Our Favorite Watch Case Materials

Traditionally there were two choices when it came to the material your watch was crafted out of. Tool watches were made out of stainless steel, while dress watches were made out of yellow gold. As watch designers became more daring and technology advanced, the modern watch collector has an almost endless choice of materials their watches can crafted from. On top of that, brands like Richard Mille and Hublot are truly pushing the boundaries of what a watch can be made of.

The first real deviation from stainless steel and yellow gold were the addition of rose and white gold watches. Rose gold offered a warmer and more modern look than yellow gold and white gold offered the ability to wear a solid gold watch without drawing the addition of colored golds. Another metal that also gained popularity around this time was platinum. Platinum commanded a premium over gold and also added a good deal of weight to the watch. Often times the most complicated watch released by a watch brand is crafted in platinum.

The 1970s brought about the use of PVD (physical vapor deposition) coated watches. This process added a deep black layer on top of a watch case metal. Porsche Design first came out with a watch done in PVD with their Chronograph 1. Other brands continued this trend well into the 2000s, with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore End of Days being the most notable PVD coated watch. The issue with PVD is that it would chip exposing the base metal of a different color underneath. The use of ceramic would soon take over as the preferred method for a blacked out watch. 2022 even saw Audemars Piguet release an homage to the End of Days done in black ceramic instead of PVD.



The 1980s saw Rado come out with a watch featuring high tech ceramic. Not only did the deep black of ceramic add an interesting look to their watches, but the material was pretty much scratchproof. Another added benefit of ceramic was that it was incredibly lightweight. We then saw Audemars Piguet and IWC start developing multiple watches in ceramic, even in other colors than black.



The late 1980s and 1990s also saw the rise of bronze being used in watch cases. Bronze offers a very soft and warm hue, similar to rose gold, but over time will develop a patina that makes each watch unique from other watches of the same reference. Panerai really made the bronze case popular and IWC continues to offer bronze in its Pilots watches. Bronze is also fairly durable and has a great resistance to saltwater, making them a great choice for divers watches.



In the 1990s Porsche Design and IWC teamed up to release the Ocean 2000. This was the first watch to feature a case and bracelet made out of titanium. Titanium while only being marginally more expensive than stainless steel, offered both more durability and less weight than stainless steel. Titanium also has a very unique darker grey color than stainless steel, making it a bit more unique.



The 2000s saw the introduction of carbon fiber and forged carbon being used in the watch market. Audemars Piguet really led the charge in the use of carbon in watches with their limited edition Royal Oak Offshores. The Royal Oak Offshore Montoya introduced a carbon fiber bezel while the Royal Oak Offshore Team Alinghi featured two watches with a forged carbon bezel and one watch crafted fully out of forged carbon. Both carbon fiber and forged carbon offer extreme lightness, but while carbon fiber is rather durable, forged carbon can be rather susceptible to dings and scratches.



Newer and more technical brands like Hublot and Richard Mille have also added such wild case options as sapphire, carbon composite, carbon TPT and gold mixed with more durable metals. These materials are ground breaking, but for the most part they are made in such limited quantities that they just aren’t seen as often as the above listed materials.



So now we’ve listed out all of the most common case materials and it is time to go through our favorite three case materials…

Well, I lied… I have to have two case materials tied for third. I’m going to say to personally carbon and rose gold both rank third. They are wildly different materials, but appeal equally to me.

Let’s start with rose gold, also called pink gold by some brands. Besides the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’m really not a fan of yellow gold watches. The yellow gold hue just doesn’t strike a chord with me, while I love the warmer tone of rose gold. There are three main drawbacks to rose gold that keep it from being higher on my list and why I don’t own any rose gold watches currently. The main drawback to rose gold naturally is the cost. Rose gold watches tend to be the most expensive case material excluding platinum or sapphire, sometimes costing more than twice that of a lesser metal. The second drawback to rose gold is its weight. Rose gold watches are tremendously heavy, being only surpassed by platinum. Being that I personally like larger watches, this can be a huge issue. The final drawback to rose gold is that it is very soft, meaning scratches and chips are too be expected.



I’m not really into bracelets on a watch at all, especially all gold bracelets. These just make a heavy watch that much heavier and also besides the bezel, the bracelet and clasp are the most abused areas of a watch. With rose gold being so soft, these get banged up fast. For me the best strap and really the only way I like rose gold watches, is on a black rubber strap. The black of a rubber strap really contrasts amazingly well with the rose gold color. Also the lightweight nature of rubber balances out the heft of a rose gold case.

I do feel like I will pull the trigger on a rose gold watch at some point, but with such fluctuations of prices, it would need to be near a lesser metals price. Some of my favorite rose gold watches are from Hublot and Audemars Piguet. From Hublot, the original design of the Big Bang in rose gold with a ceramic bezel and black rubber strap really does it for me. The textured rubber strap just really sets off the watch. The F1 limited edition King Power is also mind blowing. While it doesn’t have a traditional rubber strap, the black texture and red stitching just look amazing. I also love the skeleton dial and ceramic pushers and bezel. The bezel also resembles a racecar’s cross drilled brake rotor. From Audemars Piguet, I really love the original Royal Oak Offshore Rubber Clad and the Royal Oak Offshore Team Alinghi. The Rubber Clad is just a perfect execution of a rose gold and rubber watch, with black rubber bezel, pushers, crown and strap. Although over the years the rubber bezel didn’t hold up well, with many people switching it out for a ceramic bezel. The Team Alinghi has always been a stunner in rose gold, even if the forged carbon bezel would also not hold up well, with many also switching to a ceramic bezel.



Now in a tie for third with rose gold, are carbon cased watches. Like stated before, carbon makes a watch incredibly lightweight, especially larger watches. Forged carbon is molded under extreme heat and pressure, this process makes the end result very unique with many geometric shapes and shades of black. Carbon fiber cases on the other hand are made by layering thin carbon fiber layers on top of each other with resin. The look of carbon fiber is more what you’re used to seeing on high end sports car components. While forged carbon can be rather prone to damage, carbon fiber is much more durable.

The look of carbon watches is just so unique. We love wearing watches that just aren’t common, and carbon pieces are rarely seen. Carbon fiber will just glisten like no other material when hit with direct sunlight and forged carbon is just extremely distinctive. Along with the look, the weight savings when compared to metal cases is also a huge plus. The high tech nature of the creation of carbon pieces also goes along way for our love of them.



My favorite forged carbon watch is the fully forged carbon Royal Oak Offshore Team Alinghi. If it wouldn’t be for how fragile the watch is, I’m sure I’d have one. I’ve just seen far too many that are beat up and impossible to fix. Being a huge watch, it’s surprising how lightweight it is. I actually personally own my two favorite carbon fiber watches. The Royal Oak Offshore Montoya has a carbon fiber bezel, which was one of the main reasons I’ve always loved it. The Hublot King Power Oceanographic on the other hand has a full carbon fiber case and bezel, with an inner core of titanium. Even though this watch is 48 x 23 mm in diameter and thickness, it wears very light due to the carbon construction. The watch is by far the most distinctive watch I’ve owned.

Ok no more ties moving forward… Moving on to my second favorite case material, we have ceramic. Ceramic can come in pretty much any color and can be polished or be matte. I tend to prefer matte black ceramic, but have also seen some very interesting white ceramic watches. Like carbon, ceramic is also very lightweight. One of the main benefits to ceramic is its resistance to scratches. Ceramic really cannot scratch, instead it receives a transfer of metal on top its surface. Most “scratches” like this can be removed with a standard rubber eraser.

One big downfall with ceramic watches is the possibility of the case cracking or shattering. Up until recently, I had never seen or heard of a ceramic cased watch getting damaged like that. A few weeks ago though, I did see a Hublot King Power in ceramic that did have a cracked case near the chronograph pushers. For the most part though, if something substantial doesn’t happen to the watch, it should be OK.



My favorite ceramic watch is the line of Top Gun watches from IWC crafted in matte black ceramic. I have owned two of these watches, the first being the Top Gun Chronograph in 46mm and the second and currently owned Top Gun Perpetual Calendar. Although both watches were pre-owned, they look brand new due to the ceramic. Also their pure black cases and dials make the bright white dial markings really stand out. My wife also currently has a ceramic Hublot Bing Bang All Black in 41 mm. The watch is stunning being crafted in polished black ceramic and weighs nothing.

By far my favorite case metal is titanium. I have owned more titanium cased watches than all other materials combined. Titanium brings the lightweight attributes of ceramic and carbon, while also being somewhat durable and able to be polished. Unlike ceramic and carbon, scratches and nicks can be polished out of titanium. Titanium is extremely hypo allergic as well, making it compatible with just about everybody’s skin. I feel most people own stainless steel watches and haven’t given titanium a chance. I believe this mainly due to the lack of titanium adoption from a lot of major watch brands. For example, Rolex just recently released watches in titanium including the Deepsea Challenge and the newest Yacht-Master.



As for my favorite watch crafted in titanium, it is by far the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montoya. The Montoya was created in collaboration with Columbian F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the mid 2000s. The design of the watch took tons of racing elements and brought them into the watch. There were elements that looked like brake ducts, brake rotors, a checkered flag, driving suit material, pedals, lug nuts, wheel nuts, etc… Not surprising that this watch used both titanium and carbon fiber in a time when both were not used commonly, being that one of the main designers of the Montoya was none other than Richard Mille. The watch was offered in titanium, rose gold and platinum. The titanium always made the most sense to me for many reasons. First it was the most technically advanced being crafted in titanium. It was also the lightest of the bunch, which is important for a large watch. Finally it was also the most affordable. The rose gold version is stunning though, maybe even one of the best looking Offshores made.

I feel that for me, it would be hard to buy a watch that wasn’t crafted in titanium, ceramic or carbon at this point. I have tried a few watches recently that were made in stainless or submarine steel and they just felt way too heavy and were a chore to wear. I do see myself with a rose gold watch at some point, based purely on its looks. There are far too many negatives with rose gold to praise it much past aesthetics.

Hopefully you enjoyed my little dive into my favorite watch materials. Maybe I opened your eyes to some alternatives to the commonplace stainless steel watches out there.