The development of the new Powerlite® alloy by Maurice Lacroix started out with three questions about watch cases: How to make them lighter, how to make them less sensitive to shocks and how to colour them without the slightest scratch spoiling the effect.

The brand’s researchers centred their approach around alloys of aluminium, but these were either too hard, and therefore impossible to colour, or too soft, capable of being coloured but less resistant.

A final solution to the problem came with a new alloy that combines five different elements: aluminium, magnesium, titanium, zirconium and ceramic and exclusive to the Saignelégier-based brand. Although these elements each have their individual weaknesses, together they form an alloy with unique properties: Powerlite® is twice as light as steel, yet twice as hard!

The Pontos S Extreme by Maurice Lacroix

What’s more, Powerlite® reacts much better to colouring by anodisation than any other aluminium alloy. After a few modifications for use with the new alloy, the process of anodisation offers two major advantages over the more traditional PVD colour treatments used in watchmaking:

Firstly, the treatment penetrates 25 microns deep into the surface of the material, which allows colour pigments to be inserted inside the material itself. In PVD treatments, on the other hand, the treatment remains on the surface, at 10 microns deep. The depth of the anodisation in Powerlite® makes the surface scratch-resistant.

Secondly, the percentage of aluminium in Powerlite® oxidises equally at the same depth, which means that its structure changes into ceramic, which greatly increases the hardness of the material.

The first Maurice Lacroix model to use this new alloy is the Pontos S Extreme, whose case middle and bezel are made of Powerlite® with a crown and pushers in titanium.