WG vs Platinum on durability question

[Dudman]

What is the scratch resistance of platinum vs white gold ?
I always though of WG as softer but from what I’m reading now I’m not so sure.
Thank you in advance for any experienced answers

[CharlesN]

Platinum is softer than WG

But. WG scratches are a slight loss of the gold
On Platinum the scratches are a line in the platinum ... No loss

Platinum is relatively easy to get re-finished.

[Dudman]

Thank you charles

[miamiclay]

Mohs scale shows platinum a bit harder (2.5 vs. 3.5), but I’m sure that scale is for 24K gold vs pure platinum. For 18K gold vs .950 platinum? ... I’d guess platinum is still a bit harder, but idk. Probably there is even some hardness difference among YG, WG & RG, because of the different alloys.

If anyone wants to test this for Science and see if their Platona will scratch their DD, let us know the outcome (however, imo, this is definitely a “pics or it didn’t happen” situation!)

[Lemieux66]

Originally Posted by CharlesN

Platinum is softer than WG

But. WG scratches are a slight loss of the gold
On Platinum the scratches are a line in the platinum ... No loss

Platinum is relatively easy to get re-finished.

I thought platinum was harder to refinish and that jewellers are not keen to do it. I heard special tools are required to work with platinum which partly accounts for the cost over gold pieces.

Seems to be a lot of contradictory information around about Ag vs Pt for jewellery purposes.

[fskywalker]

Originally Posted by miamiclay

If anyone wants to test this for Science and see if their Platona will scratch their DD, let us know the outcome (however, imo, this is definitely a “pics or it didn’t happen” situation!)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[CharlesN]

Platinum scratches are different to gold scratches as I said
My PT Dd got pretty abused and looked awful for a while.
My watchmaker has it refinished for me and it looked like new with no loss of edges etc
My gold DD did not fare so well with the same watchmaker. The edges were not as perfect
I think Pt needs different tools but as there is no loss it just gets sort of “Pushed back” or that’s how it was explained to me.

[HogwldFLTR]

The references I found for mohs for 18K gold is 2.75. For Pt it is 4 to 4.5.

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by CharlesN

Platinum is softer than WG

But. WG scratches are a slight loss of the gold
On Platinum the scratches are a line in the platinum ... No loss

Platinum is relatively easy to get re-finished.

Yeah, well... Not really.

[challer]

Originally Posted by Lemieux66

I thought platinum was harder to refinish and that jewellers are not keen to do it. I heard special tools are required to work with platinum which partly accounts for the cost over gold pieces.

Seems to be a lot of contradictory information around about Ag vs Pt for jewellery purposes.

Pt's issue is not hardness but machinability. Also, Rolex does not plate their platinum with Rhodium - they use an alloy that does not require it.

[Vipes]

My WG pieces seem to pick up scratches a lot easier than my platinum pieces.

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by challer

Pt's issue is not hardness but machinability. Also, Rolex does not plate their platinum with Rhodium - they use an alloy that does not require it.

Platinum is never rhodium plated.

[Rocket launcher]

It works like this you have a deep scratch in a watch :-
The watch is made of gold---
You then polish out the scratch by abrasion
Therefore removing the souronding metal..removing it and making it thinner..ie leaving gold on the cloth


The watch is made of platinum ---
You then polish out the scratch by moving the metal..the souronding metal fills in the trough of the scratch next to it..there will be no loss of metal and no marking on the cloth. Amazing

This is because
When it is scratched, the metal is merely displaced rather than removed. Platinum’s molecular structure is so dense that it is very hard to wear down, allowing it to retain the same weight over time.

[tom2517]

Originally Posted by CharlesN

Platinum scratches are different to gold scratches as I said
My PT Dd got pretty abused and looked awful for a while.
My watchmaker has it refinished for me and it looked like new with no loss of edges etc
My gold DD did not fare so well with the same watchmaker. The edges were not as perfect
I think Pt needs different tools but as there is no loss it just gets sort of “Pushed back” or that’s how it was explained to me.

Platinum does have loss, put it under the polishing wheel and measure before and after and there will be weight loss.

[Rocket launcher]

Originally Posted by tom2517

Platinum does have loss, put it under the polishing wheel and measure before and after and there will be weight loss.

Jooltool it smashes Rolex watches and platinum...it is a specialist job to remove scratches from platinum as with all precious metals