Hand corrosion and the future

[Ridly]

Lately I have been looking at a lot of vintage watches on line and one thing they all seem to have in common is that the hands are very corroded while the case is fine.

I was wondering if anybody knew if watches made in the 60-70's had stainless steel hands?

Does my modern Rolex have stainless steel hands? Is the same thing going to happen to mine even if I take care of it far into the future?

Just wondering if anybody had any info. Not really all that concerned about my watch 30 years from now.

Example....

[chemistryde]

I believe modern Rolex watches all have hands made of 18K gold (non-corrodible).

[Daytona-Dan]

Originally Posted by chemistryde

I believe modern Rolex watches all have hands made of white gold (non-corrodible).

Yes, all modern Rolex have 18ct gold hands and markers (basically anything metal on the dial). This goes for SS and Gold models

[77T]

Although the hands are gold, the phosphorous compounds in the lume of the old days (prior to 1998 when tritium was phased out) played havoc with the dials and hands. The phosphorous would sluff off minute particles of powder and it would collect on the hands and sometimes the dial.

Dials would get cleaned during a routine overhaul, but hands often weren't due to risk of damage to the lume that was in the slots. So it just comes with the territory.

[cop414]

Originally Posted by 77T

Although the hands are gold, the phosphorous compounds in the lume of the old days (prior to 1998 when tritium was phased out) played havoc with the dials and hands. The phosphorous would sluff off minute particles of powder and it would collect on the hands and sometimes the dial.

Dials would get cleaned during a routine overhaul, but hands often weren't due to risk of damage to the lume that was in the slots. So it just comes with the territory.

Great info, always wondered about this, thanks Paul.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Ridly

. . .

I was wondering if anybody knew if watches made in the 60-70's had stainless steel hands?

Does my modern Rolex have stainless steel hands? Is the same thing going to happen to mine even if I take care of it far into the future?
...

Early hands were steel. In the ~70's Rolex started phasing in gold hands and marked the dials "o Swiss o" to denote those gold hands and "- Swiss -" to denote the steel hands.

Today all hands and markers are gold..