There’s a long piece over at the Financial Times today about Jony Ive and Apple’s watch plans. The author, Nick Foulkes, is obviously not a techie, but he does know a thing or two about watches, and the article is worth a read if you have a horological bent.
The article does contain some interesting tech tidbits, too. For example, Foulkes tells us that “Ive explains how the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it twice as hard as standard gold.” This claim was greeted in the office by more than a little bemusement. Gold is a metal! Has Apple finally left a reality-based existence behind it?
Perhaps the company is not entirely crazy, though. In June 2014, Apple filed a patent, issued in December 2014, for a “Method and apparatus for forming a gold metal matrix composite.” Metal matrix composites allow manufacturers to develop complex metal components in a similar way to 3D printing with polymers, and from the looks of this patent, Apple may be using this approach for the Apple Watch's case.
The patent describes a composite that’s part gold, part ceramic, and of note is the fact that the final product is supposed to be between two and four times harder than normal 18 ct gold. One of the claims cites the finished metal matrix composite as having a hardness of at least 400 Hv on the Vickers scale, whereas 18 ct gold usually ranges between 85 and 230 Hv.
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