Titanium vs steel for watches- durability

[ajw45]

Originally Posted by Tools

Scratches have nothing to do with durability,

Titanium is used in jet engines because of it's light weight and heat resistance; you can't get more durable than that.

It is used in watches as a marketing gimmick. There is no practical reason to use titanium in the environment a watch encounters.

Could not disagree more. Lighter, harder, much more corrosion resistant, low conductivity, if anything there really is no reason (grade 5) titanium isn't better than stainless steel in every way in the environment a watch encounters.... other than cost. The only reason to use stainless is because it is cheaper (base material and machining/finishing) and has a slightly different appearance (brighter).

[56Diver]

Curious what grade titanium the Panerai submersibles use? Grade 5?

[Dave455]

I can give a bit of input here.

I’ve owned, and worked with, titanium a bit over the years, and learned a lot.

I know from personal experience that titanium is generally softer than steel, and you would expect it to scratch easily, but it does vary with the grade concerned.

With regard to watches, I was always wary, but I fly for a living, many colleagues own a titanium Breitling Aerospace, and some are a reasonable age. Despite a relatively hard life, none of these watches, even those with the titanium bracelet, seem to show many marks.

Encouraged by this I bought a Tudor Pelagos. I absolutely love it. It’s legibility is unsurpassed, it’s lume is unbelievable, and it’s only downside (it’s bulk) is offset by the titanium. I was seriously annoyed when I scuffed the bracelet. It scratched easily and looked awful. I left it for a while, then went to polish out the scratches with an ink eraser (old trick). I was surprised to find they were almost invisible!

What seems to happen is that titanium does scratch, which initially looks bad as the scratch shows pale against the materials surface oxidisation. After a while though, the scratches oxidise as well and can barely be seen.

With regard to steel, Matt or beadblasted cases seem to be the most scratch resistant. I have a CWC chronograph that is probably 25 plus years old and has been worn regularly. It shows few marks. The Sinn ‘Tegimented’ steel cases seem to be pretty much untouchable though, as has been suggested!