What is Rolex White Gold Made Of? Complete Guide

What is Rolex White Gold Made Of? Complete Guide

Rolex uses all of the traditional and most prestigious materials for its watches. Stainless steel is of course the most common but gold and platinum are also used.

Rolex uses three different types of gold – yellow gold, rose gold, and white gold. This may have got you thinking, what is Rolex white gold made of? How do they make the white gold?

That’s what we are going to go to the bottom of in this article.

About Rolex white gold

First and foremost, when it comes to its gold, Rolex only uses an 18ct gold alloy. Regardless if it is yellow, rose, or white gold. This means that the white gold is composed of 750‰ (thousandths) of pure gold. The rest of the ingredients are mixed and experimented with by Rolex to find the perfect mix for the best longevity and sheen.

To make white gold, Rolex adds silver to take the gold from its yellow to a white sheen. Of course, Rolex does not reveal the exact blend or alloy combination that it uses. But they do reveal the process that Rolex uses to create it. For its white gold alloy, Rolex uses palladium so that no rhodium plating is required. Rolex frequently promotes that its white gold will never turn yellow, which is the case for most other white gold jewelry.

However, when Rolexforums user “fsprow” tested the contents of the white gold bezel on his Sky-Dweller in a laboratory by using X-ray fluorescence machine to non-destructively examine the bezel, he found that it consisted of the following:

78% gold, 8% palladium, 5% platinum, 9% copper, silver, and trace metals.

Even if the percentages wouldn’t be exact, we can say that Rolex’s special white gold alloy consists of 75% gold, palladium, platinum, copper, and a little bit of silver and trace metals.

What is interesting is that Rolex has not come up with a proprietary name for white gold. Even though Rolex has its very own alloy and is very eager to come up with names for everything it uses to make it sound more special and proprietary. Rose gold is called Everose, gold and steel are called Rolesor. But Rolex just calls white gold, white gold.

The making of Rolex white gold

Unlike many other brands, Rolex strives to make as much of the manufacturing process in-house. To create the absolutely perfect gold with just the right properties, Rolex has its own foundry. This gives Rolex an advantage over many of its competitors. In particular when it comes to developing unique alloys.

In Rolex’s own words:

“Gold Rolex watches possess a truly captivating radiance, born of years of experience in perfecting the use of this most precious of metals. Only by controlling the whole process can Rolex guarantee a peerless, enchanting lustre on its watchcases and bracelets alike.”

The making of white gold for Rolex watches involves melting noble metals at over 1,000° C in their foundry. Once the alloy has melted, it is poured through a graphite sieve that creates droplets which are instantly cooled to become small beads as they fall into a vat of water.

After this process, Rolex melts the 18ct white gold beads for the second time and makes them into rods by pouring the mixture via continuous casting through a water-cooled die causing the metal to solidify. The gold rods have now achieved a more appropriate shape that makes them easier to work with in the workshops. Finally, they will be used to create watch cases, bracelets, and everything that is a part of a white gold Rolex watch.

When it is time to create watches with the rods, Rolex uses intermittent annealing to create the shapes necessary for the manufacturing process. This is one of the most important steps as “they impart to the gold the optimal mechanical, dimensional and aesthetic characteristics.” This is when the cases, bezels, bracelet parts, middle cases, and all of the other critical components of a white gold Rolex watch take shape.

Last but not least, once the white gold has gotten its final shape, the final operations take place, which involve polishing or satin-finishing.

Rolex’s white gold alloy recipe has changed over the years

It’s important to point out that Rolex’s white gold alloy has changed over the years. If you look at older Rolex watches, it’s not uncommon to see, for example, that the white gold bezels have turned yellow. But with that said, Rolex has worked to improve and revise its white gold alloy over the decades. This means that the white gold that Rolex uses today isn’t the same as Rolex used back in the day.

Earlier white gold fluted bezels were rhodium-plated, meaning that once the plating came off, it would show a yellow-ish hue underneath. But Rolex, as mentioned, does not rhodium-plate its watches anymore. According to Rolex, the white gold used today will not turn yellow.