This article was taken from the October 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
The gears in this rolex share a component with the drill on Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity.
Every month Wired's chemist Dr Ling Ge deconstructs an everyday product. She works at Imperial College London and is the author of many high-impact research papers, popular science articles and editor of two books.
Ingredients Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene)
904L stainless steel
Sapphire (aluminium oxide)
Cerachrom
Platinum/gold
Parachrom hairspring
Super-LumiNova
Teflon
The pink gears inside a Rolex movement are coated with Teflon, a distinctive trait often used to authenticate a watch. Teflon is a branded form of polytetra-fluoroethylene, a polymer consisting wholly of carbon and fluorine. Its molecular weight can exceed 30,000,000 atomic mass units, making it one of the largest molecules. Besides non-stick cooking pans, Teflon was used on the drill on Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity.
Stainless steel
An exceptionally corrosion-resistant superalloy due to its rich chromium content, 904L stainless steel is used for the case. Rolex became the first watch company to use the steel in 1985, setting itself apart from other manufacturers which had mainly used 316L stainless steel.
Sapphire (aluminium oxide)
The front cover is made of scratch-proof synthetic sapphire. An aluminium oxide, sapphire is widely used in optics, such as infrared, as well as UV, LEDs and laser instruments.
Cerachrom
The bezel is made from cerachrom, an extremely hard ceramic material that is impervious to scratches. It is unaffected by exposure to sunlight or sea water.
Platinum/gold
The numerals and graduations are inscribed in the cerachrom, then coated with a thin layer of gold or platinum via a physical vapour deposition process. Platinum/gold nanoparticles are also used in cancer therapies to deliver toxic drugs to cancerous cells.
Parachrom hairspring
This is a niobium, zirconium and oxygen alloy that is unaffected by magnetic fields. It also remains stable when exposed to temperature variations and shocks.
Superluminova
This refers to the strontium aluminate-based nonradioactive and nontoxic afterglow pigments used for illuminating markings on indices and hands. They store light to release later.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
