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Hublot Creates Scratch-Resistant 18-Carat Gold Watches
Among the new luxury timepieces to be showcased at BaselWorld 2012 in March will be a collection of Hublot watches made entirely of what is billed as the world’s first scratch-resistant gold.
Following a three-year collaboration, Hublot and the EFPL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) have now passed the experimental stage for the new Magic Gold, which has a rating of almost 1000 on the Vickers hardness scale, whereas standard gold reaches only 400 (a material can get scratched if it is not hard enough).
Out of every 1000 parts of the Magic Gold, 750 parts are pure gold while the remaining 250 parts are ceramic.
It is hoped that the new gold will be able to revolutionise the characteristics of precious materials and may also pave the way for new alloys to be used in the high-tech industry.
One of the world’s biggest and most important watch and jewellery fairs, BaselWorld 2012 will take place in Basel, Switzerland, from March 8-15.