Rolex Hand Corrosion Magnified Macro Photos; What does it show?

[CaveDiver]

Rolex Hand Corrosion Magnified Macro Photos; What does it show?

Thought I would share some photographs of vintage Rolex hands and the corrosion findings. This first photo shows what I would expect normal corrosion to look like. Although I read old vintage hands were made of steal, the color of the corrosion has the look of what I have seen in coppers. Here is the second hand



The second photo is the lume ring of the second hand. Here you can see the corrosion crystals.



Now, onto the strange corrosion of the minute and hour hands. From eye view the corrosion looks about the same as seen on some other types of plated metals.

When magnified the damage the corrosion is causing is even more evident and it looks like there may be some basic flaws in the hand design or not designed to last decades without corrosion. I’m by far not an expert so this is only an opinion. Notice how the corrosion is more prevalent the closer the hands are to the shaft.

Now, magnified the corrosion looks like a liquid that has solidified. Almost like lacquer or oil that has aged and was globed onto the surface.


Is this galvanic corrosion, bad electroplating or something else? My uneducated opinion is leading toward galvanic. Anyone else have close up macros that shows similar corrosion?
A little history of this example: Was told the watch never leaked.