Are Gold Watches in Style?
While COVID-19 forced most Swiss watch companies to close for a while, it didn’t stop them from creating new watches – many of them in gold.
People are looking for meaningful purchases in today’s challenging times, and that leads to an increase in sales of gold watches. If anyone wonders if gold watches are still in style, stop questioning it. Gold watches for men and gold watches for women are all the rage. Simple proof comes in the new releases made this week at the Watches & Wonders Shanghai show, where gold reigned supreme — proving once and for all that gold watches are not out of style in 2020 and beyond.
Gold watches are an investment; they will never lose their value. From white gold to rose gold yellow gold and even proprietary colors of gold, gold wristwatches are in hot demand. So, for those who wonder if gold watches are tacky or too flashy, get over it. The answer is totally converse: gold watches are worth the investment. Here we take a look at a few irresistible gold watches coming onto the scene this year.
Rolex Gold Sky-Dweller – Price USD 46,000
It took some doing, but Rolex finally introduced its new watches for 2020, and easily one of the hot topics is the new Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller in 18-karat yellow gold with a bright black dial. The new watch is fitted — for the first time ever on a classic rather than professional watch — with an Oysterflex bracelet. The high-tech, high-performance elastomer bracelet looks like rubber on the outside but is fitted with metal blades that make it stronger and more durable.
This watch, one of the best GMT and calendar watches available today, is a highly sought-after piece thanks to the simplicity of use and the dial display. However, make no mistake, this “Ring Command” bezel watch is anything but simple. In fact, it boasts 11 patents. The local time is displayed using the three hands, while the second time zone is displayed on the 24-hour disk in the center (which has an inverted red triangle as a pointer). In typical Rolex style, the date is displayed at 3:00 via a cyclops magnifying lens. The annual calendar in this watch automatically takes into account the months with 30 and 31 days, so it only requires a single adjustment on March 1 each year – after the short month of February has ended.
The 42mm watch features a bright black dial and is water resistant to 100 meters. It is powered by the brand’s 9001 automatic caliber with Paraflex shock absorbers and an anti-magnetic hairspring. It is a COSC certified chronometer and carries Rolex’s even more stringent Superlative Chronometer certification. The 18-karat gold Rolex Sky-Dweller retails for about.
A. Lange & Sohne Turbograph Perpetual Honey Gold – Price on Request
While rose gold, white gold, and yellow gold are important noble metals in the watch world, some brands like to create their own proprietary colors of gold for special timepieces. Such is the case with German brand A. Lange & Sohne, which uses an exclusive Honey Gold for its most austere watches. This year, it turns to Honey Gold to celebrate 175 years of watchmaking history.
Honey Gold is a warmer tone than yellow gold – giving a brightness and yet toned-down glow to the watch. For the Homage to F. A. Lange limited-edition series, A. Lange & Sohne considered no other gold than Honey Gold. The new collection not only pays homage to the original founder of the brand but also to its re-establishment 30 years ago by Walter Lange after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Tourbograph Perpetual Honey Gold watch is one of the most complicated watches built by the brand. It boasts an unusual chain-and-fusee’ transmission system for increased accuracy and also offers the complex perpetual calendar function, moon phase indication, tourbillon escapement to compensate for errors in timekeeping due to the effects of gravity on the watch in certain positions, and more. A total of 684 parts comprise the movement, with another 636 components coming together for the chain. The Honey Gold of this watch is the perfect case for the warm dark gray hued dial. Just 50 pieces will be made.
Omega De Ville Tourbillon Co-Axial Master Chronometer – Price USD 168,000
When it comes to gold watches for ladies and men, Omega takes center stage. One of the best-known watch brands today, Omega regularly crafts its Speedmaster, Seamaster, and other watch collections in gold. But that gold ranges from non-proprietary 18-karat yellow gold to its own roe-colored Sedna™ gold and even its white-hued Canopus™ gold. In fact, earlier this year, the brand opted to join these two golds in its first manual-winding central tourbillon watch with antimagnetic properties.
The gold Omega De Ville Tourbillon Co-Axial Master Chronometer watch, with a black ceramized tourbillon cage, features a case of 18-karat Sedna Gold and a case center made of Canopus Gold. The result is a powerful two-tone look. Even the dial is made of Sedna Gold and then PVD coated in black.
The central tourbillon boasts hour and minute hands that reach out from behind the tourbillon cage. The watch is anti-magnetic thanks to the use of the high-tech materials. It also carries the Omega Master Chronometer certification, whose standards are considered more stringent than the COSC. Because each watch takes a full month to build, the gold Omega De Ville Tourbillon Co-Axial Master Chronometer will be made in numbered editions only.
Cartier Maillon De Cartier – Price USD 25,100
Lest you think that all the gold watches on the market are for men, think again. Gold watches for women are also paramount. In fact, luxury watch brand Cartier turns to gold in a big way this year. The brand, in fact, is a leader in yellow gold (a trend slowly coming back into play) – offering yellow gold pieces in its Santos and Pasha collections, and also in the all-new Maillon de Cartier collection for women. The supple, incredibly geometric chain-link bracelets of these watches make them real eye-catchers and in yellow gold – they shimmer like the gold jewelry of Egyptian days.
For this new collection, Cartier looked to the geometric shapes of the Art Deco Era and enhanced them – offering a striking hexagonal case surrounded by bold, twisted elongated links that seem to wrap around the wrist with ultimate femininity. In short, the graphic gold Cartier Maillon de Cartier watch is a statement in aesthetics and self-confidence.
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