That would be great! Maybe you could take a center link of one or both to a local gold buying place, they usually acid test pieces for free with an eye to buying scrap, post the results here. If you happen to get a positive result then we can go from there about further testing for actual karat.
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"The "Wrapped" Gold Sub Guide"
- Thread starter Parabuteo
- Start date
That would be great! Maybe you could take a center link of one or both to a local gold buying place, they usually acid test pieces for free with an eye to buying scrap, post the results here. If you happen to get a positive result then we can go from there about further testing for actual karat.
gamba66
I'm Pretty Popular
- 25/3/15
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Not much, point of the acid test is to remove as minimal as possible from the gold to keep the jewlery perfectly intact.
You rub off an extremly small amount of the gold on the stone, then apply the acid and see how it reacts (acid and stone test).
So while it is a test to determine if something is made out of 18, 14 or 10k gold, it is definitely not a test that says anything about thickness in anyway.
20-30 microns thick is reasonable and doable for solid 18k gold price wise....but this is where it gets so sticky, and the term "wrapped" is bandied about like it means something. The "wrapping" on the Noob and the WM9 is about 200 microns thick. 20 microns to my mind should be termed "extra heavy gold plating" not "wrapping". This is where it gets confusing....
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I am not talking about a statement. I am talking of the site saying that the watch was 80% solid gold. And it had a Sh3135 when it was a daydate which both points were complete lies.
Plus I don't know if you are reading the post. They just saw that the "wrap" has zero gold. So it is 100% bull and profit.
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- 22/10/11
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Really great thread. I got more new information in 15 minutes in one thread than in a week reading gen forums. Thanks everyone, especially OP.
- 16/2/16
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@Parabuteo
I wasnt around for a while, but I'm still wearing that wrapped BP for almost a year by now, no one can suspect its a rep, gold shines just like gen.
Also since I'm very careless, there are many deep scratches on bracelet. But there is still gold under those scratches.. no metal, no fadings. BP did a great job on wrapping.
I only had two issues,
1. Crown logo dropped from clasp lock, I ordered a new one, there is no problem for now.
2. Pearl on insert has dropped by itself somerhere, (this is a big issue) I'm ordering a new insert now.
Reason I dont buy a gen insert or clasp is all parts of the watch already looks 1:1 like gen, no need to spend more money...
Also many thanks to my dealer Chazingtime @psychospike he helped me with the issue parts and got me the best watch from BP.
Thanks for replying! This is interesting to hear! Sounds like there is some hope a BP at least contains enough gold in the wrapping to test positive....do you know how the Jeweler checked it exactly, was it acid tested or what?
And if he was able to determine the karat?
Still waiting for @andrei01 to receive the Noob wrap to see what exact metal it is.
If you were inclined to see if Chazingtime would supply you a spare link to your model and PM me the price I would like to buy one if possible with an eye to confirming your Jeweler's results....let me know.
- 7/8/16
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Honestly i think i won't be getting the link this year
).Post office services here are outrageous!
I bought a watch box from germany last week. Tracked dhl delivery, all good till it entered my country. Now the tarcking doesn't exist! And on dhl site it says the package has been taken by the ro post office.
I swear i'm going to break the post office windows with a brick!
As i told @Parabuteo they lost me 4 packages already. Not to mention once i lost a lot of sneakers and clothes ordered from footlocker because the post office was robbed
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Honestly i think i won't be getting the link this year
Post office services here are outrageous!
I bought a watch box from germany last week. Tracked dhl delivery, all good till it entered my country. Now the tarcking doesn't exist! And on dhl site it says the package has been taken by the ro post office.
I swear i'm going to break the post office windows with a brick!
As i told @Parabuteo they lost me 4 packages already. Not to mention once i lost a lot of sneakers and clothes ordered from footlocker because the post office was robbed
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Yes- USPS told me they could not really track it all the way but could only see if it was delivered...LOL, well if it is NEVER delivered kinda moot point. They said the problem was once it entered Romania all bets were off.
I'm keeping the faith it will get there, they did say up to 3 weeks so we'll see.
I still very much appreciate the offer to analyze the link gratis and I'm sure many other members do too.
I still have a piece of the Noob link, might still pay to have it officially assayed if the link I sent never reaches you-and hope someday to obtain a BP link or see results of a acid test on one by another motivated member, not quite sure how definitive a Jeweler "checking" a link and declaring it fine wrapped gold really is- would prefer specifics of exactly how that "checking" was conducted.
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The testing would take like 5 seconds. We do hundreds per day. So no big deal here. Whoever would charge for something this easy would be an asshole.
I mean you just point the gun at the link, push the trigger and that's it. You have the full list of metals in seconds with a very small margin of error.
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I am in negations with a TD for the BP 18k Wrapped 41mm Datejust
I asked for an extra link however he is not able to provide and said the whole bracelet has to be purchased
What he did say was not to expect any gold content in the watch, however with that said it would be nice to know for me and other members on this forum
I asked for an extra link however he is not able to provide and said the whole bracelet has to be purchased
What he did say was not to expect any gold content in the watch, however with that said it would be nice to know for me and other members on this forum
!!
Thank you very much for weighing in! That is the first time a TD has actually said something, even third party....and you would have expected more than one would have been aware of this thread and could have commented anytime....yet they did not.
That said- I should reiterate, the purpose of this thread is to educate more than debunk, I really love gold reps and "wrapped" reps can have their place for a segment of our membership, but we should know what we are getting.
I had not the slightest agenda against our TD's or the Factories in this, I personally only expect a TD to source me what I want, communicate well, and stand behind customs seizure. Weeding through flowery descriptions on websites and deciding what part of those are true is on me I feel....and part of the replica game. Just my opinion I know...that said if this thread drives change in this area, it would be a good thing.
You have provided very useful information to this thread and the membership in general, I think a pretty good consensus is now being formed as to what a "gold wrapping" consists of.
@yllekp said earlier: "It is a market decides thing really, but being armed with information is a powerful thing." I think this is very true....
Maybe your negotiations will be affected favorably by the admission by the TD that there is no gold content, and this will possibly bring prices down overall in the future, we'll see.
Andrew from Trusty Time said the BP 18k wrapped watches are as claimed therefore he would not discount it
I had another TD give me a small discount but not much, although he said the gold claims should not be taken seriously
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I had another TD give me a small discount but not much, although he said the gold claims should not be taken seriously
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I've been looking for this answer a long time ago, finally someone has laid out everything. Thank you.
- 7/8/16
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- 7/8/16
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Here are the results:
Shiny side 1st :
The device i have is not calibrated to show precious metals so everything precious is shown as 'W', in our case W being gold. So there certainly is some gold there. But is piece gold plated or is gold really part of the alloy ?
Now the side facing the stainless link:
You can clearly see that W doesn't show up anymore so this concludes the test.
Just to be sure i grinded the shiny face a bit and repeated the test:
It still shows W ( gold ) but the piece being so small i'm not sure if i managed to scrape off the entire surface with the grinder.
The correct way was to flaten the piece and then sand it and then retest but since the backside doesn't show any trace of gold it's quite obvious that this is just gold plated brass.
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Shiny side 1st :
The device i have is not calibrated to show precious metals so everything precious is shown as 'W', in our case W being gold. So there certainly is some gold there. But is piece gold plated or is gold really part of the alloy ?
Now the side facing the stainless link:
You can clearly see that W doesn't show up anymore so this concludes the test.
Just to be sure i grinded the shiny face a bit and repeated the test:
It still shows W ( gold ) but the piece being so small i'm not sure if i managed to scrape off the entire surface with the grinder.
The correct way was to flaten the piece and then sand it and then retest but since the backside doesn't show any trace of gold it's quite obvious that this is just gold plated brass.
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Awesome! Glad it got there and your postal service cooperated for once!
Many thanks from myself and I am sure all the membership..so there you have it, the “thick gold wrapping” of a Noob link is just gold plated brass.
I myself at this point feel that going forward enough research has been done on this subject that the “wrapping” from makers other than Noob needs to be proven to be solid gold rather than disproven. If anyone wants to provide such proof this is the place to do it.
I am thinking the better perceived color of the wrapped BP’s might be due to if they are plated over brass rather than steel it might change the tone for the better- not sure but seems reasonable? And possibly the Factories plate thicker on the “wrapped” models to make them stand out from the plated ones with an eye to making them be perceived as higher quality. This along with deep scratches being less apparent due to brass rather than steel backing to the plating seems the sum benefit to wrapping at this point. @Thehitman might have some insight on this?
Also I feel the latest plated Subs from BP have very good gold tone, better than previous models, so perhaps BP at least has started using high quality plating of late. If he is onboard I may send a link from my BP to @Versaceboy54 to compare to his wrapped BP to confirm or refute....
Again much thanks to you and all who have contributed to this thread.
Many thanks from myself and I am sure all the membership..so there you have it, the “thick gold wrapping” of a Noob link is just gold plated brass.
I myself at this point feel that going forward enough research has been done on this subject that the “wrapping” from makers other than Noob needs to be proven to be solid gold rather than disproven. If anyone wants to provide such proof this is the place to do it.
I am thinking the better perceived color of the wrapped BP’s might be due to if they are plated over brass rather than steel it might change the tone for the better- not sure but seems reasonable? And possibly the Factories plate thicker on the “wrapped” models to make them stand out from the plated ones with an eye to making them be perceived as higher quality. This along with deep scratches being less apparent due to brass rather than steel backing to the plating seems the sum benefit to wrapping at this point. @Thehitman might have some insight on this?
Also I feel the latest plated Subs from BP have very good gold tone, better than previous models, so perhaps BP at least has started using high quality plating of late. If he is onboard I may send a link from my BP to @Versaceboy54 to compare to his wrapped BP to confirm or refute....
Again much thanks to you and all who have contributed to this thread.