A method for making a jewelry ring comprising a substrate, a first coating of a metallic nitride or a metallic boride, and an external metallic coating is additionally provided. Further provided is a method for making a metallic article comprising a substrate comprising tungsten carbide, cobalt, tungsten, titanium, titanium carbide, zirconium, tantalum or aluminum; a first coating of a metallic nitride or a metallic boride; and an external metallic coating.

A method for forming a pattern in which a plating layer is selectively formed on a base material using a resin layer as a mask, includes resin layer-forming in which the resin layer is formed on the base material; and patterning in which the resin layer is selectively removed, in which in the patterning, a part of the resin layer is sublimed by heating to be removed.

A copper-based material includes a base comprising copper and a surface treatment layer disposed on a surface of the base, the surface treatment layer including an amorphous layer containing a metal element that has a greater affinity for oxygen than for copper, oxygen, and, optionally, copper diffused from the base.

A substrate includes a final silver-plated surface protected against silver tarnishing by a protective coat having a thickness between 1 nm and 200 nm, the protective coat includes a first coat of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 deposited on said final silver-plated surface and having a thickness between 0.5 nm and 100 nm, and on the first coat of Al.sub.2O.sub.3, a second coat of TiO.sub.2 having a thickness between 0.5 nm and 100 nm, the substrate including a coat of a silver and copper alloy comprising between 0.1% and 10% by weight of copper with respect to the total weight of the alloy, forming said final silver-plated surface, said coat of a silver and copper alloy having a thickness between 1000 nm and 3000 nm. Embodiments also relate to a method for manufacturing such a substrate.

A counterfeiting deterrent device according to one implementation of the disclosure includes a plurality of layers formed by an additive process. Each of the layers may have a thickness of less than 100 microns. At least one of the layers has a series of indentations formed in an outer edge of the layer such that the indentations can be observed to verify that the device originated from a predetermined source. According to another implementation, a counterfeiting deterrent device includes at least one raised layer having outer edges in the shape of a logo. A light source is configured and arranged to shine a light through a slit in a substrate layer of the device and past an intermediate layer to light up the outer edge of the raised layer. The layers of the device are formed by an additive process and have a thickness of less than 100 microns each.

Method for treatment of timepiece components on a rack including the steps consisting in: equipping said rack with grippers made of the same shape memory alloy, and each arranged to return to a reference shape above a martensite finish temperature specific to said alloy; bringing said rack to a temperature higher than said martensite finish temperature; bringing said rack equipped with said grippers to a preparation temperature; loading said rack with a batch of said components to be treated; performing said treatment on said rack loaded with said batch; unloading said rack.

Rack comprising grippers made of shape memory alloy, arranged to return to a reference shape above a martensite finish temperature specific to said alloy.

A method including running a simulated plating process on a substrate using a base shield, the base shield including a plurality of openings therethrough defining an array including two coordinates; after running the simulated plating process, determining if a predetermined criterion for the simulated plating process is satisfied; and if the predetermined criterion is not satisfied, adjusting one or more of the plurality of openings. A machine readable medium including program instructions that when executed by a controller cause the controller to perform a method including running a simulated plating process on a substrate using a base shield, the base shield including a plurality of openings therethrough defining an array including two coordinates; after running the simulated plating process, determining if a predetermined criterion for the simulated plating process is satisfied; and if the predetermined criterion is not satisfied, adjusting one or more of the plurality of openings.

An arc-ablation resistant tungsten alloy switch contact and preparation method is disclosed. A contact member has a three-layer structure, wherein a first layer is a hydrophobic rubber layer, a second layer is a sheet metal layer, and a third layer is a tungsten alloy chemical deposition layer. A plating bath adopted in the chemical deposition contains 25-125 g/L soluble tungsten compound, 0-60 g/L soluble compound of a transition metal like ferrum, nickel, cobalt, copper or manganese, and 0-30 g/L soluble compound of tin, stibium, lead or bismuth. When a layered complex of the hydrophobic rubber layer and the sheet metal layer is chemically plated by the plating bath, a tungsten alloy plated layer is selectively deposited on a metal surface, and chemical deposition of the tungsten alloy does not occur on a surface of the hydrophobic rubber fundamentally.

Formation of an authentication element by deposition of a metal layer with embedded particles on a metal substrate, wherein the embedded particles are configured to convert energy from one wavelength to another. The embedded particles may be upconverters, downconverters, or phosphorescent phosphors, which can be detected and measured with analytical equipment when deposited in the metal layer. A metal substrate may include coinage.

Formation of an authentication element by deposition of a metal layer with embedded particles on a metal substrate, wherein the embedded particles are configured to convert energy from one wavelength to another. The embedded particles may be upconverters, downconverters, or phosphorescent phosphors, which can be detected and measured with analytical equipment when deposited in the metal layer. A metal substrate may include coinage.