Watch and Jewelry Material of the 21st Century

Palladium has been highly appreciated first of all for the purity and luster of platinum but with even whiter color. Its bargain-price sets it apart from other precious metals. Palladium is hypoallergenic, a great advantage especially if compared to nickel that is often used as an alloy with gold to make it white. About 10 percent of people are allergic to nickel, so it is presently banned by law to use nickel in jewelry *** in the U.S. and a few countries of Europe. Palladium is naturally of a silver-white shade - there is no need for combining it with any other whitening alloy or plating. The malleability is one more important characteristic of the metal that makes it easy to work with. It is also lighter than platinum. The beauty of palladium has long been discovered by watch makers. However, the alloy turned out to be too soft to correspond to the production standards of a watch case. Only nowadays palladium has found a much wider use in watch and jewelry ***. The alloys used today provide the suppleness and the ductility necessary to withstand all sorts of mechanical treatments. Watches produced from palladium are often thicker and higher. They are distinguished by more rounded, sometimes even dome-like cases and bracelet links. This way watchmakers improve their creations' design without additional weight. The Swiss watch industry has recently given preference to palladium as an alternative to white gold. Cartier has developed a successful palladium model of its Pasha watch. There also appeared palladium collections of Ulysse Nardin and Parmigiani Fleurier.