Super cool osmium crystal dial
As early as 2014, Hublot launched the Sky Tourbillon watch, the first time to use osmium metal to make a watch dial. Osmium, a rare metal, must be rarely mentioned by many people. Today we will take a look at what this osmium metal has to offer.
Osmium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Os, atomic number 76, and atomic weight 190.23 u. Osmium is a hard, brittle platinum-group transition metal with a distinctive bluish-white luster. Osmium is the densest element in nature, with a density of 22.59 g/cm3. Osmium metal, found in platinum ore, is so rare that about 10,000 tons of platinum ore yields less than 28 grams of osmium. Platinum is already a very rare metal, and there are about 13,000 tons of platinum metal in the earth, compared to about 200 tons of osmium. In fact, osmium is the poorest stable element in the Earth's crust. Osmium metal is hard and brittle and has a very high melting point. It is difficult to shape and process, and it is easy to form osmium tetroxide with high volatility and high toxicity in the air. In addition, osmium itself is very rare and expensive. Therefore, the application of osmium in metal state rare.
The osmium crystal developed by the Institute of Materials of the Institute of Technology of Lausanne is a very beautiful material. Hublot saw the beauty of this crystal, so Hublot funded this project. What we see now is osmium crystals, because osmium itself is toxic, and because osmium oxides are highly volatile and highly toxic, and osmium metal easily forms oxides, its metal state has little application, but It is non-toxic after changing the structure to crystallize at high temperature.
Due to its extremely high melting point, its processing is extremely complicated and difficult. Lausanne used a distillation method to heat it at a high temperature of 3,033 degrees Celsius (the melting point of osmium) in a closed space, and the melted and evaporated osmium turned into a gas and rose. Condensed at the top of the confined space. After cooling, it condenses into non-toxic osmium crystals. It becomes good with osmium but not poisonous, and it also forms very unique and absolutely unique crystals. This osmium crystal, which varies in size from 0.1 millimeters to several millimeters, makes Hublot's osmium crystal dials a true marvel. Rareness, uniqueness to Hublot and difficulty in processing are the three attributes of the material osmium at present. It is precisely because this watch of Hublot is shaped like a star after crystallization, it is named the sky.
Due to the beauty and rare gimmicks of osmium crystals, Ulysse Nardin, Czapek and WH&T also produced watches made of osmium crystals. We can expect the development of osmium crystals in the watchmaking industry in the future.
