I Hate Ceramic Bezels

[Seaswirl]

Originally Posted by Chester01

Couldn’t agree more, Leave ceramics for my cereal bowl and leave the crockery the heck off my watches. Pure and simply marketing gimmik, and to Rolex credit worked like a charm, look how many were duped into paying double for the Daytona with a more fragile insert but the same exact watch as the 116520. Allows Rolex to go on being lazy until 2027 until they may actually have to work to put in an actual upgrade. Most people had their head in the sand and didn’t realize rado has been using the material for 40+ years. It’s laughable. Other watch brands get called out on things that Rolex gets a pass on. Sorry, slapping on 40 year old “technology” calling by some stupid name (ceracrome) to dupe people into thinking it’s some special material is marking gimmik.

Then why did you buy a DaytonaC?

[Achtung6]

Originally Posted by Pandacat

Just looking at the picture makes me extremely uncomfortable

Not a fan of BMW's then?

[Dougiebaby]

Originally Posted by Pandacat

I really dont understand why so many major watch brands are jumping on the ceramic bezel craze.

Using your words, "What you really don't understand..." is that the overwhelming majority of Rolex watch buyers want a LUXURY watch ... not a TOOL watch. And this really is not even close to a recent phenomenon. Rolex became the symbol of LUXURY watches to the masses in the 1980s (40 years ago).

I could understand this perplexing you ... if this was 1982. But it is not. Rolex became a pioneer in ceramic bezels back in the mid-2000's. So, at the very least, this argument of yours should have been voiced, maybe, 10-15 years ago.

Ceramic is a more costly and higher tech material than aluminum -- basically, it is a higher quality material. It also looks and wears better and longer. So, why wouldn't a luxury watch market demand it in their luxury watches?

I think the more fitting question now would be, "Why would any quality watch manufacturer NOT include a ceramic bezel and stay with a lesser material?"

Obviously, some members of this forum (including yourself) are watch purists. But watch purists are a tiny minority of buyers of Rolex.

[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Pandacat

I really dont understand why so many major watch brands are jumping on the ceramic bezel craze.

The bezels can shatter if there is a direct impact. A heavy duty sports watch should be able to take a beating. Take something like the rolex submariner. Some would argue rolex has lost its tool watch roots and is primarily a luxury item, but regardless any rolex watch is designed to take a beating. The additional risk of direct impact to the bezel scares me off of ever owning one. Not that im a navy seal or anything, but i just dont want the additional baggage of “what if.”

Why not use a tungsten bezel? Or something like tegimented steel like sinn does?

5-digit is your move bro. Mine too




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[Likestheshiny]

I agree. They are beautiful, but to me, ceramic bezels have shifted the Rolex sports line further away from tool watches towards jewelry.

If you think a $10k watch isn't jewelry, well...

[Theoffice]

Wave of the future! They look way better, thank goodness they switched to ceramic,

[Cwillis0001]

Rolex, the tool watch . Come on, that is absolutely ridiculous to even suggest in this day and age. These days? An Apple watch is a tool watch, a G Shock is a tool watch, a dive computer is a tool watch. A Rolex is jewelry. Let's not kid ourselves here.

[Arden425]

I love the ceramic bezel look.

[Vincent65]

I agree - I'm not keen on them. Too shiny and fragile. I can't imagine the MoD ordering watches with ceramic bezels. Ceramic MilSubs

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Dougiebaby

Using your words, "What you really don't understand..." is that the overwhelming majority of Rolex watch buyers want a LUXURY watch ... not a TOOL watch. And this really is not even close to a recent phenomenon. Rolex became the symbol of LUXURY watches to the masses in the 1980s (40 years ago).

I could understand this perplexing you ... if this was 1982. But it is not. Rolex became a pioneer in ceramic bezels back in the mid-2000's. So, at the very least, this argument of yours should have been voiced, maybe, 10-15 years ago.

Ceramic is a more costly and higher tech material than aluminum -- basically, it is a higher quality material. It also looks and wears better and longer. So, why wouldn't a luxury watch market demand it in their luxury watches?

I think the more fitting question now would be, "Why would any quality watch manufacturer NOT include a ceramic bezel and stay with a lesser material?"

Not quite true Rado were the pioneer's in the introduction of ceramic for watches way back in the 1960s. Ceramic in most of the high end watches if I remember it was Omega that started it, then most of the high end brands including Rolex just followed.And in the real world if used as a working tool ceramic has many disadvantages over the easy to change aluminium.Again in the real world all ceramic products are made from cheap materials.Yes the making cost could be more costly this is why the average ceramic insert costs around £300 while the aluminium cost around £35 and a DIY fit.And can assure back in the 1980s thousands of Rolex watches were used as working tools.And not like most of today's Rolex watch owners that give there watches a very pampered life, reading the thousands of posts on forum especially over the last 5 years or so.Never seen a aluminium insert crack but on forum there has been quite a few. And according to one of our Rolex watches makers that post quite regular on forum he has seen and replaced many.So is ceramic such a wonderful thing I would take the aluminium ones.

[904VT]

Good news is Rolex still makes plenty of watches without a ceramic bezel too. But imo ceramic are cheap enough to replace considering the cost of the watch relatively and if for some reason those don’t work for you plenty of steel bezel Rolex out there still today. If you’re really worried about it shattering and need a pure diver maybe look to Tudor

[LDN]

Each its own, ceramic Bezel is a must for me on Rolex watches!

[LDN]

Originally Posted by Cwillis0001

Rolex, the tool watch . Come on, that is absolutely ridiculous to even suggest in this day and age. These days? An Apple watch is a tool watch, a G Shock is a tool watch, a dive computer is a tool watch. A Rolex is jewelry. Let's not kid ourselves here.

This!

[Psmith]

Originally Posted by Vincent65

I agree - I'm not keen on them. Too shiny and fragile. I can't imagine the MoD ordering watches with ceramic bezels. Ceramic MilSubs

That was decades ago Vincent - the notion of the military ordering luxury watches for armed forces now is silly. The world has moved on and as I mentioned earlier Rolex introduced ceramic inserts 15 years ago.

[Cwillis0001]

Originally Posted by Vincent65

I agree - I'm not keen on them. Too shiny and fragile. I can't imagine the MoD ordering watches with ceramic bezels. Ceramic MilSubs

Well, they certainly wouldnt be ordering eight thousand dollar watches with ceramic bezel inserts either.

[Gary.]

I like the look but, when they crack, it isn't just the cost that is worth considering. When my Pepsi cracked. it was seven months before I saw my watch again.

[Pandacat]

Originally Posted by Gary.

I like the look but, when they crack, it isn't just the cost that is worth considering. When my Pepsi cracked. it was seven months before I saw my watch again.

How did the bezel crack?

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Pandacat

How did the bezel crack?

IIRC the watch winder did it?

[samsmart]

Once you go ceramic, you never go back. The maxi case fits my wrist so much better, watch looks better, bezel clicks are both more audible and tactile, larger indices make telling time easier, larger crown guards protect the time-piece better. I could go on and on.

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[Aplover5]

Originally Posted by sokoloka

I myself am quite fond of ceramic as a watch material, bezel or the whole damn thing.

Great pic, great rotation!

[samson66]

Originally Posted by LDN

Each its own, ceramic Bezel is a must for me on Rolex watches!

Agree. I moved from an aluminum bezel Rolex to a modern ceramic and the difference is night and day. I don't mind the aluminum on my Tudor. It is a less expensive, more vintage feeling modern watch. But on Rolex, it's gotta be ceramic. They look and feel amazing. That glossy shine is incredible. Hard to go back at this point.

[Psmith]

Originally Posted by sokoloka

I myself am quite fond of ceramic as a watch material, bezel or the whole damn thing.

Awesome... and one on your wrist. Nice footwear too

[mmaggi]

One friend of mine cracked the ceramic bezel on his Pelagos. 2 of my friends cracked the crystal on the GMT & Sub. All were dropped on porcelain tile in their bathrooms. Moral of the story? Don't bring your watch to the bathroom. :)

[icnbne]

im not a fan for a different reason.. its too glossy i find myself constantly wiping it on my shirt to get rid of smudges or water marks.. would be a dream come true if a sub or a gmt came in matte ceramic like the pelagos

[samson66]

Originally Posted by mmaggi

One friend of mine cracked the ceramic bezel on his Pelagos. 2 of my friends cracked the crystal on the GMT & Sub. All were dropped on porcelain tile in their bathrooms. Moral of the story? Don't bring your watch to the bathroom. :)

I did the same thing with my Tudor GMT. Had to replace the bezel and the aluminum bezel insert. Tile is evil.

One nice advantage of aluminum is that it is a HELL of a lot cheaper to replace. I replaced the insert and entire bezel for less than the cost of a ceramic insert.

[Ravager135]

Rolex wants their watches to look as brand new as possible for as long as possible. It's all part of the transition from these pieces being instruments and tools to becoming jewelry. I have no illusions that Rolex watches have not been status symbols for some time, but they were simultaneously practical tools. If you hold a five digit or older reference in your hand, it feels distinctly different than the newer six digit models.

[faimag]

Originally Posted by mmaggi

One friend of mine cracked the ceramic bezel on his Pelagos. 2 of my friends cracked the crystal on the GMT & Sub. All were dropped on porcelain tile in their bathrooms. Moral of the story? Don't bring your watch to the bathroom. :)

Or at the very least, don't put porcelain tile on the bathroom floor.

[007_Omega]

If your big pet peeve with Ceramic bezels is that it can shatter, then you're thinking too much into this.

Personally, the fact that they are smudge magnets annoys the hell out of me but it is not easy to shatter them. In fact, when they first released people were spreading the scare that they would shatter but in reality for the vast majority of people they hold up better than aluminum.

[Trepang]

Originally Posted by Cwillis0001

Rolex, the tool watch . Come on, that is absolutely ridiculous to even suggest in this day and age. These days? An Apple watch is a tool watch, a G Shock is a tool watch, a dive computer is a tool watch. A Rolex is jewelry. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Amen

[Amochosto]

Here’s why.



I bought a 15 year old GMT Master II with the faded bezel. immediately bought new Coke and Pepsi bezels for it. If I was running Rolex , I would be mortified that bezels look this bad after 15 years. I know some desire a bezel that looks like this but in reality faded pink and blue only looks good to hard core collectors who want “patina” not people like me who just want a nice looking durable watch with good functionality.

Below is a closeup picture of my sub after a hard scraping of it on the concrete bottom of a pool, playing with my son. You can see the metal is mangled above the 10, but the bezel only has a couple of little scrapes. It’s completely wearable, if the bezel was aluminum all of the paint would have been scraped off and chunks of aluminum disappeared. I would have had to take it into the dealer and get the insert and maybe the bezel assembly replaced. I didn’t need to do anything to continue wearing this ceramic model.

I also note that despite the fact that ceramic bezels may break more often, the old 5 digit bezels can literally be pulled off with my fingernails. Try to do that wit a ceramic one. My guess is that a solid knock in a certain direction on a 5 digit is as likely to knock the whole bezel assembly off as a solid knock on a 6 digit is to crack the bezel. To each his own, but I prefer the ceramics.


No watch is a tool watch anymore, they are just amazing relics. Even PADIs amazing 16600 only used to be a tool watch. Now it has been superseded by dive computers or even the cellphone in your pocket. It’s awesome and a bit more convenient than pulling out your phone, but totally unnecessary.