Materials producer IperionX has recently announced a partnership with luxury watchmaker Panerai, a branch of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Together, they will fabricate titanium watches using additive manufacturing and IperionX patented technologies.
The announcement follows the recent launch of IperionX’ low-carbon spherical titanium from Tennessee minerals. The engineering and technical teams from both organizations have already identified watch designs that could be produced using these materials and AM.
IperionX has produced prototype watch blanks for Panerai and will commence manufacturing of a watch case for a limited edition design that will be released to market in 2023. IperionX and Panerai continue to work on additional watch designs that will incorporate additional sales agreements for future watch designs, a press release reads.
However, this will not be Panerai’s first experience with AM. Remember? Last year, the watchmaker created a Luminor Marina DMLS – 44 MM, a 3D printed watch using DMLS technology. Our guess is that the same technology will be used for this project.
“Panerai has steadily expanded its efforts to promote sustainable practices through operational, outreach, and educational initiatives to maintain a sustainable environment and healthy oceans. IperionX’s fully recycled titanium provides a way for Panerai to produce top of the line luxury goods with sustainable titanium which provides a high end experience for our customers. Panerai is leading the way for luxury brands in both quality and sustainability. The next generation metals such as IperionX’s fully recycled titanium will enable Panerai to deliver on both quality and sustainability”, Anthony Serpry, Research and Development Director at Panerai comments.
This agreement represents an important milestone for IperionX in entering the fast-growing luxury goods market. Importantly for IperionX, the demanding specifications, advanced alloys and manufacturing techniques used in the luxury goods market transfers directly into titanium applications for the high growth smart watch, wearable device and smartphone market which is now approaching ~$500 billion annual sales. IperionX sees significant potential to establish a low carbon, closed loop and circular supply of titanium, which is superior to existing aluminum and stainless steel applications in these markets.
“Our partnership agreement with Panerai represents a major milestone in the luxury goods sector. For IperionX this demonstrates the potential in other consumer facing sectors which are demanding fully recycled and sustainable, low carbon materials. One of the most exciting sectors are the high growth markets in smart watch, wearable device and smartphone markets”, Anastasios (Taso) Arima, CEO and Managing Director of IperionX concludes.
Remember, you can post job opportunities in the AM Industry on 3D ADEPT Media free of charge or look for a job via our job board. Make sure to follow us on our social networks and subscribe to our weekly newsletter : Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram ! If you want to be featured in the next issue of our digital magazine or if you hear a story that needs to be heard, make sure you send it to contact@3dadept.com