Apple Watch Series 12 Returns to Ceramic, Fired Three Times Over

Josh Rubin for Cool Hunting: Of the models we wore this week, the ceramic case held our attention longest, and the the fact that it’s made with a process quite similar to high-end Swiss horology explains why. Apple begins with zirconia powder, pink for Pearl White and gray for Night Blue, pressed into a mold while still soft enough to machine the band slots, release buttons and Digital Crown opening. A 700°C heat soak, which Apple calls, with some understatement, low temperature, burns away the binders and shrinks the case to its final proportions. A second stage at 1,400°C and more than 21,000 psi purges impurities and hardens the material while stripping out so much oxygen that the color shifts. A third soak at 1,100°C floods the ceramic with oxygen again to coax out the intended hues. The hardened result demands diamond-encrusted tools for final shaping, followed by a six-step polish. Apple credits the process with a pearlescence the Series 5 edition never captured. I had been…

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