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Grade 2 titanium field watch. Foil dial.

A dial made from satellite skin.

  • Handmade dials
  • 79 pieces
  • Assembled in USA
  • $599

Aluminized polyimide.

The amber insulation from the outside of spacecraft, crinkled by hand and sealed under sapphire. No two dials are the same.

Grade 2 titanium field watch. Foil dial.

A dial made from satellite skin.

Film frame: the crinkled gold foil dial in close-up.

01 Dial

Aluminized polyimide.

The amber insulation from the outside of spacecraft, crinkled by hand and sealed under sapphire. No two dials are the same.

The Webb telescope's gold sunshield, fully deployed in a cleanroom.
Film 01 · Webb sunshield, last full deploy on Earth · NASA GSFC, 2021

02 · The foil

The foil.

Each dial starts as a sheet of aluminized polyimide, the amber-gold multi-layer insulation that wraps spacecraft. The film on this page is NASA's own.

Technicians smoothing a gold insulation blanket onto the underside of the Sentinel-6B spacecraft.
Film 02 · Blanketing Sentinel-6B before launch · NASA KSC, 2025

The foil is cut oversize, then crinkled.

  1. 01 Cut

    The foil comes off an aerospace roll and is cut oversize, mirror side down.

  2. 02 Crinkle

    Folded by hand until the surface holds a grain. Too far and it creases; not far enough and it reads flat.

  3. 03 Bond

    Perimeter-bonded with a low-outgassing acrylic adhesive, so no glue shows through the front.

  4. 04 Seal

    Trimmed to the dial blank and sealed under sapphire.

1972 television footage of the Apollo 17 lunar module lifting off from the Moon.
Film 03 · Apollo 17 leaves the Moon, rover camera · NASA, December 14, 1972

Seiko NH38.

A Japanese automatic. No date, so the foil runs uninterrupted.

Film frame: the movement in close-up, gears and jewels visible.

03 Caliber

Seiko NH38.

A Japanese automatic. No date, so the foil runs uninterrupted.

04 · Datasheet

Genuine aluminized polyimide.

Material
Aluminized polyimide film, the multi-layer insulation that wraps spacecraft in orbit.
Film
1-mil to 2-mil (0.025-0.05mm), aerospace surplus stock.
Metallization
Vacuum-deposited aluminum, one side only.
Service temp
Rated roughly -269°C to +400°C.
Color
The gold is the film itself. Aluminum faces inward, reflecting light back through it.
Why crinkled
Real MLI is crinkled so each layer barely touches the next, cutting conductive contact between them. Ours is hand-crinkled the same way, so no two dials match.
Dial
Aluminized polyimide MLI, hand-crinkled, perimeter-bonded
Case
39 mm Grade 2 titanium
Crystal
Sapphire
Movement
Seiko NH38, a Japanese automatic
Assembly
Assembled in USA
Edition
79, numbered by hand
Price
$599, expected
The finished PERIGEE watch: a Grade 2 titanium field case with a hand-crinkled gold foil dial, settled against a starfield.
Dial
Aluminized polyimide MLI, hand-crinkled, perimeter-bonded
Case
39 mm Grade 2 titanium
Crystal
Sapphire
Movement
Seiko NH38, a Japanese automatic
Assembly
Assembled in USA
Edition
79, numbered by hand
Price
$599, expected

Specification may change before the first run ships.

I'm a computer engineer, not a watchmaker. I taught myself to laminate real spacecraft insulation onto a dial by hand, without tearing it or flattening the crinkle. This run is 79, the honest limit of how many dials I can laminate and seal by hand.

— Jake

PERIGEE Contact Light

“Contact light” was the call from Apollo 11, the instant the lander’s probe touched the Moon.

Join the waiting list.

Only 79 will be made, each dial crinkled and numbered by hand. Reservations open Summer 2026. Leave your email and I'll write once, when they open.

Join the list

One email when the run opens.