Watches - another OCD problem
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Based on my wife's rings, platinum will get light scratches and eventually go from a polished finish to a satin finish, but it's far more durable than gold. Her rings look new still and my gold wedding ring is developing some worryingly thin spots. Though to be fair, my ring is secondhand and a few decades older.
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@Eisenherz - Do you have a name for this phenomenon? Never heard of it & would like to look into it. There are many gold artifacts dated thousands of years old, so I’m curious.
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there is no term. the atomic bond is very strong with platinum.
gold does not disappear by itself but it stains off when you wear it, platinum does not -
If you're really looking for hard and scratch resistant, there have been a couple of watched over the years made out of tungsten, which is extremely hard and very heavy. Lum-Tec did a run of them years ago, but I heard they were a huge hassle, because of the difficulties with tooling such a hard material.
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Gold loses atoms while wearing it rubs off, so to speak. This does not happen with platinum. Here the atoms are just shifting back and forth while wearing. They do not leave their atomic compound. At some point (in 1000 years) gold disappeared through wear, platinum never. Is that too much physics? Sorry!
Thats awesome! Thanks for sharing! [emoji41]
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at this rate, I'll settle for vibranium. it's stronger than steel and 1/3 of the weight. it is also vibration absorbent.
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Hmm… OK. ::)
With all due respect, this sounds like an urban legend. I'm not sure that the metallic bond of gold is or not weaker than that of platinum. (There's basically no atomic bonding for gold or platinum under normal condition as both are non reactive.)
In any case, I don't think it has any different impact over a normal human life. To say that platinum is harder than gold is confusing because gold is never used in its pure state and its alloyed forms are reasonably hard. Pure gold is more malleable than pure platinum but pure platinum is actually more ductile than pure gold, so it depends what we mean by "hard". Pure gold will show knocks more readily than pure platinum, but a platinum ring or bangle is more likely to stretch. Under normal circumstances, neither will magically evaporate or dissolve over a few thousand years.
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My wedding ring is made of Black diamond. Sometimes other materials rub off on it, but It's completely unscratchable and is even slightly harder than a diamond gemstone. Maybe "Elysium black" will get into watches.
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There are extremely hard ceramic cases, e.g., Grand Seiko's SBGJ233 and SBGC221 (in combo with titanium).
There's been a few watches with transparent sapphire cases, e.g., https://www.watchtime.com/featured/time-in-the-clear-5-watches-with-sapphire-cases/ .
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Speaking of unique watch case materials, has anyone ever handled a tantalum watch? I know that Panerai made a limited model years ago (PAM00192). My wedding ring is made of tantalum and it seems quite heavy, not sure how comfortable a tantalum watch would be for daily wear.
Several years ago, when Julie and I were killing time before a dinner reservation in Las Vegas, we stopped in a watch store in the shopping center underneath The Venetian. It was a slow day, so the sales guy was happy to spend a little while nerding out on the watches with me. He showed me a Vacheron Constantine with a tantalum case. I don't remember it being particularly heavy, though that was a while ago.
The clips the doctor used for my vasectomy are tantalum, but I have to admit, I haven't noticed the weight at all…
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I once took a look at an F.P. Journe Chronomètre Bleu, which had a Tantalum case.
I don't recall it being particularly heavy, nor does the review at Monochrome reference its weight, so it's probably more akin to a gold watch on a strap than a lead weight.
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That’s a lovely, lovely watch.
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Picked up a new White Dial Stainless Steel SkyDweller yesterday from Wempe in London.
It looks like I have managed to cultivate a buyer profile with them and they have been pretty good at supplying me with some Rolex pieces.
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Was this the same trip that you went with the in-laws and their buffet vouchers?
Maybe; it was a long time ago. That was actually my father-in-law's brother with the coupons. In a related story that's too long to tell here, my mother-in-law and my wife now own their house.
