My 1944 Bulova Minute Man has the following information etched in it: BULOVA 10K ROLLED GOLD PLATE BEZEL STERLING BASE STAINLESS BACK NEW YORK.
What does this mean in terms of the case/bezel. Does Rolled Gold plate mean: rolled gold, gold plate, gold filled etc.
A friend of mine who was a jeweler starting in the early 1970's, since retired told me when I told him that the case of my watch was gold plated on sterling silver, that it couldn't be, because after all the years of usage it would certainly have worn off it was plated. He said it had to be "gold filled" which he described as a "fusion" process for put gold onto/into the surface of the sterling.
Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks Larry
I'll try to explain what I've read about this subject Larry. Keep in mind that I'm not a jeweler. I've read that an ounce of 24k gold can be run through rollers compressing it to a very very thin thickness and into a sheet that would cover a football field. 10k gold is approximately .416 % gold mixed with other materials, depending on whether it's yellow, white or rose gold. 12k gold would be 50 % gold mixed with other material.
From what i've read, rolled gold plating has a sheet of this gold mixture approximately 3/1000ths of an inch thick bonded to a base metal, which in this case is sterling silver. Gold filled has a sheet of this gold mixture 7/1000ths of an inch thick bonded to a base metal. Then these sheets are made into the watch cases by pressing them into molds.
Gold plating of modern watches generally refers to electro plating. It's a process where the object to be plated is immersed in an acid solution containing gold that the acid disolved. An electrical DC current is passed through this acid with the positive lead attached to an electrode immersed in this acid and the negative lead attached to the article to be plated. The gold in the acid will be attracted to the object attached to the negative lead and attach to it. It is a very very thin layer that is just enough to cover the object and will not hold up to wear for very long. Think of costume jewelry in this case.
I think this is correct but I'm going by memory from my very old brain. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than myself will correct me if I'm wrong.
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As I understand it the difference in gold filled vs rolled gold plate is the thickness of the gold layer and in the case of gold filled it usually is two layers of gold sandwiching a layer of base metal so it is double sided. Rolled Gold Plate is generally a thick layer of plating rolled onto the top surface then molded into the case shape single sided. Gold Plated is a think microscopic layer electrically layered onto the piece. All being said Gold Filled actually has material amounts of real gold that can be extracted while Rolled Gold Plate has a tiny fraction of real gold and plated virtually none.
Thanks JimDon5822, I did some research since my post combined with other's answers here and it looks like you are totally correct. What threw me originally is the word "plate" in "rolled gold plate". Looking at other posts from when I originally posted the watch with some questions, some members referred to it as a "plating" process. Here's what I since found out from some outside research that not only confirms everything you said, but clarifies why the word "plate" was used: While "rolled gold" already implies a process of applying a gold layer, adding "plate" emphasizes that this is a surface application. This redundancy helps in providing a clearer, more detailed description, ensuring that there is no confusion with other types of gold treatments. Usually, the gold is bonded to a single side of the base metal. Whereas gold filled involves bonding gold to both sides of the base metal, providing a more substantial and durable gold layer.
