Titanium Diamond Ring?

Q: I am wondering why titanium hasn't been more popular for watch cases since it is hypoallergenic, very strong and scratch resistant, etc. I know that it is more expensive then stainless, but some Seiko and some other companies are offering them in the $100 range. Is there a significant downside to the consumer for this material?

A:Titanium has several good points, not the least of which are it's light weight and the really nice grey color it is finished in. In my experience it is no more scratch resistant than stainless steel. Unfortunately scratches tend to be much more obvious because the underlying material looks shiny in comparison to the dull grey titanium finish we are all used to. And scratches in titanium can't be mnimized with polishing compounds. I don't know how strength in materials is really measured, so I don't really know if titanium is really stronger than steel. I do know that my many stainless steel watch cases and bracelets have never cracked, broken or deformed, so it must be pretty tough and strong stuff. I'm wearing a titanium watch right now, and i wouldn't call it 'scratch resistant'. You don't get deep gouges, but surface abrasions accumulate just like any other non-tungsten-carbide case. It is however 'polish resistant'. You can't return it to a uniform finish without a tremendous time investment. Of course the phrase "stainless" steel doesn't have a great deal of meaning in itself - there are are wide variety of such steels, and some of them are tremendously tough, hard and corrosion resistant. I looked at a "titanium" watch a little while ago and it didn't quite look like titanium at all - it appeared to have been coated / plated. Any such coatings, platings, or oxide layers are likely to have problems and be polishable. But unless I am missing something, I imagine that a case that is solid titanium and not coated / plated should be able to be polished just like stainless, brass, or just about any other material.

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