"X" watch: Anodizing engraved titanium experiment

I started this watch 3 years ago and just finished it today. I experimented with several new techniques here including anodizing titanium, swapping out wheels in a watch movement to extend through an extra thick dial, more advanced bulino with gold inlay and applying my new CAD skill. The photos include several of the dial as well as the anodizer I built from scratch. In one photo is an electrified paintbrush used to detail the color burn. I learned that titanium cannot be anodized if any other metals are with it in the bath. Because this piece was inlayed with gold along with platinum buttons for the hour dots, the titanium resisted the electric current completely during anodization. The gold and platinum in essence became "sacrificial anodes". Because titanium has a lower electrical conductivity than gold it actually sided with the negative charge of the bath and all the positive current went into the gold and platinum. In experiments I learned that the titanium can easily be masked off with nail polish to create different color zones. One can conceivably color different areas at will as long as no gold is present. I ended up coloring this piece with a torch while it was spinning, creating the blue to purple to yellow color transition seen. I then was able to detail anodize the portraits using an electrified paint brush because the faces don't have gold on them and the current was isolated to very small areas by the brush. The dark blue near the center was added as well as some shading about the figures. I used no ink here as it just muddied the bright color. The case I designed in CAD and fitted the watch with an ETA manual wind movement which can be retrofitted with different wheels for thicker dials. The hands here are not the final hands. Twice the hands I ordered came in the wrong size so these hands will be swapped out later with more appropriate ones. This is a 30.5mm dial.1

Beautiful and most interesting!!

Very nice work! What material is the case? Was this cast or machined in metal?

WOW!!! That is cool!
Excellent work, Jim!!!!
Thanks for sharing,
Weldon

Thanks for the thumbs up. The case is the new "Sterlium" 925 alloy from Stuller. It has been designed in CAD, wax printed and then cast in silver. I had to solder the lugs on to give it a cleaner look. It also allowed me to turn the rough cast case on a lathe for final milling before adding the lugs.

EXCEPTIONAL work and VERY interesting processes have resulted in an amazing watch.

Thanks for taking the time to show it Jim.

Very nice watch James . I like the light on your daughters' portrait.

To avoid the short circuit in the anodizing bath , you have to mask gold with varnish .

Thanks all. Santos I would have masked the gold off but felt there was too much detail to successfully do it here without spill over one way or the other as I wanted that dark blue which would have shown any missed areas. I saw on your web site some excellent titanium work with more detail than I've seen elsewhere. I saw that you used a tooth pick. I haven't tried ammonium sulfate but will give that a try. I tried nail polish as a mask on scraps but didn't think to try varnish which is more fluid. I actually used a tooth pick with bobbing compound to lighten up some areas afterward exposing the raw titanium.

Very beautiful. Thanks for posting. I've tried anodizing with a paintbrush, but have not been very successful. I also have not tried the toothpick. I'm interested in getting a full range of colors and I seem to keep getting pastel colors, but not the beautiful bold colors you have here (with the brush). I can get the bold colors in a bath. Thanks Santos for the hint about the varnish.

That's a great peice of work all round James. Looks fantastic!!

Great photos as well thanks

Cheers
Andrew

Thanks all, Tira I actually did most of the color here with a torch and then touched up with a brush using trisodium phosphate. When I started this I didn't know that the gold would short circuit the the anodizing process. The brushed worked for detail in the figures because there was no gold there. I figure I was lucky here getting decent color with a torch because anything can happen that way.

SUPERB! Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful works I've seen

kind of unbelievable. so beautiful. and just an experiment ? looks like the real deal to me.

James, I figured out about the gold problem the hard way too only I used silver.... I'll not do that again. Thanks for the info.

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in awhile .... just had to say.

My mind is officially blown. That watch is fantastic. Wellllllllllll done!

That's just impressive.

Thanks all, I appreciate your responses very much.

WOW that is amazing work, James!! :clapping: My congratulations & thanks a lot for your explanation of the used techniques! Paulie

WOWZERS!!!! Thank you for posting this amazing piece of work and your life.