Milanese mesh is a tightly woven metal watch band. It is usually made of polished stainless steel and built from many rows of wire coiled into one another. It has no separate links, so it does not pull on arm hair and feels smooth on the wrist. The watch industry calls it milanaise or milanese.
Where it comes from
The name means ‘of Milan’. During the Renaissance and baroque periods, goldsmiths in Milan made mesh from wire coils wound by hand. The technique may be older still, and may have been known in ancient times. Today it appears on watches from Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega and Piaget. Apple makes its own version for the Apple Watch, the Milanese Loop. It closes with a magnet that holds the watch firmly on the wrist.
How is Milanese mesh made?
Mesh is woven from wire between 0.20 and 2 mm thick. The wire can be steel, gold, silver or platinum. Working the wire hardens the metal. So after each step, the mesh goes into an oven to soften it again before the next step. A Milanese band also takes much more work to make than a leather strap. Staib, a firm founded in Pforzheim, Germany, in 1922, is named as the maker of the best mesh bracelets.
Checked
