Geneva Waves, Pearlage and other decoration

[Chronus]

How are geneva waves, pearlage etc applied? Is it difficult to do? Is it expensive?

It seems to be standard on genuine watches to have some sort of decoration and even the basic decorated movements have these.

Also, I think the IWC GST Chrono clasp has pearlage and this could be done (if cheap) by members who have this watch ?

[Guest TTK]

Grinding paste.....dowel rod and a variable speed drill....!

[Chronus]

The drill sounds dangerous!

[Finepics]

Go to Panerai's website and browse the photos of the new in house movt (all flash animated menus) you will see peerlage being done on the baseplate for the movt.

[thomasng]

I know at Patek Philippe, they do the bars by hand, with boxwood blocks that have an abrasive compound rubbed on them. I've also seen pictures of Breguet doing perlage, where they also use a boxwood dowling, which is cylindrical shaped, with the compound on the edge, it is applied to the plate with the help of a machine.

[Chronus]

Thanks for the info. I'll have a look at the Panerai pictures when I can - it's 3:30am here - although I doubt the titanium IWC GST Chrono has it, it's still good to know how it's done.