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Does Omega add magic to their gold?
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NGO1
·
You’ve been sitting on this GIF for 8 years.
You are welcome.
You are welcome.
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Canuck
·As to the wearing properties of gold alloys, the information in the link may interest you.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF03215213.pdf
If you are thinking that Omega alloys the gold in their cases to be resistant to scratching, 18-karat gold has a hardness of approximately 2.75 on the Mohs scale. 14-karat is approximately 3 on the Mohs scale. So that means that anything harder than about 3 on the Mohs scale of 1 (talc), to 10 (diamond) will scratch gold alloy. Platinum on the other hand has a hardness of approximately 4 to 4.5 on the Mohs scale. If you want scratch resist, modern ceramic materials, or tungsten carbide (as in some vintage Rado models) may be what you want. But most metal alloys are much softer than many compounds they may encounter during wear. Why do you ask?
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF03215213.pdf
If you are thinking that Omega alloys the gold in their cases to be resistant to scratching, 18-karat gold has a hardness of approximately 2.75 on the Mohs scale. 14-karat is approximately 3 on the Mohs scale. So that means that anything harder than about 3 on the Mohs scale of 1 (talc), to 10 (diamond) will scratch gold alloy. Platinum on the other hand has a hardness of approximately 4 to 4.5 on the Mohs scale. If you want scratch resist, modern ceramic materials, or tungsten carbide (as in some vintage Rado models) may be what you want. But most metal alloys are much softer than many compounds they may encounter during wear. Why do you ask?
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NGO1
·As to the wearing properties of gold alloys, the information in the link may interest you... Why do you ask?
Thank you for the detail respond. I vaguely remembered Omega AD said something about Ceragold, which is treated to be hardened, more so than hardness of 18K gold. But, digging into Omega's website, Ceragold is a process Omega created to make the ceramic bezel. There is no mention of the gold case itself.
"Omega Ceragold is the first product to allow the decoration of ceramic watch parts with 18K gold. The process used to create a ceramic bezel with gold numbers and scaling results in a finished product that is absolutely smooth to the touch. The technology took years to master but the breath-taking bezels more than justify the effort."
Imma assume the 18K case has no special treatment and is as soft as any good old 18K case.
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fskywalker
·Got this fatty on today. She definitely is weighty. Does anyone know if Omega treats the gold for hardness or just standard 18k (soft) strength?
Congrats! How much does it weighs?
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Canuck
·There is no noble metal that can be made scratch proof. And 70% the earth’s crust contains some form of silica (as in quartz) which has a hardness on the Mohs scale of 7. At a hardness of 4.5 (or less), your noble metal watch will scratch on the first day you wear it! The hardness of noble metals can be affected by the other metals alloyed with it. Springy, soft, malleable, variable melting points, are working qualities that affect where a particular noble metal alloy may be used in jewellery manufacture. But there are no magical solutions to the problem of scratching, hardness-wise.
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Bushido
·The only scratch resistant gold watches I know of are made by Hublot. They add ceramic to 24k gold to achieve this alloy and are rated at 18k once finished.
I know Hublot gets frowned upon by many but their material sciences are pretty cool in my opinion.
I know Hublot gets frowned upon by many but their material sciences are pretty cool in my opinion.
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NGO1
·Congrats! How much does it weighs?
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fskywalker
·This 42mm blondie weights a healthy 131 grams.
Nice! That's about the same as my Daydate 18239 on its president band (132 grams) 😀
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SpeedyPhill
·
Metal Magic actually 😁
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dinexus
·Coincidentally, Hublot actually calls theirs 'Magic Gold,' and from a utility standpoint, is virtually scratch-proof, but it looks kinda beige and not very gold-like.
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Slowpoker
·Coincidentally, Hublot actually calls theirs 'Magic Gold,' and from a utility standpoint, is virtually scratch-proof, but it looks kinda beige and not very gold-like.
I've actually owned the UNICO Magic Gold version and it's a bronze-like colour in person. However after some time it gains a patina of sorts. I didn't like it so I sold mine and switched to my tungsten Hublot instead.
From a scratch standpoint after 2 years of near daily use it had no scratches I could see.
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MCG555
·I've actually owned the UNICO Magic Gold version and it's a bronze-like colour in person. However after some time it gains a patina of sorts. I didn't like it so I sold mine and switched to my tungsten Hublot instead.
From a scratch standpoint after 2 years of near daily use it had no scratches I could see.
Patina?? What do you mean? Never heard of this. Hublot‘s Magicgold has intensionally a greenish hue from the beginning. This should/will not change...
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Slowpoker
·Patina?? What do you mean? Never heard of this. Hublot‘s Magicgold has intensionally a greenish hue from the beginning. This should/will not change...
The greenish hue becomes more pronounced as time goes on. I was seriously surprised but after conversing with Hublot it's the nature of the material and something that can't really be avoided.
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