Patina lovers

I see green corrosion under your bezel.  How long before the bezel seizes or feels like you got sand from the beach in it?  Then they screw in a stainless steel back to see if they can create some galvanic corrosion to seize the threads.  What a horrible way to make a watch.

That stuffs no problem. If you use your bezel regularly (which we all do) it will never seize. Also that blue stuff actually washes off with water. No biggy if you use this in water (i do) or just run it under a tap. A brush also takes it off. 
 

again this post is for patina lovers , I’m sure theres a post elsewhere if you dont enjoy these things

I understand your sentiments and believe that the watch industry has done a terrible job of explaining what to expect from bronze and in guiding people about possible/probable patinas. So, even if you hate bronze I'll write about patinas for general interest. 

A patina is corrosion. It can either be controlled, natural, rapid, or slow. 

Common watch bronze (CuSn8; copper and tin) naturally and quickly turns brown, green, or sometimes red. One can easily produce a stable dark brown end state with chemicals, and also coat the finish to preserve whatever it looks like "now." At that point green or red spots or other changes may never appear, and a bronze watch will be about as stable as a typical non-hard-use watch. (Yes, use a G-Shock or stainless steel for true hazardous duty and salt water if you don't want further changes or eventual failure.) 

In my opinion, the watch industry has done a terrible disservice by promoting bright bronze new watches rather than end-state bronze watches. Buyers expect their often expensive purchases to retain the look they paid for, but CuSn8 bronze doesn't easily stay bright, yellow, or "gold" on its own. 

Other metal patinas: Aluminum bronze stays much more fresh and yellow over time (e.g., Tudor bronze watches). 

Silver (the metal) turns dark gray. The portion of non-gold in a gold watch will make it slightly orange or dull, for example rose gold uses copper to push the color in the red direction. Black tinted watches are "pre-tarnished" with chemicals or coated with materials for a dark color. Aluminum can be anodized (oxidized) into all sorts of stable and little changing colors (which can also looks like common keychain bottle openers and artificial). 

Stainless steel has a high percentage of chromium, which reduces corrosion or patina. However, stain-less does not mean stain-free. It'll stain and pit with enough abuse. It'll turn red with some finishing chemicals too.

In sum, understand what you are buying, the look you want, and how to get there.

Stainless Steel and titanium are the best choices for watch cases.  They are hard, corrosion resistant and need little maintenance.  Precious metals, gold, silver and platinum along with aluminum and the red metals, bronze, brass and copper are soft and scratch easily requiring more care. Soft metals patina, oxidize, corrode or deteriorate(choose which ever word you like) and need more care to keep them looking new.

Yes. There should be more awareness about the differences in the community. However, a lot of watch buying is based on appearance/fashion only. Natural patinas are often quite predictable: the edges will wear and they'll take on the most common tarnished tone of the metal.

Still, watches are commoditized these days so enjoy what you like.

We know that. We bought what we like. Why would we buy it otherwise?

Zuluoix, It isn't necessary to get so hostile when someone doesn't agree with you?  WatchCrunch is an open forum where we often disagree.  You like bronze and I do not.  For the watch buyer less informed than you I have brought up some of the negatives of making watches from that material and mixing materials.  

Cool man, as I said this is for patina lovers … intending that dudes are interested in this. Also the age of watchcruch suggests their is no new peeps here. We are all nerds man. Further more you have never acknowledged the fact that your main concern being the blue/green build up by far not as dramatic as you mentioned. If you’d like I’ll post this watch and me diving in rivers/ocean for the next year and you can see it’s the same (it’s already been through a year.) and that you are clearly feed the wrong info as an owner of which you are not 

Whatever dude.  You enjoy your dives and cleaning corrosion off your watch and I'll enjoy my stainless and titanium which won't look much different years from now.

I got rid of my bronze watches, I was constantly cleaning them.  I just could not deal with the patina process at all.  There is also a smell from the bronze that I didn't like at all.

I think the smell might have been your polish there

Looks cool!  Here is the patina on my Vostok (with a little help from Hard Boiled Eggs in a plastic bag).  lol

I like the patina on a couple of bronze watches I have. Both are Steeldive. One is a homage to the Captain Willard, the other is a pilot's watch. I love watching the colour and surface change over time. I also like the fact that the watches don't look 'new'.  I'm not always keen on bright, shiny things.

I suspect that I like patina in general. I also collect boots and shoes. I enjoy the patina that develops on some types of leather boots - particularly Kudu and Chromexel.  

Your right there is different kinds of patina I’m also drawn too like leather patina on a nice wallet.

What’s the history behind the use of bronze in watch cases? I’ve often thought about getting one, but I’m on the fence. 🤔 

I don’t think theres a long history of use in watches. Bronze has been historically used in ships and marine grade equipment. Propellers are to this day still being made out of bronze for its fantastic corrosion resistance. This image of propellers and deep sea dive masks I think is why some manufacturers started using it as the metal invokes  these images.

Don't know the history, but the way I see it if you want to see and wear a patina watch in your lifetime, it's the way to go.  Bronze seems to be the only metal that does that.  Or if you want a Patina on a pepsi bezel, you can always buy vintage.

Too much squabbling, not enough pics... Here are mine! 

Oris is newest so only getting reddish hues now 😎👍

The reds in that oris!!!

Loving the patina on my BBB. 

Wait did you put your watch in a plastic bag full of hard boiled eggs

Yes sir.  One boiled egg to be exact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGLkzEJDMI

https://youtu.be/vFJLIfX9JLM