Contrary to what you might think, all stainless steel is not created equal. The question is, are the differences worth the added price? And the answer depends on who you're talking to.

First off, stainless steel is not pure steel. It's a steel alloy. An alloy is an element made of two or more metals to increase strength or resistance to corrosion. Harry Brearly of Sheffield, United Kingdom, first discovered stainless steel by adding chromium to molten iron to create a rustless metal. Since that time, stainless steel has evolved to include hundreds of different formulations.

Today, the four leading families of stainless are Austenitic, Ferritic, Duplex, and Martensitic Precipitation Hardening. You'll find that most of your stainless steel Custom Mens Watches cases and bracelets are of the austenitic family. Of the four groups, austenitic steel is mainly non-magnetic and has high strength and corrosion resistance. Perfect for timepieces.

It's difficult to pin down the number of stainless steel grades within the austenitic family since several countries and regions use their own systems. For instance, the United States uses the American Society for Testing and Materials, while France uses the European Standard (EN).

And if that's not quite enough variety for you, some companies have developed and patented unique combinations of metals, including stainless steel. For instance, Rolex Custom Luxury Watches uses grade 904L stainless for its cases and bracelets, but it's a special form of 904L they refer to as Oystersteel. But we'll get to all that in a minute.