Gold tone in Citizen watches

[Cosmo]

Are the gold tone of Citizens watches result of physical/chemical vapour deposition (PVD/CVD) -coating or traditional electrochemical plating or an ingridient/s (chromophore) in the stainless steel alloy? It is said to be abrassion resistant...

[Corgi]

w- w- w- what!

[KB]

I do believe it is a form of PVD

Ken

[offshore]

It's actually caled Ion coating, although sounds suspiciously like a form of PVD to me.

From their FAQ's.

What is ion plating?

This is a method of plating developed and patented by the Citizen Watch Company. It was first used in the space industry to apply a coating of various colours of metal to a base metal case or bracelet. The powdered metal used for the coating is evaporated in the presence of nitrogen gas in a vacuum chamber with very high temperatures and voltage. This causes the molecules of plating metal to enter the surface of the article being plated.

This process ensures superior bonding because the colour is actually in the surface of the host metal when finished.

Seek and ye shall find!

Offshore