Metal is an alloy of iron and carbon, and incessantly, different supplies too. This alloy stays the fabric of selection for many collectors and kinds the majority of Swiss exports. We’ll defer the standard examination of metal generally, fascinating although it’s, and transfer straight forward to definitions and using the fabric in watchmaking. Amongst the numerous alloys of steel-primarily distinguished by what number of and what sorts of metals are within the mix-most of you, expensive readers, will probably be accustomed to 316L and 904L metal.
Here’s what makes up 904L stainless-steel, assembled from varied sources and first printed by us in 2021:
- Nickel, 23-28%
- Chromium, 19-23%
- Carbon, 0.02% most
- Copper, 1-2%
- Molybdenum, 4-5%
- Manganese, 2% most
- Silicon, 1.0% most
- Iron (steadiness)
Colloquially, we consider these as stainless-steel and this works simply high-quality; some would possibly recognise 904L as OysterSteel, which is one among watchmaking’s earliest efforts to impose a measure of branding on supplies. Generalist sources will be aware that metal was most likely used first within the 1910s after which picked up in reputation with the Nice Melancholy. The hardness of the metal (in contrast with silver and gold) made some sorts of casemaking and ending methods impractical, particularly the Artwork Deco types common within the Twenties and 30s. After all, this gave watches completely different options relying on the supplies used.
Metal instances made strong device watches attainable, the usefulness of which was demonstrated by early aviators similar to Charles Lindbergh and Santos Dumont, most famously (and fabulously). It isn’t exactly recorded what types of watches had been utilized by artillery officers in WW1, however that is the place metal could possibly be anticipated to shine, no pun supposed. In actuality, no matter watches could possibly be pressed into service most likely had been. By WW2, issues had gotten extra orderly and militaries all over the place had recognised the necessity for good instruments and discipline watches.
Whereas water-resistance will not be instantly associated to materials selection right here, essentially the most well-known of such instances, the Rolex Oyster, was in metal. With the tip of the good wars and the tip of rationing, extra maximalist shopper habits didn’t see metal fall by the wayside and the expansion of the watch enterprise on this a part of the twentieth century noticed an increasing number of metal fashions.
We refer right here to the Rolex GMT-Grasp and Daytona watches, but additionally to the Omega Speedmaster and the Heuer Carrera. All the enduring dive watches additionally emerged on this time-frame, together with the Submariner and Fifty Fathoms. Coincidentally and clearly, the rise of the luxurious metal sports activities watch additionally occurred within the twentieth century.
As with many observers of the commerce, from EuropaStar to WatchTime and WatchAround, and CEOs starting from Julien Tornare and Guido Terreni to Thierry Stern, we concur that the sweeping tide of casualisation is primarily accountable. As a cloth, metal occurs to learn from the identical cultural adjustments evident within the normalisation of denims in skilled settings, particularly when the gown code is “enterprise informal.” This might hThe Enduring Position of Metal in Watchmakingave been unthinkable 50 years in the past.
This story was first seen as a part of the WOW #79 Summer time 2025 Concern
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