The physics behind black polishing?
Science question for you super brains out there. I know that the highly polished steel on luxury watches can look black when viewed straight on. Why does that happen? If you look at a mirror straight on, unless you're a vampire, you'll see your own reflection!
Thanks in advance! 🤓
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Mark
A computer programmer that loves the mechanisms, the details, and the stories about watches... and at affordable prices!
Brighton, UK
Member since
Last active: 2 months ago
Oh, and for anyone interested in how it is achieved, check this out. https://watchesbysjx.com/2015/01/explained-the-fine-art-of-black-polishing-aka-speculaire.html
Super timely and useful. I just ordered a watch online and the more I looked at pictures of it on the web while I waited for it, the more concerned I became that it wouldn’t look like what I thought I bought. Turns out it was just this effect.
How about this alternative: A perfectly polished surface will reflect light at the opposite angle it came in at. This means only light coming almost directly from the viewer, will go back to the viewer, and on such a small surface, that will be no light. For an imperfect surface (hello Seiko 5 🙂), the imperfections change the angle of reflection for some of the light, so it's coming in from a light source and then being reflected at a different angle back to the viewer, hence it has a colour i.e. not black. This would explain why the quality of polishing would make a difference at least 🤷🏾♂️
Nice. I think I understand. Sadly my watch collection is low on polished flat surfaces 😩
I think that understanding the level of work involved in getting this level of polishing helps understand the difference between luxury watches. It's watchmakers taking the ultimate amount of time and care to change how light interacts with the watch surfaces. Amazing!