"Silvered gold" and "green gold"--anybody know how they do it?

[mlcor]

Breguet talks about their "silvered gold" dials (including the one on my Marine). Rolex says that the Hulk Sub's dial is made of "green gold." Can anyone explain to me (in simple, monosyllabic terms) what these mean and how they're done? I realize that both are essentially made of gold (although it's not clear what percentage is gold as opposed to other alloys) that is somehow processed/treated to change the color, but that's about where it ends for me. Is it a chemical process? Mixture of alloys? Food dye??

[Seriously]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_gold

[mlcor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_gold

Thanks! That's helpful (I didn't find it because I searched for silvered gold), but I'm not sure if that's what it is or not. For example, if the Breguet used white gold, why wouldn't they just say that instead of silvered (which isn't described in the article). And for Rolex, it says in the article that green gold appears as yellowish-green rather than green. The Hulk is definitely the greenest of dark greens in the flesh.

So, still confused...

[Seriously]

For the silvered, they might just call a standard mix their own name just to make it sound different and to keep you confused.
They could have just plated it with Rhodium or something.

You could always ask them what they mean by their terms, I'm sure they'll spill some details at least.

[geoffbot]

Thanks! That's helpful (I didn't find it because I searched for silvered gold), but I'm not sure if that's what it is or not. For example, if the Breguet used white gold, why wouldn't they just say that instead of silvered (which isn't described in the article). And for Rolex, it says in the article that green gold appears as yellowish-green rather than green. The Hulk is definitely the greenest of dark greens in the flesh.

So, still confused...

The hulk dial and bezel insert aren't gold though are they? Painted if they are...

[mlcor]

The hulk dial and bezel insert aren't gold though are they? Painted if they are...

The bezel is ceramic, with the numbers in platinum. However, they specifically say the dial is "green gold," and i don't see how it could be painted since it's a beautiful sunray that changes hue constantly depending upon the angle. Definitely a metallic composition of some sort...

[Der Amf]

I wonder if it's made the same way as the Nomos Blaugold? I got the impression with that that the alloy is created on the dial itself, putting a layer of whatever it was over the gold and then heating them.

Ahahaha like I've a clue what I'm talking about

*proffers pinches of salt to go with post*

[geoffbot]

Courtesy of http://www.rolexforums.com/archive/i.../t-216759.html

"The dial is mainly brass and they apply a mixture of gold powder and aluminium powder very similar to PVD coating to dial but its not solid gold if it was it would have to be hallmarked.And at one time Rolex did advertise it as being green gold on there web site.But it was soon removed as you cannot state anything thats gold unless its real solid gold like say 9Ct,15Ct,18Ct,22Ct, etc. And if over a certain weight and the dial would be it would have to bare a assay mark."

[Seriously]

but its not solid gold if it was it would have to be hallmarked.

Solid gold ?

All gold is solid , just differing levels of purity.

Ps they would only have to hallmark it if they were selling it as "xxkarat gold" , all the hallmark does is authenticate that it is what it is.

[geoffbot]

Not my prose!