Steel

Industrial strength on the tip of your nose.

304 surgical grade stainless steel

The same grade used in jewellery and in surgical instruments: corrosion resistant, hypoallergenic, and strong enough to be drawn very fine without losing its nerve. A steel frame can be slighter than an acetate one and still hold a lens securely, which is the whole argument for making one.

Drawn for Cubitts

The nose bridge takes its geometry from the arch of the St Pancras train shed, a few hundred yards from our workshop — a single span doing the most work with the least material, which is as good a brief for a bridge over a nose as it is for one over a railway.

The temple tips are sleeved in acetate and shaped after Constantin Brâncuși’s Bird in Space. The sleeve is not decoration: it is the part that rests against your head, and acetate is warmer and kinder there than bare metal.

Windsor Rims

An optional addition, developed in house: a rim of Mazzucchelli acetate seated around the steel eyewire, in the Windsor tradition.

They add a layer of colour and a softer line. They are also useful — the rim has a variable thickness and is pressure bonded, which gives a stronger prescription lens more to hold on to and hides the thicker edge that comes with it.

Looking after it

Steel will not rust or tarnish, and needs little beyond the cloth that came with it. If a frame loosens or goes out of true, bring it into any Cubitts store and we will adjust it, for as long as you own it.

Browse the metal spectacles, or the combination frames that pair steel with acetate.