The gears of Chanel’s new Boy-Friend Skeleton Watch with diamonds and shiny alligator bracelet were created in a very special way: With “3D chemical printing”.
Strictly speaking, this process, called by Chanel, is called electrogalvanic growth, or a type of electrogalvanizing. This involves bathing the metal in a solution enriched with metal salts such as copper, nickel or silver. Due to the electrolytic charge, the metallic particles of the salt are attracted and layer by layer form a coating on the immersed metal. In the case of Chanel’s watch, until the chemically 3D-printed gear wheel has taken shape.
Thanks to this method, the gears of the Boy-Friend Skeleton Watch could be manufactured and mounted without spokes, so that they now look as if they were floating. The luxury watch is currently available at a price of $51,400.
Source: Chanel
