Friday, December 18, 2020

IWC High Hardness Porcelain Titanium Rattrapante Chronograph

Although IWC rarely emphasizes its achievements in material research, in fact, IWC was the first brand to introduce titanium and zirconia ceramics into the watchmaking industry; as early as 1980, the Porsche Design Titanchronograph was created with titanium. Chronograph, and the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar watch case was made of black zirconia ceramic for the first time in 1986. Now it goes even further, using ceramic titanium metal Ceratanium and silicon materials on the case and movement of the IWC pilot watch.

Porcelain titanium was first used in the IWC Aquatimer 50th anniversary special edition perpetual calendar watch published in 2017, and the Top Gun Porcelain Titanium Split-Hand Chronograph was the first pilot watch to use porcelain titanium. Its application is more comprehensive, including the case, back cover, crown, button, clasp, etc. are all made of porcelain titanium, which has the high hardness of ceramics, and is as light as titanium but not easily broken. In addition to high performance, it can also show a fog black appearance that is different from traditional metals and ceramics, adding to the visual charm of the watch.

This special new material is the result of five years of research and development by IWC replica watches. The main raw material of titanium porcelain is high-purity titanium metal. The manufacturing process is quite complicated. Simply put, the surface of titanium metal becomes ceramic through high temperature and oxidation. , So that the surface reaches the hardness of ceramics, which can last as long as new.

In particular, the ceramic surface layer is transformed from titanium, so it is one piece, and there is no problem that it will wear off after a long time. The hardness of general stainless steel is about 200Hv (Vickers hardness), titanium alloy is about 300 to 500Hv, and ceramics is more than 1000. Unless it encounters diamonds, there will be no scratches on the porcelain titanium case.

In order to match the matte black color of titanium porcelain, the hour markers and hands of the Top Gun titanium rattrapante chronograph are presented in gray and white. Low-key bright spot among gray. The built-in 79420 movement is based on the ETA 7750. The project of adding a split-second module to the basic chronograph movement is not small. IWC has also upgraded the fine-tuning device and other details. Since 1993, IWC has changed the ETA 7750 to the rattrapante. It has been continuously optimized and improved for more than 20 years. The reliability of the 79420 movement has been well recognized.