It’s been a while since my last “serious” engraving project and I needed something to practice on. Recently I ordered a cheap watch from Mini In The Box specially for this purpose. On the site it was said that the case is made from stainless steel, but unfortunately it isn’t. It is some kind of soft alloy, probably pewter, and very soft. Which also means that it doesn’t take on very fine detail. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad either.
As this wasn’t too serious project and I didn’t want to spend much time on it, I drew the design directly on the watch using China White (fancy name for white watercolor) and 0.3mm pencil. Usually I take the contours for the design and then draw the scrollwork “offline” on the paper. Here are the main backbones drawn.
Watch engraving start
Bottom part contours are completed and shading is started.
Partially shaded
Bottom completely done, top part background is cut away.
50% finished
Finished.
Engraving finished
Looks quite good on the wrist, doesn’t it?
Wearing the work
This watch has also quite large sides and bevel. Maybe at some point will engrave these too.
Really stunning! Bravo!
Dude, this is incredible!
I’m thinking of starting on a couple of designs – I will definitely be keeping this in mind!
Looks great..you should start selling these online with a better movement and watch name
Yes, that is the plan. I have one watch waiting in the drawer even now.
I’m curious how you do this. Are you using a device to push around something like a chisel? How do you “shade” the metal? Is it an oxide layer?
I’ve been playing with using an electric engraving pen (wen 12c) but I’d love to know how to get such beautiful smooth lines.
You can check out the first “Sharpening” video from here http://www.viljomarrandi.com/video/, that should explain quite well how the process goes.
Hope that helps.