Centurion Card is basically like any other AMEX charge card except you need to be invited to get one and has a lot more benefits. It does not have unlimited spending or anything like that. In fact, it uses the same NPSL spending decision engine that all AMEX charge cards use. As such, a Zync can have more spending power than AMEX Centurion.
Physically, the cards themselves are made of Tinanium or some kind of metal blend (think license plate). Name on front for personal. Name and business on front for business centurion.
There are Centurion cards issued by AMEX divisions in many different countries all with their own setup on benefits, cost, qualifications etc. So I will only talk about US.
AF is currently $2500 and has intiation fee of $7500 currently (not sure if 7500 covers first year AF). The AF used to be $1000 and I think those people are grandfathered in at that AF.
There are two types of Centurion Cards in the US: Business and Personal. Personal is much harder to get than Business. The key difference is that with Personal Centurion, you tend to receive A LOT more gifts and freebies. So when you hear about people complaining that they aren't seeing as much stuff as before, take it with a grain of salt as many more Business Centurions issued.
Last confirmed requirements for invite was an annual spend of $250,000 on your Amex. However, Amex was letting a lot of people slide or "cheat" the system. You could spend 20ishK for a couple of months and then ask for Centurion invite as you were pacing 250k that year. Business Centurions were being issued to companies on request if they had extended relationships with American Express. For example, my old startup was offered Business Centurions with basically no spend as we were using AMEX for some other stuff. But think how easy for an decent sized business to spend 20ishK for a couple of months.
The net result of this loose policy of invites has been AMEX severly restricting invites. In 2011, the rumor is that no invites went out except for a few exceptions. In 2012, it is confirmed that Business Centurion invites have started to go out. Rumors are that personal Centurion Invites have started to go out in last month, but no confirmation yet. In any case, new requirements for invites is not published or confirmed. It does seem to be that invites have gone out to those who have long history with AMEX and high spends as opposed to newer Amex holders with 10X the spend. Amex has returned to Centurions being an invite only club vs. a meet these requirements and your in club.
Talked to my buddy recently, who turns out is now high up in AMEX, and he said he can push through a consideration for an invite as a favor, but he gave me some guidelines on what I would need to do to help ensure an invite. However, he did not outline what it takes to get considered as not really revelant for our conversation (as he could just ask them to consider me). Given the reduced hard benefits of Centurion vs the past, the Centurion is more of a luxury decision as the benefits don't seem to make monetary sense anymore. However it does still retain its cachet with their return to a mysterious invitation process. Kind of wish I had made an effort to get one back in the day when it was even more mysterious and AFs/initation fee was cheaper.
LIMITS IN CARD DESCRIPTIONS
I have a black card in my wallet. 2 more punches and I get a free coffee but we might be talking about 2 totally different cards. 
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
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Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
@p- wrote:If you get an AMEX through USAA the card is black. I've had a couple of people look a little closer at it, and I have done nothing to discourage the assumption that I am a "Black" card holder :-P
@Shogun wrote:I have a black card in my wallet. 2 more punches and I get a free coffee but we might be talking about 2 totally different cards.
HA HA HA HA!!!
