Lew & Huey is a very cool watch microbrand and I got to engrave one of their “Acionna” preproduction models. Client requested it in Celtic style, as Acionna was celtic water goddess, a fitting style.
Probably the only classical Celtic pattern on the watch is the bezel with 3 intertwining strings, rest was made up.
Lew & Huey “Acionna” engraving
Hand engraved Lew & Huey “Acionna”
Hand engraved Lew & Huey “Acionna”
Hand engraved Lew & Huey “Acionna”
One of my recent projects – fine line engraving on an Apple Watch.
The watch itself is a gold plated stainless 38mm version of it. Gold plating and custom crocodile leather straps are done by Legend in Finland.
I must add that even under the microscope the build quality of the Apple Watch is really-really good. Everything is finished properly, fit and finish is just superb. Watch band mechanism is very simple and well thought out. And if you want to stand out from other iWatch wearing crowd, then there’s no better way to do it by having it engraved.
Hand engraved gold plated Apple Watch
Hand engraved Apple Watch with brown crocodile straps
Hand engraved Apple Watch with black crocodile straps
Now that you’ve seen all the pretty photos, here are a few from the work in progress phase.
Design drawn with pencil
First cut
Background done and one half shaded
Shading finished
Closer view of the finished side
And then the same thing for all other surfaces…
An interesting and challenging project in Celtic knot style. “Invicta” 1484 Specialy Collection Chronograph.
Engraved “Invicta” watch
Challenge was twofold. I haven’t done much Celtic style before, so it was totally new “language” to me. Secondly, the case was very hard stainless steel with gold plating. Hardness meant that it broke quite a lot of graver tips and gold plating meant, that absolutely no mistakes allowed. When you scratch or slip in the gold plating, there is no real way to fix it.
Engraved “Invicta” watch
Engraved “Invicta”, front view
Follow me on my Facebook page
Solid gold wedding rings engraved in bright cut style.
Gold wedding ring
Some mandatory in-progress photos too.
Border engraving in progress
Pattern engraving in progress
Amplifier knob with engraved scroll border and indicator.
Engraved amplifier knob
Stainless amplifier knob
Front view
This project has been in the making since November 2013. Although in the end I spent 4 full workdays on it. Times have been busy, hour here and couple there is how it’s been.
So, the journey from start to finish in photos.
Starting engraving
Left side completed
Applying ink to the engraving.
Inking the engraving
This is how the completed watch looks like.
Engraved Sottomarino watch – 3/4 view
Engraved Sottomarino watch – sideview
Engraved Sottomarino watch – front view
Engraved Sottomarino watch – top view
Hereby I announce a Facebook page for Bottega Marrandi OÜ. This is the legal identity, which represents all the diverse stuff I (or my partners) do from hand engraving, custom knives and electronics to woodwork, DIY audio and so on.
Feel free to follow, share, like, screenshot, tweet and what not: www.facebook.com/BottegaMarrandi.
When the audience has grown big enough, I will do some campaigns, give away some engravings. More info on the FB page.
If you’re wondering what the “Bottega” means, it’s ‘workshop’ in Italian.
When client wants a rabbit on a Zippo, client gets a rabbit on a Zippo. Plus bunch of scrollwork.
“Rabbit” Zippo
Interestingly enough, the rabbit wasn’t too hard to engrave. Just had to follow the flow of fur and everything fell nicely into place.
Here’s my latest Zippo, version 18. Customer requested to have Plumaria blossoms in one corner and to fill the rest of the Zippo with scrollwork.
It’s been a while since my last ring engraving, but here is the next one. This time it’s a gold wedding ring made by Ljudmila Funika-Müür.
Ring itself was only 4mm wide, so I couldn’t engrave anything too complicated there. It was also concave D-shaped, so it would’ve been very difficult, or impossible to do a precise pattern transfer to it. I went old school and drew directly with pencil to the metal. It was repeating pattern and didn’t cause too many problems. The white background color is just watercolor, so pencil would stick better and be more visible.
Here’s the final result with background removed and blackened. This photo is much bigger than real life, so mistakes are easily spotted. It actually looks very good.
