Andreas Mortensen: The Metallurgist Who "Fixed" Gold
Magic Gold and durability as status
Gold's problem is softness. The metal that signifies permanence scratches easily, showing wear that cheaper materials would resist. At EPFL in Switzerland, materials scientist Andreas Mortensen developed a solution that seemed impossible: 18-karat gold that reaches around 1000 on the Vickers hardness scale. The collaboration with Hublot produced "Magic Gold," the first scratch-resistant gold.
The Metallurgical Challenge
EPFL reports Magic Gold at about 1000 Vickers—harder than most tempered steels (around 600). Hublot notes standard 18K gold around 400. Mortensen's approach was radically different: rather than alloying gold with other metals, he created a composite—gold fused with boron carbide ceramic. The result maintains 18-karat gold purity (75% gold content) while achieving hardness far beyond conventional gold alloys.
The manufacturing process required innovation beyond the material itself. Powdered boron carbide is sintered into a rigid, porous structure, then molten gold alloy is infiltrated under very high pressure to create an interpenetrating ceramic-metal composite.
Why It Matters for Luxury
Mortensen's work inverts a traditional luxury logic. Gold was precious partly because it was soft—its malleability allowed intricate craft, and its vulnerability required careful ownership. Magic Gold reframes gold as a performance material: still chemically gold, still the right color and density, but now functional in ways gold never was.
The collaboration also demonstrates luxury's capacity to fund fundamental materials research. The problem of hard gold has few applications outside jewelry and watches—only luxury markets care enough to fund the solution.
The Material: Magic Gold
Mortensen's gold-ceramic composite in detail—the Vickers hardness testing, pressure infiltration process, and how Hublot turned academic research into a scratch-resistant 18-karat gold for luxury timepieces.
Primary Sources
- EPFL Creates Unscratchable Gold — The original press release detailing 1000 Vickers hardness and the boron carbide composite — October 2012
- Andreas Mortensen (EPFL) — Faculty profile and research focus in materials and metal-ceramic composites
Research
- Interpenetrating Phase Composites (Materials Science & Engineering A, 2001) — Review of ceramic–metal composite architectures and properties — July 2001
- Pressure Infiltration of Porous Ceramics (Composites Science and Technology, 1995) — Foundational processing method for metal‑ceramic composites — November 1995
Product / Brand Links
- Hublot Art of Fusion: Magic Gold — Hublot’s overview of the EPFL collaboration and composite process
- Big Bang Unico Full Magic Gold — Brand description of the pressure‑infiltration process
News & Coverage
- Hodinkee: Square Bang Tourbillon in Magic Gold — Watch‑press coverage of Magic Gold in current releases — April 2024