White Gold...

[IT-guy]

White Gold owners,

In your experience, how much more scratch-prone is WG compared to SS? Do you take extra precautions while wearing a WG watch?

[padi56]

Well any gold whether yellow or white will scratch more easy than S.steel, gold is a far softer metal alloy.But any watch no matter what metal its made from is meant for wearing. And it will get scratched thats just a simple fact of life but made as good as new at service time.

[greekbum]

It will scratch way easier cause its a softer metal.

[BOA]

I guess I would say I'm a bit more careful with my white gold DD, but I think I became more careful generally after buying and starting to wear my first Rolex, an Explorer I. Wearing any Rolex, whenever I happen to bump into anything, my first reactions are to groan and look and check for damage. Generally, there is none, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Even though I am careful, the gold does tend to get a few more scratches. When I sent mine in for a repair of the crown when still under warranty, it came back with the same marks, but it wasn't a full service. The gentleman who sent it in for me told me that unless you request it, Rolex won't polish the scratches out because they gold is removed in the process, but I'm not positive they wouldn't polish it some in a full service. Still, if there are deeper scratches, I guess it would take a lot of polishing to bring it back, and I might request that they didn't polish it rather than have it come back looking smooth but worn out.

[Tools]

I've never really noticed that the White Gold scratches any easier...although I know that it is softer than the SS, it is still pretty hard..

It just has a different look... it seems warmer in tone and the original grain doesn't seem as sharp so it "smoothes out" more quickly, for lack of a better word..

This means that after a year, the White Gold has a full patina, where the SS will show a few scratched areas and a few smooth areas..

Difficult to describe.....

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by Tools

I've never really noticed that the White Gold scratches any easier...although I know that it is softer than the SS, it is still pretty hard..

It just has a different look... it seems warmer in tone and the original grain doesn't seem as sharp so it "smoothes out" more quickly, for lack of a better word..

This means that after a year, the White Gold has a full patina, where the SS will show a few scratched areas and a few smooth areas..

Exactly.

Please on't buy into the gold equals frozen butter theories posted here from time-to-time.

[BOA]

I've never really noticed that the White Gold scratches any easier...although I know that it is softer than the SS, it is still pretty hard..

It just has a different look... it seems warmer in tone and the original grain doesn't seem as sharp so it "smoothes out" more quickly, for lack of a better word..

This means that after a year, the White Gold has a full patina, where the SS will show a few scratched areas and a few smooth areas..

Difficult to describe.....

Yes, it is difficult to describe, but I'm hoping the picture below is worth 1000 words. You don't really notice the scratches in most normal light situations. But in the right direct light, you can see there is a patina made up of tiny scratches. Look for it on the top links. You can't really see that in normal light. It just looks perfectly shiny, and no, it's not dirt and fingerprints, for the most part, anyway...