small admixture of nickel is used), which gives the product a bright white color;
• Galvanic coating with palladium and nickel (differs from the previous method in that a higher percentage of nickel is used here);
• Ionic spraying of steel (watch case white, but lackluster color);
• Ionic gold deposition (gives the product all kinds of shades of yellow).

Among the methods of thermal spraying, the following are distinguished:

• Laser beam evaporation;
• Electron beam evaporation;
• Evaporation by vacuum arc;
• Magnetron sputtering;
• Implantation of ions.

Factors affecting the resistance of the coating

The longevity of the coating significantly depends on:

1. Clothes made of genuine leather. It reduces the life of the coating by about two times.
2. Acidity of the sweat of the person, the owner of the watch. The body can begin to "corrode" on the sides and on the side of the rear cover.
3. Thickness of the coating itself.
4. Compliance with strict application technology requirements.
5. The metal to be coated (does not cause adhesion).
6. Terms of use of the product.

The main characteristics of the PVD coating

The above coating has the following features:

• Hyperfine (thickness from 1 to 3 μm);
• Is made without presence in the composition of any impurities;
• Has a high degree of durability;
• Strong enough;
• Protects the product from scratches.

PVD-coating hours is one of the best ways to protect them. Thanks to this vacuum spraying, the performance characteristics of the products are increased.