Gold watches for 2025 and beyond

If the appeal of the yellow gold watch to some has long been limited by its association with bling, might matters now be on the turn? The new year has seen any number of watches - from Chopard’s Alpine Eagle XL, to Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222 and Patek Philippe’s Nautilus 5980 - return to the metal’s ability to make a statement, recognised ever since Rolex launched its pioneering King Midas 60 years ago - what would become a firm favourite of, of course, Elvis Presley. Oft-cited as the ‘watch of 2024’? Piaget’s polo 79 in 18kt yellow gold.

It is, argues Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie - which has a hit with its Streamliner in gold - also a counter-reaction to recent years’ over-abundance of steel models. 'People love yellow gold’s warmth, symbolism and character, but are also looking to it as a way of standing out again,' he argues: the prevalence of white, pink and rose golds - in no small part down to growing appreciation for vintage models - have also provided a way into the acceptability of the bolder yellow kind.

Various brands making proprietary, more functional golds - Rolex’s fade-free Everose, A Lange & Sohne’s super-hard Honeygold, Hublot’s scratch-resistant gold and ceramic Magic Gold blend and so on - may also have encouraged people to consider the metal.

But perhaps there are less positive reasons too. Gold’s revival - which may be part of a wider, nostalgic fashion for all things 80s and 90s - likely also reflects a re-imagining of the gold watch as a form of wearable insurance in unstable times, much as investors have returned to gold for its security and broad price stability too. 'I think that’s both unconscious and, for others, quite conscious [in consumers' purchase decision], even if people are reluctant to admit it,' suggests Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, owner of the Fears Watch Company.

But therein also lies a major problem: gold’s record price, and its ever-growing premium relative to steel.

There’s a good reason why the watch brands most enthusiastically pursuing gold are both large-scale businesses and operating at the top of the market. It’s these that are more likely to have the cash-flow to buy gold and to meet minimum orders set by case-makers in order to cover the costs of specialist tooling, tool cleaning and - critically with gold - the process of minimising wastage. These top brands can also factor into their retail prices gold’s potential short-term price fluctuations (between buying gold and selling the watches made from it).

'Just as importantly, the brand cachet they have gives them a customer base able to buy gold pieces,' adds Bowman-Scargill, which has over the last couple of years launched both gold-plated and solid gold versions of its Brunswick - the latter seeming to be the customer preference. 'Without that cachet a brand making watches in gold now is taking a high risk - if you don’t find a market for your watches you’re left with a lot of very expensive metal - and it becomes hard to justify the economics'.

That, says Meylan, can all but rule gold out of the reach of most middle-market and many independent brands. Unless, that is, they box clever: 3D printed gold can reduce wastage, for example, while hollow cases can create the look without the weight; bi-colour models in steel and gold nod to the trend without the same price tag, as do gold models not on bracelets but rubber/leather straps. 'There’s an opportunity [for watch brands] to make the most of this trend for gold, but you have to be smart,' says Meylan.

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