Ceramics Anyone?

[flintsghost]

My son was in Paris last spring and was stopping into most watch Boutiques and looking at watches. He saw a ceramic IWC Top Gun and was about to buy it when the IWC sales person told him that he should avoid ceramics. I've asked about that on line several times on WUS, TZ etc. Always I get poo pooed that ceramics aren't brittle, don't break and etc etc. Well apparently it is true. Glad I didn't purchase a Panerai ceramic. Check these out...pictures borrowed from TZ. They are an IWC Top Gun Ceramic chronograph. It does happen. There is information out there that while ceramic is extremely scratch resistant due to it's hardness, it also is extremely brittle for the same reason and as such is highly susceptible to outside stresses like dropping.

[GB-man]

Yeah that's absolutely true. Anyone with any knowledge of ceramic knows it's brittle.

Made me paranoid when cycling with my ceramic diver so I sold it lol

I found it looked best with gym clothes but I never wore it to the gym so

[sierra11b]

I currently own a black and white Mk XVIII and recently went to the IWC boutique in NYC to try on a number of watches, including the ceramic Big Pilots and Chronos.

I loved them. I love the look, the balance the ceramic gives these oversized watches, and the contrast of the metal components, BUT the fact it's ceramic scares the bejeezus out of me! While I generally baby my watches, I was one of those fools who crashed his 116710 into a steel rack and broke the ceramic bezel, but it happened in the event of a work emergency, so take that for a possible one-off experience.

Because I baby my watches with the exception of that one instance, I've been tossing around the idea of an early ceramic shrouded golden tuna. But even if that shroud breaks, considering it's long discontinued, you're looking at $550-600 alone, and more considering the trip to Japan, unless I find a salvageable donor, but still hundreds in cached parts if that were the case on "what if". I could afford that scenario but still question the thought process to the point I never take the plunge.

I simply couldn't afford to play with IWC ceramic (or Omega) unless I was really careful. If you're not a baller (or just not as conservative as me) a cracked case like the one posted in the OP is a debilitating blow in replacement. I had a similar debilitating blow on a lost international package for a $4K watch which almost cost me to walk away from this game. Didn't walk away but it did set me back a few months in "hobby justification" if you catch my drift. I still struggle with that loss sometimes.

NOW, if money were no object rest-assured I'd be picking up a perpetual big pilot top gun.

I would also consider a Mk XVIII in ceramic but at the current steel 40mm size, and not with the Miramar theme, even though it's a cool design, albeit not quite my flavor. The current white/silver or black XVIII would be on my wrist today if it were a reality.

At the end of the day Ceramic is pretty resilient stuff... You can bang it pretty hard in most cases and it come out as new as the day you purchased, but if you exceed it's threshold it shatters. That simple.

[regnant]

Sorry to see that happened to you. I ordered a Grand Seiko with ceramic case flanks but more correctly it features cladding covering up the case and if happens to shatter those parts can be replaced with just taking out the broken one and insert the new one in. The most important thing is the watch can be wearable too.
However, in this very watch that suffered from an impact the watch is non wearable condition. One of the reasons why I don't buy a fully ceramic watch. My Rolex watches bezels look like new though even after a couple of dings and hits but stainless steel case has picked up some scratches

[witch watch]

Always wanted an all ceramic piece but the thought of them shattering in the way as seen here scared the crap out of me.

[lapince]

My AP ce diver cracked without ever falling, never understood, AP took it under warranty and even though they said it had probably been dropped as the movement was displaced, can't see how that happened, they took care of it, I wear it but am quite careful not to ride my bike with it, let it fall or other things

[islands62]

I have the JLC Deep Sea Chrono in Cermet, which is apparently a bit different as it has metal particles mixed in the material and suppossedly resists shattering. I am not lookinf to test the claim, but I am hopeful it proves robust.