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Advice from a long-time watch owner: SS polishes, Al doesn't

8CoreWhore said:
Unlike Apple's other alum products, the Watch is made with 7000 series aluminum, which is harder than the 316 stainless steel used in the Watch. I'm too lazy to google it, I'll leave that to someone else.

But ANYTHING will scratch. Forget about polishing or buffing the Space Gray alum, or the black DLC stainless steel.
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I'm not talking about the aluminum alloy but the anodization process used. It's already established that they're using a stronger aluminum alloy in the Watch compared to the iPhone but no indication that they're using a stronger anodization process. If the latter were true, they'd also market the hell out of that and not simply call it "special."

I'm no expert on the anodization process but I'm refering to whatever type "hard anodizing" is, which is thicker, more expensive and takes significantly longer than what's currently used on iDevices and MacBooks.
 
Newtons Apple said:
I agree. I have worn watches with sapphire crystals for the last 35 years and have BANGED the hell out of them. Even to the point the the bezel surrounding the crystal had to be replaced and yet the sapphire did not suffer even a scratch. It can happen as I have seen a Rolex with a broken crystal but it is very rare.

I will take sapphire over "Ion Glass" any time!
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I've owned a few vintage watches with sapphire crystals, and they can be chipped. Once chipped, though, they don't appear to get any worse unless subject to the same conditions that caused them to get chipped to begin with.

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JayLenochiniMac said:
Yes, but it'll likely be obsolete before it's in dire need of a professional polish.
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You may not even need to have it professionally polished. A polishing cloth and a little elbow grease will likely do the job in most cases, assuming the watch hasn't suffered any major damage.
 
8CoreWhore said:
Unlike Apple's other alum products, the Watch is made with 7000 series aluminum, which is harder than the 316 stainless steel used in the Watch. I'm too lazy to google it, I'll leave that to someone else.
Click to expand...

Greg Koenig has written a couple of nice articles on the materials that go into the Apple Watch:
  1. Apple Watch and durability: How tough are Apple's finishes?
  2. How Apple Makes the Watch

Then there's Apple's videos on the metals that go into the cases. They don't give numeric specifications, but have pretty shots of sparks and waterfalls of molten metal. Plus for some reason, I simply love hearing Jony Ive say "aluminium".
 
8CoreWhore said:
Unlike Apple's other alum products, the Watch is made with 7000 series aluminum, which is harder than the 316 stainless steel used in the Watch. I'm too lazy to google it, I'll leave that to someone else.

But ANYTHING will scratch. Forget about polishing or buffing the Space Gray alum, or the black DLC stainless steel.
Click to expand...

Lol. I *am* a metallurgist, and no, sorry, 7000 series aluminum isn't harder than 316 stainless steel. Rockwell B hardness for 7000 series is about 87; for 316L it's about 95.

There's a joke among metallurgists about aluminum. We call it "shiny plastic".
 
diablo2112 said:
Lol. I *am* a metallurgist, and no, sorry, 7000 series aluminum isn't harder than 316 stainless steel. Rockwell B hardness for 7000 series is about 87; for 316L it's about 95.

There's a joke among metallurgists about aluminum. We call it "shiny plastic".
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Well, it wouldn't surprise me if the articles that said that were wrong. Sometimes journalists just make stuff up. 9to5mac said that in their article about the $5 polish.

BTW, 87 for alum Vs 95 for steel is pretty good.

Here is a screenshot from the 9to5mac article regarding scratches published today. And for anyone doubting this steel is 95 Vs 87 for alum, I verified it on industrial sites.
 

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diablo2112 said:
Lol. I *am* a metallurgist, and no, sorry, 7000 series aluminum isn't harder than 316 stainless steel. Rockwell B hardness for 7000 series is about 87; for 316L it's about 95.

There's a joke among metallurgists about aluminum. We call it "shiny plastic".
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Thanks for starting this thread. I knew the steel watch was shinier and undoubtedly more durable than the aluminum, but it never occurred to me that it would be easy to repolish the stainless steel to keep it looking new. I see how it's worth spending the extra money for steel (although I preordered the sports watch simply because I like the darker space gray color).

As long as you're a metallurgist, here's a question: do you think Apple could make a space black version of the Milanese loop? I speculated such a band would look great with either the DLC stainless steel watch or the space gray sports watch. However, now I'm wondering if it's possible to apply a DLC finish to the Milanese loop steel — perhaps the coating would not survive the "weaving" process.
 
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Cuyler said:
Thanks for starting this thread. I knew the steel watch was shinier and undoubtedly more durable than the aluminum, but it never occurred to me that it would be easy to repolish the stainless steel to keep it looking new. I see how it's worth spending the extra money for steel (although I preordered the sports watch simply because I like the darker space gray color).

As long as you're a metallurgist, here's a question: do you think Apple could make a space black version of the Milanese loop? I speculated such a band would look great with either the DLC stainless steel watch or the space gray sports watch. However, now I'm wondering if it's possible to apply a DLC finish to the Milanese loop steel — perhaps the coating would not survive the "weaving" process.
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Yes, you can coat a milanese loop, and there's several jewelers that sell coated loops. The coatings have limited durability. The constant rubbing of the little loops will probably wear this off at those points. I have no special insight here, only a bit of common sense. No-doubt we'll see third party suppliers of coatings for the Apple watch and bands, stay tuned.

BTW, DLC is diamond-like carbon. It's a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) based coating made from a combination of methane and hydrogen at elevated temperatures. If you control temperature and the CH4/H2 ratio just right (some patented processes also add ethylene), the resulting carbon film is mostly sp3 bonded. Hence, the term "diamond like". Among carbon alloptropes, diamond is carbon with sp3 bonds; graphite is carbon with sp2 bonds. sp2 carbon can form complex structures, like buckyballs and graphene tubes. FYI.
 
diablo2112 said:
Yes, you can coat a milanese loop, and there's several jewelers that sell coated loops. The coatings have limited durability. The constant rubbing of the little loops will probably wear this off at those points. I have no special insight here, only a bit of common sense. No-doubt we'll see third party suppliers of coatings for the Apple watch and bands, stay tuned.
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Marc Newson, the designer of several of Apple's bands including the Milanese loop, has a black Milanese bracelet in his own Ikepod line. However, who knows if Apple opted not to release a black Milanese loop due to wear issues?
 
According to DisplayMate The sapphire reflects almost twice as much light and washes out the picture in very bright conditions. So I suppose it's give and take.
 
I have a sapphire lens on another sports watch - it is truly awesome - especially considering the beating that watch takes.

But for the Apple Watch - I'm not sure how important it is for sapphire and stainless steel - especially after these things will be woefully outdated in a year to 18 months - because the next version of the watch will undoubtedly be significantly better.
 
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