I have to be honest here, I was somewhat dubious about a watch made from ceramic. Would it shatter if I dropped it? Is it really a good idea to make something like a wristwatch from ceramics? I’ve had bad experiences with ceramic knives, would a watch have the same problems? Well I’m here to tell you I’ve been wearing the Bianci Black Ceramic for several weeks now, and I really like it.
Why ceramic? Well, it’s lighter, stronger then most metals, and in most cases cheaper to manufacture. The Bianci Black Ceramic is a larger watch, but it weighs less then most watches of this size, including titanium. The other thing I noticed is that the ceramic band doesn’t show desk diver marks. Since I wear most of my watches constantly, most of my chronograph or diver style watches show the typical signs of wear – scuff marks, desk diver marks, even scratches on the wristband. I’ve noticed none of these problems with the ceramics. One item of note however; a watch shop will typically charge extra for resizing, just because of the extra caution they need to take when removing the link.
As for the Bianci Black Ceramic itself, the design is certainly eye catching. The entire watch (including the band) is made from ceramic and then coated with a black finish. The finish reminded me of hematite, or rare earth magnets. And while the case is made from ceramic, the accents are stainless steel, the hands and numbers are strongly lumed, all of which remain clearly visible through the sapphire crystal.
It’s unclear exact what the movement is, the back plate on the watch says that it’s swiss, but there’s no other information available. It does keep excellent time, I haven’t noticed any lost time over the weeks I’ve been wearing it. I didn’t test the water resistance, but the web page states that it is water resistant down to 5 ATM. I’m somewhat dubious of this rating, as the crown is not of the screw down time, and I’m certain that if you used either of the pushers for the chronograph it would allow water in. Interestingly, the watch comes with a three year manufacturer warranty – so if it did fail you could most likely get it serviced for free.
Overall, I’d have to say I like the Bianci Black Ceramic. It’s a little flashier then I normally prefer to wear, but it keeps excellent time and is extremely comfortable to wear. Plus, it’s currently available from the Roberto Bianci website for a quite reasonable $238.99. WristWatchReview readers can take an extra 20% off of that price by using the coupon code “wwr5843”. Don’t say we never did anything for you.
Update: Just heard from my contact at Roberto Bianci, and the movement is a ISA 8171.
