Messages: 20 Location: Austin, TX
Registered: December 2006
Your experience with B&R PVD finishes?
Thu, 24 January 2013 19:37
I have been shopping around for a BR-02 and I like the PVD finishes, but there seems to be a lot of mis-information. The B&R dealer I went to yesterday in Austin told me the PVD was integral to the steel through some special process and if you scratch it you won't see the metal (this sounded like BS to me and whether he knew better or not, it was enough of a mis-step that I will take my business somewhere else). He even claimed to have seen scratched watches and they were still black where damaged!
I found one website where someone claimed that the hardness rating on the PVD was higher than that of the sapphire crystal. It turns out this is only true of the DLC coating from B&R (not the standard carbon PVD finish on the BR-02) and they only use the DLC finish on a few their Tourbillon watches.
A nice woman at B&R customer service set me straight saying that the carbon PVD finish wasn't super-durable, that if you did scratch it the metal would be visible through the scratch and that they cannot refinish PVD cases; the only repair option is to buy a new case. She also mentioned that the idea behind the finish was that it SHOULD age, like the old aircraft instruments that were finished in black but showed wear over time and developed handsome patinas from use.
I like that idea. Think old Leica cameras and old flight instruments that have worn through the black finish to show metal - especially at sharp corners.
...but, I can't find any images on-line of B&R watches with wear through the PVD. Can anyone point me in the right dierection and/or can anyone tell me about their experience with wear on a carbon PVD B&R finish?
- cuddy