Gold Plating Your Apple Watch is Possible Without Spending a Fortune

While the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition is a gorgeous wristwatch, its starting price of $10,000 in the United States is simply out of reach for many customers. But if you have a stainless steel Apple Watch, it is possible to gold plate your device without breaking the bank. Take a look at the comparatively inexpensive services and methods for turning your Apple Watch gold below.

WatchPlate

Goldplated Apple Watch

MacRumors forum member RianFlynn has shared photos of a stainless steel Apple Watch with Milanese Loop with what he says is a thin coating of 24-karat gold that costs just $6. The finished product looks quite impressive, and the user has since launched a website called WatchPlate where he plans to accept Apple Watch gold plating orders for $399 with an estimated three-day turnaround. Most of the price is based on the time and labor involved. While we have not confirmed the authenticity of this service, gold plating the stainless steel Apple Watch is technically feasible.

The Time Preserve

Apple Watch Time Preserve

Watch restoration specialist The Time Preserve recently announced that it is accepting gold plating orders for the stainless steel Apple Watch. The company, which has been restoring watches since 1995, uses custom-formulated gold electroplating for durability, and ensures that the 5 to 6 microns thick plating will not peel from daily wear. Prices range from $550 to $650, with cheaper prices for bands only, and the service has an estimated one-week turnaround.

Gold Spray Paint

YouTube creator Casey Neistat shared a video last week where he applied gold spray paint to his space gray aluminum Apple Watch Sport. Beyond the obvious fact that spray painting your Apple Watch probably isn't the wisest idea, given that the paint could easily chip or get stuck in the Digital Crown or other parts of the watch, the end result actually looks much like the Apple Watch Edition.

Of course, the thin gold plating is not the same as the 18-karat solid gold used on the Apple Watch Edition, but the difference is hard to tell visually and these services are available at a fraction of the price. Before placing an order, keep in mind that modifying your Apple Watch with gold plating may void your standard warranty or AppleCare protection plan for the device.

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Tag: gold

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Top Rated Comments

(View all)

testcard

45 months ago

I'm seriously considering offering a service where Edition owners can have their Watches space grey anodised. They're still rich, just not flaunting it.

Rating: 23 Votes

joshwenke

45 months ago

For those of you who want to look rich... but aren't.

Rating: 15 Votes

Jeremy1026

45 months ago

98% profit margin. He makes Apple look like chumps.

Rating: 13 Votes

martygras9

45 months ago

For those of you who want to look rich... but aren't.

Or for those who prefer the look of gold to stainless steel but don't want to pay $10k.

Rating: 9 Votes

DipDog3

45 months ago

For those of you who want to look rich... but aren't.

For those who want to look like a moron for spending $10K on a watch when you obviously can't afford it.

Rating: 6 Votes

DipDog3

45 months ago

Consider your warranty void.

Rating: 6 Votes

Anonymous Freak

45 months ago

98% profit margin. He makes Apple look like chumps.

Even the creator admits most of the cost is labor, not materials.

$6 of 24k gold seems questionable. That is marginally more than 0.0051 ounces of gold at todays prices. Doesn't seem like enough to me. But then again, I don't even own a single piece of jewelry. Who am I to know?

Two words: gold leaf (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=gold+leaf+sheet&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=30917602821&hvpos=1t3&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9401854044598758975&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_8kkis02iqh_b)

Gold is an amazing material. It stays identifiable as gold, even when you hammer it to ridiculous levels of thinness.

One ounce of gold may be hammered thin enough to cover more than 9 square meters (96.9 square feet) of a surface. The gold leaf may be only 0.18 microns (seven millionths of an inch) thick; a stack of 7,055 sheets would be no thicker than a dime.

Rating: 4 Votes