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In 1970, only one 12 months after NASA’s Apollo 11 mission to the moon, Citizen watches of Japan launched the world’s first client wristwatch produced from titanium. Since then, the famend timepiece and instrument maker has been an innovator within the area of not solely designing sturdy and light-weight titanium metallic watches but additionally within the manufacture and manufacturing of precision titanium parts.
As Citizen celebrates 50 years of manufacturing titanium timepieces, the conglomerated firm additionally means that its Tremendous Titanium materials has pressing purposes in industries exterior of wristwatches — particularly non-public rocket and area shuttle corporations. (Extra on Citizen’s area aspirations under.) First, a short have a look at highlights alongside the chronology of Citizen’s lengthy funding into the research and enchancment of titanium wrist watch expertise.
1970 Citizen X-Eight Chronometer watch with titanium case.
The 1970 Citizen X-Eight Chronometer was a (actually) space-age high-accuracy quartz watch produced from titanium — a metallic that was not solely vastly lighter than metal however that was additionally completely rust- and pores and skin allergy-resistant. Citizen managed to provide simply 2,000 X-Eight Chronometer models, not resulting from market demand however relatively the extraordinary problem of manufacturing titanium watch circumstances. The the now industry-leading Citizen Tremendous Titanium took place solely on account of a devoted workforce inside Citizen that, for many years, sought to create the right titanium watch case materials.
Materials engineers have lengthy lamented the steep mountain that’s the manufacturing of titanium parts. The metallic has nice utility in industrial and efficiency purposes however outright rejects the identical manufacturing strategies used to create different metals akin to brass and even metal. When Citizen first started experimenting with titanium as a watch case materials, machines broke, drills dulled, and fires broke out. On prime of being stubbornly troublesome to type into shapes, titanium filings are additionally flamable.
1982 Citizen Skilled 1300m diver’s watch with titanium case.
Citizen’s engineers discovered that when items of titanium had been machine-pressed to type the essential form elements, the titanium would bond to the presses and thus immediate each mechanical repairs and malformed parts. When titanium elements lastly succumbed to being formed by mechanical press, sharpening the parts (akin to watch circumstances elements) launched a further downside. Titanium’s crystalline construction is so sturdy that it wears out drills and sharpening heads with harmful effectivity.
Citizen’s engineering division experiences that it required the hassle of almost 20 years to internally remedy the issue of find out how to mass produce high-quality titanium elements. Not having the ability to depend on any exterior provider or manufacturing associate (given the shortage of them), Citizen has to invent quite a few strategies merely to supply an inexpensive, enticing, and high-performance titanium-cased timepiece merchandise to a world more and more infatuated with the surprise that was titanium to be used in client merchandise.
A pure use for titanium as a watch case materials is in diving watches. Citizen’s diving watch specialty division launched a diver’s watch waterproof to 1,300 meters (almost a mile underwater) in 1982. Along with boasting unimaginable sturdiness and shock resistance, the Citizen Skilled 1300m Diver was additionally completely rust and corrosion resistant, a serious benefit for a timepiece ceaselessly utilized in a marine setting.
All through the 1980s and 1990s, Citizen continues to introduce new titanium watches for an keen client public that continues to reply nicely to titanium as wristwatch case and bracelet materials. It was in 2000 that Citizen lastly launched maybe its most essential contribution to the titanium wristwatch market — specifically handled types of titanium that had been extra scratch resistant, extra finely machined, tougher, and better-looking than these of the competitors.
Citizen launched Duratect in 2000 with the discharge of the ASPEC World Time watch. Duratect is a wholly proprietary expertise developed by Citizen and utilized to a base titanium materials. Duratect is a mixture of two principal processes that, collectively, make for a vastly higher titanium. First, a course of to refine (“clear”) the bodily floor of the titanium materials, leading to a harder materials that will also be attractively polished. Second, Duractect is a particular floor remedy that applies an unimaginable degree of scratch resistance to titanium. Citizen additionally developed the Duratect MRK course of which provides a titanium hardening remedy which makes titanium a lot much less vulnerable to dents and different types of scratching. Duratect MRK makes use of a classy course of utilizing gasoline to harden the titanium materials far past its pure properties.
To check Duratect’s long-term wear-resistance properties, Citizen enlisted members of its personal worker workforce to put on take a look at their Duratect-treated titanium watches for years on finish. Images of many almost decade-old watches gave the impression to be in almost “model new” situation. Duratect is definitely a sequence of processes that Citizen later coined the “Tremendous Titanium” identify to check with. Citizen Tremendous Titanium is the tip results of its high-quality, extraordinarily long-lasting titanium materials.
What customers most respect about Citizen Tremendous Titanium watches will not be merely the theoretical efficiency purposes of high-tech titanium buildings. Relatively, it’s the aesthetic great thing about the high-polish ending strategies used to provide many Tremendous Titanium watches. Pure titanium lacks luster and, given its problem to machine and mill, is accordingly very difficult to attractively polish. In the present day, Citizen has invented specialised programs to provide its titanium watches a gorgeous end but additionally offers customers the peace of thoughts to know that the scratch resistant properties of Tremendous Titanium will protect the great thing about mentioned finishes for years to return. The overwhelming majority of even far more costly titanium watches from rivals can’t boast this wear-defying characteristic.
Extremely-scratch resistant titanium watches produced by Citizen started as glossy black in colour, such because the 2006 Citizen Promaster Eco-Drive International Radio-Managed watch that mixed Citizen Duratect DLC and Duratect MRK. Later, Citizen continued to good the Tremendous Titanium course of permitting for the manufacture of hardened and coated titanium watches that protect their pure tone and polished finishes. What started with professional-use and sport watches crafted in efficiency titanium, has now advanced to additionally embrace Tremendous Titanium as a perfect materials for informal put on and even formal timepieces. The best expression of mastery over a efficiency materials is use of it for ornamental and celebratory enjoyment.
As Citizen celebrates 50 years of titanium wristwatches, it additionally embarks on an revolutionary new journey for its titanium manufacturing prowess. Because the non-public area journey industry enlivens throughout the globe, a booming new industry hungry for precision titanium parts would require the experience that few corporations can present. Titanium, as a cloth, has huge profit in area car and different area setting purposes. If solely as a result of titanium may be very gentle and really robust. Integral to area car corporations having the ability to depend on small, rigorously made titanium elements, is their skill to depend on suppliers who can produce such elements.
Citizen has made the strategic choice to open up its as soon as completely in-house titanium manufacturing capability to pick out purchasers, particularly for the “area exploration” industry. It has already began. In 2023, Japan’s HAKUTO-R program intends to ship a brand new car to the moon. Its mission can be a part of an initiative to discover the complete lunar floor. Citizen has introduced that it’s a company associate of HAKUTO-R, and can provide Tremendous-Titanium for the venture. Extra purposes of Tremendous Titanium to be used within the subsequent section of humanity’s area race are quickly forthcoming.
A brand new period of that means will accompany Citizen Tremendous Titanium wristwatches as wearers develop into conscious that the identical materials is closely used to shuttle individuals and elements to area, having been developed first for timepieces and solely later expanded for different fashionable use, Citizen is proof of how conventional timekeeping corporations can have sudden relevancy sooner or later. Study Citizen Tremendous Titanium right here.
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