We’ve seen scratch resistant ceramic in the watch industry, but now Hublot brings luxury gold to a new level – just as it brought rubber to all-new heights in the early 1980’s when it was the first watch brand to unveil a rubber-strapped luxury timepiece. Now, the brand has developed – in collaboration with EFPL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and alloy of precious 24-karat gold and high tech materials that make the resulting certified 18-karat gold scratch resistant. Three years in the making, the new type of gold has several patents pending. Thus far, a new watch has not been unveiled in the noble material –but we can all 
Hublot CEO, Jean-Claude BIver, shows off the new Magic Gold.expect to see the product in a few months at BaselWorld.
Graded as 18-karat gold by the Central Office for Precious Metals Control, Hublot’s Magic Gold is the world’s first scratch-resistant gold. Whereas “standard” high-quality 18-karat gold can reach 400 on the Vickers hardness scale, Hublot’s new gold has a hardness rating of almost 1000 Vickers (most hardened steels are up to 600 Vickers). This makes Hublot gold the hardest in the world. Components (cases, bezels, bracelets, etc.) made from this material are produced using a complex process: boron carbide powder is formed by cold isostatic pressing in moulds very close in shape to the finished part. The preforms are then hardened at very high temperatures to create a rigid, porous structure without altering the shape. After this, molten liquid gold is injected under very high pressure and temperature to ensure that the molten metal fills the pores in the ceramic, causing the two to “fuse” into a single new material. The resulting 18-karat Magic Gold, like other 18-karat alloys, is composed of 750 parts pure gold out of 1000. Hublot has completed the experimental stage for its new gold and acquired the means to produce the material entirely in its own Manufacture, thanks to a high-tech foundry. This could get really interesting!! Stay tuned for news on the new product…