{"id":2061733,"date":"2026-06-16T18:41:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/2026\/06\/16\/when-color-becomes-a-matter-of-chemistry\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:43:17","slug":"when-color-becomes-a-matter-of-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/2026\/06\/16\/when-color-becomes-a-matter-of-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"When Color Becomes a Matter of Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At Watches and Wonders 2026, IWC Schaffhausen unveiled a version ofthe Ingenieur Automatic 42<\/em> in dark olive green ceramic. This isn\u2019t the brand\u2019s first ceramic watch\u2014IWC has been producing them since 1986\u2014but it is the first time that the integrated bracelet design, a legacy of G\u00e9rald Genta, has been crafted entirely from this material. The novelty isn\u2019t the color. It\u2019s what had to be overcome to achieve it. <\/p>\n\n

Technical ceramics of watchmaking grade, made from zirconium oxide, are white or black in their natural state. Any coloring is achieved by adding additional metal oxides to the green body in precisely defined proportions. The first challenge: these proportions do not determine the final color. During sintering, the parts shrink by about one-third, and the hues change. Predicting the color after firing\u2014which must be identical on every component, produced separately\u2014is as much a matter of materials chemistry as it is of industrial expertise. <\/p>\n\n

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Removal, hardness, diamond tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Once sintered, zirconium oxide ceramic reaches a hardness of approximately 1,300 on the Vickers scale. Cutlery steel, by comparison, ranges from 600 to 800. At this level of hardness, only diamond tools can be used for machining. This is not a minor constraint: it dictates the entire manufacturing process. The final shapes must be defined before sintering, while the part is still in its green state, taking into account the shrinkage that will occur. Modifying the geometry after the fact is not an option. <\/p>\n\n

IWC solves this with a case construction consisting of several distinct components\u2014case, bezel, case back ring, and crown guard\u2014each sintered separately, each of which must exhibit the same shade after firing. The final assembly is secured by a titanium ring that encircles the movement, holds the functional screws in place from both the front and back, and ensures water resistance to 10 bar. There is no traditional movement case: the multi-piece ceramic case serves this purpose, held together by titanium. <\/p>\n\n

The integrated bracelet\u2014also made of olive-green ceramic\u2014is attached to the case via the central links. Since ceramic is less dense than steel, the watch feels lighter on the wrist than its volume would suggest. <\/p>\n\n

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A movement made partly of ceramic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The IWC-manufactured Caliber 82110 also features zirconium oxide. The Pellaton automatic winding system\u2014designed by Albert Pellaton, the company\u2019s technical director in the 1950s\u2014engages the automatic wheel and pawls in both directions of the rotor\u2019s rotation. These components, which are subjected to the highest stresses, are made of black ceramic. The rotor\u2019s central bearing is made of white ceramic. The power reserve is 60 hours at 28,800 vibrations per hour. <\/p>\n\n

The crown is made of 18-karat 5N gold. The bezel screws, crafted from Armor Gold\u00ae\u2014a gold alloy significantly harder than conventional alloys\u2014serve the same purpose as ceramic: long-term resistance to contact wear. <\/p>\n\n

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What the watch implies is that color is not an isolated aesthetic decision. It involves a chemical process, a kiln, shrinkage tolerances, and a manufacturing sequence that cannot be reversed. The next question for IWC is how far this approach can go\u2014other shades, other shapes\u2014without the kiln becoming the real designer. <\/p>\n\n

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Stacked from 22 images. Method=B (R=8,S=4) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stacked from 22 images. Method=B (R=8,S=4) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At Watches and Wonders 2026, IWC Schaffhausen unveiled a version ofthe Ingenieur Automatic 42 in dark olive green ceramic. This isn\u2019t the brand\u2019s first ceramic watch\u2014IWC has been producing them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2041951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30122],"tags":[77844,77843,77842,76426,77841],"class_list":["post-2061733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watches-and-jewelry","tag-gerald-genta-integrated-ceramic-bracelet","tag-iwc-caliber-82110","tag-sintered-ceramic-watch","tag-watches-and-wonders-2026","tag-zirconium-oxide-ceramics-for-watchmaking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2061733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2041951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2061733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2061733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2061733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}