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Audemars Forged Carbon Case


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Making forged carbon is a fairly tricky process, not exactly secret but it requires very high temperatures. never say never in the rep world though..

It's worth noting that many of the earlier carbon cases, i.e. the Alinghi, tended to fray and suffer surface damage, so it's not the easiest process in the world to get right.

Edited by Logan
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Making forged carbon is a fairly tricky process, not exactly secret but it requires very high temperatures. never say never in the rep world though..

It's worth noting that many of the earlier carbon cases, i.e. the Alinghi, tended to fray and suffer surface damage, so it's not the easiest process in the world to get right.

To be fair, I've only ever seen one documented case of the forged carbon components on an AP looking like it had survived a motorcycle crash, and there was no mention of how it got that way. My own experiments with the material show that it's essentially like a plastic part, and will last according to how it's maintained.

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  • 4 weeks later...

no the bezels are not easily cut down, trimmed or machined in any way... the way AP creates their carbon cases uses very little compression material (plastic) and is almost entirely carbon strand. This makes it strong and pretty abrasion resistant... but they are extremely careful trimming the excess after the forging process as once they are scratched or scraped, they can't be sanded back or refinished...

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From what I understand the carbon can only be trimmed and finished part way thru the process. It's compressed first at moderate temperature, then removed from the mould and can be finished, then it's baked at high temp. Once baked it's pretty damm hard.

The process is based on carbon brakes disks for motor cars so the end result is pretty solid.

The first series of AP Alinghi's were given out to yacht crews in the Americas Cup, and those had fraying problems.. likewise the early carbon brakes tended to self destruct after a while

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Hey Imak

How's your project on the carbon parts going?

Any updates?

Also does anyone know how the grand prix wears in comparison to the classic offshore?

Would it look ridiculous on 6.5 wrist?

It will look big on a 6.5" wrist, check out a pictorial in the AP section on repgeek, there's a member with 6" wrists wearing one.

+1 on the updates concerning the carbon case

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