Montblanc

Last year I received a sample case from Montblanc to test its proprietary Dual Carbon Diamond Like Coating process :  click here

I completed several tests, but here is the results of the final examination.  (I'll be releasing the results of the interval testing soon)

For Montblanc's final examination I  recalled a post in the Chopard forum about a Purist who had lost his watch, only to find it 5 months later in a flower bed.

"I lost the watch in August, turned the house, golf bag, garage upside down...nothing. I looked for quite some time and nothing...I gave up. I always felt that it was misplaced, not lost...you must know what I mean.

I found it yesterday, 5 months later...in the flower bed near the entrance to the house. " 

Cosmetically the stainless steel case looked pretty bad.  I decided that for the final test I would let Mother Nature do its worst and see how the DLC coating would hold up.

Here in Maine, Winter is brutal!  On average we receive 60-70 inches in my neck of the woods (This may not seem like a lot but remember I grew up in Southern California )

So before Winter officially started I threw the DLC case into a small pond out in the front yard and marked its location.

Now 5 months later with the snow and ice finally melting, I went to retrieve the case to see how the coating held up.

 

Just where I left it.  Although the winter was milder this year, I recall the snow always being at the level of the small reflector. 

See it?  A few second of searching...

Yuck.

A few shakes of the wrist to displace some of the debris

Now for a rinse under the faucet

All clean and ready for the wrist?

Geez,  the coating is AWESOME.  The case looked new.  There was no detectable moisture within the case which was sealed only by hand too.

I'll post some Pre/Post Macro shots tomorrow night.

What do you all think?  Perhaps all of our tool watches should have this coating!

Enjoy,

Mike

This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2010-03-18 15:44:50

No message body

Nice test and glad to see the Montblanc DLC coating to be fine and no moisture in the case.

Have you considered attaching a strap and then wearing the empty watch case and then shooting video of you blatantly banging the watch against the wall, door, table, or any other common objects which we all bang our watches on inadvertently?

Cheers,
Anthony

Here is a hint:

 

Cheers, Mike

That would be THE ultimate test on the durability of the DLC coating!

- AT

Colby and Spiderman! 

Can't be that straight-forward strapping to Colby... what are you thinking?

Indeed, what were you thinking - putting spiders on a birthday cake! 
Did they frighten Colby?


Kong

PS :  Incidentally, there will be a new certification coming up ... 'www.timelab.ch' .

This would be a good science project for Colby someday.

How much abuse can a DLC coated watch-case withstand?

Hypothesis: a large amount of thermal stress abuse

Testing procedures;
PuristSPro MKT33 Standard Guidelines

Conclusion: DLC Coating withstands a large amount of abuse, hypothesis was correct.

by burying the case under ground is cool but i wondering what does it really test? i am sure the case has good water resistance characteristic specially from reputable brand such as mont blanc. can we do some test on the new high tech DLC please? thank you for your extra terrific effort to do the test. cheers!

if you have time....this movie should have the answer of CVD prosses to produce DLC coating. Artificial diamond is even harder than natural one, keep them away from your wife's diamond ring!!! LOL


You can start from 1/5 of this series. For those busy people, just click the time track around 3:00

This message has been edited by Ogygia on 2010-03-16 19:22:55 This message has been edited by Ogygia on 2010-03-16 19:24:46

Very cool test Mike!  Impressive that there's no corrosion after 5 months buried in the pond in freezing temperatures.  It survived mother nature perfectly, let's see how the case holds up after getting banged around by the kids.

Looking forward to a few macro shots of the case.

Regards,
ED-209

Ha! I was wondering where was DLC casing you have.  What an idea you got leaving it outside to weather the extreme mother nature.

Come on, get a really hard metal and scratch it !  Its a real thrill

Kong

It looks like the DLC treatment really does the job. Good test.

Thanks for sharing.

Vte

I would love to see the macro pictures to see how, if there is any, the pitting effected case.

You hand a complete enclosure and nothing seeped in.  Pretty cool.

Looking forward to the next part.

Bill

I recall that post too - it was a nice report on how he found the watch and had it serviced:

"I recalled a post in the Chopard forum about a Purist who had lost his watch, only to find it 5 months later in a flower bed".

Regards,

Marcelo

So you kept it wet and buried for months! Glad you could find it.

I can't say I'm particularly surprised at the results. DLC is effectively corrosion proof in those conditions - cold, in freshwater (don't know the ph....), lack of oxygen.  I'd be interested in the caseback interface though.

Plus any scratch test (as requested by many)

when I placed the case into the overflow pond...I just wanted to see how the DLC coating would handle the usually harsh winter environment.

It got covered by leaves and silt over the past 5 months.

I'll take some pics of the interface for you.  And yes, the scratch test video is getting prepped./

 

Mike

No message body

I think the scratch test will be the real clincher, however!  Montblanc may have developed a great coating.    Looking forward to learning more.  Thanks, Mike!

Cheers,

Daos

If MB's DLC can survive the scratch, it can withstand the winter coolness.

But I am not sure about the result after 1-2 years it is left in the wild.

Anyway, good idea for the test.

Regards

Ling

.

No message body

Thank you for the exhaustive tests Mike!

Looking forward to reading about the other tests!