How federal law lets you describe a watch: gold, platinum, and quality marks

Two federal instruments decide what you may write in a listing and what may be stamped inside a case: the FTC's Jewelry Guides at 16 CFR Part 23, and the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act at 15 U.S.C. ch. 8. Neither is about licensing. Both are about accuracy, and both apply at every level of the trade — the Guides say so expressly, naming manufacturers, suppliers and retailers.

Where watches sit, exactly

Worth being precise, because the scope provision is oddly drawn. Section 23.0(a) lists the covered "industry products" and includes "metallic watch bands not permanently attached to watches." A complete watch is not itself named in the list.

What the section does cover, in general terms, is articles fabricated from precious metals — gold, silver and the platinum group — with its examples introduced by "including", not "limited to". A gold watch case is an article fabricated from a precious metal on any ordinary reading. But the drafting leaves a gap between the detached bracelet, which is expressly in, and the watch as a whole, which is not expressly anything. That is an attorney question, not something this page resolves.

Either way, § 23.1 reaches everything you say about the watch: it is unfair or deceptive to misrepresent the type, kind, grade, quality, quantity, metallic content, size, weight, cut, colour, character, treatment, substance, durability, serviceability, origin, price, value, preparation, production, manufacture or distribution of an industry product — or "any other material aspect" of it.

"Gold" on its own means 24 karat

This is the rule most listings break. Under § 23.3(b)(1), using the word Gold without qualification for something not composed throughout of fine (24 karat) gold may be misleading.

For an alloy, the karat fineness must immediately precede the word and be of at least equal conspicuousness — "14 Karat Gold", "14 K. Gold", "14 Kt. Gold". The karat designation alone is fine too: "14 Karat", "14 K." What is not fine is a big bold GOLD with a small "14k" trailing after it. The Guides make the relative prominence an express condition, not a stylistic preference.

The three plating terms are not interchangeable, and the difference is a manufacturing process:

• Gold Plate / Gold Plated — a surface plating of gold alloy applied by any process, of a thickness and surface coverage that assures reasonable durability, with the karat designation immediately before the term at equal conspicuousness.
• Gold Filled / Rolled Gold Plate / Gold Overlay — the same, except the plating must be applied by a mechanical process. That is the whole distinction. A case that was electroplated is not gold-filled no matter how thick the layer or what the previous owner called it.
• Gold Electroplate — electroplated, again with the karat fineness, thickness and coverage sufficient for reasonable durability.

"Reasonable durability" is defined rather than left to taste: the plating must be thick enough, in all areas, to give the coverage a reasonable consumer would expect from the surface application. The Guides acknowledge that different parts of an item wear differently, so thickness does not have to be uniform across the piece.

One more trap. Where a gold plating has been covered with a base metal such as nickel and then given a thin gold wash, you have to disclose that the primary gold coating is covered with base metal which is gold-washed (§ 23.3(b)(7)).

The word "solid" and the hollow case

A note to § 23.3(c)(1) deals with something vintage dealers meet constantly: a product composed throughout of gold alloy but with a hollow centre or interior. Using "Gold" without disclosing the hollow centre may mislead. The disclosure must sit in immediate proximity to the word — the Guides' own examples are "14 Karat Gold-Hollow Center" and "14 K. Gold Tubing".

And explicitly: such products should not be marked or described as "solid", or as being solidly of gold. "Solid 14k" on a case with hollow lugs or a hollow bezel is the exact claim the note is written to stop.

Platinum runs on three numbers

Section 23.6 sets thresholds rather than a karat scale:

• 950 parts per thousand — the level at which the unqualified word "Platinum" is accurate. Below it, unqualified use may mislead (§ 23.6(b)(3)).
• 850 parts per thousand — below this, a number used with the word (for example "600Plat.") has to mention the parts per thousand of other platinum group metals too.
• 500 parts per thousand — the floor. Below it the word "Platinum" may not be used at all to mark or describe the product (§ 23.6(b)(5)).

Between 500 and 850 you need a clear and conspicuous disclosure alongside the number. The platinum group, for these purposes, is platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and osmium.

A quality mark that only applies to part of the watch

Section 23.10 is the one that matters for two-tone, and nobody thinks about it.

A "quality mark" is defined broadly: any letter, figure, numeral, symbol, sign, word or term stamped, embossed or inscribed on a product that indicates or suggests the product is composed throughout of precious metal, or has a plated or deposited precious-metal surface. It covers "gold", "karat", "silver", "sterling", "vermeil", "platinum" and their abbreviations, alone or combined with "filled", "plated", "overlay" or "electroplated".

Two rules follow:

• If the mark applies to only part of the product, the part it applies to — or does not — should be disclosed where, without that, the mark's location misrepresents the true composition.
• If the mark applies to one part but not to another part of similar surface appearance, each mark should be closely accompanied by an identification of the part it covers.

A gold bezel on a steel case, or a gold centre link in a steel bracelet, is precisely the "similar surface appearance" case the section describes.

Section 23.10(b) adds that it is unfair or deceptive to place a quality mark where the relative size of the words or letters makes the net impression misleading about the composition of all or part of the product.

The statute behind the stamp

The Jewelry Guides are FTC guidance. The National Gold and Silver Stamping Act is a statute, and it carries a rule written for our trade specifically.

Section 294 makes it unlawful to transport an article marked to indicate a gold or silver fineness greater than its actual fineness.

Section 295 then sets how much slack there is, and the answer depends on what the object is. Generally, the actual fineness may not fall short of the marked fineness by more than three one-thousandth parts, ignoring solder used for brazing or uniting parts. But on an assay of the entire quantity of gold in the article including all solder, the permitted divergence is:

• three one-thousandth parts — for a watchcase or flatware
• seven one-thousandth parts — for any other such article

A gold watchcase is held to the tighter of the two tolerances, on the same footing as flatware and stricter than gold articles generally. The two standards are described as concurrent, not alternative — both have to be met. Silver runs at four one-thousandth parts under § 296.

Section 297 adds the requirement people forget: a manufacturer applying a quality mark to a plated article must also apply a trademark, duly registered or applied for registration, by the same means and in type at least as large as the quality mark itself. A karat mark with no accompanying registered trademark is not a complete marking.

What this means in practice

Most of the risk here is not in what you invent — it is in repeating what the last owner or the last listing said. "Solid gold" on a hollow-lug case, "gold-filled" on an electroplated one, "platinum" on a 900 alloy, or a karat mark photographed from a two-tone bracelet where it only ever described the centre links.

Federal law here is about accuracy, and accuracy is testable. If you cannot say how the case was made, describe what you can observe and say what you have not verified — the same standard this site applies to itself.

For the marks a case must carry to clear customs in the first place, which is a separate regime with separate consequences, see importing watches.