SAPPHIRE – High-tech material for top performance

Natural sapphire is a gemstone variety of corundum. Its chemical formula is AI2O3. Sapphire comes in different varieties: predominantly blue (cornflower blue) but also green, reddish-yellow or violet. Colors are affected by minute impurities. Trace amounts of titanium and iron are the most common impurities affecting color. The French chemist Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil was first to produce synthetic sapphire in 1902. The flame fusion process he developed continues to be named after him. At that time, the objective of the method was the production of synthetic color sapphires and rubies.

Sapphire is most suitable for a multitude of applications due to its unique combination of outstanding physical properties. Sapphire is the hardest and most resistant material after diamond, and therefore most valuable when expected to deliver top performance in the watch industry as well as other technical applications. This synthetic high-tech product is inert, transparent when polished, acid-resistant, and of low electrical conductivity. With a melting point of over 2000° C, it is perfect for demanding applications requiring utmost precision.

Nothing will adversely affect the beauty of sapphire. Sapphire is virtually indestructible and resistant against all external influences. Watch crystals and technical components made of sapphire are scratch-resistant and nonporous. A shiny polished surface as well as perfect transparency help explain why sapphire is so attractive. In short, sapphire is a material destined to appeal to generations to come.

Stettler Sapphire Ltd. offers freedom of design, from classic or complex crystals to complicated parts and shapes such as toric watch crystals with two different radii adapted to the human anatomy. No other shape offers such a wide range of design possibilities.