These make the ultimate “black watch”. As much as I love ceramic, it has a flaw of being fragile in areas if not designed correctly. It also comes with the risk of shattering if dropped. You have to weigh out if these risks are relevant. The positives outweigh the negatives to me like the fact that ceramic doesn’t transmit heat/cold to the wrist. It is also hypoallergenic and ultra light weight. If you want a black watch then this is the only way to go as DLC will looked whipped with even minimal abuse. Ceramic has been out awhile now and it’s price can be expensive as to how it is manufactured. Not all ceramic is created equal and we use the generic “ceramic” term very loosely. There is a lot that goes into making a “quality” ceramic watch case. SS by comparison is easy and cheap to work with.
I use a B&R Ceramic military as my hunting and tactical watch. I put this watch through hell and it doesn’t show a mark. There are even better and significantly more advanced materials replacing ceramic. They give all the advantages of ceramic with the toughness of titanium. Panerai has their proprietary “Carbotech” that is on another level than ceramic and I personally have tested and own one. It is by far the toughest “big black watch” material but it comes at a high price tag. AP has their own ceramic replacement material “forged carbon”. I think it is a step behind the newer Carbotech.
Panerai Pam 661 Carbotech. I have banged this watch off a bridge pier on a dive and not a mark. It was hard enough that if I was wearing a Sub with a ceramic bezel, I would have surfaced just to see how bad the inevitable damage would have been.
