Bronze now - what is next?

So IWC is producing their first bronze watch. It looks good - really good. I am curious on how the bronze changes over time, how that "patina" develops. I liked the look of the carbon fiber case I saw a few months back and like the ceramic. I do, however, appreciate the durability and weight of titanium. The brushed sides of my Portuguese Yacht Club Edition Volvo Ocean race reveal intricacies of Titanium I was not previously aware of. What case material shall IWC come up with next?

Tantalum would be interesting. Hard and corrosion resistant, according to Wikipedia. It is used for medical instruments. Maybe a go-between, between steel and gold or platinum. Some other watch companies use it.

I saw pictures of a divers watch made of ceramised titanium. Production was stopped because of the cost due to production issues, but they can be overcome in some time. It combines the good qualities of both materials: hard but not brittle, light.

Quite some challenges if you want to do something special.

Kind regards,
Paul

Based on what I have seen of bronze from other brands in recent years a lot of the aging effects depend heavily on environment. I have seen some superb photos of bronze exposed to heavy bouts of seawater with amazing effects. That said, I like to look but not sure i would want it on one of my own pieces. There are recovery methods I understand but I will leave the details to others to describe. Personally I think it is fantastic to see the experimentation of new materials but I still believe the old trusted metals will reign supreme with growing influence of titanium. Only time will tell though, naturally.

Hello Ben; I would suggest "Magic Gold". It is a mix out of 18K gold and ceramic alloy, so the result is is a scratch-resistant gold. Very interesting.

Pd...

24 carat gold mixed with 1% titanium has the hardness of 14 carat gold. Evidently it can be marked as 24 carat (source Wikipedia). Obviously that would be for very high end models.
Other golds could include a very upmarket Laureus model complete with blue dial and blue gold.