High Time: Watchmakers turn to rare metals, lab-grown crystals and ultra-light composites
Watchmakers are increasingly adopting rare metals, lab-grown crystals, luminous ceramics and ultra‑light composites to enhance the look, feel and performance of watches. Brands such as Rolex and IWC Schaffhausen are developing proprietary alloys and ceramic technologies that improve colour stability, durability and illumination. These material innovations extend the focus of horology beyond the movement to include aesthetics and functional properties.
- ▪Rolex engineers its own 18k gold alloys, including Everose pink gold and the newer Jubilee Gold, to achieve colour stability and tonal variation.
- ▪The brand’s Cerachrom ceramic bezel, enriched with tungsten carbide, offers scratch resistance and intense colour, while the Rolesium configuration combines Oystersteel with platinum.
- ▪IWC Schaffhausen’s Ceralume luminous ceramic, created with Super‑LumiNova pigments, enables watches to emit a blue glow for over 24 hours in darkness.
- ▪Both companies use specialized processes such as ball‑milling and in‑house foundry work to integrate these advanced materials into their timepieces.
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| Original publisher | Channel NewsAsia |
| Canonical URL | https://www.channelnewsasia.com/brandstudio/high-time-4-new-watch-materials |
| Publication time | Mon, 15 Jun 2026 08:45:16 +0800 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-15T00:47:34.435Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-15T00:47:34.435Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | pmUk72yXvEya |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Material Futures .story-template .story-second .content p, .story-template .story-wrapper .box-wrapper .heading-1 .content p { margin: 0; } @media (max-width: 575.98px) { .story-template .story-main.has-image.none-text { padding-bottom: 300px; min-height: 600px; } .story-template .story-main .box-heading.none-text { top: 110%; } } MATERIAL FUTURES Sorry, your browser does not support inline SVG. Rare metals, luminous ceramics, lab-grown crystals and lightweight composites are reshaping how watches look, feel and perform. Sorry, your browser does not support inline SVG. I Nwatchmaking, material innovation was once largely about finish, weight or durability: a brighter case, a lighter profile, a harder surface. Today, the brief is broader.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Channel NewsAsia.
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