Many small but important details are part of our watches, which, as an owner, you may not initially notice and may never be aware of. To help shine some light on this, we are publishing a series of articles which will discuss and highlight some of these, and today, in this article, we are taking a more detailed look at the Pioneer's specially designed and custom-made case.
Unlike on some cheaper watches, our cases are a three-piece construction consisting of a bezel, case body, and case back. Each piece is fitted together with a gasket sitting between the stainless steel parts.
In the image above, we can see the attention to detail that has been afforded to the various surfaces of the case. The top has a circular brushed finish, while the sides are vertically brushed, and these two surface areas are seperated by a polished chamfer.
The finishing on the lugs of the watch continues this theme with the top side being horizontally brushed and the side of the lug which follows the finishing of the side of the case.
Looking inside the case shows us parts that we would not normally see, and here there are the carefully machined threads that are used to secure the case back.
In the image above we can see the screw threads on the tube which is used to ensure that dust and moisture are kept out of the watch. The tube is a septerate piece which sits in a circular recess and is securely attached to the case.
We can also see the inner part of the bezel, which holds the crystal. The bezel is a seperate piece which is held securely in place with a gasket. If we venture further into the case we will find the movement holder ring. Cheaper watches often to us a plastic movement ring - perfectly fine at a certain price point, but the disadvantage of these plastic parts is they are lightweight and don't give the solid feel of the machined metal parts that we use on the Pioneer.
In the image above we can see the machined metal ring that is used to hold the Pioneer's time only NH38 movement. There is a notch in the ring for the crown tube and stem, and this part also has a further gasket to help to protect the movement and minimise the sound from the rotor.
