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The kickstarter adventures of Sólás - solaswatches.com

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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Ha - you may see a batch of genuine Sellita rotors going up on adverts soon enough :P (I did make sure that they were going to give me the extra rotors after we install our own onto it).

    If I could give a teaser - I would say think Blancpain special rotor - but steeped in Irish cultural significance. As the design isn't yet fully confirmed in terms of engineering design I won't announce it just yet. But yes - at the price - the expectation would be that "everything" about the watch will be of the highest level (below hand finishing) (while still 1/3 to 1/4 the price of an Omega - at retail - for KS it may be as low as 1/6th the price of an Omega) and frankly (other than the co-axial movement) - I want to be at least equaling Omega in terms of finishing and design (if not beating them).

    Fun news - my CO2 fire extinguisher arrived today - MsThirdfox was not going to allow me to start alcohol fires in the house without one on standby :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Happy Friday everyone - I always think it's more important to see what a brand does when (not if) things go wrong as 100% perfection is impossible.


    A customer found a piece of lint on the dial that escaped my eye (see second photo). On sending it back to me at my warehouse I:

    1. Identified the lint,

    2. Extracted the object (it seems almost like a piece of rubber rather than lint) - see the black dot on the q-tip,

    3. Recased the watch,

    4. Re-regulated the movement (0s/d is lovely but to be honest that is by luck rather than what one can expect from a movement at this price point),

    5. And performed a water resistance check.


    A large brand with service centres may have taken a few weeks to get this looked at (instead of my 3 days) - Bulgari had me waiting 6 months(!!!) for a turn around and wouldn't even tack on additional warranty time after eating into my 2 year warranty :/ ), a Chinese factory might not ever go into as much care and detail...so I think microbrands like Sólás definitely have an easy to understand appeal to watch enthusiasts - arguably service far faster than large brands, and more care and attention than factory brands.




  • Registered Users Posts: 5,111 ✭✭✭This is it


    Any updates on the new watch TF? Afraid of missing it with the new boards layout 😁



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Funny you mention that - there's progress being made on the tungsten clasp - I got a photo of the raw unpolished clasps today - I'll share it publicly once we're finished processing the clasps and bracelets.

    The SW300s are delivered too so it's a matter of getting the other components made and ready for assembly.

    The Equinox will have the world's first tungsten diver clasp (with microextensions) ever - one of the firsts we're happy to bring to people.

    A testbed repeater model was purchased recently - something I can use to test concepts on the aural level over the next few years while not breaking the bank in terms of cost. Once that arrives and tests out I'll be sure to send some photos/videos of what a repeater sounds like and why it fascinates me as a complication (and how you can buy an "affordable" repeater watch right now if you're willing to make some compromises).



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox



    First attempt at home bluing in the workshop - fire extinguisher was not needed thankfully!


    Top image shows the colour range the steel goes through (steel, yellowed, purpled, blued, light blue) - practising on nails is a lot cheaper than polished hands obviously but I'm pretty happy with how the first attempt went.


    Something I'm practising for model 3 - Eclipse 😊 and "onshoring to Ireland" as well as bringing up my own watchmaking skills.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox



    Methinks come model 3 (chickens before they hatch I know) - I will offer custom colour hands for customers - because in my eyes red/yellow steel and purple steel are more interesting to the eye than traditional blue.

    Above is a dslr photo with bounced flash - should give a more accurate representation of true colours.

    Don't mind the slightly uneven colours - proper polished hands would be cleaned to an inch of their lives vs a box of practice nails 😁



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,584 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    Just curious how do you do this? As blacksmiths we use the colours to vary the hardness of tools, eg. chisels. Usually the hardest and sharpest chisels are used for woodturning and a more softer but durable chisel for metal work. Peacock is for the wood tools, then bronze, dark straw and light straw for the metal working chisel. We can see the colours moving along the iron as it cools and quench it usually in oil when the desired colour is reached.

    I'm guessing you are doing it chemically? Something similar to how gun barrels are blued. In the early 19C fine iron jewellery was made in Germany and blued , but a lot of the knowledge about how they did it has been lost.

    Chapter 2 of this book explains it better than I can. https://books.google.ie/books?id=3Vzrz_A70eAC&pg=PT6&lpg=PT6&dq=blacksmithing+chasing+the+colours&source=bl&ots=U_O6ozgt1l&sig=ACfU3U2VSCcrbbUFDVqSx4Fd_xxgBWz30w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja9-SP3J7yAhX9RBUIHbVVDDoQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=blacksmithing%20chasing%20the%20colours&f=false

    Quick wiki look at iron jewellery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_iron_jewellery

    Finally, would you be interested in trying to incorporate some Irish smelted iron in a watch some way, perhaps part of a rotor. I have a few kg made from Irish bog ore. One of my other little hobbies😲. It's similar to wrought iron, not stainless steel! We sent a bit of ore to Japan last year for them to try in their traditional knife making craft.

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Hey Blue - no chemicals involved at all (except for white spirits to clean the steel) and the alcohol for the flame itself.

    Link above has the video of how it's done - apparently the thicker nails wiIrish l be a lot easier to do than thin hands which require a lot more finesse.

    Alcohol lamps can burn up to 400+ degrees and thermal blue is reached at 320 roughly (I was looking at an oven and proper temp controlled ones can run into thousands) - the blowtorch method would probably by shot down by MsThirdfox so the traditional alcohol stove method works out best in these circumstances.


    The brass shavings help distribute the heat evenly - otherwise you'll get splotches on the steel.


    It was funny - most of the steel screws/nails in Woodies would be zinc plated and thus be unable to be blued - practically zinc/nickel plating would be "better" for rust proofing steel - but horology isn't always logical - and traditional bluing/yellowing/purpling definitely has an appeal.


    Just in terms of what you're describing with the iron - is that annealing rather than tempering i.e. the opposite of what we're doing here (just going by the colours you mention which is the reverse of what I see as I temper the steel - straw yellow, bronze, peacock, blue, light blue, grey).


    On Irish iron that sounds really cool - let me get in touch about that 😊



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Funny, yesterday I came across this - you can do it with electrical currents, too.




  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Ha I can imagine what MsThirdfox will say if I apply to start playing with electricity as well as fire…



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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,317 ✭✭✭gameoverdude


    So "trust me, it'll be grand" line doesn't work!? Strange times we're living in.

    Anyways, I really enjoyed reading the thread and seeing how your dream developed. Cheers.

    I don't wear watches myself, but I know a few people that are looking for a different watch and loved what they saw on your site.

    Finally, do you deliver to Australia?



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Nah, what ThirdFox has to say is, "Honey, watch this!" 😁




  • Registered Users Posts: 6,317 ✭✭✭gameoverdude




  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    I've used the "trust me" card in getting approval to build the Starlight in the first place (when I should just be a good little lawyer and stick to legal contracts 😁)

    I did float electricity to MsThirdfox and she reckons that's safer than 400 degree fires.

    Yup we do deliver to Australia - in fact have 4 customers from there already.



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    😊😁



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,317 ✭✭✭gameoverdude


    Well as an engineer the potential difference through an alcohol fire will make it safer...although I'm not a very good engineer!

    From talking to my brother, who works in Hong Kong alot, they're very interested in irish culture. They seem to like something different.

    An order will be coming your way anyway.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Huh - the new website doesn't allow me to mouse over to the "send private message" 🙄 - the popup disappears as I go from your username to get to send private message.

    Could you send me an email to info@solaswatches.com instead? My factory in China said they definitely can do something with this iron (after all meteorite dials are basically iron dials too).

    Irish iron won't be the only cool/unique dial material we may be able to make - I've actually got some rocket booster material from China (historic family connections in the rocket business) - so that would make for some cool dials/cases too, just need to decide exactly what I want to do with it.



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    If you want to send a PM to someone with a private profile, go to https://www.boards.ie/messages/add and type the recipient's username, like so.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,317 ✭✭✭gameoverdude


    Wouldn't do that at the moment. Contact solas directly I'd say.



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    You're not wrong, there, gameoverdude. 😒



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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,584 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    Sent you a quick photo on instagram there now, will give you more info in the morning, meantime you can do a google search of Woodford furnace festival to find out more.

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,317 ✭✭✭gameoverdude


    @Thirdfox a bit of levity on this thread, even more so. What song would you put to your watch?



  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,209 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Hoppípolla by Sigur Ros. 😎



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Ha - well so that you mention it - someone actually did make a music video to go with the Starlight:

    "Levitating" by Dua Lipa - a good choice since Starlight actually gets name dropped in the lyrics - and from my time on Instagram I know it's a pretty popular meme song 😁



  • Registered Users Posts: 341 ✭✭tweek84


    Game time 🇳🇬



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,340 ✭✭✭✭banie01




  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    The underside of a SW300 rotor - after examining and getting precise measurements we'll be making the custom rotor for the Equinox to replace this plain Sellita one. Think "green and gold" - but tasteful green and gold 😅



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    Something that's due to come to me from the UK in the next while (had sent it back to get it officially engraved as testbed model 00) - you can see that it's definitely a chunky piece (not technically a wristwatch) - but I'm hoping to learn some things from it as I work on the rest of Lir in the background ☺



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,110 ✭✭✭Thirdfox


    A micro-update - with a few more sales I've actually moved the Starlight out of pre-order and into full cost retail sales now - reason being my current stock is actually getting very low (I'm already sold out of the date models).

    All that funding will be very useful as more Equinox bills from R&D fall due on completion of the case/bracelet - generally case/bracelet moulding is paid 100% in advance, but due to the novelty of what we're trying to do with the bracelet and clasp (some suppliers flat out said it wasn't do-able) I only needed to pay 50% with the rest on successful prototyping.

    As the months roll by - Equinox is getting close to its public unveiling now - expected in October(ish) 😄



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  • Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭Calculator123


    Is Tommy Meskill on RTE 9 o'clock News sporting a Starlight this evening?



    Post edited by Calculator123 on


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