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Stainless steel or plated Alloy? Six telltale signs your watch has a plated alloy case.
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- Опубликовано: 1 май 2022
- If you have a liking for budget watches, you must have had the experience of distrusting the specs sheet of the watch you just bought: is this crystal really made of some sort of saphire and is the case really made of stainless steel? In this video I want to address the latter of those questions and show how I (try to) distinguish plated alloy from stainless steel watch cases by checking six different aspects of the watch:
1) dimples centred in the sides of the lugs (and case).
2) the light silver colour tone with sometimes blueish hue of the plating Vs the greyish colour of the stainless steel bracelet or case back.
3) the glossy inside of the bezel with plating Vs the often circular brushed finish in stainless steel.
4) discoloration due to normal wear and tear: the brass coloured edges of the lug holes.
5) the clanky voluminous sound of the rattling of the bracelet in the case Vs the more flat sounding rattling in stainless steel cases.
6) the much lighter weight of plated alloy cases Vs stainless steel.
to be honest, I don't know if these will give you a 100% correct distinction between the case materials, but for me it has worked so far. I am quite interested in your experiences and best practices on this subject matter.
The watches making a Cameo appearance:
Guanqin GJ 16058 (gold on white dial, stainless steel.)
Guanqin GJ 16110 (prime suspect)
Seiko SNK615 (best looking sports watch ever)
BiDen (yes, it is a Real Biden watch! in Violet!)
Guanqin GJ 16028 (rose gold coloured)
Guanqin GJ 16034 (black dial)
Mr, under normal use, how long can the ion plated case on a watch last?
In your opinion, which is more durable: a stainless steel casing or an alloy casing?
And do alloy casings rust?
I would say stainless steel is more durable:
1. Alloy almost always is chrome plated which means, that if you scratch it deep enough, you can't just sand or buff it out. I can refinish the surface on stainless steel watches quite easily, but I would never even try that on chrome plated.
2. Chrome plating will probably wear and might even chip and flake off as the bonding between the different metals weakens.
3. In 316L steel alloy (because ultimately stainless is an alloy too) you know what metals it is supposed to contain, whereas with plated alloys you can only guess by the allergic reactions you might be building through continuous wear. Since these cases also tend to be a lot cheaper in the making, I guess chances are higher something non skin friendly might be hidden away underneath the plating.
4. Mismatched colours of metal parts in aftermarket straps and bracelets also can be an annoyance. With regular Stainless steels you know what colour and hue to expect, wether it is part of the bracelet or the case. It will match well. Plated alloys have some kind of blueish hue to them instead that might stand.
5. I am in no way a metallurgist, so someone correct me if I am wrong, but I could see that combining metals of different compositions in contact with each other (bracelets attached to casings for example) could lead to electrolytic corrosion.
6. Chrome plating is less crisp in design. In stainless steel the lines can be cut razor sharp by CNC. I expect that alloys on the other hand are often castings from a mold. Even if the casts are well sanded afterwards to get rid of artefacts and ridges, the chroming process afterwards will make the shapes more rounded off.
These are just the things that spring from the top of my head.
Just a small add-on: Corrosion of the alloys involved depends on what it is made from. It is a myth that stainless steel doesn't rust what so ever. 316L has quite a high tolerance against rust due to its composition. That is also why it is used for maritime applications. That said every stainles steel is vulnerable against bases like chlorine (although swimming pools probably don't do much damage to your watch), so avoid those. Also having stainless steel in contact with hardened/ carbon rich steel can lead to rust. It has to do with what makes the metal corrosion resistant. Most of the time it is a rather impenetrable hard layer of oxidisation/rust itself that protects from ongoing oxidisation by closing the metal off from the oxidiser. If this layer continuesly gets damaged oxidisation can prevail and worsen, building rust in the process.
@@buying_Time
This has been super insightful. Appreciate you taking the time to respond in such an eloquent and concise manner.
Thanks for the video.
Can you please tell me in the specific case- brass vs stainless steel watch ?
(Which you would prefer when thise watches are from same company "HMT", price around $200)
Hi, I don't know wether I understand your question. In a new watch I would prefer stainless steel over alloy every time. I don't know the company "HMT" however, but for 200 dollar for a new watch, I would expect stainless steel. These watches however costed me far less. I got them severely reduced for about €20 on Amazon, where normally they cost more in the range of €75-125. Last time I checked, the brass-case one was about €100 for the European market.
What happend when the plated got scratched ? What color will appear under the plated . Thank you sir.
Most of the time some kind of brass is used, so it will appear with a copper pink to yellowish marking. I could see how this material is preferred on watches with a rose gold coloured Ipx coating.
Im trying to buy a local entry level watch but it's says case type is allow while the bracelet is stainless. I don't watch ny watch to rust. Does alloy rust easily?
No, alloy doesn't rust easily. In fact I don't think it will rust at all in the sense of brown Iron rust. Wether it oxidizes would depend on the alloy, but I don't expect problems with that as well. I kind of expect most used alloys as oxidation proof as stainless steel is. In fact stainLESS steel also rusts to a degree at a certain time, at certain exposure, although 316L has a specifically rust deterrent composition, because it is meant for high corrosive environments, like the maritime applications.
There are quite some metals that can be used in alloys that make it very oxidation resistant and alloy plated watches in itself have a quite renowned history as far as I know. Thing is that not all those metals are anti allergenic though. I mean nickel has good corrosive deterrent properties, but although I am fine with having it in coins, I would avoid having continues contact exposure against one single patch of skin, although most people don't develop problems with that what so ever. If you could get info on what alloy and base metal is used and it's properties that would be nice. Very often because of skin contact a stainless steel case back is used on alloy watches. Yet if you are prone to allergic responses I would avoid. If not follow your heart.
I just saw that I had a much more elaborate response to a somewhat similar question elsewhere in the comments. There are not that much comments, so I am sure you will find it.
@@buying_Time thank you for sharing your knowledge man. Appreciate it.