this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
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I've never been a fan of titanium watches specifically because lightweight metals feel insubstantial and "cheap" to me, plus it doesn't seem to age gracefully, at least not from titanium items I've worked with. I honestly don't understand the watch industry's love for the material. Sure, its yield strength is on par with steel, but its density only about 60% of steel, which is nice if I'm designing a rocket or a missile. But I'm not trying to put my watch into orbit, so that's not really that important to me. Instead, I'm more worried about dents and dings, and that's where the inferior Rockwell hardness of titanium when compared to most stainless steels becomes a negative. Add to this the psychological perception of lighter objects as less substantial, whether that's true or not, and I've just never liked titanium watches. I don't even like the usual darker grey color.
So, it's got some cool engineering properties, even beyond the strength to weight ratio, such as it being a good CTE match for some ceramics. So, if I need a strong, but light, metal insert to braze to an alumina component, that needs to not induce excess strain on the ceramic even though temperature ranges from -100 to 200 C, I might propose titanium for that component, but that doesn't mean I want a watch made out of it.
Allergies, titanium is very non reactive, some people do react with stainless but not titanium.