Where the days go

Three things before the tables. First, the streams run in parallel: fronts, temples and components are built at the same time and meet at assembly — so a frame's total is the slowest stream plus assembly, not the sum of every column. Second, not every model uses every step — a frame without engraving skips the engraving days. Third, these are process days only: material preparation (acetate sheets, custom components) sits upstream and is not included.

Two streams, then assembly

PROCESS CHAIN FRONT 18–28 D ∥ TEMPLE 18–28 D → ASSEMBLY 5–9 D — SHORTEST 27 D · LONGEST 39 D

Two-color plating runs about 15 days against 10 for single color. Decoration adds on top: 3D printing or rhinestone setting about 3 days each, spray painting 7–9 days.

The slowest material to hurry

PROCESS CHAIN FRONT 18–28 D ∥ TEMPLE 18–28 D → ASSEMBLY 12 D — SHORTEST 30 D · LONGEST 44 D

Acetate spends its time in ovens, tumblers and hands: roasting, bending, three days of tumbling, then bending again. This is why a rushed acetate frame is a warped acetate frame.

Fast frame, slow components

PROCESS CHAIN MAIN 26 D ∥ METAL COMPONENTS 25 D (PARALLEL)

Coloring is the long pole at 10 days; the metal components run in parallel but gate assembly if they slip. Decoration adds on top — 3D printing or rhinestones about 3 days each, spray painting 7–9 days.

Why quotes say 70–90 days when the chain sums to 30–44

The tables above are process time — the days a batch spends being worked on, in the right order, with no waiting. Real calendars add the parts no table shows: queues between workshops (each step is a different bench, often a different building, and your batch waits its turn), outsourced steps like plating that run on someone else's schedule, colorways that multiply setups, and the rule that assembly cannot start until the slowest stream arrives. When our QC holds a batch mid-run, the rework loop adds days too — we consider that time well spent.

That is the honest anatomy of "70–90 days, sometimes longer." Two things follow from it. A supplier quoting far under that either has your frames on a shelf already — or has decided which steps your order will skip. And a partner who knows where the days actually go can tell you, mid-order, which ones can be bought back and which ones cannot. The wrong production line shows what happens when someone tries to buy them back the other way.