Six Bay Watch and Small Object Display Wall in Matt Black Lacquer

A modular glazed display wall for shallow bays with close shelf spacing and individual bay locks, sized around a watch box rather than around a shelf. Every bay is 600mm wide, lockable and individually lit, and the whole thing comes apart into single bays for a move.

A vitrine is a box that has to disappear. Everything we do to one is aimed at that: low iron glass because ordinary float glass has a green cast that shows on every edge, mitred and polished glass corners rather than an aluminium post, and a base sized so the glass sits proud of it rather than inside a visible rebate. The unglamorous half is the part that keeps the object safe. Dust gets in through the base, not the top, so every case here has a gasketed base and a felt sealed door, which is the single biggest thing you can do for anything that has to stay clean for ten years.

Specification

• Dimensions: 1800mm wide by 350mm deep by 1900mm high
• Display surface: 6 bays, each 600mm wide with three adjustable glass shelves
• Construction: modular carcasses bolted together, each one a single bay
• Finish: 18mm MDF sprayed in a two pack polyurethane to RAL 9005 in a dead matt, which swallows reflections and is why photographers ask for it
• Load rating: 20kg per shelf, 60kg per bay
• Levelling: four M10 levelling feet with 20mm of travel, recessed so nothing shows and nothing catches a toe
• Security: each bay locks independently, keyed alike across the wall
• Delivery: flat packed, two person delivery to the room, packaging taken away on the same visit if you ask when you book
• Weight: approximately 104.0 kilograms
• Bays: 6, each independently lockable
• Shelves: three adjustable glass shelves per bay, on a 32mm pitch
• Lighting: a warm white LED strip in the top of every bay, plug in, dimmable
• Glass: 5mm toughened doors, choose low iron at order
• Comes apart into single bays, none over 30 kilograms
• Anti tip: a top restraint per bay, supplied, and it does need using

What you get

• Six bay carcasses, flat packed
• 18 adjustable glass shelves
• 6 glazed lockable doors with keys
• An LED strip and a plug in driver for every bay
• Connecting bolts, levelling feet and top restraints
• A hex key, a spanner and printed instructions

Setting it up

It arrives flat packed with a hex key, a spanner and printed instructions. Fittings are cam locks into steel inserts rather than screws into board, so it comes apart for a move and goes back together square. Level it on the feet before anything goes on top, and check it with a level across both diagonals rather than along the front, because a gallery floor is almost never flat and a plinth that follows the floor is the thing everybody notices and nobody can name.

Specifying it

Size the case to the object plus the space around it rather than to the object. A rule that works well is a clear 100mm at the sides and 150mm above for anything under half a metre, and more for anything a visitor will walk around. Think about the door before you buy: a hinged door needs swing space and a lift off top needs two people and somewhere to put a large piece of glass. If the case will hold anything light sensitive, take the UV filtering glass, and keep the light level at 50 lux for works on paper and textiles and 150 lux for oil, wood and most other things.