mrnixon Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 I was looking at this watch http://cgi.ebay.com/UNITAS-ETA-6497-WATCH-...1QQcmdZViewItem The PVD on this one appears rather shiny compared with the ones i have seen previously. Are there different types of PVD or is it just that the one in the add is polished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sssurfer Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Assumed that it is true PVD, it must be so shiny because directly applied on polished surfaces in order to simulate a ceramic look. That is the factor that mostly affects the final shiness. Full matte PVD is essentially due to properly beadblasting the surfaces before applying the PVD coating. But yes, there are also minor differences between PVD coatings too, related with different manufacturers and procedures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 In addition to the quality of the bead blasting effecting the sheen there are also different chemical compositions for "PVD" which will provide very different results in terms of the actual colors. Even within gen PAM's the color can vary dramatically. I have two 5218 PVD crowns and the colors are markedly different. I can't remember which is which but the right process vis a vis older PAM's give a lighter color and coupled with bead blasting with small beads provides for excellent sheen. It is interesting because Palp offered a PVD service from one of the original OEM providers to PAM but they had changed their chemical composition and as a result the PVD was much darker. I don't know if he still offers it but the person who had the closest to gen PVD appearance was finepics. In short, Palp's coating was fabulous quality but way too dark. Davidsen's has a different beadblasting process so his PVD has no sheen. IMHO, looks a little dull. I think of PVD as the poor man's ceramic (but I do love it). I look for lighter grey with excellent sheen. IMHO, the PVD should look like it is part of the metal. I am referring only to older PAM's of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sssurfer Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Kruzer00 is absolutely correct, I did not make it clear enough, even on a same producer the results may vary from batch to batch -- or at least it was so for OP. To make the things even more complicated, on some series OP applied a special carbonium PVD that they also called DLC (Diamond-Like Coating), that was the most whitish and shiny grey of all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 And I have one of those crowns as well as the traditional PVD (ti an). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sssurfer Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 And I have one of those crowns as well as the traditional PVD (ti an). I never suggested I was the greatest crown collector here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 The reason why that one looks so different is because it is coated with something else after the Ti N forms on the case. Longines claims they are using 23k gold. I have no idea what is on that watch but it ain't natural. It does give it the ceramic look though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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