Chrome Plate Questions

As with gold plate, chrome plate doesn’t hold up particularly well over time and can wear through to the base metal. Record made some chrome plated models with very attractive guilloche dials, but they aren’t particularly valuable. I’m sure that there are other chrome plated references from other manufacturers.

When new, nickel-chrome plated watches had an appealing bright shine and a generally lower price point then gold or steel cases. Chrome-plated cases were quite popular in the 1930s and 1940s but seemed to decline in numbers into the 1950s, likely as steel cases became cheaper to manufacture.

Over the years, plated watches of any kind (gold or chrome) can look rather tattered as the plating gets pitted, scratched or worn off due to normal wear and tear. Collectors tend to avoid chrome plate for that reason. Whether that tattered look appeals to you may depend upon the watch and whether you like a little wabi-sabi or not.

Here are some of mine...

40mm flieger, circa 1940:



Sector dial, circa 1935:



A raised sector dial, circa 1935:


38mm sector dial, circa 1939: