dragon – Member
All the karat value tells you is how much gold is present it gives no guide to hardness as that depends on what you alloy it with and other factors. So it is marketing rubbish.
Hardness in gold is quantifiable and measurable, with an internationally recognised set of figures. Advertising a knife as having a Rockwell Hardness figure of such-and-such isn’t marketing rubbish, it’s a figure that can be compared to other makes.
The same goes for this, sure, the Karat/Carat figure is specifically referring to the percentage of gold in the alloy, but it’s the other metals used that will profoundly affect the hardness of the finished item. This is precisely why you’ll very rarely see certain colours of gold used in decorative jewellery, because they’re too hard to work easily, they lack the ductibility and malleability of ‘standard’ 9/10/11/14/18ct gold. White French gold is very springy, useful for certain fine work but not good for rings or stone mounts. Blue and purple gold are hardly ever seen, because the other metals in the alloy make them far too hard to work easily; blue uses iron, and purple uses aluminium!
A watch case is a smooth, single piece of injection or cast metal, and the harder it can be made, reducing scratching and denting the better, but the colour needs to be kept, so if Apple have spent money developing a yellow, 18ct gold, with a much harder, less easily marked structure, that’s a good thing that will enhance the long-term value.
It may well be marketing, but it’s certainly not rubbish; plenty of other watch manufacturers are going to be very keenly interested in what Apple have developed.
I would never consider a gold cased watch, I have a stainless steel watch that’s forty-odd years old, and the case was very battered through general use, a gold one would look really crap.
I’ve managed to polish most of the marks out now, but some were surprisingly deep, and that’s on steel.
