Costs? Availability? No idea, but a good question.

Nice watches, BTW.

 

I didn’t know your two showcased watches use a hardening process. Good to know that!

 

Deleted as irrelevant

 

I appreciate having a more scratch resistant case. I’m mostly surprised not more premium brands offer it.

Aside the obvious cost, I think another reason is that hardened steel isn’t as shiny, and is more difficult to finish.

 

I have read threads on this forum in where members experienced rusting on their hardened watches.

 

Is this in reference to the archimede outdoor protect? I've not heard of others.

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Damasko cases are amazing, my DC66 looks brand new.

 

Bremont's Trip Tick three piece cases are fantastic when it comes to scratch resistance. A work compadre has the S500 and that thing has been with him almost 4-5 years and looks pristine. The lugs on that watch are a thing of beauty too..

 

It’s not expensive. Seiko and citizen both have many good watches that resist scratches via surface hardening.

 

Zelos and Seiko are not hardened, they are coated. Cost? Can't be more than $100. I can't figure out why more don't do it (or why seiko can't do it this well). The zelos is amazing.

Damasko and Sinn have true hardened cases (but tend to be bead blasted).

 

I was led to believe that ultimately it is always a coating, and therefore not hardened steel, but that there are alloys which are marginally harder than others. However, I just looked it up for Sinn and they indeed claim that they harden the surface, honing a technology I know from smithery based on rapid cooling with ice. They do refer to it as the surface layer being hardened, so seemingly the entirely piece of steel used to produce the watch is not a hardened material by nature. Are there any other watch brands that use true 'hardening of steel' techniques? And is the hardening with Sinn (and Damasko) stricly limited to bead blasted finishes? I thought all of their watches were hardened.

On a different note: don't RZE and Formex coat their Titanium watches? I tried to figure out if this is the case for Horage, too, but the responses left me somewhat confused. That is, it's not clear to me if they claim to use a harder Titanium alloy or have applied a hardening coating or process. Direnzo also uses a protective coating.

Generally, I agree that I do not fully understand why it is not done more. It makes perfect sense to me, though admittedly, hardening the material itself more so than a coating, which might introduce weakness or an additional wear and tear factor (I'm imagining the wear and tear of plating techniques).

 

I own a few hardened cases, and I'm very much impressed with them.

A Damasko DC66 as above, it is 7 years old, yet it only has a few faint signs around the edges indicating that it's not brand new
A Formex Field with its muted, sand-blasted look of the titanium case just collects oil from your skin, but not scratches.
A Citizen AQ1030-51L with Titanium Duratect 𝛼 with polished bevels, is ridiculously good against scratches.

I like them a lot, but then I don't mind scratches on watches, just amazed by the engineering feats these pull off.

 

Coated steel or titanium is something very different from hardened steel like Sinn and Damasko use, so I hope we are comparing apples to apples here.

 

Good point and I probably phrased it poorly. I'm not referring to sinn, damasko, archimede and other manufacturers hardened steel but instead the coating used by Zelos and Traska. For me the end results are what matter and I assume coating is cheaper.

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I can take it or leave it. It’s still possible to get a scratch with a coating and when you do there isn’t a way to blend it in or buff it out without affecting the surrounding coating. Sort of like getting a scratch on a black IP watch.

 

I would guess it's to do with servicing , a large portion of profits for the high street big brand names is servicing. A bust up looking watch is more likely to be sent in for a make over and service than one that looks prestine.

 

Not a priority for most people, if they want a scratch free watch then they buy another one, but most expect wear and tear on anything they own proportionate to the type of service that it is exposed to.

 

Yah, well there are enough posts here of people complaining about trashed clasps and bracelets. Personally I don't do polished clasps, or center links because of this. PCL is kinda stupid when its gonna get all scratched with time. It is amazing how the clasps and bracelets hold up with the coating.

ON the same vein, plenty of people come here to commerserate about how their $5000++ watch got their first scratch. There is so, so much profit margin in those watches - a good hardness coating seems like a no brainer...

Me, I love scratches. I got the one watch with the softest material out there, and boy does it have character! I'm loving it.

My Seiko MM 300 has the DLC coating and... it scratches.

Hardening is the way to go IMO.

I understand your experience. But realize that Seiko TOTALY FAILED with this stuff, and is a poor benchmark. Traska, Zelos, Citizen - everyone else seems to do it better. It is AMAZING on a $500 zelos, yet I sold a coated $5000 seiko because it was a scratch magnet. It ain't expensive, and it ain't hard, but Seiko doesn't do it properly.

 

Recently purchased a new diver from a micro brand called Australis. Hardened steel on case and bracelet. Claims to make steel 14x harder and virtually scratch/scuff proof. Seems to be true based on my experience with the watch.
Here it is...

 

Recently purchased a new diver from a micro brand called Australis. Hardened steel on case and bracelet. Claims to make steel 14x harder and virtually scratch/scuff proof. Seems to be true based on my experience with the watch.
Here it is...
View attachment 17088134

14x Harder?

You willing to do science for us on a spare bracelet link? Test it against the mohs scale and untreated 316L?

 

My Seiko MM 300 has the DLC coating and... it scratches.

Hardening is the way to go IMO.

 

It's a nice variation for sure

 

Willing to guess that we don't see it on more watches, because consumers just don't see the value in it. It adds something to the cost of the watch, maybe miniscule at the manufacturing level, but multiply that out to MSRP and it could mean a $20-50 difference... which could influence consumer demand.

First, beyond watch geeks, I'm not sure hardened steel is anything most consumers know to look for. Meaning, they have to be educated about what it is and why it's so great.

Second, some consumers value patina. Hard to accumulate patina on a watch built not to show wear...

Third, related to Traska specifically, I know they ran into issues with the hardened clasps used on the Commuter v1. They were a bit rough in use, with the closure mechanism. I don't know that Jon ever stated it, but my theory is that it had a lot to do with the fact that the clasp design had not accounted for the nature of the hardened steel components.

Fourth: cost. It adds to the price of a watch, which may put any given watch above what some are willing to pay.

 

Second, some consumers value patina. Hard to accumulate patina on a watch built not to show wear...

Yup. I don't necessarily want a watch that's a total scratch magnet, and I also wouldn't ever "force" a patina, but I expect and appreciate some normal wear. Part of the bonding process.

All of the vintage SS watches I collect, I will certainly clean them, but never polish them. Feels broken in, like a comfy pair of jeans.

 

Titanium case with Citizen proprietary hardening process and strap fabric widely used as bulletproof vest. Not bulletproof itself but whatever 🤣

 

Good point. That's a nice twist to watches

 

An interesting topic. My own view has changed with time and experience. I used to believe that scratches were just part of the deal. Then I got a second hand Sinn 857 UTC, which has Sinn’s ‘tegiment’ process. It looked new aside from a scratch on the bezel (not tegimented). After several years wear, still not a scratch. I’ve since purchased a Sinn 756 Diapal UTC - brushed SS rather than bead-blasted, so a ‘brighter’ appearance - also with tegiment. I appreciate the protection of the hardened steel.
I have also added a titanium Sinn 103 ti IFR UTC to the mix. The titanium ‘absorbs’ scratches into its patina. Different than tegiment steel, but effective.
I have non-hardened polished SS watches too. I wear them a little less and just try to be more careful.

 

I have a pair of Corvus-Bradley watches which came with a process called Kolsterising - they DO seem quite scratch/nick resistant:

 

Traska uses a coating, but it does work very well. I have three Traska watches and not a single scratch on any of them.

 

I'm seeing more watches on AliExpress advertising their 1200HV hardening of 316L cases and watch bands. If you are in
need of a watch that that is going to get a lot of everyday wear and tear, it definitely makes sense and doesn't cost much more.
I've also bought several Tungsten Steel watches which are almost as hard as diamond, and provide excellent weight.

 

Yes it seems the hardened coating is affordable and likely getting cheaper. I don't mind patina but I certainly love a new looking piece of hardware. I still want to see this in more watches I like.

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I'm glad. I wouldn't want to lose out over polished finishes

 

I only usually care about scratches on my watches when I’m about to sell them, but I’ll admit it was nice when I used to have a Zelos Mako with scratch-resistant coating. I sold it not too long after.