On the left, the original satinles steel Rolex Black Dial Cosmograph Daytona 116520. On the right, four colour variations obtained using Rau-Tech’s coating technology

In the hearth of Germany, in the small town of Reinhardshagen, Rau-Tech is set out to satisfy your wildest watch customization request.

Purist, might raise their eyebrow, but watch customization is quite a big thing these days. For example, imagine you’re managing a hockey team and your guys did well in the NHL, so you would like to thank them with a Rolex, but you also want it to use the colours of the team.

In the past luxury watch customization was limited to dials and hands, while bracelets and cases were limited to only black DLC coating, Rau-Tech is offering a whole plethora of colours to chose from.

While they offer engraving, I would rather concentrate on the two coating technologies they’ve developed: COLORMANTAN and DURAMANTAN.

Rolex Oyster GMT Master II in gold customized using black and green COLORMANTAN

With COLORMANTAN the watch can be customized in a very precise manner, offering the possibility to modify small segments of the watch case or the bracelet. You can chose from blue, green, red, orange, aubergine, white, brown, gold and black. As you can see this offers a wide range of possibilities, the limit is only set by your imagination and good taste.

A closer look at a Rolex stainless steel bracelet coloured in black and red.

With COLORMANTANn it is possible to draw rectangles, circles, or any other geometric shape and motive.

Using DURAMANTAN, you have a customized Submariner Date in steel and an Rolex Explorer in aubergine.

DURAMANTAN is a Rau-Tech exclusive technology, unlike other PVD coating processes that come in black or anthracite, it is offering a wide range of colours. These DURAMANTAN coatings have a surface micro-hardness between 2000 – 4000 HV, which is 10 – 20 times harder comparing to stainless steel.

Rolex Explorer II with Rau-Tech Duramantan

Conventional hard coating are applied at a temperature varying between 250° and 450° C, while DURAMANTAN is applied at 250° C, a much lower temperature that would not impact the metal structure of the case or the bracelet. All geometrical dimensions remain preserved and water leaks due to mechanical deformations of the watch case are eliminated.

The result is a very smooth coating with low friction or wear.

For more details on Rau-Tech, head over to www.rau-tech.com