Where did you train and work as an electroplater?
I trained at Blösch AG in Grenchen, Switzerland. The company has a manual electroplating shop and is mainly active in the watch and jewelry sector and in medical technology. Small special baths with a volume of 80 to 160 liters are in operation there. After a detour to another electroplating shop, I was head of electroplating at Blösch for a total of 13 years.
Small filigree parts have to be electroplated for jewelry. What do you have to consider?
Yes, for example, you have to make sure that there isn't too much coating on the hands, otherwise the watches won't work. And the higher the price segment, the more complicated the customer and the higher the quality requirements. Are you familiar with the moon phase watch from IWC?
No, please enlighten me?
This watch has an integrated moon phase display. We first produced it using electroforming and then gold-plated it. A watch like this costs many thousands of Swiss francs, so there can't be any mistakes. Among other things, we used electroforming to produce the dials, which we then coated, gold-plated or rhodium-plated in three colors. We have also electroplated a lot of jewelry, because Blösch AG has mastered many processes such as coating non-conductors and covering them with lacquer for multicolor.
What baths are used in jewelry electroplating?
We had eleven different gold baths, from rose gold to yellow gold to hard gold and many other color gradations. Nickel is not used in the jewelry industry because of the nickel precipitate. We use other intermediate layers. Rhodium is very popular because, unlike silver, it does not tarnish. We have not processed palladium. When customers came and wanted their necklaces to be silver-plated, we advised them to use rhodium plating. However, we also plated monochrome jewelry in the lower price segment. The work in the jewelry electroplating shop is similar to any other electroplating shop, just a little smaller.
Do you use drums and racks?
We have used racks for jewelry electroplating. Even the crowns of watches, which are used to set the time, are placed on small racks and electroplated. But we also used drums in medical technology.
What ended up in the electroplating bath most often?
Rings and necklaces. Earrings somewhat less frequently. In the case of chains, the finer the links, the less coating the chain can tolerate, otherwise it becomes stiff.
What is the most unusual thing you have electroplated?
The tricolor rings made of red and yellow gold and rhodium. I also had the most fun electroplating them.
ABOUT THE PERSON
Melanie Williner came to electroplating in a roundabout way and immediately fell in love with the job. She managed the Blösch electroplating plant in Grenchen for 13 years. As a mother with a long commute to work, she finally gave up her job with a heavy heart. Today she works for BASF Chemetall GmbH in Brugg.
