Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[chipboarder]

Bulk Metallic Glasses are a unique technology that comes in 2 parts. The first part is the combination of 3,4 or 5 components of varying atomic sizes to physically prevent similar atoms from being close enough to crystalize. The second part is the process control during the cooling phase to cool it at a rate to further limit mobility.

When we start to consider unique aluminum alloys or perhaps gold alloys for the watch, it is possible (probable?) that the alloys fit the definition of BMG but the process is not something that uses an Engel machine. AAPL may be using a process that makes chunks of BMG in relatively thick sections that are subsequently machined but preserve the material characteristics of BMG. This premise puts AAPL very close to Materion which would probably be difficult to keep confidential. Is the Materion agreement exclusive to LQMT or is AAPL included/excluded? Could AAPL be working with a third party?

Longshot speculating but it explains the high strength aluminum and the scratch resistant gold in the watches. It also avoids the 100 gram Engel limitation which fits the definition of a bottleneck.