Why aren't Watches Made of Silver?

[drthornton]

Don't burn me at the stake for not knowing.

I've been considering a PM Rolex and it occurred to me...Why aren't watches made of silver or some silver alloy?

All I can find is its a soft metal and tarnishes but that sounds similar to gold to me.

Thanks

[AdamG]

YG does not tarnish like silver

[Tools]

Sterling silver cases used to be very popular and probably a best seller in their time.

Likely stainless steel took over that market because of low maintenance for the same look.

[Oliver Mendl]

Do you own silver jewelry? Silver is hell to keep clean, once tarnished it will leave stains on your wrist, shirts ... Silver has a certain smell, especially directly after cleaning.

As much as I love some of my silver pieces from Tiffany and Hermès, I wouldn't want a wrist watch made from silver for every day use/wear.

I might be wrong, but iirc silver is also much softer than gold/platinum.

I also think the potential market for a silver wrist watch would be highly limited/ very small today.


Kind regards,
Oliver

[teck21]

Silver tarnishes. There are probably other reasons as well.


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[Hub6152]

Tarnish on Gold is caused by the metals it’s alloyed with to give strength and other properties, notably silver and copper.

Silver is too soft and isn’t a noble metal. It was popular for pocketwatch cases, and early wrist watches were sometimes cased in silver, but silver is pretty worthless by comparison to gold and the fashion for it has long gone.

[peterpl]

Originally Posted by Hub6152

Tarnish on Gold is caused by the metals it’s alloyed with to give strength and other properties, notably silver and copper.

Silver is too soft and isn’t a noble metal. It was popular for pocketwatch cases, and early wrist watches were sometimes cased in silver, but silver is pretty worthless by comparison to gold and the fashion for it has long gone.

Silver is worthless but steel is even more worthless.

[VicLeChic]

Tarnishing is an acquired taste.

[samson66]

PITA to keep clean, same reason silver utensils have gone away

[iliketime]

ive seen jewelers design custom rolex bracelets in silver, but to have a watch in sterling or even a harder concentration perhaps coin silver concentrations (50-905) wouldnt be ideal.

[Edward leef]

Yes silver was used for watches, but got replaced by stainless steel. Stainless steel has more benefits compared to silver.

I know U-Boat had silver watches (may still offer them)

[Mystro]

Besides tarnishing, people have had a lot of issues with allergenic reactions to silver against the skin. Really 904L is optimal for a Rolex if you want to have a white finish. Platinum and white gold is for the owners satisfaction.

[sillo]

tarnish tarnish tarnish

[Luap1976]

Silver looks ugly unless rhodium plated and that wears off

[SearChart]

Silver is also not as strong as steel. And like others said, it tarnishes.

Cartier gave it a go back in the day, they gold plated sterling silver cases, the tarnishing goes through the gold plating eventually. All those 80s and 90s must de Cartier watches now both look bad and are completely worthless.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by Luap1976

Silver looks ugly unless rhodium plated and that wears off

White gold is often rhodium plated.

[Mr.Rolex1]

Originally Posted by peterpl

Silver is worthless but steel is even more worthless.

[214270Explorer]

Pretty much what everyone else above has said.

[drthornton]

Old Thread but novice watch enthusiasts may have the same question.
Tim M addressed this question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X18PInIOAo

[Jabbo84]

Use Tarnx

[Claven2]

Originally Posted by drthornton

Don't burn me at the stake for not knowing.

I've been considering a PM Rolex and it occurred to me...Why aren't watches made of silver or some silver alloy?

All I can find is its a soft metal and tarnishes but that sounds similar to gold to me.

Thanks

Plenty of early rolexes were cased in sterling silver, but nothing recently.

[Calatrava r]

Originally Posted by drthornton

Old Thread but novice watch enthusiasts may have the same question.
Tim M addressed this question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X18PInIOAo

I just saw that, also.

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by MSchott

White gold is often rhodium plated.

Not on any reputable brands white gold or any other gold. You buy a gold watch from Rolex or AP and it’s a gold watch.
Maybe a Micheal Kors though.

[Microscopic Cog]

I just thought that the yesterday’s launch of Tudor BB 58 925 (silver case) warrants a bump of this thread..

[mcch2233]

IMO it's not that hard to get rid of tarnish on silver. It's obviously more involved than taking care of steel, but as long as you use a silver polishing cloth every once in a while then you should be good. I have a whole bunch of 925 jewelry that, minus some nicks in some items over time due to silver's softness, more or less look the same as when I bought them years ago.

[7enderbender]

I don’t get why anyone would want any precious metal at all on a watch. Not just “tool” watches but really all of them. I don’t like anything gold. Always looks tacky. And to have a white metal like platinum just to be able to say hey, look how much money I can burn, is even tackier. Same with diamonds. Watches to me are about the overall style and looks but mostly about the internal values and the history and stories behind them. So silver makes no sense for anything that’s not some museum piece pocket watch.

[7enderbender]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

Not on any reputable brands white gold or any other gold. You buy a gold watch from Rolex or AP and it’s a gold watch.
Maybe a Micheal Kors though.

Err no. “White gold” is indeed plated gold. And yes, mostly Rhodium. Which by the way is very very expensive these days.

[77T]

Originally Posted by 7enderbender

Err no. “White gold” is indeed plated gold. And yes, mostly Rhodium. Which by the way is very very expensive these days.

Neither Rolex nor Patek plate their WG watches with Rhodium or any other material.

As for Tudor’s Sterling alloy, I’d be interested to know if it includes copper. The copper in sterling silver reacts to the sulfur and moisture in the air causing tarnishing. It’d be quite the metallurgical coup if theirs was alloyed with only non-reactive metals to defy the tarnishing issue.


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[rambo99]

silver will tarnish, and is softer and heavier than steel.

[7enderbender]

Originally Posted by 77T

Neither Rolex nor Patek plate their WG watches with Rhodium or any other material.

As for Tudor’s Sterling alloy, I’d be interested to know if it includes copper. The copper in sterling silver reacts to the sulfur and moisture in the air causing tarnishing. It’d be quite the metallurgical coup if theirs was alloyed with only non-reactive metals to defy the tarnishing issue.


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Maybe we’re talking about different things then. If that gold Rolex is gold (yellow looking) then of course it‘s not plated. If any watch or jewelry is „white gold“ then it is because there really no such thing as white (looking) gold.

Edit: I take that back. After reading a bit more it appears that Rolex indeed uses an alloy for their „white gold“ that has large portions of other metals. So not really „gold“ in that sense but like I had said before I really don’t care for any of that either way. Give me nice stainless steel any day over the other stuff.