Bowers & Wilkins writes: “John Bowers wanted to create a loudspeaker that didn’t sound like a loudspeaker at all – rather, it would deliver a performance so realistic, the listener would believe they were experiencing the live event itself, or the best-possible recording of that event. And after many years the Nautilus was born.
These days, cabinets are made in Dale Road, Worthing, and take the form of three sections – a front, plus left and right half-sections. These have to be joined together and painstakingly sanded to manage away any visible ‘edges’ – and that’s just the start of the labour of love that goes into the build process. Paint is sprayed by hand – typically, with 12 coats of paint and lacquer, although that varies depending on the finish the client selects.
And perhaps the most laborious process of all is the final step, the meticulous machine polishing of those sensual curves to create the stunning, lustrous finish that is so fundamental to the design’s allure. It takes three days to polish a Nautilus to the required standard. That’s three days per speaker.
