Currently, stainless steel remains the mainstream material for sports watches. Other metals that can be used for watch cases include stainless steel, ceramic, 18K gold, platinum, and copper. These materials are often used for watch cases because of their excellent properties. In addition to the materials above, titanium is also a well-known material for Titanium sports watches. However, compared to stainless steel, its use in watchmaking is relatively recent, with watch brands only beginning to use it in models in the 1970s and 1980s. Let's first understand what titanium is.
Titanium is a very novel material, a "space-age" metal. It is not only favored by the aerospace and aviation industries, but is also used in civilian medical devices and Titanium sports watches.
Although titanium is not scarce, its extraction process is relatively slow and expensive, which makes it a costly material. For many years, this high price has limited its use in military and aviation applications.
In watchmaking, titanium is lighter and more corrosion-resistant than watches made of stainless steel. Titanium alloys' main advantages over steel are their low density and superior corrosion resistance. While the number of titanium watches is modest compared to that of stainless steel, we see more of them now than ever before, and the number is increasing.
Titanium's many properties make it highly valuable both industrially and commercially:
Strong: Titanium is 30% harder than steel.
Lightweight: Titanium weighs only 47.90 atoms, making it nearly 50% lighter than steel;
Corrosion resistance: When exposed to air, titanium forms a dense, tough oxide film on its surface, which resists the attack of various substances on other metals. It is particularly effective against salt water.
Today, titanium watches are becoming more and more popular, and there are more detailed classifications. For example, the titanium metal commonly used in watchmaking can be roughly divided into grade 2 titanium and grade 5 titanium. Grade 2 titanium has characteristics such as light weight and corrosion resistance, but grade 5 titanium is stronger (it contains 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium, etc.). However, because it is more difficult to make, watches made of grade 5 titanium are usually more expensive.
