Ceramic vs Stainless Steel Bezels: What You Need to Know

Over the last century, a bevy of materials has been incorporated into watch designs, not just to make them more attractive but to make them more durable. Some of the most common bezel materials are aluminum, steel, and ceramic. If you’re about to start your watch collection, or simply haven’t considered bezel material yet, we break down the pros and cons of each option. To learn more about this, read on as we break down the pros and cons of ceramic and stainless steel bezels.

What Is a Bezel?

Before we talk about bezel materials, let’s take a short break to define what a bezel is. A bezel is the ring on the circumference of the watch face. It can be fixed or it can move; both types are called rotating bezels. If it moves, there are two directions it can turn: clockwise and counter-clockwise. The bezel can also be numbered or marked with other glyphs, such as triangles and dots. Additionally, a bezel may be decorated with luminous material. 

The first rotating bezel was first recorded on a diving watch in 1954. Divers needed a way to monitor their time underwater so they wouldn’t use up all of their oxygen or stay at depths long enough to develop decompression sickness. The unidirectional bezel fit the bill. Dive watches are larger than typical streetwear watches because they have to fit over diving suits and be large enough to easily read in low light conditions. Most came with notches or textured edges for adjusting the settings while wearing gloves. It was also a necessity that a dive watch had a healthy application of luminescent material for reading the watch at critical points on the bezel. The first major watch companies to put a rotating ring around the crystal on their dive watches were Rolex, Blancpain, and Zodiac in 1953. Blancpain was the only one of the three with the now standard unidirectional ring.

Stainless Steel Bezels

Steel bezels have been around since the early days of watches. While they aren’t as technologically advanced as ceramic bezels, they do come with their own unique benefits. The most notable benefit to stainless steel bezels is their high resistance to corrosion. They are also quite durable and will rarely break. Lastly, they are incredibly easy to forge and machine.

When it comes to the downsides of stainless steel bezels, it’s important to keep in mind that they are quite prone to scratches. This can be quite troublesome especially if you’re the type of person who wears their watch while diving. Saltwater also poses a significant threat to these watches as it can cause the watch to wear down.

Ceramic Bezels

Advances in ceramic chemistry, driven to a large extent by space-age needs, make it a remarkable material for use in bezels. Not to be confused with the ceramic used for dinnerware, these bezels were quite robust and durable.

There are a few notable advantages that come with ceramic bezels. As we’ve already mentioned, ceramic bezels are quite durable. However, what we haven’t mentioned yet is how lightweight the material actually is. While this may not seem like much, you’ll feel the difference when you wear a watch with a ceramic bezel as they are significantly lighter than steel bezels. Aside from being lightweight and durable, ceramic bezels are scratch-resistant. This is because the colors extend from top to bottom, which makes scratches less visible.

One notable downside to ceramic bezels is that they must be molded from powder under intense heat and pressure. This makes them more difficult to produce. To add to this, these bezels are difficult to machine once they are formed so the dies need to have all features clearly defined.

Conclusion

We hope this article proves to be useful when it comes to helping you differentiate these materials. Now, it’s important to note that neither of these materials is better than the other and it will all come down to your preferences and lifestyle. Be sure to keep everything you’ve learned here in mind so that you can make the most informed decisions when it comes to bezel material.

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