NOTE16 OCTOBER 2026 — WENZHOU — HENRY, EYEFIY
Lens in, then the barrel
On a frame with an acetate rim around a metal one, the acetate is tumbled after it is cut. Tumbled empty, the rim shrinks 0.1 to 0.2 mm and stops meeting the metal cleanly. A lens fitted before the barrel holds the opening.
This frame is two rims, one inside the other.
The outer rim is acetate. Dark red tortoise. The inner rim is metal, gunmetal grey. The lens sits in the metal.
A thin metal bridge joins the two metal rims. The endpieces are metal too, screwed in at the top outer corners.
For the frame to look right, the two rims have to meet. No gap. No step. All the way round.
What everyone checks
The fit between acetate and metal. The carving. Everyone in the trade knows those have to match.
The step people miss comes before that.
Where it goes wrong
The acetate rim is cut first. Then it goes into a tumbling barrel.
Empty, it shrinks. 0.1 to 0.2 mm.
The metal rim was sized to the acetate as it was cut. After the barrel the opening is smaller. The two rims no longer meet cleanly.
The frame still gets finished. It just looks a little less right than it should.
The step
So the lens goes in first.
Cut the rim. Fit a lens. Then the barrel. The lens holds the opening while the barrel works.
Plenty of people skip it. 0.2 mm looks too small to matter. Without having watched it happen, nobody knows to look.
One lens, fitted before one step. No quote lists it, and it decides whether the two rims meet.