Values & guides
Metal choice was never only about taste — it tracked how watches were actually worn, and that history can tell you which one belongs on your wrist.
Start with the history, because the metals arrived for reasons.
Gold came first, and for a long time it was the only serious option. A wristwatch in the 1920s and 30s was dress equipment: worn with a cuff, kept off hard surfaces, closer to jewelry than to tools. Yellow gold said the piece was cared for, and its softness was a feature — these watches were not meant to be knocked around.
Steel changed the conversation. As diving, flying, and motorsport pushed watches into rougher use through the 1950s and 60s, steel stopped being the cheap alternative and became the honest one. It scratched instead of dented, took a brushed finish that hid daily wear, and paired naturally with the sport references that now define most collections. The market followed. By the 1970s a steel sport watch could outrank a gold dress piece in both price and desire — a real design shift, not a marketing story.
Two-tone is the interesting middle, and it says the most about the wearer. The combination read as a deliberate 1980s statement: gold where the eye lands, steel where the wrist takes abuse. The house signature to look for is the bezel and the center bracelet links carrying the gold while the case flanks stay steel — that split is the whole idea, warmth up top, durability underneath.
So match it to your week. Desk, dinners, careful handling — gold rewards you. Travel, weather, a watch you forget you're wearing — steel. Something that has to cross both without a second thought — two-tone earns its keep.
Every piece here is authenticated in-house, serviced by our watchmakers where needed, and backed by our own store warranty. Come tell us how you actually live, and we'll point you at the metal that fits it.
