Cartier Gold Watches

To a new aficionado/student of luxury watches, you’ll quickly see the choices, classifications and insider-terms relating to Cartier’s timepiece collections are complex. On the Cartier website, for instance, there are more than 300 models which are listed as “gold Cartier watches”.

There are Cartier timepieces with yellow gold, white gold and/or pink gold. All of these gold timepieces state they’re 18K (carat). And depending on the model, you can find what appears to be an endless combination of different colors of gold, matched with steel, leather, rubber, diamonds, other gems and so on.

Initially, I found all of this information to be almost overwhelming. Questions like the following came to mind:

• What’s the difference between yellow, white and pink gold? What makes them different?
• Are the different colors of gold something we find in nature, or they man-made creations? How and why have they come into being?
• Is yellow gold a better choice than white, since gold is naturally a yellow color? Is pink gold less desirable than either yellow or white?
• How does the K (carat) term work? How much better is 24K than 18K?  
• Why have luxury watch makers, including Cartier, picked 18K as their “gold standard”? (Yes, the pun is intentional.)

Having invested the time to answer these questions for myself, I thought it would be useful if I wrote an easy-to-understand guide for you. Hence, this article…

As a side note, I do not consider myself a horologist, nor do I aspire to become one. In the same way, I’m not a gold expert and don’t want to become one. There are plenty of folks out there who love gold, study it daily (maybe hourly), and see it as the ultimate investment in uncertain economic times. If you want those kinds of details, please see them. But if you want to know enough to buy a Cartier gold timepiece that makes sense for you, then please keep reading.

In its natural state, pure gold is yellow in color. It’s a unique shade of yellow, with a depth and luster that’s very hard to duplicate. (Ever noticed how bad “gold” paint looks?) That’s why for as long as we have recorded history, gold has been prized for its beauty, prestige and usefulness.

However, when gold is mixed (actually, the term is alloyed), with other metals, it can be made into rose, red, pink, green, grey, black, purple or blue colors.

But since Cartier deals in yellow, white and pink gold, let’s focus on these three colors.

As mentioned previously, yellow is color of natural gold. So if you’re a gold purist, you might want to start your investigation here. However, please know that colored gold has been around for a long time. For example, the Russians first produced red gold more than 300 years ago.

A common white gold formulation consists of 90% gold and 10% nickel. The only potential issue I found with white gold is a mild allergic reaction, usually a minor skin rash. About one person in eight has a reaction to the nickel, typically when it’s worn over a long period of time. And since I don’t wear any watch 24/7, I can’t imagine this should be an issue.

Although the terms are apparently used interchangeably, the difference between red, rose, and pink gold is the amount copper used in the mixture. The higher the copper content, the stronger the red color. A common ratio for rose gold is 75% gold and 25% copper. And from what I can tell, in making pink gold, 4% silver is added to the mix of 75% gold and 21% copper to give it its distinctive color.

Also, be advised that since any colored gold is an alloy, there’s no such thing as "pure white gold" or “pure pink gold”.

Regarding the choice of yellow, white or pink gold, for me it all comes down to this: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I prefer the look of pink gold, but that’s just me.

In its pure state, gold is listed as 24K (carat). The problem with pure gold, however, is that it’s not durable enough to be used in making things like watches. That’s why luxury watch makers use 18K gold, which is a mix of 75% gold and 25% other metals.

In creating the 18K yellow gold we’re used to seeing, it appears to be most often a mix of 16 parts gold, 4 parts copper and 4 parts silver. These other two metals are harder than gold, giving the product its required durability.

And for your reference, here are the percentages of gold contained in different carat grades. I hope you’ll find this of value for any gold purchase you might make, such as a ring or necklace:

• 24K (100%)
• 22K (92%)
• 18K (75%)
• 14K (58%)
• 9K (38%)

Throughout history, gold has been a symbol of status and wealth. In doing my research, I even found that gold flakes were served to nobility in Medieval Europe as a decoration in their food and drinks. Besides being an obvious status symbol, it was also believed that consuming gold (a rare and valuable commodity) was beneficial to their health.

Status aside, (like the strange fact noted above), the logical reason to consider buying a gold Cartier watch is its investment potential. You can pretty much rest assured that a Cartier gold timepiece will increase in value over time.

Yes, Cartier gold watches are expensive. The MSRP for a new Cartier gold timepiece starts at $10,000.00 USD. And they can easily climb into the $40,000.00 USD-plus range. But if you’re looking to make a lifelong investment, or create a personal heirloom to pass along to your son or daughter, then a gold Cartier timepiece could be a wise decision.

And a whole lot of fun to wear along the way!