White gold

White gold is a gold alloy that neutralises the natural yellow of fine gold by adding other metals. In modern haute horlogerie palladium-alloyed recipes dominate; nickel-alloyed white gold is still common in the jewellery industry but has largely been retired from watchmaking because of allergy concerns.

The 18-karat standard recipe contains 75 percent fine gold and 25 percent supplementary metals. Even with palladium or silver, the resulting alloy is never fully white — the material retains a slight warmth. A rhodium plating gives some jewellery pieces a brilliant-white look; on high-end watch cases makers usually skip the plating and accept the natural slightly creamy tone.

Why white gold rather than steel

Visually a white-gold watch and a steel watch are hard to tell apart at a glance. That is precisely the appeal: white gold is deliberate understatement. A Day-Date in white gold carries a movement and case value its wearer does not announce. Typical tells:

• Weight. White gold is significantly heavier than steel — a white-gold Day-Date weighs roughly 50 to 60 percent more than a comparable steel Datejust.
• Material tone. Side by side, white gold reads slightly warmer and creamier than polished Oystersteel; the difference becomes visible in warm light.
• Bezel and markers. On models like the Day-Date in white gold the fluted bezel is made from the same material; it reflects differently from a comparable steel bezel.

White gold at the leading manufactures

White gold is a standard material across haute horlogerie:

• Patek Philippe: Calatrava, Nautilus, Aquanaut and all Grandes Complications regularly in white gold. Patek works mostly with palladium-alloyed recipes.
• Audemars Piguet: Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore in white gold; the material adds further weight to the polygonal case geometry.
• Rolex: Day-Date, Daytona, GMT-Master II and Sky-Dweller in white gold. The fluted bezel is classically machined in white gold, the bracelet often Oyster or President in white gold.
• Vacheron Constantin and A. Lange & Söhne: Classical complications, Patrimony, Saxonia and Lange 1 regularly in white gold.

Patina, care, refinishing

White gold is colour-stable. Unlike rose gold there is no copper oxidation; unlike yellow gold no yellow-tone reinforcement over time. A 1995 white-gold Patek Calatrava reads the same hue today as a 2026 piece — provided it is not rhodium-plated. Rhodium-plated white-gold surfaces can lighten subtly after years as the micron-thin rhodium layer wears; a careful polish and re-plating restores the original brilliance.

At our atelier in Munich we work on white-gold cases with edge-preserving methods. The material forgives polishing slightly better than rose gold (less material softness), but repeated refinishing still loses case edge definition.

Hallmarks and authenticity

White gold carries the usual 750 hallmark for 18-karat gold. A maker's punch (manufactory hallmark) and, depending on market, an import hallmark accompany it. A Day-Date in white gold is hallmarked inside the case back and at the clasp; Patek pieces show punches at the lugs and clasp.