Help with vintage rosegold maintenance

Gentlemen, thank you so much for taking the time. I am always amazed by the level of expertise and sharp eye of the people here in OF. What a great community. Thanks again.

@Tako Yaki wow, great expertise. Thank you for the very thorough explanation. It makes sense, maybe I wore it more during the warm season and I do sweat, even though I don't wear this piece so often! Funny you should say this about the wooden box. I do keep my watches here but -always- with silica gel to keep moisture at bay.



@janice&fred thanks for sharing! Really cool piece, this Rolex. A grail for many for sure! It does look super nicely aged with the darker hues. After seeing it, still wondering about what to do with mine.

@JimInOz , @mac_omega , thank you, it does make sense, since the watch clearly presented other issues recently with it's movement, and I will take it to my watchmaker next week for a complete service. I believe the seller revamped the watch a little before selling it... If you watch closely to the first shots, a small trace can be seen...



That would explain why it has darneked only on that particular lug, but in honesty, the colour of the rosegold as a whole has changed in the last months from a pink tone to a darker mellower brownish tan.. there is a tiny stain on each of the lugs. It is hard to capture it with my camera though.

@Canuck , thanks! Will try it out with @MtV next week!

@SkunkPrince , nice piece!! Funny how Rosegold can assume many hues and "personalities"... Yours is like dapper and summery and sporty with the bracelet. Mine was like this but now is much more conservative and autumny with the leather strap and a slightly darker hue.

@bubba48 thanks!! Will try with @MtV next time.

I don't think the tarnish is limited to rose gold. We have plenty of solid yellow gold watches like our president and capped/plated watches from the south pacific and they got that luscious darker hue over time as well. The tropical climate on the Philippine islands seems to accelerate the blushing of the gold and most times it's spectacular to see. Sort of a "tropical" presentation 😁

Yeah, after seeing your president, it reminded me of an interview I saw once on Hodinkee with Jason Singer, and he had a yellow gold Patek that got an even more intense tarnish.

Curiously, the tarnish on his is also uneven...

"I surmise that he or previous owners habitually wore it with long sleeves, on their left wrist, Holmes."
"Excellent, Watson."

A nice strap on rose gold is a Horween #8 cordovan. 😀

@Rudi99
beautiful watches, nice box!

It looks like that the gold capping is a little bit polished through, so the base metal is lurking out!
A possibility would be, when You give it to service, to get the case Roségold plated by a goldsmith. Ask for really thick plating, it will last longer!
Shouldn’t be too expensive!
And, I would recommend to do not polish it too often, over time You could rub the gold plating down!

My 18k 750/000 Yellowgold Speedmaster is also tarnishing a lot, it gets really brown, since I am based at Tokyo.
At a more mild climate Europe it was never much tarnishing!

More pollution, hot and humid climate in Tokyos summer ... I was surprised how fast it turns!
I wear now the gold pieces in the cooler season, during hot summer when sweating a lot, I wear waterproof stainless pieces with bracelet, no leather strap!
Or a cheap Kienzle pocketwatch.

@Rudi99 you have a great collection here!

Talking of gold tarnishing 😲
I wouldn’t say no though 😀