Watch Case Materials

The Case is what holds the watch together and with the lugs that are attached unite with the strap  or bracelet to hold it on your wrist making it a wrist watch. The composition of the cases is a variety of metals, plastics,  ceramics and sapphires.

Cases started in olden times and used precious metals like gold of differing hardnesses. Gold is a metal that is relatively easy to work with, looks great and has very little corrosion or degeneration over time. It has been a metal that has been used for centuries as a store of wealth and a sign of wealth. It has to be combined with different metals to create a hard enough metal that will wear well over time. Yellow gold combined with various amounts of copper and other minor elements creates rose gold . Companies have given their names to different formulations as: Rose, Honey, Sedena, Red and many other contrived names. White gold has no copper but platinum, palladium, silver and other white metals that make it hard to differentiate between white gold, steel and platinum. It does seem to be more understated than yellow golds. 

Platinum is a very hard metal and even though it is about half of the price of gold demands a premium price due to the difficulty in working with the metal. In watch cases platinum is usually 95% platinum and 5% other metals. 

Stainless steel is used in most watches that are on the lower end of the brand production. However, nowadays there can be a scarcity factor that makes steel watches have a premium. There are many forms of stainless steel that improve the hardness and durability and scratch resistance of the watches.

Ceramics are becoming more common. They are very hard and scratch and dent resistant and are great for sport or work watches. They have been integrated into metals to make combinations for specialty watches. 

Sapphire is now being able to provide the whole case instead of just the crystal. The sapphire is very hard but can be damaged with hard use and is basically unrepairable. The colors that are able to be manufactured are usually stunning in the finished product.

Brass , bronze, silver and other metals have been used over time but are only rare and have properties that show a patina over time that some people like. 

The case is one of the defining parts of the watch by the shape and material. Usually it takes a backseat to the dial and hands but it is the defining part of the watch.