Titanium watches

[mike8333]

Hi guys,

I'm thinking of buying a pre-own titanium watch, mainly for weight advantage and just one question.........is it true that it scratches more easily than their stainless steel counterpart?
This would be watch will be my daily watch.

Thanks
Michael

[micwee]

daily scratches not so visible since mostly titanium have a matte finish?

[jamester]

If we compare to Apple to Apple, Matt titanium does scratch and kink more easily than Matt stainless steel. That said, it's not that soft or fragile so I won't worry too much about it unless u r clumsy with watches or very anal about watch condition

Another down (or up) side about titanium is that it darkens slightly over time due to oxidation but only very slightly.

Personally I feel that the weight advantage outweighs the above considerations, especially for large watches like panerais. I traded my Pam 111 for a pre-owned 351 and couldn't be happier

[kcwong]

One of my first watch is a Swiss army titanium watch body and with titanium bracelet. Very light weight and resistance to scratch. But over time the titanium bracelet seemed to stretch. Seems that titanium is tough but is quite ductile when subjected to repeated loading

[Clarkent5]

Technically tatinium is harder than steel I think? I got a pam351 and seems ok not many scratches.

[Destro22BT]

I'm a sucker for Titanium watches. And watches that follow me for a long time are in fact Titanium watches. I'm drawn to the look of titanium and their relative 'weightlessness'.

Yes titanium scratches more easily due to the matt grey oxide layer that forms upon exposure to air over time. In general, titanium in its own is tougher than steel, but most of the titanium watches are not made with pure titanium, but an alloy of titanium. This ensures that they are softer or more malleable, making it easy to be machined down to the desired case shape and polished. IMO, they are no tougher than steel cases and you may even hear of users who say that their titanium watches are in fact 'softer' than their stainless steel counterparts.

Seiko has an interesting titanium alloy that shine like polished stainless steel (via the Diashield process) yet still bears the weightlessness property of titanium.

[SKDT]

Regular titanium do scratch more easily than stainless steel.
However, most watches are not really pure titanium, but uses an alloy of it to make it more scratch resistant.
I have one which i wear quite frequently, and i think it resist scratches better than regular stainless steel

[sunami]

Seiko's Diashield coating is one of the most scratch resistance titanium coating. I have an SBDC007 that I wear as a beater for around 2 years and it looks way better than some of the other newer stainless/titanium watch that I have. It depends alot on the coating of the titanium. I heard some coating makes it look beaten up after a while.