Gold Plating Durability 1 Year Review - Clean Factory 116518 "Pikachu" (Spoilers : I don't recommend it)

[Reaps]

So I decided to make this post for gold plating durability.

First of all, to clarify the environment and wearing condition. It is important to set the baseline, because it varies person to person :

1. I am well versed in gold for replicas,
2. I wear the watch once every 1-2 weeks, in total, i estimate I wore it around 20-30 times last year. I never wear it in water or do sports with it.
3. I store the replica in a box with alot of desiccant packs
4. I wash the watch with hand soap after wear, leave it to dry, before putting it back in the box
5. I am gentle with my replicas and watches in general, you can see the condition is still great outside of the tarnishing (barely any scratches)
6. I currently reside in a extremely humid Asian country for business and switch between the city and the coast fairly often (I think this is the primary reason!)

I'll let the pictures show. So you can see that the areas that have the most tarnishing is the tips of the edges of the lug, the tips of the clasp, etc, basically all the "edges" of the watch suffer from tarnishing. It is hard to capture but if I could say it's like a mustard-green.

I am a little disappointed. Before you say it's the humidity and the conditions of the environment I am in, I own a GMF Daydate unplated, I own some BP pieces, I even own what is considered a "mid tier" OMF Blancpain Villeret 6654" in rose gold- and none of these have tarnished even after 2 years. I store these in the exact same condition as my Clean Daytona.

I know that every single replica, even in the batches, have different quality of plating, but this one made me really disappointed....

For this reason I cannot recommend this specific Clean Daytona 116518 replica unless it is replated.

Please feel free to share your experience with THIS SPECIFIC replica.

In any other news - I would highly appreciate it if anyone could point me to a gold plated Daytona 116518 case or where I could source one to replace my Pikachu. I really do love this watch and it would be a shame to have to part it out for parts because of this issue.

 

[Reaps]

It's very hard to capture the tarnishing in light - but trust me, it's there, and it is the most obvious in sunlight.

 

[Karbon74]

A green Pikachu is the worst

very useful review, thanks

 

[Reaps]

A green Pikachu is the worst

very useful review, thanks

I don't know Karbon, I think you look pretty good in green

 

[Karbon74]

You might want to try the baking soda, salt and aluminum foil trick at least on the clasp

And maybe also on the case after decasing the movement

 

[Reaps]

You might want to try the baking soda, salt and aluminum foil trick at least on the clasp

And maybe also on the case after decasing the movement

For now I want to focus on getting a new case and clasp and end links in gold, once I've secured those, I will play around with this case

My plan is to try your suggestion, but also try cape cod tarnishing cloth as well.

 

[Karbon74]

I don't know Karbon, I think you look pretty good in green

you make confusion with
@GingerBulbasaur

I mean @GingerBubba

 

[Kerbus]

Reaps,

Thank you for this and for every post you make. I learn a lot every time. You are my favorite RWI member

 

[Reaps]

Reaps,

Thank you for this and for every post you make. I learn a lot every time. You are my favorite RWI member

Thank you for your kind words. I have taken alot from RWI and I hope that some of my posts can give back to the tremendous community that I've been a part of for these 2 years.

 

[Kerbus]

I’ve been here on and off since ‘06 and I continue to learn. Whenever I can help out, I’m happy to do so.

 

[Winni1611]

This looks really Bad and for me it would be a reason not to wear the watch. Dissapointing, thx for your warning bro

 

[derjenigewelcher]

Factory gold plated watches are so thin plated.
If you want them in gold, buy one, and replate after buying.
Here you can see 15 microns thick of 18k Gold - really worth it when doing by yourself. Or let others do it, there are enough people who learned that skill.

 

[Karbon74]

Factory gold plated watches are so thin plated.
If you want them in gold, buy one, and replate after buying.
Here you can see 15 microns thick of 18k Gold - really worth it when doing by yourself. Or let others do it, there are enough people who learned that skill.

Replating is done on top of the stock plating? Or does it have to be scrubbed first?

 

[derjenigewelcher]

Replating is done on top of the stock plating? Or does it have to be scrubbed first?

GMF works directly. But when for example the "Gold" color is PVD colored, you have to remove this first. Else first cover with nickle for making gold sit on perfectly.

 

[tomriddle]

one of the best posts and threads in here... thank you for posting this specially because of the time elapsed so how we see how it held up

question: you ever try any jewelry cleaner/tarnish remover? might want to see what it does maybe it'll take the tarnish away

 

[Dequantavious]

You might want to try the baking soda, salt and aluminum foil trick at least on the clasp

And maybe also on the case after decasing the movement

Do not try this. It does not work on PVD plated watches. I attempted this method on my RG Yacht-Master and it made it much worse.

This type of tarnishing seems to be caused by a reaction with the rubber bracelet. On my Pikachu Daytona I have had mild success removing the tarnishing with Cape Cod and Jewelry Connoisseurs Wipes. But that only works when they initially show up and not if it has been tarnishing for a while.

Here’s to hoping we find a better method.

 

[MaximillianGT]

It's very hard to capture the tarnishing in light - but trust me, it's there, and it is the most obvious in sunlight.

Thank you for your review, especially those photos. You affirmed my belief of not getting a plated gold rep unless I can upgrade it to an 18k real gold case and bracelet etc. I will become paranoid and check it every day if the plating is fading...

 

[Reaps]

Thank you for your review, especially those photos. You affirmed my belief of not getting a plated gold rep unless I can upgrade it to an 18k real gold case and bracelet etc. I will become paranoid and check it every day if the plating is fading...

Personally I think this only happens on Oysterflex Gold models. The rubber rubbing on the case traps moisture and causes consistent tarnishing.

I own 2 more gold replicas and neither have tarnished at all.

I'm actually looking to get a two tone bluesy soon so we'll see how that goes haha

 

[Reaps]

Do not try this. It does not work on PVD plated watches. I attempted this method on my RG Yacht-Master and it made it much worse.

This type of tarnishing seems to be caused by a reaction with the rubber bracelet. On my Pikachu Daytona I have had mild success removing the tarnishing with Cape Cod and Jewelry Connoisseurs Wipes. But that only works when they initially show up and not if it has been tarnishing for a while.

Here’s to hoping we find a better method.

I think it's this specific Clean model that has this issue, or most Clean Oysterflex Gold models... maybe something about the way they plated these specific cases or the Oysterflex trapping moisture.

I'll try the cape code but at this point I'm just gonna try and source someone's gold 116518 case, replate it, to replace it. Or sell this one for cheap for parts (4130 + bezel + oysterflex + dial) to recoup some loss.

 

[findingtime384]

Factory gold plated watches are so thin plated.
If you want them in gold, buy one, and replate after buying.
Here you can see 15 microns thick of 18k Gold - really worth it when doing by yourself. Or let others do it, there are enough people who learned that skill.

Who does replaying in the US? Does the stock finish have to be stripped?