The demand for stainless steel has seen substantial growth not only in construction, but also in the luxury business. Especially prestigious watches are more and more made off precious metals.
Apart from the traditional materials like gold, titanium, and platinum for watches, new designs made in stainless steel and also duplex stainless steel are presented. This is truly a revolution in the watch industry, because watches of stainless steel offer many benefits.
Stainless steel sorrounds us
Stainless steel has turned out to be a significant part of our everyday lives. We are surrounded by products that are majorly made up of stainless steel. Its most important quality is its anti-corrosive nature because of which it outdoes all other materials in watch making. In contrast to the materials previously used, stainless steel holds a considerable value owing to the fact that it is not just of good quality, but also adds to the look of the watches.
Tradition and innovation in the watch industry
Since the availability of stainless steel it has been used in the making of accessories and watches. From wall clocks, over watches, to the smart watches that calculate your body calories – all of them use stainless steel. The Swiss watch industry uses it as well as Apple in the recently introduced fitness watches.
Reasons for using stainless steel
Stainless steel is anti-corrosive
The first and foremost quality of stainless steel is its anti-corrosive character. When all iron products rust and degrade in damp air, products of stainless steel last and shine longer. Some stainless steels ensure better anti-corrosive properties than others. The transpiration of the skin will affect ferritic stainless steels. For this reason ferritic stainless are not so common in the watch industry.
Stainless steel resists oxidation
Stainless steel has high oxidation resistance, what means it will not oxidize or turn black
Watches made of stainless steel are comparatively hard
It also has a good hardness strength. Therefore, stainless steel is highly resistant to the external force that tends to damage or change the shape.
Harmless to health
Experts consider stainless steel a biologically harmless substance. Hence, there are majorly no chances the watches can cause allergies or skin irritations to its bearers.
There are anyhow minor cases of nickel allergy. On first position there are jewelry for body piercings, but also watch cases and watch bracelets may lead to reactions. For this reason some watch producers do use another special stainless steel grade. Its application is raising. It is duplex stainless steel. Apart from the excellent anti-corrosive properties, duplex stainless steel has a very little nickel content. This is of help for all those people that suffer from nickel allergy.
Stainless Steel in the Watch Industry
- Dial: The dial of the watch is what shows the time (seldom date and day as well). We also know it by the name clock face. It has dials (the numbers) and hands pointing towards them. The watch industry uses stainless steel in dials to give them a rich and elegant look.
- Crown: It is the rotating wheel that is present on the exterior of the watch, used to change the time. Watch makers use stainless steel here as well to avoid rusting. This also causes a look of sparkle and shine.
- Complication: The complication refers to the functions of a watch or the information it provides us with, other than the basic one, i.e. time. It could be something as simple as the date or as complicated as measuring of the calories the bearer burns while walking. The making of these is also done using stainless steel.
- Cases: Watch cases are as important as the strap or the dial of the watch. If you are taking it as the box to keep a watch in, you are going wrong. Watch cases are those circular ring-like structures that hold the dials within them. In short, the outer metal of the dial is its case. Cases are almost always made of stainless steel.
- Bracelets: These are metal straps that undeniably happen to be of significant importance when it comes to the looks of the watch. Nobody likes their metal strap turning black or rusting. Hence to resolve the problem, stainless steel started being used instead of the ordinary metals.
Montanstahl Serves the Watch Industry
Montanstahl produces different raw components for the watch industry. According to the application, we use different manufacturing technologies. The cases are mainly produce by hot rolling. Inner gears are cold drawn for high precision. Components for bracelets are produced by cold rolling ensuring a precious surface finish.
Almost all types of watches contain stainless steel profiles.