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Luxury watch materials that are more common than you think

Luxury watch materials that are more common than you think

Buffy Acacia

It’s no secret that any form of advertising or PR is going to stretch the truth; that’s just how advertising works. But rather than lying outright, brands can often lead you to believe some things are far more special than they really are. That doesn’t mean it’s a scam or that the watches aren’t high quality, but when you’re charging thousands or even tens of thousands for a product, you’re going to want to make the customer feel special. To help you make more educated buying decisions, here are some “luxury” watch materials that are far more common than brands would have you believe.

904L stainless steel

rolex oyster perpetual 41 celebration dial wrist close up

Ever since the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak shook the industry in 1972, brands have been able to treat stainless steel as a valid material for luxury watchmaking. Sure, I consider it to be a modern miracle because of its low reactivity, strength, and workability, but above all, it’s great because it’s cheap. You can do incredible things with stainless steel, and most brands work wonders with the industry standard of 316L, but there are a few who boast about their use of 904L stainless steel. If you’ve seen much of Rolex’s marketing, it almost makes 904L come across as a precious metal itself.

toledno chan b:1 mop dial

It definitely has some benefits over 316L, predominantly its higher corrosion resistance against salt water and acids, but also its whiter lustre that can seem more luxurious. As far as scratch resistance goes, that varies wildly depending on where and how the steel was fabricated. It also has more than twice the nickel content than 316L, so those with minor nickel allergies may find it less bearable to wear. Can a wristwatch be improved through the use of 904L over 316L? Certainly. Is it expensive enough to be considered a luxury material? Not at all.

Semi-precious stone dials

Bulova x Complecto Super Seville Stone Dial

I have done a deep dive on this topic, but the TL;DR version is that semi-precious stones aren’t all that luxurious. A trip to most gem, new age, or even science shops will probably have buckets of malachite, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and tiger’s eye tumbles available for less than a dollar each. They’re certainly more valuable than most rocks you could find in your garden, but most of them occur commonly all around the world. The arrival of stone dials as a mainstream trend in 2024 was incredibly exciting because of their beauty and natural origins, but they aren’t that rare.

Q Timex Stone dial malachite

True, the process of cutting thin disks of these stones can cause them to break or crumble, but you would be surprised how well they can handle being cut by harsh lapidary equipment and saws with low tolerances. In a modern CAD/CAM environment, they can be churned out without too much trouble. If you’d like an example of how affordable stone dials can be, just look at the Timex Q collection with spectacular slices of malachite, lapis lazuli and tiger’s eye for just US$199. Of course, there’s a huge difference between a Timex and a Piaget that has nothing to do with the dial material, but it’s something to keep in mind. There’s also the consideration that not all stone dials are 100% natural, and something like blue starry aventurine is completely man-made glass.

Sapphire crystals

carrera glassbox blue

How many times have you seen a watch boasting about its sapphire crystal? Plenty of watches even have that fact engraved into their casebacks. And yes, sapphire crystals are wonderful. They’re incredibly resistant to scratches, completely clear and colourless, and most brands even offer anti-reflective coatings that make it easier to see the dial behind lighting glare. But could they be called luxurious? When you can buy one for between $5-$15 as an average consumer, I don’t think so. The process for growing clear corundum (the name for crystalline aluminium oxide, also known as sapphire) under lab conditions was invented in Victorian times, and has since been perfected. It requires diamond tooling to cut, but diamond tooling is also not that hard to come by thanks to lab-grown diamonds. If you own a watch with a mineral glass crystal and you’re considering a sapphire upgrade, you may be surprised at how little it will cost you.

Any kind of plated metal, including rhodium or gold

mission to moonshine gold original

The practice of electroplating has been somewhat swept aside in recent years thanks to the advancement of PVD technology, which is both more affordable and environmentally friendly. But as gold plated watch cases become less common, a notion that the use of gold or rhodium plating makes the hands and indices of a watch more special also arose. I will acknowledge that gold plating looks great on such features, especially because they’re protected from the kind of wear and tear that will ruin an electroplated finish over time. The use of real gold can’t truly be replicated through other processes, so it’s an effective look. Rhodium plating is generally used on metals like white gold or silver in jewellery to give it a brighter lustre and more resistance to oxidation, but it doesn’t look that much different to stainless steel in such small contexts. All in all, electroplating is a valid choice for decorative purposes, but it shouldn’t be lauded as luxury.

Titanium

maurice lacroix aikon automatic titanium case profile

Titanium has rapidly taken over watchmaking in the last few years. It’s nowhere near as prevalent as stainless steel, but it has found its way into every major brand’s catalogue and is often found on the most popular, sportiest models. Its lightweight properties and dark grey lustre do make it stand out from steel in many ways, plus the hypoallergenic and corrosion resistant properties can make it attractive to those who appreciate the minutiae of metals. As the trend grew, there was an understanding that introducing titanium into a manufacturing process wasn’t as easy as swapping over a few tools, and that justified a price increase from steel watches. It is more expensive as a raw material too, but as we’ve learned, there is a limit to how expensive a material can be before the premium it commands is no longer justifiable. There are titanium cases with great finishing for less than $200 by a large number of microbrands, and while there are exceptionally finished examples at the high end that microbrands can’t replicate, it’s something to keep in mind.