Current wear monitoring approaches estimate the wear status based on indirect sensor signals and early failure detection at component level remains a big challenge. Given this, a novel coating system with built-in wear-sensing capability is developed, which displays strong potential for in-service monitoring and direct implementation on component surfaces. This coating system is composed of top anti-wear layer of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and Raman-sensing under-layer of crystalline silicon. To achieve reliable wear measurement, the impact of deposition parameters on controlling grain growth of silicon sensing layer is thoroughly investigated. The effectiveness in identifying different wear stages and reporting coating failure is fully demonstrated, which can significantly benefit the establishment of predictive maintenance strategies and savings in materials and energy.