Transparent Watch Hand with Titanium Coating for Aesthetic Quality
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-end watch components, particularly clock hands, face aesthetic issues due to visible defects when partly transparent needles are assembled with opaque barrels, requiring multiple finishing steps to maintain quality and aesthetics.
Innovation Solution
A clock hand made entirely of transparent material, with a titanium-based layer to conceal unsightly elements and enhance adhesion for a colored indicator tip, manufactured using techniques like etching, 3D printing, and PVD/CVD deposition, minimizing finishing operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a clock hand is made partially transparent with an opaque barrel assembly, then visibility and display function are improved, but aesthetic quality deteriorates due to visible defects at the junction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the clock hand body transparent while the indicator tip remains opaque, and by applying a transparent coating only to specific areas (the junction zone) rather than the entire hand. This localized differentiation resolves the contradiction by maintaining visibility through the transparent body while hiding defects locally at the barrel junction without compromising overall aesthetics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a transparent coating as an intermediary substance applied to the junction area between the hand and barrel. This coating acts as a visual mediator that camouflages the opaque barrel and connection defects, allowing the transparent hand to maintain its aesthetic quality while still fulfilling the display function.
2Device complexity
If multiple finishing steps are applied to a partly transparent clock hand, then aesthetic quality is improved, but manufacturing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a transparent coating in advance during the manufacturing process, before final assembly and inspection. This preliminary action ensures that aesthetic quality is built-in during manufacturing rather than requiring multiple post-manufacturing finishing steps, thereby improving productivity while maintaining high aesthetic standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the coating application step with other manufacturing operations, integrating the aesthetic finishing function into the existing manufacturing workflow. This merging of operations reduces the total number of separate finishing steps required, improving manufacturing efficiency while achieving the desired aesthetic quality.
3Device complexity
If a transparent material is used for the clock hand body, then aesthetic quality is improved, but adhesion of colored indicator tip deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The transparent coating serves as an intermediary layer between the transparent hand body and the colored indicator tip. This intermediate layer provides a suitable surface for adhesion of the colored tip while maintaining the aesthetic transparency of the hand body, thus resolving the contradiction between aesthetic quality and adhesion reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure with multiple layers: the transparent hand body, the transparent coating layer, and the colored indicator tip. This composite material approach allows each layer to fulfill its specific function - the transparent body provides aesthetics, the coating provides adhesion, and the colored tip provides visibility - resolving the contradiction between aesthetic quality and adhesion reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures excellent manufacturing quality and aesthetics with reduced finishing steps, providing a clear and readable clock hand that conceals imperfections and improves adhesion for durable color retention.
Implementation Method 1
The first layer 8 has two distinct functions. The first function is to make the head 2 opaque or nearly opaque to conceal unsightly elements located beneath it
Implementation Method 2
The second function of the first layer 8 is to act as a primer, improving the adhesion of the color layer 9 to the needle structure
Implementation Method 3
the first layer 8 is deposited simultaneously on the upper surface of the distal end portion 7 and on the upper surface of the head 2, typically by PVD (physical vapor deposition) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition)
Implementation Method 4
the first layer 8 is deposited simultaneously on the upper surface of the distal end portion 7 and on the upper surface of the head 2, typically by PVD (physical vapor deposition) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition)
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The watch hand (1) according to the invention comprises a needle structure made entirely of a transparent material and comprising a head (2) and a body (3); a first layer (8) formed on the upper surface of the head (2) and on the upper surface of only a part (7) of the body (3), this part (7) being distant from the head (2), the material of the first layer (8) being chosen from titanium, chromium, tantalum, their alloys as well as their oxides and nitrides; and a color layer (9) comprising a paint, a lacquer or a varnish formed on the part of the first layer (8) located on the body (3).