CERAMICS

As materials of great hardness and hypoallergenic, we can cite the ceramics. This material is interesting for the dressing of a watch.

For many years it was mainly used only by Rado. In the last fifteen years other brands have started to use it.

Ceramics has a wide range of uses in watchmaking. Ceramics can be used for all parts of the case such as frames, bezels, backs, pushers, crowns, links and clasps.

Advantages:
Ceramics has the particularity of being both a very hard material with a very warm touch. The material is therefore very resistant to abrasions such as scratches and shocks. This material is also a good heat dissipator. In summer, ceramic cases stay cool unlike titanium or steel cases, which heat up in the sun. Moreover, ceramic is totally hypoallergenic.

Disadvantages:
Ceramics is therefore very hard and this is not only an advantage but also a disadvantage. The ceramic structure has no flexibility, and no ability to absorb a shock by partially deforming. It can therefore break. Ceramic is also not easy to machine. It is very hard, and brittle and does not react well to the constraints imposed by machine tools. The moulding and firing process is therefore key since the parts obtained can only be rectified at a high cost.