Watch Materials – 316L Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is a popular watch and jewelry material used for its properties such as its resistance to corrosion from seawater and acidic materials, strength, durability, and lightness. The grade of material used in our watches is something called 316L stainless steel, a steel that has extra low carbon content, making it not only resistant to corrosion but also magnetism, which can upset the workings of a watch.
Most luxury watches chose 316L stainless steel as their steel of choice, and there are other grades also available. 316L contains 2-3 percent of molybdenum, which increases the amount of corrosion resistance against chlorides.
Examples of 316L stainless steel use include pipelines, dyeing equipment, paper and pulp equipment, chemical equipment, medical implants, and last but not least, watches and jewelry. The overall advantages of using 316L stainless steel in watches are as follows:
- The rolled products appear gloss and beautiful
- It is resistant to corrosion
- It has a high-temperature strength
- Excellent working hardening (post-processing weak magnetism)
- The solid solution state is not magnetic
The treatment and buffing of 316L stainless steel is also easy, another advantage to owning a stainless steel wristwatch. To clean a strap simply remove the watch strap and soak in salt water for half the day. This will clean the strap and black deposits will appear on the water. Dry the strap with a flannalette and then dry with a hair cleaner. A second option is to use a soft toothbrush with some cleanser to lightly brush the strap, then rinse with clean water before using the same drying method.
The watch featured in this article is the MGJVB sport II chronograph, found here (https://www.boutiquevonburg.com/brands/brand-watches/mgjvb/men-s-sport-ii-ssb-automatic-chronograph-watch). Hope you enjoyed the short article!