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Upcoming VSF Two Tone Gold Submariner 116613LN

Get2thechopper

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You mean 5 WHOLE pics??... yes

Apologies by contact I mean my supplier who I get from. He is NON TD so I didn’t want to mention it. Don’t see anyone else posting photos of VSF Bi metal?


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mnkoshka

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The Gold markers tend to change the colour of the lume material. I’ve noticed this when reluming gold markers On dials. The backing gold colour tends to bleed through under certain lighting conditions plus the gold surround reflects onto the lume also same with the hands. Different with the VSF though, with the hands You can tell that they look whiter than the dial.


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rcom440

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It's more for durability purposes not to hide scratches. If the scratch is deeper than 20 microns then what?

20 microns deep shouldn’t be enough to penetrate through “gold” wrap.
 

Nikz19

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When are they going to stop saying it's real gold plated???

Couldn’t agree more. I have yet to find a “gold wrapped” watch which has actual gold in it.

I replated a bunch of them from various factories and my gold solution made to stick on noble metals doesn’t work, while the one made for steel do. Means there’s no gold at all in it.

There’s also no way in hell you’ll use 3 grams of gold to plate 20 microns on a two tone watch.
 
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Jayalvin777

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A seller on wechat posted some pictures today with this caption :

"Two versions of VS brand new 3135 Golden Water Ghost:
Popular models, Limited gold models, Delivery is 20 days after booking. With certificate, the warranty is 5 years. The thickness of the gold coating is 20 microns, about 3 grams of gold." it seems like they're made by order. Maybe trusty can talk more about it.
 
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Yogibear

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The base metal they use to plate over is usually copper or similar coloured metal/alloy mix, it won't show silver underneath a deep scratch.

It wouldn't be a copper as that would eat away at the coating. It would be nickle substrate. It's hard to say exactly what process they are using..... normally I would say PVD application of titanium nitride like BP do with their daydates However you cant really rack these links in the vacuum chambers like a case or full bracelet. It would be costly and time consuming.
I'm thinking they used a gold tinted lacquer/ecoat just because that process is notoriously known for producing an orange tint colour when applied too much which this bracelet clearly has.
 
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Yogibear

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Couldn’t agree more. I have yet to find a “gold wrapped” watch which has actual gold in it.

I replated a bunch of them from various factories and my gold solution made to stick on noble metals doesn’t work, while the one made for steel do. Means there’s no gold at all in it.

There’s also no way in hell you’ll use 3 grams of gold to plate 20 microns on a two tone watch.

You wouldn't really want real gold plating on a watch, just because it falls in the same category as rings with regards to abuse. Gold is soft naturally. You would need a TiN deposited via vacuum chamber first to make the steel rough and have peaks and valleys like a mountain then deposit the gold with atleast 40 to 50 microns thick so they get filled in the peaks and valleys.... this process allows the peaks to act as the barrier while the valleys stay protected. Atleast 10 years of life with this process.
 
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mnkoshka

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There was a great article on the old RWI about the wrapping process and or plating that MW9 used on their two tone bracelet back in the day. I can’t remember exactly but a layer of copper was used in the process of gold wrapping. anyway There’s plenty of info about this process all over the net


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Replisimio

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There was a great article on the old RWI about the wrapping process and or plating that MW9 used on their two tone bracelet back in the day. I can’t remember exactly but a layer of copper was used in the process of gold wrapping. anyway There’s plenty of info about this process all over the net


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I remember. I think you are right about the base layer. The same process was also used on the old TW subs that River and Eddielee used to sell from memory.


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Nikz19

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You wouldn't really want real gold plating on a watch, just because it falls in the same category as rings with regards to abuse. Gold is soft naturally. You would need a TiN deposited via vacuum chamber first to make the steel rough and have peaks and valleys like a mountain then deposit the gold with atleast 40 to 50 microns thick so they get filled in the peaks and valleys.... this process allows the peaks to act as the barrier while the valleys stay protected. Atleast 10 years of life with this process.

Add a final layer over the classic 18k coating consisting in gold+ a small % of cobalt and you got your protective. That’s how I normally do. This doesn’t make it last forever of course, but the extreme hardness of cobalt helps a lot. I wear my 16613 daily and I have yet to experience any fading, even if I wash it every single day with brush and soap to keep it clean.
 

StreetFighter

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I remember. I think you are right about the base layer. The same process was also used on the old TW subs that River and Eddielee used to sell from memory.


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Exactly! I had a few of those eddielee TW best TT subs, I remember the gold on my SEL wore through and exposed copper underneath.

I have also had TT reps in the past which have had the gold on the sides of the SEL's so I don't see what the problem is or why they cannot make this happen. Big disappointment over here if the finished watches fail in this area.
 
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Yogibear

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There was a great article on the old RWI about the wrapping process and or plating that MW9 used on their two tone bracelet back in the day. I can’t remember exactly but a layer of copper was used in the process of gold wrapping. anyway There’s plenty of info about this process all over the net


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I think you mean brass?
 

StreetFighter

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May not have been actual copper, but it was a rose coloured metal they use as a base.
 

mari115

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Guys, I seriously doubt there is any gold, let alone 3 grams of it per watch lmao.
Do you know how many watches you can plate with 3 grams of gold?

Also, we have to hold our horses until we have the confirmation of the sides of the links being plated or not.

If yes, all good, if not, we are in rubbish city
 

Jayalvin777

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Guys, I seriously doubt there is any gold, let alone 3 grams of it per watch lmao.
Do you know how many watches you can plate with 3 grams of gold?

Also, we have to hold our horses until we have the confirmation of the sides of the links being plated or not.

If yes, all good, if not, we are in rubbish city

I also not sure about that information but it's being a long time since I heard that you need to pre order a watch and it will be finish after 20 days. So for sure there's so extra work. I guess we will have to wait 20 days to find out if the other version is actually better and plated correctly.
 

BiH855

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Add a final layer over the classic 18k coating consisting in gold+ a small % of cobalt and you got your protective. That’s how I normally do. This doesn’t make it last forever of course, but the extreme hardness of cobalt helps a lot. I wear my 16613 daily and I have yet to experience any fading, even if I wash it every single day with brush and soap to keep it clean.

That sounds good mate, you have a picture of your 16613? Curious how your gold tone is
 

Jayalvin777

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Seller from China just told me that the cheap version will cost same as the other subs around 420-450 with the td's. The other version will be more expensive, he doesn't know the price yet but he said vsf is giving a certificate to prove that "gold" has been used, as well as 5 years warranty if there's any fading, if that happens they will exchange the watch for free. The expensive version is made by order.
 
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StreetFighter

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I'll await the official announcement by trusty. Definitely interested in the 'more expensive' one but we need to see a finished article..