Technology for the World's Top Luxury Brands
It has been traditionally difficult to persuade our most important and prestigious customers to reveal the source of their unique designer engine turning and allow us to use examples of our work for them on this web site, but now that a wider number of the most prestegious international brands are using our technology we are finding that more customers are willing to reveal that their products contain technology that can't be copied and is a hallmark of the finest craftsmanship on Earth.
An increasing number of the World's top luxury goods houses and writing instrument manufacturers are using the Pledge & Aldworth CAD/CAM Low Relief Engine Turning System, first developed in 1992. Pledge & Aldworth is significantly more than a decade ahead technologically of anyone else in this field. That is a very remarkable achievement for a small independent specialist firm in the 21st Century.
The new freedom of choice in design concepts and the possibilities of combining the process with enamel bring a whole new design medium to the engine turning craft and to designers and manufacturers of luxury goods.
For the first time it became possible to create pictorial representations in low relief simply by processing a 3D CAD drawing directly into a machine program that cuts the design on a 3D surface. This complex process and the advanced surface generation technology that lies behind it, is still unique to Pledge & Aldworth Engine Turners after more than 13 years since we originally invented it.
We have also produced software that can interpret a 2D image including certain types of photograph and import it directly into editable 3D CAD drawings. This is under continued development.
Our surface generation technology gives the designer a very detailed and infinitely versatile level of control over the way that the final tool paths are processed. We can combine many different types of image into the CAD drawing and even directly manipulate the path of the tip of the cutting tool in 3D to get exactly what the designer intends in the final product.
The Montegrappa pen company of Italy made huge strides as a brand when they began using our process in the early 1990s, pioneering the use of our CAD/CAM technology and moving rapidly from a little known pen company to a World leader in the luxury pen market. Other brands are increasingly taking advantage of this incredibly versatile 3D design meduim. Customers using this process are already spread over several continents. The Grand Masters® brand, for example, have made it the cornerstone of their design philosophy.
The Oreillon Tower image on an "Emotion Monaco Classic" silver fountain pen. A limited edition of 777 silver pens with various limited gold versions. Retail value of this model is approx £1,650 GBP. It is worth noting that the cost of CAD/CAM low relief on pens can vary upwards from very roughly £12 UKP per pen depending on the complexity of the drawing, the number produced and the density of cutting.
This particular range of pens was one of the most technically difficult examples of the goldsmith's art ever put into production, with gold versions set with diamonds and rubies and many unique and intricate features, all finished to exacting quality standards never before achieved.
The enamelled cells were recessed and engine turned in the recesses in a single pass by the CAD/CAM machine at the same time as the Oreillon image was created, using a very high cut density of 768 passes per axial revolution of the tube. The body of the pen can also be seen to have been engine turned on the CAD/CAM system with a pattern not possible on conventional engine turning equipment, at a lower cut density. The 5 Images above and below are reproduced by kind courtesy of Grand Masters International Ltd, proprietors of the Grand Masters® luxury goods brand.
The actual place in Monte Carlo that the image above was based upon, viewed from a slightly different perspective and angle. Cad drawings were produced with photographic input and then modified using our sophisicated surface generation technology to produce the final low relief image on the pens.
Emotion Monaco Prestige Fountain pen in 18ct gold with red and white champlevé enamel, set with fine Burma rubies and diamonds; one of a limited edition of 80 in this gold model. Reputedly the best pens in the World, this version retails at approximately £12,000 GBP.
Close up of part of a silver pen with a hand painted vitreous enamel picture by The Grand Masters ® who are increasingly reaping the rewards of using this process. The pattern on this pen was inspired by the background design of a picture in the Hotel Cluny Museum, Paris. This illustrates just one example the huge range of source ideas that can be used with our versatile technology.
The image that inspired the 3D low relief design above
As you can see from these few images, what we have created is a vast array of design potential for high class luxury goods producers. Nobody else on Earth can do this.
We offer a specialist design consultancy service alongside the high precision production facilities which brings our technology to the customer in a practical and easy to understand way so that you can ask for an idea, provide a component and receive a work of art on a consistent production basis. We have a very good understanding of the high end luxury goods industry and if you require, we can guide you in producing products that will succeed in the markets.
Our track record in helping customers to make major advances in the luxury goods market is well proven and is your greatest potential asset.