Good post on steel case corrosion...

[automatico]

http://www.network54.com/Forum/207593/thread/1449781180/last-1449925657/View+All

One fellow gives a good explanation with a few details.

I had a 1601 that had a corrosion hole all the way through the top of the case under the bezel and all that showed on the outside was a tiny black speck. Sometimes black specks between the lugs can make holes all the way through the case.

[Revere]

Pitting highlights yet another benefit to ceramic cases. Ceramics might be a good amount more brittle, and have their own chemical drawbacks, but by and large are less susceptible to many of the blights steel has to deal with: easy scratching, corrosion, and pitting.

I think there is a lot of materials engineering that has yet to hit the watch industry. One series of materials I'm interested in seeing develop would be impregnated ceramics: porous ceramic matrices can be manufactured and later impregnated with metal alloys, creating a sort of hybrid material that features characteristics of both ceramics and metals. 

I think Hublot began some work on impregnated ceramics with their magic gold, which was significantly harder (read: less susceptible to scratching) than standard 18k, but was still an 18k composition by the definition of gold purity. I wonder how the material might behave if impregnated with steel alloys instead of gold; steel obviously has its own issues with corrosion, like the fellow on VRF mentioned. On a micro scale, it's possible that the multiple steel/ceramic/steel interfaces on the surface of the case might actually lead to the steel bits corroding just slightly more than the ceramic, and ultimately lead to even more pits where corrosive materials can easily deposit in these micro-pits. 

IMO, the materials situation will be a significant part of watchmaking's future, as long as the typically traditional watch companies are willing to accept that the future of watchmaking will be scientifically exciting and not just improvements of movements. 

[automatico]

"One series of materials I'm interested in seeing develop would be impregnated ceramics: porous ceramic matrices can be manufactured and later impregnated with metal alloys, creating a sort of hybrid material that features characteristics of both ceramics and metals." 

+1

I would also like to see metal that has the color of yellow gold and be much cheaper and harder. Maybe an alloy like 'liquid metal' cases but looks like yellow gold.

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/looking-at-liquid-metal-watches-with-omega/