Hey, Orchidian alloy aces. Got a question. A customer came in the
other day inquiring about an antique watch she had seen on the
Internet. It was listed as being 20K White Gold. This gave me
pause… Is there, or has there ever been a 20 Karat White Gold
alloy? My first thought is that the amount of pure gold required to
make 20K would overpower any other metal as far as color. But, I
don’t know enough about alloys to say. I have worked with some WG
solders that are 19 or 20 K, and they are actually pretty white… .
Any comments? Orchid is the very best.
-BK in AK
.. Is there, or has there ever been a 20 Karat White Gold alloy?
Hello BK;
I do a lot of restoration on antique jewelry, and I’ve seen a couple
watches in 20K white gold. I remember seeing this high karatage
white gold used to make watches, and maybe once or twice for a ring.
Perhaps it’s because they would have used a very high percentage of
nickel to get a white color, which would make for a pretty stiff
material. I believe those watch cases were largely die struck. They
were also thin material. I don’t know why they couldn’t have gotten
just as much rigidity with an 18K alloy. There may be some other
reason that someone knows as to why they would choose 20K. I’ll ask
one of my antique jewelry dealers I repair for if they know.
David L. Huffman
If this was an off the street customer she probably missed the (1/)
part of the 20 k white gold? As in 1/20k white gold (as in rolled
gold (and plated) I’ve seen this commonly, most customers just see
the white gold part of the phrase.
Maybe this was it?
Jay