I love Titanium watches. Well I love watches and watches being made from Ti is a boost. The problem with Ti is that once you start to wear a Ti watch you never want to wear a steel one again. It’s so much lighter and mysteriously more comfortable. The reason is to do with the thermal absorption properties of Titanium versus steel or gold. Steel (and gold) conducts heat very well, much better than Titanium. Therefore when you put on a steel watch it absorbs heat from your skin rapidly. This cools YOU down and therefore makes the watch seem cold. On a hot day a steel watch can heat up rapidly and burn your skin. Titanium is a lousy heat conductor so it has less effect when it comes in contact with your skin. The warmth you feel isn’t the warmth of the watch, it’s the lack of heat absorption from the metal. It’s also much lighter (45%) and slightly stronger than steel although the relative hardness of untreated titanium is less so the watches can get scratched. However, there’s always other treatments which can protect the metal. Or indeed Titanium alloys such as Titanium Nitride (TiN).
Unfortunately, some people think Ti looks cheap which makes it hard to get the watch you want in this most desirable of metals. So hopefully Omega will think better of it and produce a Ti Planet Ocean within the next year as I absolutely NEED one.
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