Stainless steel vs titanium vs ceramic material case

[fireken]

It is notice lately there has been a lot different type material incorporate into the watch case, among the common one will be stainless steel, ceramic and titanium or bronze.

Among those material, which would you choose and why? Is it because of pricing, advantage or disadvantage over each other material?

[s802487]

Titanium solely because it's not that easily 'stained', lighter & unique look.

SS is easily visible if finger marks or smudges appears. Not forgetting the annoying swirls. Ceramic I heard can't be polished.

So for me titanium>ceramic>SS

[sidestreaker]

Titanium and Ceramic is lighter than Stainless Steel, hence easier to wear. Ceramic though scratch resistant, but more brittle and tends to crack if sustain impact at the right angle. Once cracked, the whole case or affected component would need to be replaced. Between the 3, titanium would be the toughest of the lot.   
My preference would still be a Stainless Steel as a preferred choice of casing, as it can be polished easily to look like new if required.  I would skip the 2 above and go straight to other choice of precious metal like rose gold if the price range touches a certain point.

[Timeless]

TI lightweight
SS finger mark and abit overshine for me
Ceramic, pls don’t drop on the floor! Whole case will damage badly for sure..

Hence, I’ll go for TI > SS > Ceramic

[MDF]

Personally I prefer Ti & Ceramic over SS. SS is scratch magnet.

[D'Andy]

I personally have a preference towards stainless steel due to its weight and easily-polished nature, although I had previously purchased some titanium pieces such as Tag Heuer Kirium Ti5, Edox Class 1 GMT, and Ball Hydrocarbon John Hembel Edition. The titanium pieces were good during sports as they may looked big and hefty, but still light enough to wear for most activities. So my preferences would be : SS > Ti > Ceramic 

[meoramri]

I do have in my collection all SS and all Ti watches but not ceramic as yet. Of the two I still prefer SS. The weight makes it more 'real' to me (my personal preference).


Been eying the Rado D-Star all ceramic (auto). How do you guys find this design?

[Everdying]

i would go SS.
then a fight between Ti, Bronze, Brass...
and finally ceramic.

TI lightweight
SS finger mark and abit overshine for me
Ceramic, pls don’t drop on the floor! Whole case will damage badly for sure..

Hence, I’ll go for TI > SS > Ceramic

well, that is why there are brushed steel, sandblasted steel, dlc steel

[jason_recliner]

I like steel and titanium. Never owned ceramic, some of them look quite good but I worry about durability. Not interested in bronze or brass.

[sinbad2k]

I personally like the feel of  the weight of the SS bracelet. I don't have Ti bracelet but I've tried few on and it just feels too light (that's probably because I've never own one). Ceramic feels a bit "plasticky" to me (it's just me).

[GMTmaster]

Own Ti and SS, love all of them. Wear Ti during sport. Quite comfortable.

SS has good weight, If the watch is big, it will be too heavy, I don't like heavy watches. Size and weight are important criteria when choosing watches.

Ceramic, do not really like it. Scare of its brittleness. Unless I really like the design.

In short, there is no preference on the watch materials for me. It all depends on the designs. When the design (and price point) is right, I will get it...

[Yoda]

Initially I have doubted titanium as it always does not look shining and with dull colour because of its texture and always like the stainless steel because of the weight that feels.

After trying a few titanium and because of the light weight it really attracted me to titanium.

[spailen]

I have never own any titanium piece but there are watches in titanium (body+bracelet) that will cost not much more than the stainless steel version.

I have researched from the web for comparison between titanium (Grade 5) and 316L stainless steel, the 2 commonly used material in watches. The data shows that titanium is more superior in terms of light weight and strength compared to stainless steel but hardness (Rockwell B) is only 1/2 of 316L. The many feedback from articles in this forums however says that stainless steel watch scratches more easily than titanium watch which contradict my data from the web. Perhaps members that has watch/watches in these 2 versions will be able to enlighten me on this issue.

[avusblue]

I have researched from the web for comparison between titanium (Grade 5) and 316L stainless steel, the 2 commonly used material in watches. The data shows that titanium is more superior in terms of light weight and strength compared to stainless steel but hardness (Rockwell B) is only 1/2 of 316L. The many feedback from articles in this forums however says that stainless steel watch scratches more easily than titanium watch which contradict my data from the web. Perhaps members that has watch/watches in these 2 versions will be able to enlighten me on this issue.

Note that there's two grades of Titanium used for watches - Grade 2 and Grade 5. Grade 2 is softer (yes, even softer than SS) and cannot be polished, while Grade 5 is much harder than SS and can be polished.

Having owned the SS and Titanium (Grade 2) versions of basically the same watch, my thoughts:

SS - polished, heavy, more dressy/bling, scratches easily, can be polished - but to look new needs to be professionally done. DIY with CapeCod is a hell lot of work due and can't remove the micro scratches.

Ti - brushed, light, more understated/rugged/tool watch, scratches just as easy, but easy to get rid of scratches to look new with just a scotchbrite pad (DIY).

I'm really enjoying the recently acquired Ti much more than the SS. Just has a different charm to it and i'm a klutz so I tend to get scratches on my watches easily.

[MDF]

This depends on how clumsy one is. I am super clumsy & always manage to scratch any brand new acquisition on its first outing. So...

1) For everyday wear - I prefer Ceramic or PVD or DLC. Not easily sctrached. Just don't drop lah. Unfortunately after a while, black starts to look a little tired

2) For formal dinner wear - PM

3) For weekend wear light duty no heavy lifting or situations where watch not in danger of scratch exposure - Ti. More understated & scratches not as glaring

4) For a change of pace - SS. Major scratch magnet. Prefer ceramic bezel to protect the most visible part of the watch

Make any sense ?

[Cocas]

Ball EHC Titanium vs Zenith Titanium

[Watched]

Yes i got to try ceramic bezel watch
It's really won't easily scratch
For wearing SS watch I always need to keep on eye with it
For titanium bezel watch
I don't know what model

[Olkuu0205]

I like stainlessSteel more than titanium, shining 

[saprozeldo]

My titanium watch invites markings as good as my SS watches.. only that the markings on the titanium seems like botches while on SS, its more hairline swirls / scratch type..

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[Canook]

Ceramic can be scratched but is quite hard to do so, as mentioned above if you drop it or have a massive impact that results in a crack it generally will need a replacement part(my girlfriend broke an upper link in her band and they had to replace the whole band.

Titanium, lighter and in most cases softer then SS which scratches easier and is harder to refinish back to factory. Titanium is also Hypoallergenic so if you have any form of metal allergies then this an option (one of the reasons they use Ti in operations for hips and knees) i also find the finish changes depending on how much sweating you do or if you use it in a pool(chlorine)

Stainless Steel.... tried and tested, its tough and can be refinished back to original with no major issues, it is generally heavier then the other 2 but is still the preferred choice with most manufacturers.

To try and combat the weight problem Some watch companies are making thier watches using a bit of SS and Ti ie: caseback and center links of the band made from Ti while the rest is SS

It all depends what you like and how you are going to use it and the environment

[asimo]

I think Rolex S/S quite comfortable to wear


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