Rose gold may have been watchmaking’s material du décennie – flattering, forgiving, faintly continental. But the pendulum is swinging back. Yellow gold, that unapologetic emblem of success, is once again staking its claim on the wrists of those who prefer their statements unequivocal.
There is something reassuringly honest about yellow gold. It doesn’t whisper. It doesn’t hide behind nuance. It gleams. From deep-diving leviathans engineered to withstand ocean-floor pressure, to ultra-thin dress watches that nod to mid-century restraint, the metal proves remarkably versatile – equal parts boardroom ballast and Riviera swagger.
What’s striking about this latest revival is its breadth. Heritage maisons are reworking archival codes in proprietary alloys; independents are going all-in on solid gold everything; sports watches are piling on complications without sacrificing sheen. Consider this your golden hour – the best gold watches proving that subtlety, frankly, is overrated.
Rolex
Oyster Perpetual Deepsea
While it has certainly produced its fair share of watches in rose gold (or Everose gold, to use brand parlance), Rolex’s commitment to yellow gold has been respectably consistent over the years.
The heaviest hitter of them all? The Oyster Perpetual Deepsea.
While it features a titanium caseback for structural integrity, the sheer volume of 18ct yellow gold in the case and bracelet makes it a reassuringly weighty timepiece. You know, the kind that continues to work at the very bottom of the ocean.
Water-resistant to 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) thanks to Rolex’s ingenious Ringlock system and helium escape valve, and powered by the calibre 3235, it’s a technical leviathan in precious metal.
The blue Cerachrom bezel with matching lacquered dial are unmistakably Rolex: legible, balanced, almost serene beneath the engineering bravado.
Vacheron Constantin x Ora ïto
Patrimony Self-Winding
Fully committing to the yellow gold theme, the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Self-Winding can boast of a 40mm gold case with a matching gold-tone hand-set and dial, replete with solid-gold ‘pearl’ minute markers and ‘baton’ hour markers.
The result of a collaboration with French product designer, Ora ïto, the watch is a contemporary take on Vacheron’s 1950s ultra-thin dress watches.
Its striking, concentric pattern dial finishing, 6 o’clock date window (with throwback red digit typeface), and burgundy calfskin leather strap (with an embossed rectangular pattern), are worthy of additional note.
Limited to only 100-pieces, the Patrimony’s Côtes de Genève decorated self-wound manufacture movement is visible via a sapphire crystal caseback.
A Lange & Söhne
Odysseus HoneyGold
Making its debut in 2010, Lange’s patented HoneyGold is not only harder than most gold alloys but, impressively enough, most steel alloys too.
In terms of colour, its warm hue lies somewhere between yellow and rose gold. Reserved only for the German brand’s most exclusive models, HoneyGold debuted in the Odysseus sports watch collection last year.
Limited to 100 units, the Odysseus HoneyGold bears ‘big date’ and ‘day’ complications, employs an automatic in-house movement with 50 hours of power reserve, has a handsome five-link bracelet with micro-adjust deployant buckle, and is guaranteed water-tight to a depth of 120 metres.
Breguet
Classique Souscription 2025
Part of the brand’s 250th anniversary celebrations, the Classique Souscription sees Breguet look to its back catalogue, with a one-handed pocket watch from the 18th century reimagined as a classical 21st century wristwatch.
Key features include: a new manual-wind manufacture calibre, a 40mm case, grand feu enamel dial, and a solitary heat-blued hand.
Described as “a blond precious metal” by Breguet, the gold alloy used for the watch’s case comprises 75% gold mixed with silver, copper and palladium, and is exclusive to the brand, having been conceived and developed in-house. It boasts high levels of discolouration resistance and stability.
Biver
Automatique Yellow Gold
Founded by industry titan Jean-Claude Biver (whose CV is as long as it is impressive) and his son, Pierre, the independent Biver brand, this year, launched the Automatique Yellow Gold.
This 39mm time-only ‘everyday’ wristwatch goes the whole hog with a full solid gold horned-lug case, dial, hands, black applied hour markers, black applied minute track, and, of course, a gold strap pin buckle.
Built from scratch in partnership with Swiss movement specialists Dubois Depraz, the micro-rotor JCB.003-C movement has been exquisitely finished and boasts a zero-reset mechanism which snaps the seconds hand back to the 12 o’clock position when the crown is pulled out, for precise time setting.
IWC
Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph
Cramming a flying tourbillon, flyback chronograph, and retrograde date indicator into its 43.5mm case, this grand release from IWC is a watch for people who like horological gadgets.
Realised in IWC’s Armor Gold – much like its Richemont group stablemate, Lange’s honey gold – it’s described by IWC as being “significantly” harder than conventional gold metals “thanks to an improved microstructure”.
Continuing the gold theme, the movement features a solid-gold winding rotor while the use of silicon and IWC’s private Diamond Shell technology for movement components means greater efficiency and longer service intervals.
Bulgari
Octo Finissimo Marble Tourbillon
Looking to its Roman roots, Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Marble Tourbillon features, as its name suggests, a bold green marble dial. No mean feat given the difficulties in machining the brittle stone down to a ‘thickness’ of 0.8mm for use as the dial.
Housed in a remarkably svelte 40 x 4.85mm multifaceted case, a 1.95mm ultra-thin manually wound movement with no less than 52-hours of power reserve and flying tourbillon functionality (visible dial-side thanks to a cutout at the 6 o’clock position) provides operational drive to the two-from-the-centre hands. It’s supplied on a dial-matched green alligator leather strap with a yellow gold pin buckle.
Louis Vuitton
Tambour Onyx Dial
Louis Vuitton’s riff on the ‘integrated-bracelet sports watch’ design that’s been so popular over the past few years, the Tambour is proof positive that the fashion house can make an excellent mechanical watch.
Available in a host of metal configurations, the yellow gold version is quite the looker with its brushed, polished and sandblast finish case/bracelet against a clean white dial with raised, lumed hour numerals and modernised ‘sector’ layout.
On a technical level, its movement is a nicely decorated, Chronometer certified, automatic 22ct rose gold micro-rotor caliber, with 50-hours of power reserve of which even the most conservative of watch snobs would be hard pressed to find fault.
TAG Heuer
Carrera Chronograph
TAG Heuer’s Carrera Chronograph draws inspiration from the gold watches the brand (then going by the name Heuer) gifted to racing drivers, the likes of F1’s Niki Lauda and Ronnie Peterson, during the 1960s.
The influence of the original watch is readily apparent with the new version’s retro 39mm diameter, domed ‘glassbox’ style sapphire crystal, and mushroom pushers.
The 6 o’clock running seconds sub-dial has also been ‘camouflaged’, blending in with the gold-plate dial, to further evoke the design of the OG and its two register side-by-side sub-dial layout.
Returning to Formula 1 as Official Timekeeper last year, TAG’s association with F1, and motorsport in general, is as authentic as it gets.
