Cartier even manufactures hands in-house. The department producing hands is fully integrated, from stamping, polishing, bluing or plating and application of Luminova.
Below: Hands are stamped from strips of steel
Below: Polishing of stamped hands
Below: The hands are then pressed to give them the rounded shape
Below: Luminova is applied by hand
In fact, it even has a machine that cuts and punches the small paper cards that hold the loose hands, shown below.
Above: The various types of cards
Given the skill of this department, I personally believe that Cartier actually makes hands for other Richemont brands, including highly technical brands that have their own integrated manufactures.
One of the more interesting manufacturing departments is the making of curved mineral crystals watches like the Tortue, including the new perpetual calendar with open dial. The process is simple but entirely manual: a skilled craftsman heats a flat crystal under an intense flame to soften it, moulds it into the required curvature and then holds it against a light guide to check the shape.
Below: Checking the curvature of the crystal
click here for Part VI.
This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:54:47