The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I'm halfway between a desk jockey and a hands-on guy. I'm the only IT guy for my company so sometimes I'm just at a desk and other times I'm digging around in servers cases, out running wiring, etc. Used to wear my Sub everywhere, but after a couple minor dings to the case I decided I needed something a little cheaper to beat on while at work. My X-Wind is perfect for that; it's still an automatic but I wouldn't lose my mind if something happened to it.

If you're active and in real danger of banging up your watch, you either wear a nice piece like a Breitling and accept that it'll never be LNIB, or you wear a beater. Or get two so you have a nice one for the weekend.

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Patek Philippe pocketwatch -- Rolex Sub LV -- Hamilton Khaki X-Wind -- Oris RAID Chrono -- Slate dial Skyracer

That's good stuff. Now, I know on some watches because of the finish color, titanium bands actually show MORE scratches than stainless. I would imagine, though, that since titanium is stronger, it would be more resistant to scratches. Is that the case? (this is one of my considerations in thinking about Aerospace vs. Airwolf)

Good to know about the crystal/sapphire. My previous Citizen watched tend to get bumped against a doorknob or something every few years and massively dent/crack the crystal.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

I don't worry about them much since 90% of the time I'm at my laptop.

Still, whenever I need to do some work (Like drilling holes to pass cables through, and stuff like that) I just take the watch off and leave at my desk...

I don't own a titanium so can't give you a fair comparison, but I believe from others that scratches will be less visible than in a polished stainless. I do believe that titanium as a metal is more scratch resistant than steel.

Well I try to take reasonable care. I have a number of decreasing value watches that I use depending on what I'm doing. For example if I'm out running a chainsaw I don't care what time it is If I'm hunting I want something dark and NOT shiny so my black seiko kinetic works ok for now (I also use it if I need a black watch when going out, tho the new/old blue faced colt may double for that) For night time wear I've ordered a Lum-Tec, but generally speaking I take reasonable care but don't fret over it.

On the flip side I lost a Navitimer when I took it off to fix something on my dad's car. I set it on the windshield by the wipers (so I wouldn't close the hood on it). Unfortunately I didn't retrieve it when he drove off

But anyway, why did you buy the watch? to tell time with something that looks nice or as an investment? If you bought it as an investment then unless you got it really cheap there are other ways to get a better return than a watch.

Enzo Ferrari did not make his cars to be used as an investment but as something to go drive the crap out of. Drive it like you stole it, wear it like it belongs to your brother in-law

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Currently:
Breitling - Colt chronoOcean
Others - RADO Integral Jubile, Movado Museum, Lum-Tec M9, Seikos

Special knowledge can be a terrible disadvantage if it leads you too far along a path that you cannot explain anymore.
Frank Herbert 'Dune'

Sorry Roff but titanium is actually more susceptible to scratches than stainless steel. The reason is that it's density is only 54% that of steel, which also accounts for it's lightness which is something around 40% of the weight of steel. Titanium oxidise on the surface and thus appears darker than the underlying metal. When that layer of oxidation is damaged by a scratch the metal underneath looks lighter, so the scratch can show up more.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Well obviously that's what I intended to say

Thanks for the correction Driver8!!

Huh... I had always thought of titanium as being lighter and stronger than steel. I thought that would have translated into also being harder to scratch, but I guess not!

Makes my leaning towards the Airwolf continue to look all that much better.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

It has highest strength-to-weight ratio but it's much softer than steel.

Does that mean that over time the scratches on titanium will fade?

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SA Blue Dial Silver Subs Pro 2

I couldn't wear either of my Breitlings other than for 'dress' i.e. leisure. I learned that lesson when I recently scagged my SOHC when picking up stuff in a builders yard. I couldn't bear to see it like that and had it polished out. To me at at least, the decision on when to wear a particular watch is broadly a function of its value but particularly when its polished (a la SOHC). So I wear my Oris for most of the time. That's my beater and it doesn't hurt when I see a dink or scratch even though its still a beaut of a Swiss automatic watch. And yes its all-titanium.

I don't wear any watch doing hard work. Why? Cell phones keep time too

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Avenger Skyland
If I said I was good, you'd think I was bragging.
If I told you I wasn't, you'd know I was lying.

That's interesting. I have handled blades from jet engines before, which are made of titanium, and those seemed (at the time) quite scratch resistant. So there must be some sort of special processing, alloy, or coating involved. Do you know how this is achieved? It so, it would be interesting to see if this process could be used for watches. Certainly, Breitling would get a lot of mileage out of it.

Mofongo

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." --Dave Barry

For over 10 years, I have been working in various departments of local print shops. A lot of the time, I have been doing digital printing, and have had my hands inside the printers clearing jam, troubleshooting problems and doing minor repairs. Now I am working in a finishing department, and still have my hands in and around all kinds of steel equipment with sharp edges.
I wore my SuperOcean in that environment on a daily basis from 1998-2008. It did have quite a few scratches, and the odd ding, but it held up very well. After that, I wore my 2008 Steelfish for a few months, but it didn't get anything but a few superficial scratches here and there, no worse than if I had an office job. It is now up for sale in the Buy/Sell forum. After that, on the other hand, I wore my Blacksteel. When I got one small ding at the edge of the bezel, that went through to the metal, I knew that I had to stop wearing it at work. Now my new Seawolf is on my wrist all day, every day, including at work, and if it gets scratches and dings then so be it. I buy my watches to be enjoyed - all the time. I spend most of my time at work, and if I can't enjoy one of my main pleasures in life - fine watches - then that would really spoil my day. I don't purposely abuse my watches, and sometimes out of common sense, I do have to take them off temporarily, but for the most part they are on my wrist all the time.
Actually, the Seawolf is one of the thickest Breitlings, and I am surprised how comfortable it is and how little it really does get in the way. The most scratches are on the deployment clasp of the OR strap that I wear it on.
Cheers,
Carl

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'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

Sadly I've also had an interest in materials technology since I studied physics before switching to economics , and I also did a bit or research into titanium around the time I decided to buy an M1..... which I quickly sold.

Anyway, some titanium applications do require a coating to make it more scratch resistant, and some watch manufacturers apparently do this although I've never managed to find one that explicitly says so. That kind of rang alarm bells for me as it's a surface coating which as we all know can be damaged no matter how tough it is. I'm guessing some manufacturers (but not Breitling as far as I know) use some kind of titanium-based PVD coating. There are a number of ti-based surface coatings that all massively increases the performance of the pure metal (or any other metalic substrate). For example some of you may have heard of titanium nitride. This is often used as a PVD coating for drill bits (it's the gold colour drill bits you find in B&Q), and it increases drill bit life considerably. Likewise titanium carbonitride is similar (but even harder than titanium nitride) but generally a dull grey in colour, although other colours can be made depending on the ratio of the elements. As I say, as far as I'm aware Breitling don't use any surface coating on their ti watches.

The thing to note is, as I said above, it's usually the surface oxidised layer (of an uncoated titanium watch) that gets scratched, which means the lighter metal underneath shows through the slightly darker oxidised layer, so making the scratch more visible than it would on steel.

The last thing to note is that there are various types (or grades) of titanium alloy available - from 1 to 30 something - all with slightly different properties. Grade 5 is the one most commonly used in watches, and is an alloy of titanium and primarily alluminium which gives it a bit more "machinability", as ti is notoriously hard to work with. I'm not sure if there are any other manufacturers using any other grade of titanium, but that is one way to improve performance, and may explain Mofongos jet engine blade scratch resistance.

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Driver8

Site Moderator