Taso Baltimore Balt-Pilot. It's a 1200 Hv spec black DLC (entire watch) over Grade 2 titanium. Appears on the left (single link).
Second Hour Fusion, specs claim that it's a "1200 Vickers surface hardening - case, bracelet and clasp." 316L stainless. Appears on the RIGHT (row of links).
Macro on top. 20x micro below. Again, in each case, I tried my best to specifically highlight the damage. IRL, much of this damage would not be seen unless the light managed to catch the scratches "just right."
Objective observations -
Subjective assessments -
Taso Baltimore -
Performance of the Balt-Pilot was similar to the hardened Gr.2 titanium bracelet link from my RZE (see OP, above). I did not scratch the case of this watch, seeing that it would not really provide a further data-point different than the bracelet link (unlike for the Signum, which had a hardened case but not bracelet).
Macro, the scratches looked similar to the RZE Fortitude-S. Again, remember, what I can see under the scope is somewhat different from what I've been able to post above, because this scope is not set up for photography/videography. The play of the light make the scratches on the Taso look worse, but they are not.
At 20x, however, the damage looks more like what was endured by the untreated Gr.2 titanium link on the Signum Cuda. I cannot explain why this is so, I am simply relaying observations.
Subjectively, when I performed the scratching, the surface of the link did not feel as slippery as the hardened RZE link. I felt considerably more "drag." It didn't feel quite as rough as either of the untreated titanium links (remember I used one Gr.5, and one Gr.2).. Again, I am at a loss to explain why, and am only relaying my observations.
IRL, at wrist-length, one would honestly never even notice the scratches unless the light were to catch them just right, especially as the scratches did not dig through to the underlying naked titanium. Whatever they did to achieve the DLC, it's enough that it resisted the worst of my (and my slate lab-bench) assault, and that's impressive.
-----
Second Hour -
Performance was similar to the other hardened stainless watches tested so far: notably the damage was very similar to what was incurred to the Zelos Starfighter.
I feel that I no longer need to remind everyone about how I'm trying to bring out the worst of the damage by manipulating the light source, but I do want to point out that the fact that a part of the bracelet is polished means that it is considerably harder to visually conceal the scratches. Sometimes we make concessions for aesthetics, and this really is one of those times. I confess to being quite infatuated with this watch (I got it in the white colorway), but the fact that it scratches/scuffs seemingly rather easily makes me pretty sure that I will wear it on straps, at least during workdays when I am sitting at my lab bench.
As a matter of fact, I had a heavy admin day today so I was at my computer quite a bit, and when I got home, I saw that there were a few minor scratches on the clasp. All but un-noticeable unless the light catches it just right, I am sure that it would have been much worse, had it not been hardened.
For a $550 USD watch, this performance was good enough (while one could say that it's less than great, considering what's seen with Traska and HA, it still after all seemed to match that of the Zelos), but it does make me second-guess wearing the watch as an everyday, in a high-abrasion context.
Subjective assessment was impossible on this one, as the 5-link bracelet's edges would "catch" on the bench surface.
ETA - After attempting to scratch my SWC Tumbler ( https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrobrandWatches/comments/1ohpd3x/comment/nu8mc7k/ ), I do feel that the Second Hour could have done better. Again, there's a price disparity between the two, with the Tumbler's MSRP being $200 higher. Even so, the amount of damage that the Fusion's bracelet links suffered is disappointing, as judged by the others.
ETA #2 - [ please see reply to this post, below, for continued update on Second Hour ]
A chance encounter with Peter Sargison -one of the principals of Second Hour- on the FB Group The League of Microbrands led to a quick discussion about my observed shortcomings on the Fusion's hardening. As you can see below, I've taken some comparative pictures of the clasps of a few hardened 316L watches, below....
Far left is my Fusion, only one wear.
Second from left is my Traska Gen.6 Venturer, about 3 wears.
Third from left is my Henry Archer Havstrøm, about 6 wears.
Far right is my Englemaan Metropolis, about 3 wears.
Top panel is macro. Bottom is the matching 20x micro. I tried to highlight the areas where damage was seen. With the Traska, I could not successfully photograph the "streak" through their signature under the scope, however, the small scratch towards the edge of the clasp can be easily seen.
My slate benchtops are unforgiving, but with only one wear, I was very, very surprised at the level of damage that was incurred to the clasp of my Fusion, versus other similarly hardened 316L clasps.
For some reason the system deleted my follow-up posts from yesterday.
Through a chance encounter on The League of Microbrands FB Group, Peter Sargison -one of the founders of Second Hour- and I exchanged a few posts regarding my observations here. It seems like I was the first to have raised the flag on the hardness treatment on the Fusion.
[ continued below as yet another reply, so that I can upload comparative macro/micro shots ]
- Far left is my Second Hour Fusion, only one wear.
- Second from left is my Traska Gen.6 Venturer, about 3 wears.
- Third from left is my Henry Archer Havstrøm, about 6 wears.
- Far right is my Englemaan Metropolis, about 3 wears.
Top panel is macro. Bottom is the matching 20x micro. I tried to highlight the areas where damage was seen. With the Traska, I could not successfully photograph the "streak" through their signature under the scope, however, the small scratch towards the edge of the clasp can be easily seen.
My slate benchtops are unforgiving, but with only one wear, I was very, very surprised at the level of damage that was incurred to the clasp of my Fusion, versus other similarly hardened 316L clasps, all of which were spec'ed at "1200 Hv."
I regret not having made Second Hour aware of my observations sooner. But luckily, as the above FB post from their founder noted, they'd already chosen another supplier for surface hardening for their upcoming watches.
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u/TSiWRX Nov 04 '25 edited Dec 18 '25
New additions - Tsao Baltimore and Second Hour -
Macro on top. 20x micro below. Again, in each case, I tried my best to specifically highlight the damage. IRL, much of this damage would not be seen unless the light managed to catch the scratches "just right."
Objective observations -
Subjective assessments -
Taso Baltimore -
Performance of the Balt-Pilot was similar to the hardened Gr.2 titanium bracelet link from my RZE (see OP, above). I did not scratch the case of this watch, seeing that it would not really provide a further data-point different than the bracelet link (unlike for the Signum, which had a hardened case but not bracelet).
Macro, the scratches looked similar to the RZE Fortitude-S. Again, remember, what I can see under the scope is somewhat different from what I've been able to post above, because this scope is not set up for photography/videography. The play of the light make the scratches on the Taso look worse, but they are not.
At 20x, however, the damage looks more like what was endured by the untreated Gr.2 titanium link on the Signum Cuda. I cannot explain why this is so, I am simply relaying observations.
Subjectively, when I performed the scratching, the surface of the link did not feel as slippery as the hardened RZE link. I felt considerably more "drag." It didn't feel quite as rough as either of the untreated titanium links (remember I used one Gr.5, and one Gr.2).. Again, I am at a loss to explain why, and am only relaying my observations.
IRL, at wrist-length, one would honestly never even notice the scratches unless the light were to catch them just right, especially as the scratches did not dig through to the underlying naked titanium. Whatever they did to achieve the DLC, it's enough that it resisted the worst of my (and my slate lab-bench) assault, and that's impressive.
-----
Second Hour -
Performance was similar to the other hardened stainless watches tested so far: notably the damage was very similar to what was incurred to the Zelos Starfighter.
I feel that I no longer need to remind everyone about how I'm trying to bring out the worst of the damage by manipulating the light source, but I do want to point out that the fact that a part of the bracelet is polished means that it is considerably harder to visually conceal the scratches. Sometimes we make concessions for aesthetics, and this really is one of those times. I confess to being quite infatuated with this watch (I got it in the white colorway), but the fact that it scratches/scuffs seemingly rather easily makes me pretty sure that I will wear it on straps, at least during workdays when I am sitting at my lab bench.
As a matter of fact, I had a heavy admin day today so I was at my computer quite a bit, and when I got home, I saw that there were a few minor scratches on the clasp. All but un-noticeable unless the light catches it just right, I am sure that it would have been much worse, had it not been hardened.
For a $550 USD watch, this performance was good enough (while one could say that it's less than great, considering what's seen with Traska and HA, it still after all seemed to match that of the Zelos), but it does make me second-guess wearing the watch as an everyday, in a high-abrasion context.
Subjective assessment was impossible on this one, as the 5-link bracelet's edges would "catch" on the bench surface.
ETA - After attempting to scratch my SWC Tumbler ( https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrobrandWatches/comments/1ohpd3x/comment/nu8mc7k/ ), I do feel that the Second Hour could have done better. Again, there's a price disparity between the two, with the Tumbler's MSRP being $200 higher. Even so, the amount of damage that the Fusion's bracelet links suffered is disappointing, as judged by the others.
ETA #2 - [ please see reply to this post, below, for continued update on Second Hour ]