Introduction:
Smart watches are innovative products between traditional watches and smart phones, gradually leading the new trend of smart products. Although the product is small, it has full functions. It only involves more than 20 kinds of appearance materials related to CMF design, covering metal, ceramics, glass, plastic, elastomer, leather, cloth and other high, medium and low-end materials. The types are quite comprehensive.
In order to let everyone have a clearer understanding of the composition of the appearance materials of smart watches, we will introduce these 21 materials by dividing them into two parts: ten types of watch body appearance materials and eleven types of strap materials.
Ten types of watch body appearance materials
Generally speaking, for the field of CMF design, the appearance of the smart watch body are reflected in the case (cover + middle frame), crown, screen and other parts. There are many types of materials used, such as the sapphire glass, stainless steel, titanium Alloy, plastic, aluminum alloy, plastic/elastomer, etc.
01. (Sapphire) glass
Sapphire glass and glass are commonly used mirror materials for smart watches. It is often made into a 3D surface shape to increase product texture. Among them, sapphire glass is the artificially synthesized sapphire material, which has gradually penetrated from high-end watch models to low-end watch models, and is the most common watch mirror material (basically has become a standard configuration). The hardness of sapphire glass is super high, Mohs hardness can reach 9, second only to diamond, waterproof and scratch-proof, excellent optical performance, exquisite and beautiful. Processing manufacturers include Bourne, Lens, BYD Electronics and so on.
The front and back cover design of the transparent sapphire has hardly been applied to smart watches at present, but there are many cases in mechanical watches, and the price is also very high. Smart watches can refer to this design element in the future.
02. Ceramics
The ceramics used in smart watches are generally zirconia. Because of its ultra-high hardness, wear resistance, skin-friendly (good texture), heat dissipation and other characteristics, it has been widely used in the field of smart wear in recent years. In the watch body, it is mainly used in the back cover, bezel, decoration and small decorative structural parts. The molding process mainly includes powder injection and dry pressing. The difference is simply to look at the structure. Powder injection is generally used for parts with more complex structures.
03. Stainless steel
Stainless steel has always been a relatively high-end material in electronic products. It is very strong and wear-resistant. It is mainly used as a frame material in smart watches, generally 316L. forming and surface treatment processes include forging, powder metallurgy, coating, polishing, etching, sandblasting, wire drawing and etc. It is a material commonly used by mainstream watch manufacturers such as Apple and Huawei.
04. Aluminum alloy
Aluminum alloy is more common, and it is widely used in watches. It refers to an alloy based on aluminum with a certain amount of other alloying elements added, and is one of the metal materials. Aluminum alloy is mainly used as a frame material, which is light in texture, easy to process (many molding and surface treatment processes), higher degree of design freedom, and lower cost than stainless steel.
05. Plastic/Elastomer
Plastic is a common material for smart watch cases, mainly including polycarbonate PC, PA+glass fiber, ABS, TPU and etc. It is lightweight and easy to process, with lower cost and good appearance. It is suitable for sports, children and entry-level products. Smart watches have their specific advantages. Elastomers include TPU, etc., which generally appear in the form of combining with plastic, such as soft rubber covered with hard rubber, as watch case materials.
06. Titanium alloy
Compared with the stainless steel and aluminum alloy introduced earlier, titanium alloy is more high-end! It is used in the frame and crown of smart watches. Its hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal conductivity and other aspects are excellent, but the surface color is low, the processing is difficult, and the cost is higher. Generally, it only appears in high-end watch models, and Apple, Samsung, etc. have used it.
07. Zinc alloy
Similar to aluminum alloy, zinc alloy is an alloy composed of zinc and other elements, and its performance is also excellent. However, compared with other metals, there are not too many applications in the field of smart watches, and they only appear in individual brands. For example, Lenovo Watch 9 smart watch, omthing Jianyue smart watch and so on.
08. Cobalt alloy
Cobalt alloy is an alloy formed by adding other alloying elements based on cobalt. It has toughness and is twice as hard as stainless steel. It has always been a material used by luxury brands. As far as the author knows, OnePlus is the first brand manufacturer to bring cobalt alloy material to the middle frame of smart watches.
09. Fiber reinforced composite materials
This type of material is characterized by high plasticity, high strength, corrosion resistance, very durable and wear-resistant. Among them, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials have been applied, such as the WATCH GT 2022 collection edition smart watch released by Huawei below, the watch body is made of polymer carbon fiber composite materials.
010. Liquid metal
Liquid metal is a new type of special metal material, which has certain advantages in terms of molding, cost, and performance. The surface treatment processes mainly include wire drawing, sandblasting, polishing, PVD, and laser engraving. For a detailed introduction of this material, you can click on the article to view: An article to understand liquid metal! Or will oppo use it as a new generation middle frame material for mobile phones? Due to the limited space, I will not go into details here. At present, the composition of the supply chain is relatively simple, and it has not yet formed a large-scale application in the field of electronic products. The following is liquid metal cases, which are formed by die-casting + CNC, and the surface is coated with PVD. The cost is not bad, and it is lower than stainless steel and other metals.
Eleven types of strap materials
As a part that directly contacts the skin, watch strap is not only beautiful, but the materials used generally have certain functions, such as skin-friendly, comfortable, etc., and at the same time, it must be durable and friction-resistant. The types of materials are diversified, mostly soft textures such as leather, elastomers, and cloth. Of course, hard materials such as ceramics and stainless steel are also used to increase the sense of luxury and thickness.
01. Leather
Genuine leather refers to peeling off the raw hide from animals (cattle, pigs, sheep and etc) and making it through a series of complicated processing procedures. It is an expensive high-end material among soft materials, and it is also one of the mainstream materials for smart watch straps. Genuine leather includes cowhide, sheepskin, crocodile skin and etc. It is generally divided into top layer leather and second layer leather. The top layer leather is basically used in watch straps, adopted by mainstream brand manufacturers.
02. Fluorine rubber
Like genuine leather, fluorine rubber is also one of the mainstream and high-end watch strap materials. Compared with other elastomeric rubber materials, fluorine atoms are introduced into the microstructure of polymer materials, and the properties of wear resistance, chemical resistance, electrical insulation, physical and mechanical properties are more excellent, and the performance can be further improved through modification . The application of fluorine rubber in the strap can provide better visual and tactile effects, and the color presentation is easier, which is favored by mainstream brand manufacturers.
03. Silicone
Silica gel is a material with relatively stable comprehensive performance. It is widely used, covering daily necessities, medical equipment, electronics industry and many other industries. It is also a common material for smart watch straps. Silica gel is generally divided into two types: solid silica gel and liquid silica gel LSR. The suppliers include Shin-Etsu, Dow Corning, Wacker, Momentive, Xinan Tianyu, etc. On the smartwatch strap app:
Liquid silicone has better performance, including anti-aging, elasticity, skin-friendliness, stability, air permeability, environmental protection and etc., and is mostly used in relatively high-end watch products. The molding process is generally injection molding, and the product precision and output are very high; Solid silicone is generally used in low-end machines, and the quantity is not small.
04. TPU
TPU is also called polyurethane thermoplastic elastomer. It has a wide range of applications, and it is also widely used in watch bracelets. It has the characteristics of high texture, stain resistance, waterproof, and aging resistance.
05. Nylon
Nylon (polyamide fiber) material can also be used as a watch strap, generally in the form of weaving, which is very soft, comfortable, breathable and light, and has a higher degree of design freedom. The following case shows the international series of Apple Watch straps officially launched by Apple, including 22 kinds, with colorful designs, and the strap material is made of fine-woven nylon material.
06. TPSiV
TPSiV is a thermoplastic silicone elastomer. This material is developed by Dow Corning. It is characterized by taking into account the dual advantages of silicone and thermoplastic materials. Carving, spraying, etc.), soft and elastic, easy to process and etc.
07. Ceramics
Ceramics can not only be used as watch back covers, but also as watch strap materials.
08. Stainless steel
In the smart watch industry, stainless steel is not only the main application material for watch bodies, but also a common material for watch straps. The strap made of stainless steel will make the product itself more stable and elegant, and the visual effect is completely different.
09. Artificial leather
The application of the strap leather material is not only the aforementioned genuine leather, but also artificial leather, which is a kind of imitation leather material with a similar feel. Artificial leather is usually based on fabric, prepared by synthetic resin and additives, such as PVC and PU leather.
010. Recyclable and environmentally friendly materials
This is a green and environmentally friendly strap material, and different manufacturers have different ones. The following strap series is a limited edition eco-friendly strap launched by Samsung and Sami Miro Vintage for the Galaxy Watch 4 smart watch. There are 6 models in total, among which the “Midnight Black” and “Stratus Sky” straps are made of 100% apple peels recycled from the fruit industry. The remaining 4 models are also recyclable and environmentally friendly materials.
011. Carbon fiber
At present, carbon fiber composite watch straps are very few, but the Apple Watch uses this material.
In summary, now you know the materials of smart watches, calculate the cost and produce ideal smart watches, or order smart watch in bulk at bottom price from factory .
