Durability between Steel, YG, RG, WG, Platinum

[Erson]

I always wonder, which material is the strongest metal.

Especially white gold vs yellow gold. There are articles said that white gold is stronger than yellow gold. In fact many people said white gold is so prone to scratch compare to yellow gold. Which one is correct?

Platinum is more durable than gold, but what if Platinum vs Steel?

Can you could rank these materials from its durability?

1) Steel or Platinum??
2) ??
3) Rose gold??
4) White gold??
5) Yellow gold??

[mttb]

YG is generally soft, and given what is being written about the blends Rolex is using, it is the softest among the five

[beshannon]

https://www.jewelrynotes.com/the-moh...-is-important/

[Kostas]

I’ve had stainless and pm pieces.

Unless you’re doing scientific testing “with this much pressure the scratch will go so deep”

In real life if you’re not careful you’ll get scratches on any metal, if you look after it, it will stay pristine longer.

Mine has a few minor hairlines but overall has lasted just as well as an SS piece



A slight weakness in metal does not even come close to outweighing the Beauty :)

[MTdweller]

Originally Posted by Kostas

I’ve had stainless and pm pieces.

Unless you’re doing scientific testing “with this much pressure the scratch will go so deep”

In real life if you’re not careful you’ll get scratches on any metal, if you look after it, it will stay pristine longer.

Mine has a few minor hairlines but overall has lasted just as well as an SS piece



A slight weakness in metal does not even come close to outweighing the Beauty :)

Yes! Beautiful watch!

[locutus49]

I agree with Kostas: I have had SS, Platinum (Daytona), and many WG watches, currently the Smurf. In my experience, all scratch about equal but the scratches are superficial and the scratches do not mar the beauty. My Smurf had a thousand scratches, I don't baby my watches, but it still looks great unless you look at it up close. And even then it just looks like a well-used watch.

Originally Posted by Kostas

I’ve had stainless and pm pieces.

Unless you’re doing scientific testing “with this much pressure the scratch will go so deep”

In real life if you’re not careful you’ll get scratches on any metal, if you look after it, it will stay pristine longer.

Mine has a few minor hairlines but overall has lasted just as well as an SS piece



A slight weakness in metal does not even come close to outweighing the Beauty :)

[glamorama]

From my experience gold get more visible "dings" than steel. Scratches probably about the same in my estimation.

[macrowatch]

Originally Posted by glamorama

From my experience gold get more visible "dings" than steel. Scratches probably about the same in my estimation.

Same.

[Onikage]

SS shrugs off contact with more materials than gold. It puzzles me how people can claim otherwise. I must just live in a really gritty, dirty environment.

[Erson]

so its all the same durability?

[Andad]

Originally Posted by beshannon

https://www.jewelrynotes.com/the-moh...-is-important/

This refers to the pure metals?

There is a big variation in 18k gold hardness depending on the amalgam and the annealing process.

18k gold can be harder than 9k gold depending on the mix and preparation.

[kilyung]

I’ve noticed no appreciable difference in durability of any of my watches regardless of metal. The wearer (me) is more likely to get damaged before the watch.

[Yess]

Originally Posted by Onikage

SS shrugs off contact with more materials than gold. It puzzles me how people can claim otherwise. I must just live in a really gritty, dirty environment.

I'd have thought the same thing. Otherwise - let's go back and change the periodic table.

[danyvw]

Originally Posted by Yess

I'd have thought the same thing. Otherwise - let's go back and change the periodic table.

Nahh, Mendeleev never had a Rolex.

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[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by Erson

I always wonder, which material is the strongest metal.

Especially white gold vs yellow gold. There are articles said that white gold is stronger than yellow gold. In fact many people said white gold is so prone to scratch compare to yellow gold. Which one is correct?

Platinum is more durable than gold, but what if Platinum vs Steel?

Can you could rank these materials from its durability?

1) Steel or Platinum??
2) ??
3) Rose gold??
4) White gold??
5) Yellow gold??

Is the purpose of your question for research or are you buying a watch based on it? All Rolex watches regardless of metal wear well. I have seen pristine gold watches and beat to hell stainless steel watches. All depends on how you wear and take care of them. I wear solid YG because it brings me the most pleasure and the glow of gold on the wrist is worth any sacrifice in "durability".

[cerendigit]

Originally Posted by Kostas

In real life if you’re not careful you’ll get scratches on any metal, if you look after it, it will stay pristine longer.

A slight weakness in metal does not even come close to outweighing the Beauty :)

This.

I have owned SS and WG. How you treat your watches is more important than WG vs SS etc

Also if that’s what’s preventing you frombuying your first PM piece, don’t worry and pull the trigger it’s worth it.


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[Quailhunter]

I have a yellow gold DayDate that I bought in the early 90s and wear often. It definitely has wear marks, but they don’t seem to show up like they do on my steel Rolex watches.

[MTdweller]

Originally Posted by Bigblu10

Is the purpose of your question for research or are you buying a watch based on it? All Rolex watches regardless of metal wear well. I have seen pristine gold watches and beat to hell stainless steel watches. All depends on how you wear and take care of them. I wear solid YG because it brings me the most pleasure and the glow of gold on the wrist is worth any sacrifice in "durability".

Agreed.

[Tangier11]

Owning both SS & YG, I can honestly see say I see NO difference.

[bp1000]

A scratch is a scratch to me.

If its going to scratch YG It will scratch steel.

I own watches of all metals, some with both on the same watch. Everything looks equally scratched. I just wouldn't worry about durability when buying a watch.

Your clumsiness level is much more of an indicator to how scratched and beat up a watch will appear.

[Mystro]

YG is super easy to polish to perfection. You can be a novice and do a good job. 904L is certainly harder but requires a few special tricks to get a perfect polish over 316l. 316l is a easier steel to polish. Rolex Everose gets a slight warm patina on it as it ages. When when you polish a section, it gets a bit brighter so it has its own issues to work around.
There is no free lunch with any metal used.

[franktehtank]

All the materials will scratch and scuff. Less force is needed to create a dent in PM than in SS, so therefore you're more likely to pick up dents a nicks through daily wear.

If you wore each one for 10 years daily, and wore them the same way (I.E. treated all watches the same regardless of material) they'll all show the signs of wear at the end. I'd expect the PM pieces to be a little worse.

[Abarth90]

I thought platinum has no Material loss at all?!

[joli160]

Originally Posted by bp1000

A scratch is a scratch to me.

If its going to scratch YG It will scratch steel.

I own watches of all metals, some with both on the same watch. Everything looks equally scratched. I just wouldn't worry about durability when buying a watch.

Your clumsiness level is much more of an indicator to how scratched and beat up a watch will appear.

This, makes no difference

[Likestheshiny]

If its going to scratch YG It will scratch steel.

This is just plain untrue. There are things that will scratch Rolex's 18k gold but not oystersteel. The gold is softer, and there's just no getting around that.

I'm firmly in the "The difference isn't big enough to worry about" camp personally, but let's not just ignore the actual facts.

[RJRJRJ]

I haven't noticed any difference between SS and RG.

[SN13]

My SS bracelets and my YG bracelets both get desk scratches.

[watchwatcher]

Originally Posted by kilyung

I’ve noticed no appreciable difference in durability of any of my watches regardless of metal. The wearer (me) is more likely to get damaged before the watch.

Boom. The perfect response to this, and all the other hundreds of threads on this very subject.