Horological Meandering

From my understanding, a solid 18K rose gold watch (or any other color of gold) will scratch easier than stainless steel watches right? I don't have experience with gold watches before, so I am wondering how soft the metal actually is. I mean, will it pic... 

easier than SS

Most of the (gold) watch pictures I've seen posted by members here showed almost immaculate watch conditions. I think they tend to take more care of the watches because they're gold...

i m more careful when wearing precious metal, plus they tend to be more the dress watch category, thus less opportuinity for scratches n dents, vis a viz the SS sports watches i guess.

Hi, djmm, as a general rule of thumb, gold (and platinum) have lower surface hardness than steel, hence will scratch more easily. This can get a little complicated because gold can be work hardened, and there are "softer" grades of steel, but in general, ... 

Is there a general recommendation for particularly fastidious collectors to remove dust, etc. that accumlate on the surface metal instead of carefully polishing with a microfiber cloth? What has been your experience of the safest way to clean the surface ... 

Hi, Avoid "rubbing" the case as much as possible; avoid using cocktail napkins (SHUDDER!) or just any old rag that comes to hand "shake out" whatever you plan to use that you plan to apply with pressure to the case use the pad of your fingers to gently "p... 

Great ideas. I personally never use a coarse material on mine and always shake out a microfiber clothe before gently cleaning the case. I've also used pressurized air (small canister used to clean a keyboard) to gently spray the case from a distance on oc... 

When out of the house, I use the tip of my tongue, then blot carefully with a shirt sleeve That assumes that any dirt was not caused by seagulls or pigeons as well as by anything potentially toxic or infectuous. This method is particularly effective for r... 

IMHO 'though gold takes it's signs of wear more gracefully than steel. Maybe it's only me, but I see a a gold watch that is well loved and worn alot, while on a SS watch I just see scratches. Don

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Neither Gold or SS,Just depends on the man who wearing them....

platinum..Whatever people say about its hardness Pt scratches more easly than gold and SS.It scratches in a different way,whereas RG and WG acquire even hairlines that make the watches more charming,Pt scratches badly. Thats my experience. Mo

...it takes a lot less effort to polish out fine scratches on polished surfaces on gold with a Cape Cod cloth than on steel. This is a little like acrylic crystal vs. sapphire. The former scratches easily but can be polished up quite readily as well. The ... 

Whenever you have a white colored metal such as polished stainless steel, any scratch seems more prevelant to the eyes. To me, I think yellow and rose gold hide scratches better. And for me from my personal experience, I think a scratched polished white g... 

Thanks for all the tips guys. Talking about polishing/cleaning method, I think that's why some of my watches have this unexplained tiny scuff here and there. Might have been a dust trapped on microfibre cloth. Now I'm beginning to think that my camera len... 

SS is much harder to scratch than any gold or platinum watch...lt is just a much harder metal! I own both but tend to wear precious metals under a shirt's cuff.