An endless stream of innovative material watches

The schedule of 2022 Watchs & Wonders Geneva is more than halfway through. Combined with the LVMH Watch Week at the beginning of the year, as well as the annual new products released by several brands under the Swatch Group, the Swiss watch industry has a strong focus on materials and materials. Innovation in color aesthetics is increasing day by day.

On the one hand, watch brands rely on innovative materials to achieve differentiation, and on the other hand, they introduce richer colors to present their own aesthetic values to enhance their competitiveness and uniqueness in the market.

IWC is known in the Swiss watch industry for its outstanding pilot watches. During the 2022 Geneva exhibition, IWC released five new TOP GUN series pilot watches in different colors, of which four colors are presented on IWC high-tech engineering ceramics, while the other dark green TOP GUN watch adopts It is Ceratanium® porcelain titanium metal, a patented and innovative material independently developed by IWC.

In 2017, IWC used Ceratanium® porcelain titanium for the first time in a product. At that time, it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Aquatimer series of watches, and IWC used this patented ceramic titanium metal in the 50th anniversary watch. IWC introduced that ceramic titanium, an innovative material, is lighter and more durable than steel, and at the same time, it combines the characteristics of ceramic surface, which is not easy to be scratched, and is very hard.

New IWC TOP GUN Pilot's Watch IWC Lake Tahoe Special Edition

New IWC TOP GUN Pilot's Watch IWC Woodland Special Edition

Hublot also announced an innovative material in Geneva this year – the brand’s exclusive synthetic sapphire material. This material is used by Hublot on the new Big Bang Self-winding Tourbillon Purple Sapphire watch, which is characterized by the final color showing a transparent purple instead of blue.

In fact, in recent years, more and more watch brands have joined the team of material innovation. Traditional sapphire and ceramic materials have been upgraded with the hard work of watchmakers. In addition to improving the comfort of wearing the watch and making the watch feel lighter, the use of these new composite materials can also make watch products more beautiful and easier to color, thereby creating more new products. color.

New Big Bang Self-winding Tourbillon Purple Sapphire Synthetic Watch

In a recent New York Times report, Lorenz Brunner, head of R&D and innovation at IWC, said, “The importance of aesthetics (in luxury watches) is equally important. For example, ceramic materials have a smooth surface, tactile It’s very comfortable. Compared to other materials, ceramic has a particular advantage in that it can be moulded into different colours.”

The five-color pilot watches released by IWC this time are self-developed colors and have been professionally certified by the color research organization PANTONE Pantone. Each color corresponds to an exclusive standardized color card.

For example, a white ceramic color is named "IWC Lake Tahoe", which is inspired by Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada, and draws on the colors of the lake and winter landscape. The TOP GUN watch made of Ceratanium porcelain titanium is inspired by the vast forest and flight uniform from the perspective of flight, and the dark green is also named "IWC Woodland".

The Swatch x Omega joint series MoonSwatch watch, which has recently attracted great attention in the watch and fashion circles, also innovated in ceramic materials and launched 11 watches in different colors. Swatch Swatch uses a plant-ceramic mixed material (Bioceramic), which is actually a plant-based material that is easy to color in the ceramic material, and its purpose is to create richer colors.

Hublot also launched the Big Bang Integral one-piece ceramic watch in four colors this year. The four watches are made of a single ceramic material, indigo blue, sky blue, sand beige and jungle green. HUBLOT Hublot Chief Product and Purchasing Officer mentioned in the above report that the brand spent more than two years developing the new indigo color. "We need to spend years developing a material and then years developing a completely new color for the same material because the chemistry changes all the time."

The new Hublot Big Bang Integral one-piece ceramic watch Pale Blue

In addition to synthetic ceramic materials and synthetic sapphire, Swiss professional watchmaking brands are also working hard on patented alloy materials.

Italian watchmaker PANERAI has released three new Submersible watches at this Geneva exhibition, which are made of eco-friendly alloy material eSteel™ reconstituted steel alloy. According to Panerai, this innovative environmentally friendly alloy material uses a new generation of metal material that is recycled up to 95% of pre-consumer waste steel. carbon emission.

This release comes less than a year after this environmentally friendly alloy material came out. During the 2021 Shanghai Watch and Miracle Haute Horlogerie Exhibition, Panerai is the first to use this material in the Lumino eSteel™ watch. The application of this material to Panerai’s daily watches this year also demonstrates the brand’s determination to promote this innovative material.

The new Panerai Submersible watch

Not only that, Rolex launched the Everose gold and Everose silver materials independently developed by the brand at the Geneva exhibition in 2022. Coincidentally, the brand-new O-MEGASTEEL stainless steel alloy material was used in the brand-new Seamaster series Ocean Universe Ultra Deep 6000m professional diving watch launched by Omega in early March. In addition, the Omega Speedmaster series moon watch has repeatedly used alloy materials independently developed by the brand: Moonshine 18K gold, Sedna 18K gold and Canopus 18K gold.

According to the brand, adding metal, carbon and silicon dioxide to the gold material makes an alloy material, which is more corrosion-resistant and hypoallergenic than traditional precious metal materials such as gold, and has a brighter color. Chic. It is not difficult to see that high-tech materials and alloys have become more widely used in Swiss high-end watchmakers, replacing traditional steel, titanium, and even 18K gold.