Watch is a necessity in people's daily life. The amount of its shell and chain accounts for 95% of the watches'material. Traditional watches are made of brass and treated by electroplating Ni on the surface. This kind of watch contains a lot of nickel in its surface layer, which often causes "nickel allergic reaction" when it is worn. Later, wristwatches made of austenitic stainless steel appeared, but because austenitic stainless steel also contains elements such as nickel and chromium which can cause allergic reactions with human skin, since the 1970s, scientists and technicians began to study the use of titanium materials with good affinity with human body to make watches'case, chains and watches. Belt, buckle, pedicle and other parts.
Titanium, as a watches material, began with high-grade waterproof sports watches with timekeeping function. The development of titanium watches in Japan is that two major manufacturers, West Railway City and Seiko, simultaneously put high-grade titanium sports watches into the market. Subsequently, Japan Watch Company began to develop all-titanium watches in 1972. In order to apply titanium to watches, researchers have solved seven technical problems in the past 30 years, including pressure forming technology, cutting technology, surface processing technology, wear-resistant treatment technology, weldability, decoration and biological adaptability.
Therefore, modern titanium watches have the following characteristics: light weight, 60% stainless steel; resistance to human sweat and sea water corrosion; the best specific strength in metal materials; surface hardness is twice that of stainless steel; wearing without the general sense of metal cold; good skin affinity, no allergic reaction; decorative effect is good. And so on.
Titanium watches are made of industrial pure titanium, Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-15333 alloy. In the early 1990s, the first batch of all-titanium watches entered the market and the price was very high. Then, due to the increase of production and technological improvement, the watches'shell can be manufactured by investment casting, sheet metal stamping and powder metallurgy, and the price has been reduced accordingly. All-titanium watches have turned to high-end watches for popularization.
Many countries in the world attach great importance to the research and production of titanium watches; the research work of Japanese titanium watches won the 1994 Japan Titanium Association's credit award; the titanium space watches produced in Switzerland weigh only 50g; and the Northwest Institute of Nonferrous Metals of China has also developed the "NIN" brand series of all-titanium watches.
With the development of 3D printing technology, personalized customized printing titanium watches are emerging. Luminor 1950 case, made of titanium metal, is sensitive and corrosion resistant, and its weight is 40% lighter than that of fine steel. In order to further reduce the weight of the wrist watch, the watch uses innovative technology to hollow out the inside of the watch case, outlines extremely complex geometric figures, while retaining the excellent waterproof function of the watch case (up to 10 bar, about 100 meters deep) and the strong characteristics of tension and distortion resistance. The technology is called "direct metal laser sintering". Titanium metal powder is used to fabricate three-dimensional parts layer by layer with optical fiber laser technology. Each layer of material is only 0.02 mm thick. After fusion, it becomes solid titanium metal. The finished product is not made by traditional technology. It is lighter in weight and has a flawless appearance.