The 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band’s look is one of timeless elegance. For at least five decades now, stainless steel watches managed to remain in fashion due to both durability and style.

Unlike older watches that preferred using leather bands for fastening, stainless steel bands guaranteed a more durable, more aesthetic look. Within its case, also made from stainless steel, the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band features the aforementioned chronograph.

Thus, adding additional measures of time by having three little extra dials dedicated to measuring milliseconds, seconds, and minutes.

The 8388M Chronograph Watch with Stainless Steel Band

However, the one thing that strikes you about the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band immediately once you glance upon its looks. With a silvery color due to the fact that its primary material is stainless steel, the piece evokes a classy appearance typical of watches of the 1970s.

The overall very stainless-steel-looking appearances of watches started prevailing in the 70s. However, we’ve been using stainless steel in watchmaking for much longer than that. How long, you ask?

Stainless Steel and Watchmaking: When Did It Happen?

Way before the appearance of the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band, the watchmaking industry was comfortably riding a wave of manufacturing based on precious metals. Around the 1920s, gold and silver watches were the norm. It might sound shocking for people nowadays. After all, they are still luxury items as of today.

But back then, manufacturers did prefer to make their watches based on those metals mainly because of their high levels of malleability. As such, it was relatively easier to shape the metals into the shape of the many, many little pieces that made up their watches.

Also, the fact that they looked distinctively luxurious and fashionable couple with people at the time having relative financial abundance indeed contributed to their popularity. All of that changed with the 1929 wall street crash, which was the beginning of the financial depression, better known as the great depression.

Soon, people were very reluctant to spend on non-essential items due to widespread financial uncertainty. As such, watches made from silver and gold had to be the last thing on their mind, one can infer. As a result, manufacturers saw a dramatic downturn in demand for said watches.

However, military tension building up somewhere else in the world and protracted economic recovery in the factories meant people still needed watches. That presented a challenge. The average consumer was not willing to spend much on a watch made from precious metals. They only wanted the watch for practical purposes, its functionalities so that it could help them in their day-to-day work for a long time.

As such, they needed a watch that was relatively inexpensive and, preferably, reasonably durable or able to withstand rough treatment. Soon, they came up with an answer: using stainless steel as a base material for their watches.

The 8388M Chronograph Watch with Stainless Steel Band

Stainless Steel as A Watchmaking Material

During the 1920s, stainless was already a material used in watchmaking, albeit sparsely and only for models of specific use. Pilot, scientists, divers, and railroad workers commonly used models made from stainless steel due to their durability. However, such models were occupation-specific and often were very bulky to the point of seeming impractical to day-to-day wearing.

Watchmakers at the time also had tremendous difficulties working with steel, which was considerably less malleable than gold and silver. Manufacturing techniques at the time didn’t help either; most watch factories had little experience working with steel and understood little about the material.

Thus, they simply preferred to buy the latter metals, however more expensive they were, in order to keep productions levels high. This is the reason why, behind its many advantages, the industry relegated stainless steel as a second-tier manufacturing material. However, the buildup to World War II and its aftermath taught its participants a thing or two about steel working.

Soon, those techniques became well known even for watchmakers. As a result, both the technique and equipment to better work the material became commonplace rather quickly, as did its use in watchmaking.

Little by little, stainless steel watches ascended from almost workwear exclusive to everyday fashion. Thus, setting the stage for the production of much better-looking watches like the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band.

The 8388M Chronograph Watch with Stainless Steel Band

Advantages Of Using Stainless Steel as A Material

Due to its nature, stainless steel as a particular material offers a few advantages over more common, less refined metals. Here are some of the advantages of using steel as a material in watchmaking:

Durability

As a material, stainless steel is notably durable and able to withstand a lot of wear and tear on its own. So, watches made from it, like the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band, are pretty much able to handle rough situations well.

On top of that, the material has the advantage of being exceptionally resistant to the forces of corrosion. Unlike iron, stainless steel is much less prone to rusting after extensive contact with oxygen and moisture. In short, your 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band is likely to look good for a long time and under a lot of conditions.

Affordability

Unlike gold and silver, the former preferred metals involved in watchmaking, stainless steel is affordable, very affordable in comparison. Thus, making it a very popular choice for those budget-conscious consumers, especially if they want a watch for purely practical purposes.

However odd, it is also possible to stumble upon a timepiece majorly composed of stainless steel that’s pricier than a golden one. In that case, it is likely a luxury model, and the craftsmanship that went into making it does sometimes tally to a higher price. Still, most stainless-steel watches are not expensive at all.

Stylishness

One standout feature of stainless-steel timepieces it’s that they almost always do look very elegant. Aesthetic choices of the manufacturer aside, this is in grand part due to the seamlessness of the material.

There’s something definitively pleasing about the sleek, silvery, clean look timepiece like the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band has. Guaranteed to bode well with both business and casual outfits.

The 8388M Chronograph Watch with Stainless Steel Band

Megalith’s Stainless Steel Watches

As the company that proudly considers itself ‘the first stylish watch of the mature man’, Megalith watches does offer a curated selection of stylish stainless steel watches.

Moreover, thinking of the needs of the up-and-coming man of today, we are firmly committed to offering elegant timepieces at affordable prices.

As such, and due to our privileged location near Guangzhou, the watchmaking capital of the world, we are able to provide high-quality-tier models affordably. Rather than having men spend too much on a watch when trying to assert their style, we instead offer them the same quality at a lower cost.

If you’ve ever thought of complimenting your personal style with a great-looking watch, but the price tag stopped you cold in your tracks, fear no more.

Megalith watches offers you a reliably affordable selection of the most elegant timepieces, like the 8388M chronograph watch with stainless steel band and more, much more. Shop around and affordably find your style at Megalith.