Industrial q
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- jawks
Some of you may know I have a huge interest in watches, and something I've always wanted to do is launch my own brand.
It's all theories in my head at this point, but I have a pretty good idea how I want them to look and what materials to use.
Suppose I approached an industrial designer and gave him my horrible sketches, an in return I wanted something a watchmaker could look at to actually build the watches. 3D models etc.
What are the stages from napkin-like sketches to a full-scale model? I guess this applies to most cases where an industrial designer is involved.
Am I making any sense at all?
Thanks.
- grunttt0
non-working prototypes. probably CAD created then painted.
- e-pill0
my boss is an industrial designer and used to design watches.
- monNom0
Many overseas manufactuers offer design>production services. You'll need some heavy duty capital to fill a minimum order though.
- jawks0
Thanks guys! I realize it requires capital and I don't mind spending to get good results. What kind of time frame are we talking until I have a prototype? Suppose I sat down with an industrial designer on monday and gave him everything I had and let him question me from top to toe about the design.
- ********0
if your designer has the time, maybe 1-2 weeks. with rapid prototyping you can get your cad-data lasered into a mockup fairly fast. it´s very expensive though.
- e-pill0
mold charges are very expensive.
- jawks0
Thanks a lot! You guys rock! I realize I have absolutely zero experience in this.
The sketch I want a model for consists (in my head) of pretty rare materials. Is it even possible to make a prototype using ceramic, rose gold etc the first time around, or should I just focus on getting a beta prototype in all steel (or whatever is best?) and work with it? I mean, do you usually have to tweak the prototype a few times before it's 1:1 with the CAD model?
- ********0
i don´t want to rain on your parade, but you´ll need VERY serious capital to pull this off. you may want to talk to a producer first, before worrying about what the specs of the prototype are.
this client of ours cranks a dozen new watch-models per year. they don´t care that much about quality, so they let the manufacturer do the prototyping. your trusted chinese factory will have no problem to work from fax-/e-mail/napkin-input. they tend to screw up sometimes, but they are cheap. they´ll fedex the prototypes, so you wouldn´t have to take the trip every step of the process. i guess this process is only suitable for mediocre product, though.
- jawks0
Thanks for the input Gung - this info is more than I could ever have hoped for! I guess I need to go out and talk to producers then!