Sapphire Fusing

Description:

Fusing Sapphire

1.4435NcU staybrite case 40.00 mm dfiameter, new old stock hand-winding movement, sapphire crystals with colored sapphire fused on the reverse of the sapphire crystal

First time for decorative Purpose
In the past months Angular Momentum has made some experiments fusing sapphire of various colors on a transparent sapphire watch crystal or dial. The process can be compared to classic virtreous enamel where glass powder is fused to a supstrate like gold, silver or copper with temperatures between 750 and 850 °C.

But since the melting point of sapphire is 2050°C it is neither possible to fuse it with metal substrate nor using thin wires which are applied to form raised barriers, which contain different areas of subsequently applied enamel used in Cloisonné.

The „Fusion“ timepieces are showing enchanting results of the first experiments. In a next step we will try to make experiments with a kind of Champlevé, French for „raised field“, where the surface is carved out to form pits in which colored sapphire is fired, leaving the original material exposed