Rose, Red, Pink Gold: A Collector's Comparison

Jrwong23 (aka watchthebin) shares his passion for rose, red, and pink gold watches, offering a comparative look at various pieces from his collection. This article delves into the nuances of gold alloys, explaining how different compositions of copper and silver create distinct hues, and explores the aesthetic appeal of these warm-toned metals in luxury watchmaking.

On a wristscan some weeks back, I shared my "squadron" of rose / red gold watches.

Rose gold has always been my favorite color for watch metals due to its warmth and glow but it doesn't mean I always choose Rose gold watches. There are some watches that needs to be practical in steel for sports, travels or outdoor activities and there will be some watches with dials and hands that go better with white metals (for example I tend to feel blued steel hands go better with white metals case and a silver/white dial).

I'm sure many of you have read some write ups on various types of gold alloys used in jewelry and watch cases (as well as hands, dials, rotors and sometimes even in movements) before so I won't go into the details here but will just give a bit of summary to the new Purist or watch collector in our community. I am also not a metallurgist so have to do some research myself! J

We all know that pure gold is yellow in color and is defined as 24 karat gold, being 100% gold.

To achieve alloys of Rose, Red, Champagne, Honey, White, Green, Purple (yes, there’s purple gold in Singapore!), etc gold, some alloys of gold have to be created. Typically for jewelry and watches, the gold alloy will be 18 karat (18k) gold, which means 75% pure yellow gold mix with 25% of other metals to give the desired color, hardness and malleability. 

For this write-up, I will focus on Rose / Red /Pink gold and some comparisons in their color hues amongst my RG/PG gold pieces. Some articles had tried to define the difference between rose, red and pink gold in terms of differences in alloys. Wiki defined it as follow:

18K Red gold: 75% gold, 25% copper

18K Rose gold: 75% gold, 22.25% copper, 2.75% silver

18K Pink gold: 75% gold, 20% copper, 5% silver

My understanding is all watch brands/case manufactures have their own formula for Rose, Red or Pink gold and it’s not often the case they disclose in full details the composition of other metals in the alloys. Some brands for example Panerai, does disclose a bit more info, e.g. their special red gold alloy is called 5NPT and it has a very high percentage of copper, at 24.1%, to give it a more intense red hue. Platinum has to be added to stabilize the 5NPT Red Gold so it doesn’t oxidize that easily (copper, whilst giving that nice red hue is more susceptible to oxidization compared to gold and platinum).

Some weeks ago, after I got my Lange 1 in pink gold, I decided to compare my various pink/rose gold watches and see how they look side by side under white light, on a white table/white cloth. They are the Cartier Tank Louis Cartier XL ultra flat, Vacheron Constantin Traditionelle, Patek Philippe annual calendar 5146R, Lange 1 and Datograph in rose gold (aka Dufour Datograph). Officially on their websites, Lange, Cartier and Vacheron Constantin call theirs Pink Gold wheres Patek Phillipe calls theirs Rose Gold, terminology wise. I suspect all of them are 5N Pink/Rose Gold but I couldn’t find all the details on this. Also please note these are just my watches and they do not represent all PG/RG models of the 4 brands here.

When looking at all 5 together, it seems that the Langes are more “Rose” (like in the Rose wine) in color whereas the PP and Cartier seem redder with a deeper hue. The VC seems most “balanced” in its color hue.

When I looked at the 2 Langes vs the PP (in the center), it looks like the PP is deeper in his red but also a bit mixed with yellow hue. The Lange 1 seems more champagne color now. The Dufourgraph seems more pink but I guess the black dial played an optical role.

Now let’s look at the VC vs the Cartier vs the Lange 1. Here, it looks like the Lange is more pink/rose. The Cartier looks a little “red” but also more yellow than the Lange relatively. The VC again looks quite balanced, but closer to the Cartier than the Lange, which stands out as more pink/rose in hue.

Now I drill down to the Cartier vs the VC. When looking at just these 2 side by side, I couldn’t tell much difference. I think these 2 pink gold are the closest in color hues amongst the 5 watches. The polishing of the Cartier Tank may have affected the way it reflected light so it looks a bit more pink here compared to the VC.

Next I compared the PP and Cartier. The PP looked more yellow beside the Langes but here, it is less obvious. Everything is relative. It does look slightly more “champagne” than the Cartier here but overall the both look quite similar.

Now if I compare the PP vs the VC…the PP now looks slightly yellower even though it also looks more shiny, which may affect my differentiation of the color hue. The VC does look slightly redder here.

Lange Dato vs Cartier – I think the Lange is more rose/pink and the Cartier slightly yellower but I am struggling to differentiate already at this stage!

Just to make sure the black dial of the Dufourgraph doesn’t affect my judgement, here you have it side by side a Lange 1. Both look the same to me, with a nice rose/pink hue.

Now to compare Lange, VC and PP together, Here, it looks like the PP is more yellow in between the VC and Lange but it also has a slight “greenish” hue. The Lange 1 is most pink/red with the VC quite balanced.

Another shot to compare Lange with PP. It’s quite clear to me Lange is more pink/rose but the PP has its own charm. Yes it looks more yellow but it has a bit of that “greenish” hue that I didn’t find in the other watches I have. I actually quite like this color too.