Is this watch gold??

[Jfarrar1982]

Hi everyone 

I picked up this vintage Lucerne watch of eBay working 

It has a back cover that looks gold 

I opened the back but there is no hallmarks 

Can you get them without hallmarks at all

Cheers 

[noirrac1j]

Hi and welcome to the forum. The lucerne is an inexpensive, mass produced pin-lever, and the case is not gold.

J

[clockboy]

Agree with J. However found this on the net:

To perform this test to check if gold is real, make a light, tiny scratch on the item using a small nail file. Choose a spot that is not noticeable if possible. Use a dropper to apply a small drop of nitric acid to the scratch. If there is no reaction, then the piece is probably made from real gold.

[yankeedog]

Nope....

[AndyHull]

It is highly unlikely to be gold, or even gold plated to any significant degree.

The watch is based on probably the lowest spec EB8800 movement.

Anything with even modest gold plating will generally have some indication on it that it is plated. Anything that is solid gold will, in my experience,  invariably have a hallmark of some description.

You can verify that it isn't gold in a number of ways, but most of them will be mildly destructive, if, as in this case, the body of the watch is a base metal.

Non omne quod nitet aurum est.

[yankeedog]

ugh latin...If it wasn't written by Wilfred Owen I have to look it up.

[nickelsilver]

Solid gold will always have a hallmark. Gold filled will say so and some details on thickness. Plated, sometimes they say sometimes they don't. No hallmark, no gold.