Platinum durability

[tulowitzki]

I’ve been looking for a day date 40 platinum or day date 2 platinum. Obviously the day date 2 is discontinued so all there is for sale are pre-owned. The ones I’ve tried on all have these small scratches almost like spider web looking fine thin scratches. Is this normal for platinum? These watches all look great new but if this is how they age I’ll have second thoughts. Thanks for any input.

[Gary G]

Shall we just call it patina? Tbh you’ll need to happy with marks, end of the day all materials more or less can be damaged to a degree, imperfections are what would set your watch aside from another perhaps.

Any pics btw?

[Fleetlord]

Platinum, while strong, scratches easily.

If that is a concern for you, I would pass on those references.

[Tomas Eriksson]

Have a look at this old thread: https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=335443

[Zakalwe]

Your thread title is asking a different question to your comment. Platinum is exceptionally durable, more so than virtually all naturally occurring metals as well as fabricated alloys. A platinum case will endure long after a steel case - even one made of the fabled marketing gimmick 904L - has corroded into obscurity. Then again, you certainly won’t live long enough for this to really affect your current purchasing predicament.

Scratch resistance is a completely different thing and as already pointed out, Platinum scratches easily. But then again so do most metallic watch cases, which is visually exacerbated when the case is polished.

[tulowitzki]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Your thread title is asking a different question to your comment. Platinum is exceptionally durable, more so than virtually all naturally occurring metals as well as fabricated alloys. A platinum case will endure long after a steel case - even one made of the fabled marketing gimmick 904L - has corroded into obscurity. Then again, you certainly won’t live long enough for this to really affect your current purchasing predicament.

Scratch resistance is a completely different thing and as already pointed out, Platinum scratches easily. But then again so do most metallic watch cases, which is visually exacerbated when the case is polished.

Thanks for pointing that out. Next time I’ll be more careful with my wording. I guess I should have said does platinum show scratches more so than gold or other metals.

[Mystro]

Durability is a non issue with any Rolex material. The ability to hide or resist scratches is another question.

[T01]

Really depends on how you define durability. Platinum retains it's luster and I believe when polished you technically do not lose any material (unlike gold of SS). It does however, scratch/dent quite easily.

[GolfPunk]

Platinum scratches can be polished out but without removing the metal. It actually just moves around and fills in the scratches