Material for making watch cases

RM 011 Red TPT Quartz Automatic flyback chronograph

Courtesy picture of Quill pad

Different kinds of watch materials 

1. Stainless steel

2. Yellow gold

3. Pink gold

4. White gold

5. Platinum

6. Silver

7. Bronze

8. Sapphire

9. Aluminum

10. Titanium

11. Glass

12. Stone

13. Elastomers

14.Carbon Fiber

15. Ceramic

16. Carbonium (Roman Gauthier)

17. Forged Carbon (Audemars Piguet, Panerai)

18. TPT quartz (Richard Mille)

19. Grey Cermet (Richard Mille new RM 11-05)

 

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is the most widely used watch material, which has a composition of being an iron-carbon alloy, combined with chromium and other material.. In general, stainless steel is difficult to scratch as it’s durable, lightweight and tough is most popular for its ability to resisting corrosion, maintaining a shine for a long life and keeping intact the strength of steel. These watches can have two finishings: polish or brush. Polishing creates a shiny mirror surface, but brushing makes the surface look rugged and is more suited for outdoor type of watches. This material has its downsides as it is easily damaged and prone to scratches, dents, smudges and fingerprints, so you have to be careful when wearing it.

 

Titanium

Titanium is mainly used to replace steel to capitalize on its lightweight property. A bulky dive watch will still look great and cool but at a more manageable weight. Such as the case with this Seiko Shogun. Titanium is more expensive than Steel. The World First Titanium watch is Porsche Design Titan by IWC in 1980. The entire watch and bracelet was made with Titanium.

Another advantage of titanium is it can be used by those with steel allergies.

Sapphire is something that I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about. It’s one of the gemstones and a rarity, but in watchmaking, sapphire is not exactly what you would think it is.

 

Sapphire

It is a hard material, having a score of 9 in mohr hardness scale (with diamond at 10) so it’s very scratch resistance.

Now, although sapphire is a gemstone, mankind have been able to synthesize it, although the process is slow and expensive (but at least we will have an abundant source of the material).

It is these synthetic sapphire that was used in watchmaking. Most of the sapphire is used to make watch crystal to capitalize on its scratch resistance properties. This ensures the watch crystal is scratch free even if it’s been used for years. In comparison, the other watch crystals (glass based mineral crystal and plastic based acrylic crystal) scratches fairly easily even in normal everyday use.

Sapphire was being used for replacing the Acrylic Crystal of watch, Rolex used on his Day Date in 1977. Audemars Piguet used it on his first Royal Oak 5402 in 1972. They are commonly used as the standard crystal material now for his hardness.  Richard Milles using Sapphire to case the watch back in 2016 and Hublot is also doing this commonly now as case material with different colour. 

 

TPT Quartz

The NTPT carbon composites that came before at Richard Mille were the original drivers of development, and North Thin Ply Technologies, the company behind NTPT carbon, became an ongoing development partner.

TPT, which stands for thin ply technology, is a method for making ultra-thin unidirectional strand sheets of carbon fibers. The sheets aren’t just fibers however, they are “tapes” that are pre-impregnated (“prepreg”) with resin for more accurate and controllable application in use.

The resin is the material that works like a glue to hold the carbon fibers together; when placed under heat and pressure the resin flows between all the fibers and finally hardens to create the solid carbon fiber material we are familiar with. The TPT carbon tapes used in Richard Mille cases have layers that are, on average, around 45 microns thin, or just under two-thousandths of an inch (.002”). Moving on to TPT Quartz, the construction is the same, only it is composed not of carbon fibers, but of fused quartz fibers. These fibers start out life as purified ground quartz crystals. These crystals are fused with heat and pressure to create fused quartz rods. These rods are then drawn (pulled and squished) under an oxy-hydrogen flame to create extremely long continuous fibers of fused quartz.

North Thin Ply Technologies developed the TPT Quartz in collaboration with Saint-Gobain Quartz, who supplied the Quartzel™ 9- or 4-micron quartz fiber filament (which is thinner than human hair); Reichhold, suppliers of ADVALITE™, a monomer-free vinyl hybrid resin; and, of course, Richard Mille, who led design and validation for the new process. The result was the world’s first thin-ply quartz fiber prepreg material, which immediately won the JEC World 2016 Innovation Award. (quoted from Richard Mille Web Site).

How do I look at those new material such as Quartz TPT, or Grey Cermet, well it still has some hesitation to go for that with a watch worth more than US$180,000.

 

Traditional precious material

Yellow Gold is pure gold, which is 24 karat, that has been alloyed with other materials. This material is very gleaming and conventional, and corrosion free, but also is a very soft and may scratch and otherwise become damaged. Gold is suited for showy watches that will attract attention.  They are expensive and also heavy, not suited for everyday uses, but definitely a status symbol for high-end events.

White Gold is a pure precious metal, typically combined with silver or even palladium. It’s a very popular choice, because it looks like stainless steel, but is more discreet than watches made from yellow gold - some people may mistake the two though. This material is used in high-end, luxury or even heirloom dress watches. Watches nowadays are made of 18KT (750) white gold or yellow gold.  14KT (585) is uncommon nowadays for it gold lustre is not as good as 18KT gold. But 14KT was commonly used on watch case in 1920-1960.

 

Gold

Amongst those material, I prefer precious traditional material, steel, Yellow Gold, Pink Gold, White gold or platinum as I do feel their existence there. Well, when you try on Richard Mille, you might feel the difference in weight. Well, to be honesty light weight is more comfortable. And there is a die-hard fan for heavy stuff like the Audemars Piguet Pounder or Brick close to one pound in weight. I am still like to have old gold Watch, that is yellow gold watch, as gold is supposed to be yellow in colour.

Still today, Patek has been the one guy to insist to use these material on their watch, Yellow Gold, White gold and platinum other than steel as the main stream of material, They have been trying to use Titanium recent years, but never do it with Carbon or ceramic case yet.  As the oldest traditional watch company should be cautiously in testing the acceptance of using the new material for watch case. That may be one of the reasons people stick to Patek for their use of precious material.

On the other hand, Rolex has been following the same traditional in selecting the material Gold or steel, and never have any ceramic case not titanium case, only in exceptional case because of weight, Rolex use Titanium bottom cover on his Deep Sea model 116660, or may be doing that for skin allergy prevention.

 

Wood

Wood is a natural material available in different colors and grain types, which makes every watch unique. A wooden watch will age beautifully compared to other materials like metal, that can get damaged from sun and water. Plus, wood is an eco-friendly material, which is mostly sustainably sourced, so it doesn’t do any harm to nature. Wood is very durable and lightweight and develops a lustrous patina over the years. It also can be easily restored if it gets scratches or dents. If you like unique accessories that will stand out and haven’t been seen by most people, a wooden watch is a great option. List with the best wooden watches.

But wood is not good for dive watch and it is not easy made to go into deep water. Wood is not easy to be made thin and strong. So there is limitation.

Rolex is an expert in using wood as the dial material, birch, Mahogany, Oak is commonly used on its Flagship Day Date watch in 1980-1990. Now these are rare and expensive watches

 

Carbon Fibre

arbon Fiber is composed of carbon atoms bonded together to form a long chain. It is one of the sturdiest and lightest watch materials out there. It is, however, very expensive – so it will cost you a mini fortune to get a carbon fiber watch on your wrist. Given that carbon fiber is mainly used in leading sports instruments and even supercars, this adds a thrill and glory to the watches made of this material. Not that, once the ultimate strength of the carbon fiber is exceeded, it has a high chance of being shattered. Audemars Piguet does not product carbon fibre or forged carbon watch case anymore as it would chipped off one day, so if you are tired of the bezel which has been damaged, AP will replace a ceramic bezel for you , of course you need to pay US$2500 or more depends on model. So if your AP bezel in Carbon is still in prestige condition, it would be an good value too.

 

Ceramic

Ceramics has a composition of zirconium oxide - a hardened form of clay. There are a number of positive aspects to watches made out of ceramics as they are heat resistant and scratch proof. This material is comfortable to use and a popular choice for luxury watches due to its long lasting shine. It is also non-porous, easy to clean, and more lightweight than most materials. Though, it is not as impact resistant as steel is.  Rado used to be the first one to use Ceramic as the case material since 1980. Well, ceramic will just break leaving you with expensive repair bill, so it needs to be used very carefully. A watch made of ceramic is very expensive since it is unique and has to be custom made. Your Audemars Piguet offshore ceramic Bezel can be as expensive as US$2500 when you need to replace it if dent or broken.

 

Other

PVD Physical Vapor Deposition

This is a metal coating method with an added layer of either carbides, nitrides or oxides, which have an ionic attraction. It has a masculine black patina, but it’s not one of the most scratch proof materials as the original steel color may wear off due to friction or impacts. This material is best suited for sports activity watches. It will be worn off, beware.

 

DLC Diamond like coating

A think hard thin coating made on case of watch, for it is hard, but as the thickness is a few microns, it will be worn off also one day, Don’t rub it or polish it with abrasive material.

HK Snob

How to tell different type of Gold for Watch?

When a Colleague asked me Will Rolex gold colour watch will fade its colour and how thick the gold is plated for me. I think I need to tell and explain the various terms of gold in use for watch. Rolled Gold Rolled gold is a very thin sheet of gold that is laminated to a lesser metal (usually brass). The two layers of metal are heated under pressure to fuse them together. The sheet is them rolled into a very thin sheet and then used to make watch Watch made by rolled gold wear well over time. It is now almost replaced by gold Plated process nowadays. Rolled gold pieces are marked rolled gold plate, R.G.P., Gold Plated Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by chemical or electrochemical means. Watch in the 60-80’s had a thickness of Gold plating such as 20-40 microns Nowadays the Gold colour watch made by plating can be just as thin as 3-5 microns, This thin gold layer will be wearing off in time. Some old watch or pocket watch engraved with say gold for 20 years means that they can be last for 20 years, just to tell you they are made thicker only. They are not solid gold watch 9, 14 and 18 Carat Gold While pure gold is yellow in color, gold can also appear to have other colors. These colors are generally obtained by alloying gold with other elements in various proportions. For example, alloys which are mixed 14 parts gold to 10 parts alloy create 14-carat gold, 18 parts gold to 6 parts alloy creates 18 carat, and so on. This is often expressed as the result of the ratio, ie: 14/24 equals 0.585 (rounded off), and 18/24 is 0.750. Carat is normally expressed in Ct of K. Nowadays, Solid Gold watch is almost found to be 18 Ct rare to see 14 Ct. 14 Ct is only found on ring and jewelery, but no watch! Carat As a measure of purity, one carat is purity by mass The most common carats used for gold in bullion, watch and jewelery making and by goldsmiths are: 24 carat (millesimal fineness 999) 22 carat (millesimal fineness 916) 20 carat (millesimal fineness 833) 18 carat (millesimal fineness 750) 15 carat (millesimal fineness 625) 14 carat (millesimal fineness 585) 10 carat (millesimal fineness 417) 9 carat (millesimal fineness 375) 8 carat (millesimal fineness 333) 1 carat (millesimal fineness 042) Some watch maker tends to engrave 18K instead of 18 Carat, in fact they bear the same meaning.

Vermeil Vermeil, a French word which came into use in the English language, mostly in America, in the 19th century as an alternative for the usual term silver-gilt, is a combination of sterling silver, gold, and other precious metals. It is commonly used as a component in jewelry. A typical example is sterling silver coated with 14 carat (57.5%) gold. To be considered vermeil, the gold must be at least 10 carat (42%) and be at least 2.5 micrometres thick. In the US, sterling silver covered with a base metal (such as nickel) and plated with gold cannot be sold as vermeil without disclosing that it contains base metal. Cartier used to produce a lot of Vermeil Santos Watch as some of the lower line of watches. White Gold and Platinum In Chinese Hong Kong, White Gold and Platinum bears the same Cantonese Pronunciations, White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in carats. Platinum is another type precious metal which is used to be more expensive than White gold. White gold's properties vary depending on the metals and proportions used. As a result, white gold alloys can be used for different purposes; while a nickel alloy is hard and strong, and therefore good for rings and pins, gold-palladium alloys are soft, pliable and good for white gold gemstone settings, sometimes with other metals like copper, silver, and platinum for weight and durability, although this often requires specialized goldsmiths. Almost all white gold jewelry is rhodium-plated since gold alloyed with palladium or nickel never comes out true white, but tinted brown, therefore requiring a thin layer of rhodium to mask the tinted shade and make it true white.

Colour of Gold Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized watch due to its reddish color. It is also known as pink gold and red gold. As it was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is also known as Russian gold, although this term has become somewhat rare. With different additive and other element, we can produce many types of colour of Gold, Black, Purple, Grey, Pink or Rose Gold.

Gold Filled Gold-filled jewelry aka "Rolled Gold" or "Rolled Gold Plate" is composed of a solid layer of gold bonded with heat and pressure to a base metal such as brass. Some high quality gold-filled pieces have the look, luster, and beauty of 14 karat (58%) gold. I Hallmark A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of precious metals — platinum, gold, silver and in some nations. Hallmarks can only be found on Solid Gold Watch. In my understanding, Gold plated watch is no a gold watch, gold watch means solid gold ( the whole piece of watch was made form a big piece of Solid Gold Rolex, Patek Phillippe seem did no produce any gold plated watch at all. Correct me if I am not correct! What material I should buy for Watch? In normal selling price as we can see, a Stainless steel watch may sell at $1,000. Watch of the same type made with Solid 18K gold may be selling at $3,000 And $5,000 for Pink Gold or Rose Gold and $8,000 for 18K Platinum. The price can vary 3-10 times with difference of metal to make the case with the same Watch engine! So as a collector, if your budget can allow, buy Solid Platinum watch and Pink Gold Watch is the best in investment as they usually produces less! Of you want to collect the watch because of the engine is good, then why not just go for the stainless steel version!?

HK Snob