PVD - Physical Vapour Deposition

PVD stands for "Physical Vapour Deposition". The PVD coating is used to make watches more durable, increase their resistance and make their appearance more attractive.

During the vacuum coating process, very fine layers of hard materials are applied to the base material in the form of steam, so that a comprehensive lacquer layer is formed. The complete powder coating process must take place in a vacuum chamber to prevent a reaction between steam and air. Coating thicknesses starts in the nanometer range. However, layers of up to a few micrometers can be built up by repeating the process several times.

The great advantage of the vacuum coating process is that the atomized material does not undergo any chemical reactions with the surface. The adhesion is exclusively due to the process.

The conventional PVD process results in a strong black surface. Black watches are therefore usually treated by the PVD process and can be recognised distinctly. In addition to the conventional coating with the black material, there is also the PVD gilding. In this case, a thin layer of metal is also evaporated and applied to the watch. This has the resulted effect of not a black surface, instead a golden or red-golden varnish is created.

PVD gilding uses identical processes to those used for conventional PVD coating. The difference is that no lead or graphite is sprayed on, but rather gold particles.