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We've had Gold, Ceramic, Stainless Steel and Aluminium...why haven't we had Titanium?

HandsomeDanNZ

HandsomeDanNZ

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 29, 2008
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Auckland NZ
So, I was thinking about the traditional watch industry and aside from some plastics, the main casing materials have been Steel, Gold, Ceramic and Titanium.

Makes me wonder what has stopped Apple from producing a Titanium Apple Watch...

Thoughts?
 
jasoncordelle said:
So, I was thinking about the traditional watch industry and aside from some plastics, the main casing materials have been Steel, Gold, Ceramic and Titanium.

Makes me wonder what has stopped Apple from producing a Titanium Apple Watch...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Is Titanium soft compaired to stainless?
 
jasoncordelle said:
So, I was thinking about the traditional watch industry and aside from some plastics, the main casing materials have been Steel, Gold, Ceramic and Titanium.

Makes me wonder what has stopped Apple from producing a Titanium Apple Watch...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I know many don’t think about this, but Apple invests a lot in the metals they use for their products, especially with the Apple Watch with the stainless and aluminum. If you think what it would cost for the R&D for a new metal for the Apple Watch, it’s probably significant, which would be likely priced somewhere around what the stainless model might cost, but the benefit being, it would be lighter than the stainless.

But what I would like to see, is a brushed titanium, that way if it does have any type of hairline scratches, it would hide it fairly well.
 
Relentless Power said:
I know many don’t think about this, but Apple invests a lot in the metals they use for their products, especially with the Apple Watch with the stainless and aluminum. If you think what it would cost for the R&D for a new metal for the Apple Watch, it’s probably significant, which would be likely priced somewhere around what the stainless model might cost, but the benefit being, it would be lighter than the stainless.

But what I would like to see, is a brushed titanium, that way if it does have any type of hairline scratches, it would hide it fairly well.
Click to expand...

Apple could take my money for a brushed titanium watch!
 
It would make the watch lighter for sure. I look at the Apple watches as near disposable as I replace every year or so, just what Apple wants us to do. While the Ti would hold up better cosmetically, what is the use when it is not worth putting a new battery in it after two years. Apple is well aware of the good and bad of titanium.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
Apple is well aware of the good and bad of titanium.
Click to expand...
With such an absolute statement, I assume you have insider knowledge of these things?
Titanium has been tried and rejected? Sampled and summarily dismissed?

Ti is just not Apple’s bag?

I just don’t think we can such make bold assumptions without being in the design and research team, to be honest.
 
Well, Apple would immediately have to throw their environmentally conscious PR stance out the window.
Then they’d have to spend a lot more on materials cost and machining, unless they spent even more developing more sheetforming technology than the entire aerospace industry did with an unlimited budget for the better part of a century. To do it cost effectively at all, they’d end up using some crap grade 2 “commercially pure” garbage like they make suitcases and golf clubs out of, and at that point, you might as well just stick to aluminum alloys.

Composites whip titanium’s hiney all day anyway, the same as we found in aerospace after spending all that time and your taxes. When every other computer MFG has copied them on to the gray train with a featureless monochromatic slab, and Apple is ready to differentiate again, and improve their eco-footprint, reduce costs, weight, and do some really wild thermal management, they’ll spend the money on composites, natural resins and fibers, etc. Then Apple will have come full circle, back to plastic boxes with incomprehensible bundles of miracles inside, and then they can... add a little pigment to their matrix and...

tumblr_o860yvcIUg1rnoexwo1_1280.jpg
 
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jasoncordelle said:
With such an absolute statement, I assume you have insider knowledge of these things?
Titanium has been tried and rejected? Sampled and summarily dismissed?

Ti is just not Apple’s bag?

I just don’t think we can such make bold assumptions without being in the design and research team, to be honest.
Click to expand...

Well then do your homework on CNC millwork. The process would slow greatly when milling Ti. If you do not think Apple knows this when they have hundreds of thousands of watch bodies machined every year . . .

Not only would it slow the process but it would cost more for the materials and require cutting heads be replaced more often. Could Apple do it, yes, should they, why when the watch is disposable. How many of the solid gold Apple watches are still in use? I have programmed CNC machines via AutoCad and know the materials being cut make a big difference. Maybe when you do some investigation, you will know the same.

Read ThunderSkunk’s post but take advantage of Google.
 
Newtons Apple said:
Well then do your homework on CNC millwork. The process would slow greatly when milling Ti. If you do not think Apple knows this when they have hundreds of thousands of watch bodies machined every year . . .

Not only would it slow the process but it would cost more for the materials and require cutting heads be replaced more often. Could Apple do it, yes, should they, why when the watch is disposable. How many of the solid gold Apple watches are still in use? I have programmed CNC machines via AutoCad and know the materials being cut make a big difference. Maybe when you do some investigation, you will know the same.

Read ThunderSkunk’s post but take advantage of Google.
Click to expand...
Going by the products from other watch makers it would work out a bit more expensive than the stainless watch but considerably cheaper than the ceramic.

Titanium doesn’t have to be hyper expensive either ;)

https://www.watchshop.com/mens-lorus-titanium-watch-rxd425l8-p99938239.html
 
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Am I correct in thinking that stainless steel with DLC coating is actually more durable then Titanium?
 
mdhaus72 said:
Am I correct in thinking that stainless steel with DLC coating is actually more durable then Titanium?
Click to expand...

Without the diamond like carbon coating, the stainless wouldn’t be more ‘durable’ than titanium perhaps in scratch resistance, but in terms of being scratch resistant, the DLC coating makes a significant difference in protection on the black stainless casing. So it really depends how you look at it.
 
Titanium, while strong and lightweight, also scratches very easily. Thus when Apple used the material for the old Powerbook in the early 2000's the metal was actually painted to hide any surface blemishes.

Providing a "brushed" look material would not solve this problem. And of course you would have to deal with the increased material cost.
 
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