CB01 Titanium Edition — production update
Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming watch designer, sustainability advocate and founder of CB Sustainable Tool Watches, Cedric Bellon, at our manufacture where his CB01 Small Seconds Titanium Anniversary Edition is in pre-series production. Cedric had the opportunity to see and evaluate the components, and he gave us the green light to proceed.
“I always enjoy visiting watchmaking workshops and factories. Machines, instruments, tools, the smell, the atmosphere… everything is in its right place, aiming to a precise function and dedicated to craftsmanship, quality, to small producyions of long-life products”.
Cedric Bellon
THE COMPONENTS
All the components depicted above are produced in-house from repurposed titanium. The lightness and the sandblast finish of the case add a new dimension to the “tool” design and conception of this watch.
“I am happy that all the components are machined in-house in Switzerland at Watch Angels. A total of 10 parts are made out of 100% repurposed from factory leftovers. Each one is first roughly polished then sandblasted by hand before laser engraving. The dials are PVD coated in Switzerland before the final assembly, water-resitance tests and quality controls”.
Cedric Bellon
PRODUCTION PHASES
Machining
All the case components, the dial and the buckle are machined in-house. Titanium is a much harder material than stainless steel and therefore requires special tools to be machined. The manufacturing process is also is more lengthy and therefore more costly.
Dial Finshing
A special tool has been produced to hold the dial when it is brushed by hand with the add of a belt brushing machine. A lot of skill and experience is required from the operator to achieve the desired result and consistency among dials.
Sandblasting
The components first undergo a rough polishing to clean the surface and eliminate surface imperfections and then are sandblasted by hand.
“The shade of grey provided by the titanium grade 5 plays nicely with the environment: it looks bright in dark atmospheres and quite dark on white background. Can’t wait to see the result with the colorful dials”.
Cedric Bellon
Engraving
After uploading the DXF file and positioning the piece on the working surface of the machine, the laser places itself automatically in the desired position to engrave the design. It takes ca. 20 seconds for the laser beam to engrave the CB logo in the desired depth on the titanium buckle.
The box
In the images above the sample of the sustainable alcantara box. The outer side is grey for all models, while the inner side comes in the dial colour of your watch.
THE MODELS
INDIGO.
Reservation price CHF 2.150
Retail price CHF 2.390
Dispatch June 2024
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BLUE.
Reservation price CHF 2.050
Retail price CHF 2.290
Dispatch June 2024
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BLACK.
Reservation price CHF 2.050
Retail price CHF 2.290
Dispatch June 2024
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GREEN.
Reservation price CHF 2.050
Retail price CHF 2.290
Dispatch June 2024
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ORANGE.
Reservation price CHF 2.050
Retail price CHF 2.290
Dispatch June 2024
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OUR FACTORY DIRECT PROMISE
The Manufacture Movement
The CB01 Small Seconds Anniversary Titanium Edition encases an exclusive Dubois Dépraz DD14060small seconds manufacture movement.
This movement is the only movement in the industry with a small seconds at 12 o’clock.
It has been sourced from the only existing stock and repurposed for the CB01 Titanium.
The Material
Titanium grade 5 is an alloy of 90% titanium, 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium. It’ harder and more scratch resistant than the more widely used titanium Grade 2.
Being harder it’s more difficult to machine and finish (longer machining time, more expensive tools) and therefore more expensive than Grade 2.
Titanium grade 5 is an ideal material for mechanical watches because it’s very light, biocompatible-antiallergic, antimagnetic, corrosion resistant and non toxic.
For the CB01 Small Seconds Titanium we use only repurposed titanium from our factory leftovers to produce the case, upper dial and buckle.
Specifications
100% Circularly produced
100% Repurposed grade 5 titanium
40mm diameter
Repurposed Dubois Dépraz DD14060 automatic movement
Small second at 12 o’clock
Dual time zone turning bezel
200m|600ft water-resistant
Sustainable Alcantara® strap
84.44% Sustainability score
Swiss made
The Sustainability report
The CB01 Titanium has a 84.44% sustainability score.
The index is based on the weight of each single component. Each score is compared with the theoretical maximum achievable score. The index is an objective value that has been build to measure and compare sustainability improvements on watch projects.
For more information and to reserve your CB01 Titanium visit the project page
