How hard & durable are ceramic cases?

Thanks, Jack, for your contribution here (nt)

Many thanks for that info.

It's the same with sapphir glass, wich is very hard, but brittle.

Regards,
Jean

Thank you very much (nt)

Jack, thanks for your continuing contributions

to the Forum. It is always great to hear from the experts.

If this can happen to watch ceramics, what about hip replacement ceramic parts...I don't want to think about that.

Bill

Great article, thanks for sharing

such details.

Regards

Heiko

Thanks Jack, great information as always

Wonderful compilation, and the fact Walt ...

... is involved, makes me even happier.
Thanks both!
Brane

Ouch! And what is the best case material?

That really hurts, the watch looks mortally wounded. But there is a resurrection possible. Expensive, but better than nothing.

This makes me wonder: what is the best material for a watch case? The senior adviser answer is of course: that depends on what you want. This answer always maddens me a bit, because I know this part of the answer already. The second part of the answer then is a question: what do you want? Alas, there is no material for all circumstances, but the good side of it is diversity: you can buy different watches, which is a kind of core business for us forum members.

Traditionally I liked my watches sturdy, that is unbreakable and unscratcheable. For me there is one material that tops the bill, and that is titanium. It is also light and nice to wear, so it is ideal. But it doesn't look elegant, and that side of watches I developed for myself the last ten years or so.

Elegance for me comes with gold: yellow or red gold, so that it is visible that you have something special. If you like a white metal then of course there is steel, white gold and platinum. I may be a bit simple in this respect, but I find it really hard to see the difference between these metals, and then price kicks in. I have one steel watch now (see below): because of its beauty I overcame my fear for a nickel allergy, and I was in luck: nothing shows when I wear this watch. So steel is a nice metal too, and quite resilient. And until now my watch is about scratchless.

Until now I thought ceramic was very sturdy too, but that misconception disappears with the picture shown. This worst case is unacceptable to me, so from now on ceramic is out for me.

Kind regards,
Paul, wearing VC Portuguese

Thanks Jack

for your continued teachings.

Paul - elegant pragmatism and thoughtfulnes.

I am in the steel class and have one Titanium watch which is fantastic.

Andrew

Very interesting article

I did expect something like this but I guess that when you drop a steel watch from about 1.2 to 1.5 meters high on a tile floor, the ding in it will definitely be too large to polish out. The movement itself will probably need some serious work too!

I do wonder if removing the inner case is the cheapest solution, it might be much faster to replace inner- and outer case at the same time and if the movement needs a lot of work, a new watch might be cheaper?

Kind regards,

Clemens

Don't worry Bill...

There usually is a chunk of meat around these things and that will absorb quite a lot of energy before it hits the ceramic part.

Kind regards,

Clemens

Interesting but worrisome....

Thank you. Your information pretty much agrees with what I've read. Ceramic is very hard and won't scratch, but brittle, and therefore will crack or break if struck just right. Makes you wonder if it really is an appropriate material for watch cases. Still love my ceramic doppel, but will be careful.

How hard & durable are ceramic cases?

Dear Professor Jack,

Well researched, documented and explained. Thanks so much for an illuminating case study. Mr. Arnstein's contribution was stellar and certainly corrected my incorrect interchanging of the words toughness and hardness.

Meehna