IWC

Dear all, I had a pretty nasty experience with my Tribute to 3705. During a strap change made by the IWC sales rep, the back of the case was scratched by the spring bar. The IWC staff insisted that it’s not a scratch by a deposit of steel.... They failed ... 

"Sir, you car is not scratched the bodywork underwent some artistic remodelling" I say: stick to steel

Personally and without confirmation, I thought it was ceramic coated titanium because ceramic coating has existed for a while. The fact that you see gray metal under the black confirms that but who really knows?

Surprise surprise. Totally unacceptable for a manufacturer

The blasting effect under severe temperature results in a dark grey almost black color. It’s not a plating like PVD/DLC nor as hard as ceramic. They presume that it’s as light as titanium while being tough like ceramic but in fact it’s not. It will still ... 

IWC website is very misleading to put it politely: “ The latest innovative material from Schaffhausen is Ceratanium® (ceramized titanium). The new material is as light and tough as titanium but at the same time as hard and scratch-resistant as ceramic. Ce... 

IWC is the new ENRON

What has wic with enron or north korea? Your wording surprises me a little bit. Not in a nice way i must say

.... is that there is no addition to the titanium. It is simply a surface heat treatment of a titanium part... Not much new here I am afraid, some basic surface tempering, some old yet efficient metallurgy techniques to harden a metal. Best, E.

Especially when they tell you: a special titanium alloy made specifically for IWC! That’s funny coz I’m 100% sure it’s the classic grade 5 titanium alloy but with the heat process they will harden the surface and make more scratch/wear resistant. Natural ... 

The sing of the century

What’s the next step with IWC?

My Big Pilot Miramar ceramic case had a “scratch” on the side of the case. Upon inspection I became convinced that it was a deposit instead of a gouge. I tried lots of techniques but finally found that automotive paint rubbing compound and lots of elbow g...