Bloomberg Businessweek (Europe)
Tickled Pink (and Green)
The preppy color combo has been cropping up on watches all spring
Whatever you call it— Everose gold (Rolex), pink gold (Vacheron Constantin), king gold (Hublot)— versions of rose gold were everywhere at Watches & Wonders 2024.
Patek Philippe artisans handcarved delicate designs in the metal alloy all across a 171,500-Swiss-franc ($188,502) grand complication watch; Baume et Mercier introduced 18-karat rose gold on an 18,500franc Riviera model; and Parmigiani put it on a 135,000-franc chronograph with an umber-colored dial.
“It is interesting how the manufacturers have been pushing rose gold,” says Eric Wind, founder and owner of Wind Vintage, a dealer in Palm Beach, Florida. “JaegerLeCoultre has only made rose gold and not yellow gold watches for about the past decade.” While Wind and other vintage dealers have noticed more of a surge in interest in yellow gold on the secondhand market, watchmakers are clearly thinking pink when it comes to their new models. “Watches of Switzerland has seen a stronger resurgence in the demand for yellow gold timepieces across both the primary and secondary markets,” says David Hurley, deputy chief executive officer of Watches of Switzerland Group Plc. “Rose gold makes up about 10% of our business, but with some of the incredible releases this year, led by the likes of Patek Philippe, we are already seeing a notable demand from our clients for the material.” Many of these new rose gold models are intersecting with another hot trend of the past few years: green dials. The combination seems to be a key color code of 2024. Here are some of the liveliest examples of the pairing introduced so far this year.