Any appreciable durability difference between WG and YG?

[Lemonvr6]

Stuck between WG and YG dd40s and looking for meaningless anecdotes to decide

WG should be slightly harder, no? Also, has Rolex WG been known to yellow over time?

[tbk]

I can't imagine anything is softer than YG except maybe butter. I don't know about WG since I haven't bought one of those yet, but my Everose watches hold up much, much better than YG. My Everose watches seem to be almost as tough as steel. Hopefully WG is the same!

I believe Rolex takes a lot of care with their alloys to ensure that they don't change color over time, RG and WG both.

[Alan111]

Well one thing is for sure - Rolex charges more for WG and RG by about $3,000 over YG.

[Bigblu10]

Pick whichever DD color you fancy. All Rolex 18K gold is durable enough for daily wear providing you don't purposely beat the hell out of it. YG Sub owner here and virtually no wear after close to 3 years of daily wrist action.

[bp1000]

Forget about durability

I have some WG and YG watches as well as steel, and to be honest if something is going to scratch my watch, it will scratch any of those metals.

Some of my steel watches look a lot worse than my YG ones.

You'll see plenty of fine scratches on the polished YG surfaces but I get exactly the same types of scratches on my WG polished surfaces too.

So just buy what you like the most and don't worry about any perceived loss in hardiness.

[GGGMT]

Durability shouldn’t the key factor there. Gold is a softy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SpicyMikey]

I cannot understand how 18 carat yellow gold or 18 carat white gold is going to be substantially different in the hardness scale. They're all alloys made up of different degrees of gold and silver, mostly. These are both soft metals. WG is of course a much larger percentage of silver than YG. And RG has a lot of copper. Copper is a soft metal also but of course is still harder than gold and silver. So the RG I'm sure is definitely going to be more durable than the others. Just guessing here bases on some basic knowledge

Mike

[bp1000]

Originally Posted by SpicyMikey

I cannot understand how 18 carat yellow gold or 18 carat white gold is going to be substantially different in the hardness scale. They're all alloys made up of different degrees of gold and silver, mostly. These are both soft metals. WG is of course a much larger percentage of silver than YG. And RG has a lot of copper. Copper is a soft metal also but of course is still harder than gold and silver. So the RG I'm sure is definitely going to be more durable than the others. Just guessing here bases on some basic knowledge

Mike

Rolex WG mix gold with a bit of platinum to keep the colour

Technically a touch harder but in reality grit and metal is going to scratch any of the watches

[csaltphoto]

Solid WG (not rhodium plated) is often alloyed with Palladium. Palladium is closer to Platinum in toughness and about 3-4x more expensive; which might explain some of the price difference between Rolex YG and WG. Given the slight percentage of Palladium in Rolex WG the WG might be a little tougher; depending on the alloying characteristics.

[SpicyMikey]

Originally Posted by bp1000

Rolex WG mix gold with a bit of platinum to keep the colour

Technically a touch harder but in reality grit and metal is going to scratch any of the watches

Thanks for sharing that . Now that you mention it I do remember reading that

Mike

[One&done]

In practical use Rolex White gold is significantly more resilient than Rolex yellow gold. It deforms just as easily as the yellow (so you can easily ding it) but it resists minor scratches and swirls to a much greater extent. I mean much greater.

For example, yellow gold worn under a sleeve or cuff gradually picks up a patina of gentle swirls that are easily visible under strong sunlight or artificial halogen lighting. The white gold does not. Moreover; superficial light scratching is more easily removed from white than from yellow. In my non-expert hands a minor scratch on white can be refinished to a factory standard with polishing cloths. I can’t do that with yellow; some gentle hazing is always left behind (albeit only visible under certain lights).

I would choose the colour you love the most but..... if keeping your watch pristine is important to you, white is by far the better choice.


(Btw, Rolex white gold contains more platinum and palladium than it does silver fwiw). Finally, no: Rolex white gold cannot yellow over time.

[Jona]

I chose the color I wanted in PM, YG. Perhaps it is less durable than WG but I wanted the look. I wear it carefully and sure there are those swirlies on the PCL but at service time I know how it will come back.

[Calatrava r]

White gold is harder than yellow gold because it is alloyed with nickel. Yellow gold has copper in it, a softer metal. Is the difference appreciable? Probably not.

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by bp1000

Rolex WG mix gold with a bit of platinum to keep the colour

Technically a touch harder but in reality grit and metal is going to scratch any of the watches

They add platinum the the RG as well.