Comments:
gold colour
Simple question:
is there is any technical reasons why Patek charges more for white or rose gold over yellow gold?
Simple answer...
... Because they can.
White, yellow, or rose gold differ only in their alloy mixture and for the same karat weight should be the same in price. With yellow gold being the 'standard', fewer pieces are produced in white or rose gold and this creates a greater demand than supply.
This is not a specific "problem" ...
from Patek Philippe. Is there a brand without that difference?
Please don´t forget the extra material and effort (Paladium, different melting point ...) which is needed for WG and causes higher production costs.
Oliver
Please don´t forget the extra material and effort (Paladium, different melting point ...) which is needed for WG and causes higher production costs.
Oliver
Maybe...
But still not sure one could justify the extra price, often several thousand dollars or more, based entirely on material and production costs. And how would you explain the premium for rose gold?
When you rephrase the question...
...the answer becomes clearer.
"Why does PP charge less for YG?"
Simple - YG is less in demand at present as a watch case material.
en → en
less
Rhodium plated
Although white, yellow, rose 18k gold have same gold content, and the different metals used to create the alloy tend to be cheaper, (copper, zinc, palladium etc), white gold had to be Rhodium plated to maintain the whiteness. For yellow or rose gold, Rhodium plating is optional. Rhodium is expensive, but still the difference in price between the colours is nominal and cannot be a reason for the significant difference in prices of watches considering we are talking about watches utilizing less than 100grams of gold. I assume most watch manufactures including PP do not smelt their own alloys, so the difference in price should purely be a factor of production quantities and subsequent demand.
Dean
A matter of aesthetics
I wonder about this question also. When I look at the watches in many of the gold variations, I find that the pieces in WG are more classy. YG and RG fit mature owners. I think the pricing could be purely driven based on aesthetics and demand. If a watch looks good, it's certainly normal for the price to reflect that.
18 karat gold is 18 karat gold regardless of color, so why the difference in cost?
There are distinct differences in the alloyed golds with respect to machining and polishing. Rose gold and white gold do require more effort to achieve the standard of finish Patek requires. Of course, platinum is an entirely different animal altogether with even more effort required.
Maybe demand has some influence but I would suspect the additional cost is not related as much to demand as to cost of production.
My refiner produced a small batch of purple gold (aluminum is the alloy) for us to play with. Talk about an infuriating alloy! You cannot bend it, can barely drill it, and if dropped, can shatter. But as a blob that you can't do much with other than looking at it, great color when polished. Spent hours, destroyed tools, and took more Tylenol imaginable.
All of these alloyed metals present their own unique properties that have to be dealt with individually in order to produce the product, which to your eye is no different from each other, except the color.