THE ART OF CASE FINISHING

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At Bremont we obsess over the details. At our Parts Manufacturing Facility we go to extraordinary lengths to ensure our cases are engineered and finished to the highest possible specification.

Our CT500 Recomatic automated grinding machine can produce many finishes for case parts, including a ground finish, polished finish and a satin finish. Its multi- axis functionality allows work to be carried out on a linear and circular axis, as well as between the lugs,all simultaneously. Down time of the CT500 machine is reduced significantly due to the 'easy loading' tooling.

All Bremont's in-house case parts are hand finished to a very high standard. Due to the unique design of Bremont's Trip-Tick® case, each case needs hand polishing. Whilst the cases appearance is that of a highly precise, machined part, hand polishing gives the watch a very individual and hand-made feel to the touch. Our highly skilled hand polishing technicians have 25 years of experience between them in the jewellery and luxury watch industry.

It doesn't end there, once the case parts have been hand finished, they are fastidiously checked over by our quality control operators before being carefully assembled into a finished Bremont timepiece.

CNC machine

TRIP-TICK® CASE CONSTRUCTION

All Bremont watch cases use Bremont Trip-Tick® construction consisting of three parts:

  • The hardened steel bezel element, containing the sapphire crystal.
  • The central body section, consisting of a titanium or DLC treated middle barrel.
  • The steel and crystal case back.

The separate middle section offers flexibility in both durability and design. It allows us to manufacture cases from different metals, such as titanium, to alter the watch’s weight. DLC, meanwhile, adds to the variety by using contrasting colours to distinguish between models.

Trip Tick case construction

In designing the case for Bremont back when the first cases were being prototyped, we wanted the cases to have their own unique DNA and a design that would separate the brand from others.

The vast majority of watches in the market place have a simple two-piece case construction. The case has the lugs integrated and a case back then screws on. The key benefit of this design is simplicity and cost of manufacture, but by using one piece of metal to machine the case and its lugs, you are restricted with the form the case can take. Most watch brand cases therefore look rather similar, especially from the side, and it is often left to the dial to differentiate one brand from another.

In the design of the Bremont case we wanted the ability to combine materials but also design something that had a real aerospace and engineered feel to it. We wanted the lugs to appear to ‘melt’ over the case bezel in a beautifully elegant yet robust way and take inspiration from the leading edge of a wing section.

We quickly realised that to achieve this the case would have to be made up of three pieces – the case bezel, a separate case middle and then the case back.

The challenge?
The middle would have to be machined independently of the case bezel. The bezel had to be machined by a CNC mill-turning machine with multiple-axis’ to allow all of the planes to be achieved. This proved much harder to achieve than initially thought and after approaching multiple suppliers, only one was willing to take on the challenge.

Making a handful of cases was one thing, making several hundred at a time was something very different. The task to find a supplier who really understood what we were trying to achieve as a brand was difficult. We realised the magnitude of this challenge when we brought the case machining in house. 

Watches are the most precise mechanical devices on the planet. Bremont aims to keep it that way.

INSIDE THE MB

BRITISH ENGINEERING, CASE CONSTRUCTION, INSIDE BREMONT, MANUFACTURING

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