Method of producing a decorated element for a timepiece or piece of jewellery, and element made by the method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10773476-B2
Application number	US-201514918945-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2014
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

The method makes it possible to produce a decorated element for a timepiece or piece of jewelry. This decorated element may be, for example, a watch dial. The method includes the steps of taking a base substrate, and micromachining on said base substrate a mould or decorative partitions in a programmed pattern, and filling the mould or the decorative partitions with at least one filler material to obtain the decorated element. The filler material may be enamel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for producing a decorated element for a timepiece or piece of jewelry, the method including:
forming at least one intermediate layer on a base substrate;
arranging a powder in a programmed pattern on said base substrate and intermediate layer to micromachine on said base substrate a mould or decorative partitions; and
filling the mould or decorative partitions with at least one filler material to obtain the decorated element,
wherein the micromachining of the mould or the decorative partitions is obtained by the selective melting or selective sintering of the powder on the base substrate in a selective melting or selective sintering machine using a laser beam or an electron beam or in an additive fabrication machine of a metal, ceramic or ceramo-metallic material along a stored line of the pattern to be created,
wherein the intermediate layer formed on the base substrate is an enamel layer, and
wherein said decorated element includes the mould or decorative partitions filled with the at least one filler material.

2. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the mould or the decorative partitions are filled with a vitreous substance for an enameling operation including firing the vitreous substance in a furnace to obtain the decorated element.

3. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein once the mould or the decorative partitions are filled with the filler material which has solidified adhering to walls of said mould or of said partitions, a machining or selective dissolution operation is performed to remove the base substrate, which is metal or ceramic or ceramo-metallic.

4. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the base substrate is provided with at least one metal and/or ceramic and/or cermet layer to improve adherence thereof to the metal and/or ceramic and/or cermet powder during the selective melting or selective sintering using the laser beam or the electron beam.

5. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the mould or the decorative partitions are obtained by the selective laser beam or electron beam melting or sintering of successive powder layers or in an additive fabrication machine by superposition of metal or ceramic or cermet layers.

6. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein one or more additional selective laser beam or electron beam melting or sintering operations are performed on or in the filler material and/or on the partitions or the mould to obtain a two-dimensional or three-dimensional decoration structure.

7. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the partitions or the mould are protected by a galvanic layer, which is composed of a noble metal or metal alloy to prevent oxidation during a hot enameling operation.

8. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the powder used is metal powder.

9. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the powder used is ceramic powder with or without a binder.

10. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the powder used is ceramo-metallic powder.

11. A method for producing a decorated element for a timepiece or piece of jewelry, the method including:
forming at least one intermediate layer on a base substrate;
depositing a layer of positive or negative photosensitive resin on the base substrate and intermediate layer;
placing a contour mask in a programmed pattern to be created on the photosensitive resin;
illuminating the resin through the mask;
removing the illuminated portions of the resin, where the photosensitive resin is of the positive type, or removing the non-illuminated portions of the resin, where the photosensitive resin is of the negative type;
filling the removed portions of the resin with a metal to form decorative partitions or a mould of a metal on the base substrate;
removing all the resin; and
filling the mould or the decorative partitions with at least one filler material to obtain the decorated element,
wherein said decorated element includes the mould or decorative partitions filled with the at least one filler material, and
wherein the intermediate layer formed on the base substrate is an enamel layer.

12. The method for producing a decorated component according to claim 11 , wherein the base substrate is made of metallic material or includes a conductive surface layer, wherein the mould or the partitions are produced by growth of at least one metallic material by an electroplating or electrodeposition operation in open parts of the resin from the surface of the base substrate.

13. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 1 , wherein the ceramo-metallic is cermet.

14. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 11 , wherein once the mould or the decorative partitions are filled with the filler material which has solidified adhering to walls of said mould or of said partitions, a machining or selective dissolution operation is performed to remove the base substrate, which is metal or ceramic or ceramo-metallic.

15. The method for producing a decorated element according to claim 11 , wherein the partitions or the mould are protected by a galvanic layer, which is composed of a noble metal or metal alloy to prevent oxidation during a hot enameling operation.

Assignees

• Omega Sa

Inventors

• Kissling Gregory
• Lauper Stephane
• Uldry Igor-Emmanuel
• Stranczl Marc
• Kinkio Stephane
• Hostettler Sebastien
• Burli Gilliane

Classifications

• G04B5/16 Primary

  Construction of the weights · CPC title

• B29C70/747 Primary

  Applying material, e.g. foam, only in a limited number of places or in a pattern, e.g. to create a decorative effect · CPC title

• B22F10/66

  by mechanical means · CPC title

• B22F10/60

  Treatment of workpieces or articles after build-up · CPC title

• B22F10/62

  by chemical means · CPC title