Research & developments
Research & development
The strong identity of Anonimo Firenze watches owes much to the company’s particular design process. Design and engineering are closely linked from the very beginning of new model development. The watches are designed in relation to the use and the environment of use.
Consequently, the choice of case construction type, of the means used to ensure water tightness for the case and components, of materials and processes… all are numerous and differing: each solution is optimized in response to specific requirements.
The Anonimo Firenze watches themselves show, even more than these words, how original, unprejudiced and innovative our research is: their technical specifications are the proof.
Materials and treatments
Despite our many years of expertise, we at Anonimo Firenze constantly strive for innovation, consequently we experimented with bronze for the production of the watch cases. Not just any bronze, but Marine Bronze (also known as aluminium bronze), a compound of copper, iron, nickel and aluminium. This alloy, which is commonly used in the chemical and petrochemical industry, on drilling platforms and in the maritime sector (e.g. for ship´s propellers), offers many advantages.
It is corrosion and oxidation-resistant, resistant to metal fatigue and can be used in the most aggressive conditions (high temperature, presence of acids and other chemical substances). Something of great importance, if you know that several watches of Anonimo Firenze are intended for professional divers and are used for military purposes.
This casemaking tradition finds its roots in 1939 when Enrico Ambuchi (father of Antonio Ambuchi, our current Head of Technical Design) started up a small company dedicated to manufacturing cases for the watch industry. This tradition is still alive today, and the current ateliers of Firenze Orologi remain in the same spot as the historical manufacturing. Mr Ambuchi made, as many craftsmen did in the second part of the 20th century, good use of the experience and know how achieved in Firenze at Officine Meccaniche Galilei (supplier to the Italian Navy and others).
This link with marine and submarine activities of several special regiments of the Italian Navy is still alive in Anonimo Firenze today.
We also have close ties with the Cooperativa Nazionale Sommozzatori (C.N.S.), one of the world´s largest companies in the field of deep-sea diving.
We make exceptional watch cases which can resist pressures of up to 200 atmosphere and more. But Anonimo Firenze is more than that. It strives for a unique combination of innovation, performance and design. The bronze alloy therefore not only has a functional aspect, at the same time it helps create the unique look of the watches. For example, over time the watch case will develop a darker and warmer color. This tint is unique to each watch, depending on its personal use.
In addition to the Bronze aluminum, our preferential material for case realisation has always been stainless steel AISI316, which is a balanced compromise between mechanical properties (and resistance to corrosion in sea water) and workability. Furthermore we also use 18KT gold and other alloys with high technical excellence, such as (the biomedical) Titanium Grade 5 and Ergal 7075T6 or aircraft aluminum, a material which is both light and strong.
Contrary to the widespread use of PVD in the watch industry, we have addressed the research for our own case darkening treatments. We have developed an evolution of a chemical oxidation processes which is in use in a military environment. The first step was our Ox-Pro treatment, followed by the DRASS (Double Refined Anonimo Steel Surface) treatment. We also developed a plasma deposition of amorphous wolfram, which has high hardness and toughness and is stronger than PVD.
As for Ergal, the coating treatment is focused on the ability to brace the material and to protect it from oxidation, so the best solution was a Hard Anodizing process, which creates a (hard and compact) layer of aluminum oxide on the material.
Even titanium, initially very strong and absolutely inert, is covered by a deposition of oxide as a protective film.
Case
Most of the high performance of Anonimo Firenze watches is due to our strategic choice to pursue an uncompromising case pressure resistance. In other words, the selection of the case construction type, the means used to lock the case and the tightness of other components used are all fundamental.
The traditional structure for a watch case is three pieces: the bezel, the case itself and the back cover. At Anonimo Firenze we have made an unconventional choice to design a two-piece construction for cases used for diving at great depths. The right use of appropriate CAD/CAM technology for design and manufacturing combined with the exceptional craftsmanship of its own laboratory, allows Anonimo Firenze to achieve a high level of water resistance for its watches. This even from the first watch we ever produced, the Millemetri. In this specific watch we achieved all the advantages of a three piece case construction: flexibility of form and of closure systems, combination of different materials, high quality of finishing and good accessibility to the movement and dial.
Furthermore the company is exploring the monobloc case construction as an answer to any kind of specific resistance requirement. This is probably the most challenging and expensive type of construction and certainly one of the rarest one.
At Anonimo Firenze the tightness of the case and of its components is provided by over ten different in-house developed solutions, of which some are patented, underlining the originality of the watches. This is a result of the willingness at Anonimo Firenze to seek the best solution for each product.
Patents
In its constant research and innovation, Anonimo Firenze holds a number of exclusive international patents.
Important achivements are: the Kodiak process applied to all leather straps, the Crown Vanishing Locking Device applied to the Militare Line, the U-Lock system and the revolutionary push-buttons applied to (some of) the Professionale models.
The Kodiak Process
Leather is rarely resistant to water, particularly when the salt content is high, as it is in sea water.
Current waterproofing treatments reduce leather porosity and compromise the transpiration properties.
Our patented Anonimo Firenze Kodiak Process allows the leather’s features of porosity and transpiration to maintain unchanged, whilst allowing the strap to be worn in any type of water without damaging the leather.
It does not make the leather simply water-repellent but allows water to pass through, even after a long lasting immersion. Wearing our straps henceforth becomes a positive experience when worn in water. This capability underlines the ability of our watches to link good looks with function.
The Crown Vanishing Locking Device
This Anonimo Firenze patented crown locking system, exclusive on the models of the Militare line, allows for innovative water resistance and crown protection security, whilst providing a unique and functional crown winding and time setting apparatus.
This particular locking device also resolves the aesthetical and functional disadvantages typical to the current crown locking tools on the market and to their lateral encumbrance.
U-Lock Sytem
Anonimo Firenze is proud of this innovative locking system, exclusive to the watch case of (some of) the models of our Professionale line, highlighting the importance of the concept of waterproofness and contributing to our philosophy of design to follow function.
Industry recognition provided to Anonimo Firenze the opportunity to develop a professional relationship with one of the most important deep-sea diving industrial companies in the world, C.N.S. (Cooperativa Nazionale Sommozzatori).
C.N.S. experienced divers and diving supervisors have spent more than 20 years on many of the most significant industrial diving sites in many seas around the world and have faced an endless sequence of challenging projects at various depths.
Thanks to the extensive research and input by C.N.S. professionals, Anonimo Firenze has had the opportunity firstly to implement radical changes in watch design and case construction and, secondly, to create features for an enhanced diving watch that has never been available to professional divers before according to C.N.S.
The Professionale models feature an extreme strength oversized watch case, ergonomically finished with an advanced waterproof case locking system which alleviates torsion on the O-Rings, and is easily repaired in emergency conditions without special tools.
The system exclusively operates with great dimension screws and bars that allow the watchcase to open or be released without the watch movement needing to be removed. The locking system of the bezel and back cover works with external female tread bars, easily replaceable, and attached to the back cover, on rotation hinges at 9 o’clock or 3 o’clock (depending on the watch model).
Professional Crono Push Buttons
In 2006 Anonimo Firenze introduced the model Professionale Crono, a mechanical chronograph featuring a revolutionary couple of push buttons, conceived and designed in collaboration with Boninchi SA, an important company in the industry of watch components.
Anonimo Firenze is in the process of receiving a patent for this innovative watertight system, which prevents not only unintentional chronograph operation, but most of all assures waterproofness of the push buttons, unlike the traditional ones.
Introducing a powerful collaboration Anonimo Firenze and C.N.S.
This partnership has provided Anonimo Firenze with opportunities to test its diving watches in deep underwater operations on the wrists of C.N.S. (Cooperativa Nazionale Sommozzatori) professionals. There is for example the submersion of the model Millemetri to a depth of 2100 meters, attached to a ROV (unmanned submarine) used by the famed Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, off the coast of Augusta Sicily, October 2002. This 2100 meter submersion, in which an attached Millemetri continued to function perfectly, provided the opportunity to implement radical changes to create features of an enhanced diving watch never before available to professional divers.
The Professionale model was created based on extensive research and input by C.N.S. professionals involved in extreme underwater conditions.
It features an extreme strength oversized watch case housing a special automatic movement, ergonomically finished with an advanced crown-locking waterproof system which alleviates torsion on the O-Rings, and is easily repaired in emergency conditions without special tools.
It furthermore features a Super-LumiNova® dial treatment to increase visibility in darkness and low light, and a state-of-the-art automatic helium expulsion valve critical for operations involving deep-sea emersion and hyperbaric chamber afterwards.
The system exclusively operates with great dimension screws and bars that allow the watch to open or be released without the movement itself needing to be removed.
The Professionale crown design provides for an easy hold, while compressing the internal mechanism with a lower torsion system for a secure closure, and at the same time providing a warning system by means of a small red O-ring in case of an incomplete crown closure.
