There is a lot of hype about the different finishes, with each manufacturer claiming theirs is by far the best.
For most users, the durability will be very close between the best finishes. I would go with DuraCoat, Cerakote, or KG GunKote - you will see little difference between durability between them.
Advantages of DuraCoat is that it is very forgiving to apply and does not need to be baked, so it is very flexible. You can do artwork and patterns with DuraCoat that cannot really be done with the others if you are applying them correctly. It probably has a little better resistance to chipping and dinging than Cerakote. IOt is easy to touch up. You can do some cool stuff with clear coats as well.
Cerakote is another tough finish and has better heat resistance than some other finishes, though this is not important for your application. It requires baking. It probably has a little better abrasion resistance than DuraCoat.
KG Gun-Kote also requires baking and is very durable. It tends to have a glossier sheen than the others.
For the average shooter, there will really be no noticeable difference in durability between these three. Despite what the manufacturers claim, you
will still get holster wear, just much, much slower than you would with any traditional finish.
Everything is in the prep. If the prep is not done right, the end result will not be right - don't take shortcuts in the prep.
Don't coat the frame or slide rails on that pistol - it might not run if you do. Some pistols you can do this to, but stay away from it on 1911s. The rails should be lubed anyway (especially steel against aluminum) so you should not need to worry about rust there.
I prefer DuraCoat, since I do a lot of artistic-type finishes, and I have more flexibility. Below are some examples:
On pistols, I prefer a solid colours, generally, since a pistol is too small for most patterns to really look good on, though there are exceptions. Of course, black always looks good, and there are several colour combinations that look really good - I can make some recommendations if you like.
Best to coat the pistol yourself, as most of the really good coating work we see is done by individuals, not professionals. It is hard to put the amount of work required into a finish for the price most people charge, so the professionals often do not put the effort in that they should. We have re-coated a few firearms coated by professional coaters, and have had people call us about a lot more that they were unhappy with.
For what you would pay for a good finish job, you can get everything you need to do it yourself and still have money left over, and it is not hard if you have any skill at all. If you don't have the skill, it's not hard to learn.