The future of case and bracelet scratch protection?
Scratches, this is always a problem we are trying to solve for our customers.
Especially on stainless steel or titanium cases, this can be painful. Right now, the best way is the "hardening" coating which is basically a colorless DLC coating and it can reach a hardness level of up to 1200HV. But the problem there, with time passing or after a high froce impact on the surface, the coating can spall off. So they are good in the beginning but can reduce the protection over time. We are using this type of hardening coating on our current model, the PD V1 9039.
At WICKED WATCH CO we are always seeking for the best and innovative ways to deliver a great quality for the buck. It took us some time to find new ways of protecting our cases, bracelets etc. We have found a special treatment that helps us to protect our watches.
With the new way we have found, the outcome is a significant improvement in wear and galling resistance due to a surface hardness of up to 1300HV, and typically maintained or even improved corrosion resistance.
The new technology helps to:
- Replacing coatings such as hard-chrome plating for environmental and cost reasons, or PVD/DLC for cost or “line-of-sight” reasons
- Replacing traditional low-temperature carburizing diffusion processes for environmental, cost, corrosion resistance or lead-time reasons
- Replacing conventional heat treatment on martensitic steels to improve wear and corrosion resistance
The result of the hardening test depends on the raw material, the surface finish etc.. We made some samples and sent them to test in the lab to find out, how good is the treatment. The result are stunning, with perfectly even penetration and with a high hardness level, we are very happy with it.
We look forward using this new technology on future projects and we want to hear the feedback from our customers!
Here is the test report for the Titanium Grade 5 cases:
Here is the test report for the 316L stainless steel cases:
Here is the video of the hardened steel in action:
