When buying a watch from the Japanese brand Citizen, you will have to make an important decision: is it worth buying a slightly more expensive Super Titanium watch or is it better to buy a cheaper version of the watch in stainless steel? Is a stainless steel watch or a titanium watch better? The decision is difficult, so we are going to discuss its pros and cons.
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What is Citizen Super Titanium?
Citizen’s Super Titanium maintains the typical lightness of titanium, but thanks to an exclusive process, its resistance is 5 times higher.
It will also improve scratch resistance: Thanks to Citizen’s patented surface hardening technology, Duratec, Super Titanium achieves a watch with incredible resistance to everyday use.
But we also got improvements in some aspects:
- It is approximately 40% lighter than steel.
- It is more resistant to corrosion, even when in contact with saltwater.
And as you can imagine, buying a Citizen watch with Super Titanium reduces the risk of dermatological reaction to metals thanks to hypoallergenic titanium.
Surface hardness comparison (Vickers or HV hardness test):
- Stainless steel: Hv 150-220
- Normal Titanium: Hv 170-200
- Citizen Super Titanium: Hv 1,000-1,400
If you want to know a little more about the types of titanium we currently have, you can consult the following pages:
The most widely used type of titanium is Ti-6Al-4V, better known as Grade 5. It is used in aerospace applications. It is a strong metal, less susceptible to the adverse effects of heat, magnetism, and abrasion, making it perfect for watches.
How is Citizen’s Super Titanium made?
Citizen’s Super Titanium is developed using Citizen’s proprietary technology called Duratect which employs special treatment techniques, including ion plating, cold plasma, gas hardening, and duplex coating, to improve the surface hardness of the titanium.
Pressure on titanium
Solid titanium is an active metal that easily reacts with oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, etc. That makes it hard to press to change its shape because it’s prone to wearing out in the mold.
At Citizen, they apply a very high level of heat to titanium. This reduces its resistance to deformation and allows it to be pressed into a wide variety of shapes.
Titanium Machining
Solid titanium reacts rapidly to oxygen in the atmosphere. As a result, when machining, filings tend to stick to the cutting edges of the tool. The resulting friction wears down the holes and makes it very difficult to stabilize the hole diameter.
At Citizen, they tested a wide range of cutting fluids, lubricants, and machining speeds to process titanium in a stable manner.
- It may interest you: Citizen Eco-Drive watches: use, maintenance, and troubleshooting
Titanium Polishing
A characteristic of titanium is that, while the outer part is hard, the central part is soft. At Citizen, they developed a special polishing method called Sallaz that allows them to achieve a beautiful mirror finish.
Source: Citizen.
Is it worth buying a Citizen watch with Super Titanium?
A lot of history, and this is the question we are interested in answering. How does Citizen’s Super Titanium hold up during everyday watch use? Are we going to be able to avoid scratches on the watch? The answer is simple. Yes.
The watch will suffer fewer scratches if it has Super Titanium technology with Duratec, although it may eventually suffer a little if you give it a lot of effort.
Titanium is not scratch-proof, but the natural oxidation of the alloy allows smaller scratches to become less visible over time. Scratch resistance will depend a lot on the manufacturing process.
In other words, Super Titanium with Duratec has resistance to scratches, however, Titanium from other brands such as Casio or Seiko may have other different properties against bumps and scratches.
- Within Citizen, we have several differences in the Duratec methods used: Duratec MRK (patented in 1997), MRK+DLC (more scratch-resistant), MRK+Alpha (2,000 to 2,500 Hv), Duratec Gold (1,100 to 1,500 HV), Duratec Sakura (1,100 to 1,500 HV).
The matter is not simple, and every time you apply new technology to the watch, the price will go up. Let’s see a table that will help us a bit:
| Processing technology | Name | Key features | Vickers hardness or HV |
|---|---|---|---|
| IP technology | Duratec α | It has a hardness of more than twice that of conventional Duratec TiC / PTiC. It guarantees high hardness and resistance to metal allergy and achieves a beautiful shine like a precious metal. | 2,000 to 2,500 Hv |
| Duratec ICT | IP | Film-coated using IP technology to harden the surface. It is used in titanium products. | 1,000 to 1,200 Hv |
| Duratec PTIC | TIC | Platinum coated. Mainly used in luxury items | 1,000 to 1,200 Hv |
| Duratec Gold | Gold | It is coated with a gold compound. | 1,300 to 1,500 Hv |
| Low-temperature plasma technology | Duratech DLC | With a coating, mainly of amorphous carbon composed of carbon and hydrogen. It is not only scratch-resistant but also very soft to the touch. | 1,000 to 1,400 Hv |
| Gas treatment technology | Duratec MRK | The titanium material, by gas penetration, has hardened the surface of the material. Scratch-resistant. Perfect for sports watches. | 1,300 to 1,500 Hv |
| Composite treatment technology | Duratec DLC / MRK | Surface DLC coating by gas treatment technology to harden titanium. Greater scratch resistance has been achieved. | 1,000 to 1,400 Hv |
| α/MRKD | Duratec α/MRKD | It is superimposed on the surface hardening of the material, and increased scratch resistance is achieved, it is also hypoallergenic. | 2,200 to 2,500 Hv |
Compared to stainless steel, it can be seen that any titanium watch treated with “Duratec” is less likely to get scratched.
In short, with a Citizen watch with Super Titanium you are going to get a lighter, hypoallergenic, and scratch-resistant watch (check what treatment Citizen has given it) or corrosion for saltwater.
If you combine this technology with Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology (solar charging), you have a winning watch on your wrist. The only real drawback is that the price is probably higher than its stainless steel counterpart (and that you like to wear a lighter watch on your wrist).
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List of top 5 Citizen Super Titanium Watches.
- Men's luxury timepieces with technical advancements and a sporty style
- 1/20 Second Chronograph Measures up to 60 Minutes, Perpetual Calendar, Dual Time (Second Time Zone), 12/24 Hour Time, Alarm, Date
- Silver-Tone Super Titanium
- Luminous Hands and Markers and Mineral Crystal
- 100 Meters Water Resistant and 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Clean lines and simplicity are key elements to this contemporary collection.
- 3 Hand, Date
- Silver-Tone Super Titanium
- Luminous Hands and Markers and Sapphire Crystal
- 100 Meters Water Resistant and 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Modern, pilot-inspired Promaster timepieces equipped for professional use to discover the world from high above.
- Synchronized to Atomic Time Clock for Superior Accuracy, Atomic Timekeeping Technology with Synchronized Time Adjustment Available in 43 World Cities, 1/100 Second Chronograph Measures up to 24 Hours, Perpetual Calendar, Dual Time (Second Time Zone), 2 Alarms, 99-Minute Countdown Timer, Digital Backlight Display, Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) Display, Power Reserve Indicator
- Silver-Tone Super Titanium
- Anti-Reflective Sapphire Crystal
- 200 Meters Water Resistant and 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Men's luxury timepieces with technical advancements and a sporty style. Powered by any light source, continuously and sustainably, eliminating the need to replace watch batteries..
- 3 Hand, Date
- Silver-Tone Super Titanium
- Sapphire Crystal
- 100 Meters Water Resistance and 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Men's luxury timepieces with technical advancements and a sporty style.
- 1/5 Second Chronograph Measures up to 60 Minutes, Date.
- Silver-Tone Super Titanium
- Sapphire Crystal
- 100 Meters Water Resistant and 5 Year Limited Warranty