Todays Watch industry uses an every growing list of metals and materials to create your fine quality watch case and bracelet. There is a reason and a personal preference behind every different one. Lets take a closer look at the materials used.
The most frequent and usual metal used is stainless steel. This is involved in most watch brand manufacturing process, from high street brands to high end companies like Rolex.
Usually when people ask for a ‘sliver’ watch, they mean stainless steel, and simply silver in colour.
Stainless steel is a very durable metal, that is rust and corrosion resistant. Its also a lot more affordable than the precious metals.
There are several types or grades of stainless steel, with the luxury watch market using mostly 316L, Surgical Grade Steel. This has a much higher corrosion resistance and is magnetic resistant too.
904L grade steel has copper added, with this added it, it has an even higher corrosion resistance, plus resistance to pitting. It is completely magnetic resistant and is even more expensive than 316L.
Steel can also be coated with PVD in a spraying process to change the colour. PVD is a coating of titanium nitrate that is applied to the watch and then covered by a coating of gold or paint to obtain a new coloured finish to the watch. It is not massively scratch resistant and DLC (diamond like carbon) is also a finish used over steel watches that is a very hard, much more scratch resistant coating often used in tooling equipment too.
Steel watches can be mighty heavy, some such as the Breitling Super Avenger can weigh in at 270grams. However some companies make the steel links in a bracelet hollow which obviously reduces weight accordingly.
Rich warm Gold is the metal of luxury and used by almost all high end Swiss watch manufacturers to show wealth and status. Gold is yellow, rose or white, and usually in the watch industry 18 karat,
Gold is very dense and can be heavy on the wrist as larger watches The weight of a gold watch, comparing it to the same model in steel, is going to be significantly more.
Gold, like steel, is relatively easy to refinish and usually can be refurbished to like new condition if the polisher is good at what they do.
Platinum and palladium are two white metals that are used as a stand alone metal. Platinum is more expensive but palladium is used too. Platinum is far more expensive than gold and used as a creme de la creme of precious metals. It does not tarnish and stays as radiant as when new. Frequent choice of metal for limited edition pieces.
Titanium is used more and more in the watch industry. Resistant to salt water corrosion, this is being used more and more in devoting watches. It is both stronger and lighter than stainless steel, and more affordable than gold. However most titanium watched are more expensive than their gold counterparts. Its appealing for many reasons, not only is it always nickel free, making it suitable for people with nickel allergies, but it can be finished in a brushed matte or high polish finish.
Negative sides to titanium is although a hard metal, it can still scratch and is hard to refurbish afterwards.
Ceramic comes in all kinds of colours now and gained it popularity thro brands such as Rado. Nearly every top brand now has a ceramic or part ceramic watch. It is made through a process of heating and cooling. Its exceptionally hard and rather light.They will not corroded or cause allergic reactions. Scratching a ceramic watch should not be an issue. The ceramic is also used in many areas of aerospace and military applications, the low density and high hardness basically creating a material that is light and somewhat bullet proof.
