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- Apr 26, 2007
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Fascinating article , not so much as concerns the watch itself, but on Apple's new, patented alloy, which uses ceramic particles in the alloy in place of copper, silver, etc. I'll be interested to see the other uses the industry will find! Apologies for the clumsy link, this is a pain in Tapatalk, unfortunately (perhaps the Apple watch would fix that ...?).
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/03/09/apple_watch_edition_the_company_found_a_trick_to_use_as_little_gold_as_possible.html
Excerpt:
" Last week, Apple cultists took note after the Financial Times published a profile of the company's design guru, Jony Ives, in which he explained that “the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it twice as hard as standard gold.” This was tantalizing. What sort of high-performance precious metal had the geniuses of Cupertino cooked up? Soon, Twitter and the tech blogs unearthed an answer. As Dr. Drang of Leancrew wrote, Apple had filed a patent for a method of producing 18-karat gold that was both stronger than usual and used less actual gold by volume.
The key thing to remember is that 18-karat gold is not 100 percent gold. It's an alloy, or mixture. Three quarters of its mass must be made up of gold. The last quarter is typically made up of another metallic element. But, as Dr. Drang wrote, "Apple’s gold is a metal matrix composite, not a standard alloy. Instead of mixing the gold with silver, copper, or other metals to make it harder, Apple is mixing it with low-density ceramic particles."
To put it another way, Apple is combining gold with durable materials that don't have much mass, but take up lots of space. That gives it wonderful qualities like lightness and scratch-resistance (normal gold is somewhat soft and prone to damage). And by mass, the final product is still 75 percent gold. But when it's poured into a mold to make an Apple Watch Edition's shell, the other, not-so-precious ingredients take up most of the room. Apple gets to use less gold per cubic centimeter and still call it 18-karat. It gets to stretch its gold out further than, say, Rolex would, to make a watch this size and shape. "
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/03/09/apple_watch_edition_the_company_found_a_trick_to_use_as_little_gold_as_possible.html
Excerpt:
" Last week, Apple cultists took note after the Financial Times published a profile of the company's design guru, Jony Ives, in which he explained that “the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it twice as hard as standard gold.” This was tantalizing. What sort of high-performance precious metal had the geniuses of Cupertino cooked up? Soon, Twitter and the tech blogs unearthed an answer. As Dr. Drang of Leancrew wrote, Apple had filed a patent for a method of producing 18-karat gold that was both stronger than usual and used less actual gold by volume.
The key thing to remember is that 18-karat gold is not 100 percent gold. It's an alloy, or mixture. Three quarters of its mass must be made up of gold. The last quarter is typically made up of another metallic element. But, as Dr. Drang wrote, "Apple’s gold is a metal matrix composite, not a standard alloy. Instead of mixing the gold with silver, copper, or other metals to make it harder, Apple is mixing it with low-density ceramic particles."
To put it another way, Apple is combining gold with durable materials that don't have much mass, but take up lots of space. That gives it wonderful qualities like lightness and scratch-resistance (normal gold is somewhat soft and prone to damage). And by mass, the final product is still 75 percent gold. But when it's poured into a mold to make an Apple Watch Edition's shell, the other, not-so-precious ingredients take up most of the room. Apple gets to use less gold per cubic centimeter and still call it 18-karat. It gets to stretch its gold out further than, say, Rolex would, to make a watch this size and shape. "
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