Crown

The crown is the single control interface of the watch and how you give the movement its power.

The crown is the key component in the ritual of winding your watch, taking a moment to feel every tactile click in the movement as you breathe 4 days of power into its barrel.

Solid grade 5
titanium

Each crown is produced in solid Grade 5 titanium and polished by hand to a perfect mirror finish. To preserve water resistance, tolerances are critical, with each crown crafted with a tolerance of 0.01mm. After all 47 facets of the crown have been machined a 1.2mm Crown stem is inserted into the bottom and fitted with a 0.4mm O-ring for a water resistance of 50 meters.

The shining gem on the top of the crown is a 0.2mm deep recessed channel filled with two layers of Swiss black lume, protected by a layer of hard coat.

Swiss BGW9
Super-LumiNova Aventi

Each crown is crafted in four stages in a process over 9 weeks.

Production Process

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

4 weeks Raw Material and prep

Raw Grade 5 titanium is received in a two-meter circular length and is cut to proportion, each piece is then transferred to a 3 Axis CNC machine.

3 weeks CNC

Secured in the CNC machine, all 47 facets of the crown are cut using a 0.3mm diamondtipped cutting bit. The most difficult aspect of machining the crown is maintaining a tolerance of 0.01mm on such a small object. Maintaining this level of tolerance requires extremely thorough calibration and measurement a process that takes an average of 5 hours.

The precise luminous recess on top of the crown is created using an acid etching process. the crown is covered in a protective coating, then the Aventi logo is burnt into the coating using a high precision laser. the crown is then submerged into a vat of hydrochloric acid that eats away the titanium but not the protective coating.

1 week Tyamine® Coating

The titanium crown is heated to 150°C (300°F) to remove all moisture. This piece undergoes an ion bombardment to remove any micro oxides on its surface. The piece is secured to a rotating carousel and sealed into an airtight chamber to begin the coating process. Hydrogen gas carrying our proprietary carbon formula is introduced into the chamber and ionised by auxiliary high-voltage electrical anodes, causing the carbon and hydrogen atoms to split. An electrical charge passed through the case pulls the carbon onto the surface creating a cobblestone of diamond and graphite, carbon structures.

1 week Lume injection

Swiss black lume is injected into the recess on top of the dial. The crown is then heated to 80°C (176°F) in an industrial oven and then allowed to cool, setting the luminous material. This process is repeated two more times with layers of clear coat to protect the luminous material.

Specs

Material Grade 5 titanium

SIZE 6.5mm

Crown Stem width 1.2mm

water-resistance 50 meters

Crown stem seal 0.4mm rubber O-ring

Production 3 axis CNC using 0.3mm diamond bits

Lume recess depth 0.2mm

Lume BGW9 injection

Required tolerance 0.01mm