Received my pink gold Rolex Day-Date 1803 two days ago. It was sold to me as unpolished and it might even be that. When I unboxed it, it immediately struck me as pinkish at best. It certainly wasn’t yellow gold. If you place it next to a bona fide yellow gold watch you can spot the difference: I remember reading on the forum that pink gold can discolor. I believe it is the copper content in the alloy. I stumbled on this article: https://www.thewatchbuyersgroup.com/why-your-rose-gold-watch-may-now-look-yellow/ Tl;dr? Well pink gold discolors. Rolex has found a cure with their Everose alloy. But the proces can reversed with a polish. However I’m not keen on a polish. But what does a light buff with a Cape Cod cloth do? Let’s take a safe part, the clasp: Ok that works. Does is work on the case as well? I daren’t touch the bezel or the brushed parts Bottom line: I now own a Rolex with one pink leg. Vintage pink gold turns yellow, but it can be overturned. I am now wondering if there is a way of cleaning without having to polish op brush the watch.
Very interesting. The original rose gold colour really stands out against the yellow. Could you/Would you risk the cape cod clean link on the brushed parts/bezel?
Interesting Bart, I've had a lot of pink gold Omega's some of which were quite tarnished when I bought them, but I've never seen such a pronounced colour change after a clean/buff/light polish. I wonder if this effect is only with the Rolex rose gold blend?
I actually quite like the pink gold look. It's nicer than the yellow gold that screams "im a Colombian drug dealer!!!"
Did someone say Colombian drug dealer? Here’s my pinko next to @Brench ’s 18038, now that thing is gangsta...
Truly naive question: Is there a model number or some other indication that this is rose gold, as opposed to yellow gold with patina?
Well the patina is yellowish, when you rub it off the rosé gold comes through better. In other words, the rosé parts you see in the pics above are the cleaned parts.
No. These vintage pieces just have a common reference number irrespective of YG, WG or RG (unlike some Pateks, for instance). At least some of the "modern" gold Rolexes do have a different number, I believe, based on which gold it is.