Patek Philippe

It's not uncommon to see a vintage piece have some tarnish, as shown below. I'm not sure what to make of this. None of my watches exhibit this. Most are worn with some regularity. Some sit for years (I hate to admit it but true). Is tarnishing an indicati...  

Even considering that I'm not a gold person, I already took pictures of gold watches with this issue. Your point #3 is very important and not only to gold cases. I have a picture of an ex white dialed watch that got contaminated by the red dye of the watc... 

Sorry, not a Patek but they illustrate my previous post: 1) First case: I believe that this is a box contamination: 2) Weird effect caused by a red box where the watch was located: Cheers, Nilo ...  

The reason this is occurring is because the case isn't solid gold. It looks to be heavily plated gold on steel. My guess would be that there was a flaw in the plating or abrasion of the finish allowing water and oxygen to attack the steel. This produced a... 

so I would believe that its solid 18kt.

One picture is not all that helpful, but please check if it stamped 18KT or 750? If it is not, it could be plated. The only other explanation I can think of is this is a form of chlorine corrosion that is attacking the alloy. It looks like a chemical reac... 

For the info to all about Karat gold (gold alloys) and their reaction to bleach/chlorine. Yes, I too feel the image posted by the OP looks to be of a 'plated' watch, unless it has had direct bleach or so contact. Otherwise, it's hard to image what caused ... 

The reason that I have not provided more detailed photos are: - The watch is not mine nor in my possession ... yet. :) - The watch is lot #366 in an upcoming auction. I'm hesitant to be referencing this lot in any more detail or reposting pictures for fea... 

that tarnishing means not 18 carat gold and I am suspicious when I see a vintage piece tarnished: means fake to me. Although some pieces that look legit can be tarnished around the crown from time to time. Some cheap watch boxes from China can be made of ... 

sorry to see a 2497 with a tarnished case.

This is potentially a six figure watch. This condition is unacceptable. Don't buy it. For the amount of vintage watches I've seen, this is not common whatsoever.