Damasko

Damasko is a family-owned German watch manufactory near Regensburg in Bavaria, founded in 1989 by trained engineer and inventor Konrad Damasko, whose guiding ambition from the beginning was to build mechanical watches that are genuinely, demonstrably, measurably tougher than anything else being made — and to do so by solving the problem of case material rather than simply claiming toughness as a marketing position. The manufacture's origins lie in material research rather than traditional watchmaking: from day one the company invested in finding a steel that would actually resist the scratches, dents, and impacts that conventional 316L stainless steel — the industry standard — cannot withstand. 316L features good corrosion resistance but is also relatively soft, and occasional knocks with a watch made from this material will often lead to serious scratches or dents. Surface hardening of 316L produces what Damasko calls the egg-shell effect: the hardened outer layer has a soft core beneath it, so even ordinary tweezers made from spring steel can dent the surface under pressure. After five years of research, in 1994 Damasko patented a family of 20 closely related martensitic stainless steels whose properties far exceeded standard industry materials. These alloys are absolutely nickel-free, offer excellent corrosion resistance, and can be tempered to 64 HRC / 800 Vickers — four times the hardness of any other steel currently used in the watch industry.

The critical innovation was the addition of 0.35% nitrogen under high pressure during the steel's production: nitrogen and carbon together produce the hardness, and the low nitrogen content of Damasko's alloy requires only 0.35% carbon to achieve 60 Rockwell hardness while also providing corrosion resistance many times greater than conventional martensitic steels. Damasko calls this material ice-hardened nickel-free stainless steel, and it holds the patent exclusively. Until the end of 2002 Damasko supplied their cases to a well-known German watch brand but from then on, the cases are only available through Damasko. The material was originally developed for aeronautical use; the DC 56 Si Chronograph has been the official watch of German Eurofighter pilots for over ten years.

The manufacture also produces two types of proprietary case steel for different applications. Ice-hardened stainless steel — described above — is used for the most demanding tool watch cases and is fully hardened through the entire body to 710 Vickers. A second category, Submarine Steel, is a different specification used for dive watch cases and certain three-hand models, surface-hardened and bead-blasted. The DAMASKO crown and pusher system addresses what the brand considers the most vulnerable point on any watch — the crown — with a patented solution: the crown is screwed into the case through a proprietary sealing and protection mechanism that includes permanent integrated lubrication cells and Viton gaskets, and the crown itself is fully hardened and designed to be replaceable in the event of damage (which Damasko says only occurs in catastrophic events). The DAMEST® coating is a multi-layer black DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) coating applied to steel components on selected models, providing near-unscratchable surface protection. The magnetic protection system on selected references shields the movement from magnetic fields exceeding normal specification. The in-house silicon carbide (SiC) hairspring, developed and patented in 2008, requires no lubrication of the escapement — eliminating the primary cause of long-term movement performance degradation. The resulting service intervals are substantially longer than industry standard. Damasko has accumulated more than 100 patents, utility models, and registered designs over the years.

The manufacture calibres represent a twenty-year arc of movement development. The development began with a ground-breaking patent for hardenable stainless steels and culminated in the completion of the first DAMASKO manufacture calibre named A35 in 2010, which allowed the business to rise to the elite circle of genuine manufacturers. The base movement with automatic winding was soon joined by the H35 manual winding movement in 2012. The current further developments provide a production depth of up to 90 percent. The A26-X family is the current in-house automatic, beating at 28,800 A/h with a silicon escape wheel and a 42-hour power reserve, used across the three-hand and diver watch ranges. The C51-X and C51-Si are the in-house column-wheel chronograph calibres, with the C51-Si incorporating the silicon spiral; both provide 50 hours of power reserve. The A35 and H35 are the foundational automatic and manual-wind manufacture calibres. The C51-1 central-minute chronograph has approximately 40% new parts manufactured in-house, and all movements are individually regulated by Master Watchmaker Mayer Wolfgang and his team of young watchmakers.

The current collection spans three-hand models including the DK26, DK36, DF10, and DF20 (the DF10 and DF20 in Old Radium dial configuration being among the brand's most striking pieces, with 3D luminous elements at 3/6/9 o'clock and a triangle at 12); chronographs including the DC56 and the C51-Si central-minute chronograph; and diver watches rated to 30 bar / 300 metres with hardened rotating bezel and submarine steel cases. Steel bracelets and folding clasps are also manufactured in-house. All design, engineering, machining, movement assembly, and finishing are performed at the Nittendorf facility. The price range — EUR 800 to 2,500 for production watches, with exceptional value relative to what the technology and manufacture depth represent — reflects a conscious decision to remain accessible without compromising on any technical specification. Damasko is regarded by its followers as one of the most technically over-engineered watches available at any price.