Glashutte Original - Black polish

Black polish

Black polish is very time intensive work and if it is done on any parts it will most certainly be mentioned by the manufacturer in the movement description.
If they don't say anything in their sales/marketing material I would assume that it is not black polish, but just a very good polish.

What is black polish?
It is a particularly well done polish that is perfectly flat. That means tht all the reflections go in just one direction. The piece appears to be either a blinding flash of light reflections or perfectly black, as all the light falling on the piece is being reflected not to your eye, but somewhere else.
To get the perfectly flat surface the polish needs to be done on a hard flat surface, which is why it is most often done on a tin block. Even the best grades of polishing film are soft enough that the edges of the surface are rounded a little, you can see this easily under a loupe. For me the "perfectly flat" is the distiction between a very good polish and a black polish.

It will be interesting to hear what Glasshütte says about their parts finishing.
Best,
Don

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Black polished GO components

By: tempocalypse : May 19th, 2015-05:45

I'm always looking to learn more about the innards of these complicated machines. I heard it said that black polishing is one of the most exemplary forms of movement finishing. I am wondering which components are given this treatment in a Glashutte Origin...

Wait until you try your hand at it!

By: patrick_y : May 19th, 2015-11:21

I once spent twenty minutes polishing a piece of metal inside a watch. Doing constant figure 8 loops on a sandpaper block. Note, this was not technically black polish, as it was performed on a sandpaper block rather than on a tin metal block as required t...

I think any watchmaker who makes the mistake of letting me try such a thing would...

By: tempocalypse : May 19th, 2015-23:17

.. subsequently accuse me of working to actively destroy valuable components :p I do get that black polishing of large components take a very long time, I've seen descriptions of balance bridges having been polished for 8 or 12 hours. Hence why I am curio...

I'll check with my colleague, Don C . . .

By: Dr No : May 20th, 2015-10:42

. . . and Our Man in Glashütte. There might be a different terminology used in German watchmaking. Cordially, Art

Thank you so much! ...

By: tempocalypse : May 20th, 2015-11:01

... I really appreciate it! The terminology I found on the Manufactory section of the website used "Tin Flat Polishing". The copy is below. However they only made references to the swan neck, the regulator, screws, and sound springs. No mention of Column ...

Our Man in Glashütte . . .

By: Dr No : May 28th, 2015-15:05

. . . has replied! "Hi Art, Thank you for your question. Yes, tin polishing is also called “black polishing” and it is typical for traditional watchmaking art with a high approach (but not just used from Glashütte Original). It leads to a perfectly polish...

Thanks Art! ...

By: tempocalypse : May 31st, 2015-22:30

... thats quite helpful. Of course I never expected the anglage on the bridges to be black polished. My curiosity was most piqued by that jewel cap on the chronograph bridge. That said I think the response suggests that apart from the swan neck and regula...

Black polish

By: DonCorson : May 20th, 2015-23:26

Thing is GO's descriptions...

By: tempocalypse : May 21st, 2015-00:35

...are quite perfunctory on their website. For instance the reference to swan necks being black polished is only within that one section within the manufactory section of the site. However, none of the movement descriptions even within the individual cali...

Thanks for clarifying the matter, Don. My sense . . .

By: Dr No : May 21st, 2015-13:33

. . . is that there may be a linguistic aspect to this as well, although one would hope the terminology used in watchmaking would be consistently interpreted across national borders. Art

I always believed...............

By: Jocke - Bad Santa : May 21st, 2015-13:37

it was made at night in the Black Forrest. :-)))

An annotated and detailed answer from Glashutte...

By: tempocalypse : June 2nd, 2015-02:05

We've already had a response from Art's contact in Glashutte but I suppose the specifics can sometimes get lost in passing on a message. As mentioned earlier I had emailed a picture of the movement with the specific parts I was curious about to GO and I r...