Titanium Watches - Anyone have one?

[mercanucaribe]

It turns out titanium is very hard.

http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article126.htm

Hardness. Titanium is a much harder metal than aluminum and approaches the high hardness possessed by some of the heat-treated alloy steels. Iodide purity titanium has a hardness of 90 VHN (Vickers), unalloyed commercial titanium has a hardness of about 160 VHN and when alloyed and heat-treated, titanium can attain hardnesses in the range of 250 to 500 VHN. A typical commercial alloy of 130,000 psi yield strength might be expected to have a hardness of about 320 VHN or 34 Rockwell C.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: BriGy86

Originally posted by: Mookow

Originally posted by: BriGy86
http://www.oceanmaster.com/KnivesFeatures.htm#DiveKnife

and for sh!ts and giggles

i have the double sided blunt with the yellow trim

(i would have gotten the tactical but they hadn't started making that one yet when i bought it)

Any knife with a comparable blade in physical dimensions but made out of decent knife steel (154CM, S30V, etc) will outperform any of those except in corrosion resistance. Which is why you generally only see Ti blades on dive knives.

no actually quite a few are made with regular old stainless steal, a SS knife is just fine for diving in fresh water lakes, and can also be fine for salt water, it just that if your a dive master doing it day in and day out in salt water you'll want a Ti one so that you aren't buying a new one ever few years or sooner

I meant that as "almost the only place you see Ti blades is on dive knives", not "the only blades you see used for dive knives are Ti"

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: Mookow

Originally posted by: BriGy86

Originally posted by: Mookow

Originally posted by: BriGy86
http://www.oceanmaster.com/KnivesFeatures.htm#DiveKnife

and for sh!ts and giggles

i have the double sided blunt with the yellow trim

(i would have gotten the tactical but they hadn't started making that one yet when i bought it)

Any knife with a comparable blade in physical dimensions but made out of decent knife steel (154CM, S30V, etc) will outperform any of those except in corrosion resistance. Which is why you generally only see Ti blades on dive knives.

no actually quite a few are made with regular old stainless steal, a SS knife is just fine for diving in fresh water lakes, and can also be fine for salt water, it just that if your a dive master doing it day in and day out in salt water you'll want a Ti one so that you aren't buying a new one ever few years or sooner

I meant that as "almost the only place you see Ti blades is on dive knives", not "the only blades you see used for dive knives are Ti"

ah gotcha, im still gonna look for that bad@ass kitchen set i've always wanted though

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
It turns out titanium is very hard.

http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article126.htm

Hardness. Titanium is a much harder metal than aluminum and approaches the high hardness possessed by some of the heat-treated alloy steels. Iodide purity titanium has a hardness of 90 VHN (Vickers), unalloyed commercial titanium has a hardness of about 160 VHN and when alloyed and heat-treated, titanium can attain hardnesses in the range of 250 to 500 VHN. A typical commercial alloy of 130,000 psi yield strength might be expected to have a hardness of about 320 VHN or 34 Rockwell C.

Ummmm... good stainless steel can easily achieve 60 RC. 60 is rather higher than 34.

 

[drsafety]

I've had a skagen ti watch for 3 years.. its got some minor scratches but they are barely noticeable. Its a great watch, I love it.

 

[Kelvrick]

Aside from all that, where would you guys rate Skagen on quality?

Say, Timex/Casio target watches
Seiko
Skagen
Bulova
Citizen
Fossil

I was thinking about picking up this one here

 

[HumblePie]

Uhh.. pure titanium is LESS hard then stainles steel. There are two factors here, hardness and tensil strength. Hardness is measured in Mohs or Vickers depending on the test. Titanium in pure form has a Mohs scale of 6. Stainless steel is a Mohs scale of 7. Of course steel is already an alloy and titanium in it's pure form is not. By making an alloy from titanium you can mix it with carbon, Molyberum, and vanadium if I remember to make it the second hardest substance known to man besides a diamon. This is called titanium carbide alloy and usually isn't made much because while it's very hard it's also very brittle. Meaning if you DO manage to puncture it, which would require extreme pressure or a substance of equal hardness or greater, it's going to shatter like a baseball going through a glass pane.

Now, tensil strength is a bit different the hardness but relates. This is resistance to axial forces. Titanium has a tensil strength in pure form equal to that of stainless steel while being much lighter, and at the same time being more ductile as well.

The titanium used in jewelry is a hypo allergenic alloy normally that isn't very hard when compared to stainless steel but MUCH lighter. Also, stainless steel is one form of steel alloy as there are is way to mix it with vanadium and make it almost as hard as titanium carbide. So usually, titanium made jewelry are easier to scratch, because the hardness of the alloy typically used isn't that hard when compared to stainles or better steel alloys.

If you are worried abou scratches, just shop around, get opinions and go for what you like.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
It turns out titanium is very hard.

http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article126.htm

Hardness. Titanium is a much harder metal than aluminum and approaches the high hardness possessed by some of the heat-treated alloy steels. Iodide purity titanium has a hardness of 90 VHN (Vickers), unalloyed commercial titanium has a hardness of about 160 VHN and when alloyed and heat-treated, titanium can attain hardnesses in the range of 250 to 500 VHN. A typical commercial alloy of 130,000 psi yield strength might be expected to have a hardness of about 320 VHN or 34 Rockwell C.

"As is the case with steel, titanium is alloyed with other metals to increase its strength. Such metallic additions as Al, V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Sn are employed either as binary additions or as complex systems. The resulting increase in strength is accomplished, however, with a lowering of ductility."

I still is quite ductile. But thanks for the info. And for hardness. Pure Ti is soft.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
Uhh.. pure titanium is LESS hard then stainles steel. There are two factors here, hardness and tensil strength. Hardness is measured in Mohs or Vickers depending on the test. Titanium in pure form has a Mohs scale of 6. Stainless steel is a Mohs scale of 7. Of course steel is already an alloy and titanium in it's pure form is not. By making an alloy from titanium you can mix it with carbon, Molyberum, and vanadium if I remember to make it the second hardest substance known to man besides a diamon. This is called titanium carbide alloy and usually isn't made much because while it's very hard it's also very brittle.

Titanium carbide is made up of titanium and carbon atoms, and is not second to diamond in hardness.

 

[Tylanner]

yes cover all your furniture and curtains

 

[HumblePie]

titanium carbide is just the short term for a host of alloys that consist of titanium and carbon, which is why I listed the REST of it in that post that makes the alloy I'm refering to. let me look up the specific parts of it.

Titanium carbide + Chromium - Molybdenum- Carbon- Iron Alloy.

It makes what is called Ferritan (the consumer name for the alloy.


I stand corrected, I did another quick search and it's boron nitride that's the second hardest substance and this is right after it.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
titanium carbide is just the short term for a host of alloys that consist of titanium and carbon, which is why I listed the REST of it in that post that makes the alloy I'm refering to. let me look up the specific parts of it.

Titanium carbide + Chromium - Molybdenum- Carbon- Iron Alloy.

It makes what is called Ferratin (the consumer name for the alloy) and is the second hardest substance known to man when treated.

Couldn't find "Ferratin" on Google. Got any links?

 

[shilala]

I had a Lance Armstrong Nike Titanium 3.
It scratched.
I sold it.

 

[HumblePie]

http://www.reade.com/Products/Alloys/ferritan-titanium-carbide-kwik-lap.html

 

[BriGy86]

my citizen eco-drive

Text

let me know if the link doesn't work

the yahoo thing works weird

 

[lytalbayre]

I own 2 citizen eco drive titanium watches. I enjoy them because they are light weight and they do not irritate my skin as much as stainless steel (like when I'm sweaty).

I would rate citizen eco drive to by very high quality (above skagen easily). Plus, you'll never have to worry about a battery.

Anyhow, good luck.

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: lytalbayre
I own 2 citizen eco drive titanium watches. I enjoy them because they are light weight and they do not irritate my skin as much as stainless steel (like when I'm sweaty).

I would rate citizen eco drive to by very high quality (above skagen easily). Plus, you'll never have to worry about a battery.

Anyhow, good luck.

(im sure you already know)

and like i said before
- solar powered
-60 day reserve battery
-mines been ticking along for the last 3+ years now
(i should have it serviced though for the O-rings and what not)

 

[Minjin]

The titanium used in watches in generally more prone to scratching than stainless steel. With a few exceptions. Citizen uses a hardened form of titanium called Duratect that is incredibly scratch resistant, more so than stainless steel. I have one of these and its amazing how difficult it is to scratch. This is especially evident if you look at the bottom of the bracelet (where it will rub against the desk). Seiko also does something similar with a line of watches called Brightz.

Seiko example:

http://www.higuchi-inc.com/brightz.html

Citizen examples:

http://www.higuchi-inc.com/promaster2000.html

I'm sure many of the higher end watches use a similar hardened titanium. Basically, if it has a sandy texture, expect it to scratch very easily. You can see Seiko watches like this at your local jeweler.

Mark

 

[lytalbayre]

One of mine actually has a 5 year reserve when fully charged, perpetual calendar, and is water resistant up to 200m. I love watches.... what a filthy habit...

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
http://www.reade.com/Products/Alloys/ferritan-titanium-carbide-kwik-lap.html

From a quick look at your link, the hardest Ferritan alloy available maxes out at 70HRC. Both boron carbide and the high alumina ceramic in my sharpening stones are harder than that. BC is ~90HRC, and the sharpening stones are are something like 92HRC, IIRC. This doesnt jive with your previous statement of:

Originally posted by: HumblePie
I stand corrected, I did another quick search and it's boron nitride that's the second hardest substance and this is right after it.

EDIT: found the problem. From your link:

The titanium carbide used to manufacture Ferritan is the hardest industrial material after diamond and boron nitride.

Not "the hardest material", but "the hardest industrial material".

 

[edro]

I have the Seiko 139.

It scratches pretty easily, but after you get so many hair line scratches, you don't notice them anymore.

The weight of the watch is amazing.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: Mookow

Originally posted by: HumblePie
http://www.reade.com/Products/Alloys/ferritan-titanium-carbide-kwik-lap.html

From a quick look at your link, the hardest Ferritan alloy available maxes out at 70HRC. Both boron carbide and the high alumina ceramic in my sharpening stones are harder than that. BC is ~90HRC, and the sharpening stones are are something like 92HRC, IIRC. This doesnt jive with your previous statement of:

Originally posted by: HumblePie
I stand corrected, I did another quick search and it's boron nitride that's the second hardest substance and this is right after it.

EDIT: found the problem. From your link:

The titanium carbide used to manufacture Ferritan is the hardest industrial material after diamond and boron nitride.

Not "the hardest material", but "the hardest industrial material".

i did a search for alumina ceramic and only found the Vickers HV for it which was around 1100. You can't convert Vickers to HRC that easily because the tests aren't portional but there is a relation and it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 HRC ~= 1100 Vickers. I think you were comparing vickers to HRD?

As for the claim of hardness I was also going off the companies info that produced it's claims. Looking through some material sheets I find that there are a few other materials which are harder but not used for industrial us which was what the claim was made when I linked that website. My bad. Stuff like Ultrahard Fuerite can actually scratch diamonds when using a Vickers, Brinnel, or Rockwell C test. It's not clearly known which is the harder substance do to unreadable values of using stuff like diamond on diamond and UF on UF.

Anyhow, to answer the original OPs question.. titanium alloys used in jewelery are used primarily for their light weight, and hypoallergenic properties and not their scratch resistance. By making it scratch resistant and harder, titanium alloys tend to become more brittle as well and harder to manufacture as a result as well as more expensive.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
i did a search for alumina ceramic and only found the Vickers HV for it which was around 1100. You can't convert Vickers to HRC that easily because the tests aren't portional but there is a relation and it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 HRC ~= 1100 Vickers. I think you were comparing vickers to HRD?

Nah, I saw it in HRC back when I was researching knife steel and sharpening.

EDIT: it is hard enough to scratch boron carbide, as I once carelessly proved

 

[Howard]

Ferritan is a type of cemented carbide where the matrix is a tool steel and the particulate reinforcement is TiC, which means that the hardness is due to the TiC. Again I reiterate that TiC is not second in hardness to diamond.

Ferritan is similar to typical cemented carbides where the matrix is cobalt and the particulate reinforcement is tungsten carbide.

 

[ColdFusion718]

I have a Seiko Kinetic Titanium watch. I've been wearing it for over 4 years and the metal is scratched to hell, still a very reliable watch, never needs batteries.