All You Need to Know About White Gold

We all recognize gold as being a bright yellow metal, which has a warm rich glow. But unfortunately not everyone likes yellow coloured jewellery. In some cases yellow may not suit your skin tone or the clothes you are wearing. In such cases you could consider white gold.

What is white gold?

White gold is actually an alloy of pure yellow gold and a white coloured metal like nickel, silver, manganese or palladium. Adding either one or a combination of these metals to pure gold changes the yellow colour and makes it an ethereal white colour, which looks a lot like silver or platinum. White gold is also considered a precious metal and is used to make jewellery. Just like gold it is measured in karats, which reveal the percentage of pure gold in the metal. 18KT white gold is usually the purest form, made by combining 75 parts of pure gold with 25 parts of other metals. At Karat Craft we only use this 18KT variant of white gold.

Comparing white and yellow gold

When it comes to white gold, the best quality is always 18KT whereas, yellow gold is available in a purer forms, namely 22KT and 24KT. This is because a higher percentage of white metals is added in order to change the colour. White gold requires a little more maintenance and regular polishing to maintain a radiant shine. But at the same time it is slightly harder, which makes it better for diamond or gemstone settings. Yellow gold is softer and tends to bend or dent easily, which is not the case with white gold. This being said, neither one is better nor worse than the other, it usually just comes down to a matter of preference and taste.

Price difference

All over the world, white gold is more expensive than yellow gold, because more work goes into making white gold. It requires more processing and takes longer in production. It is also slightly less malleable, which means more time is spent in shaping and moulding designs. This is why even at Karat Craft, white gold costs ₹100 more per gram.

We have a large number of white gold jewellery pieces at our online store. If however you like a design that’s made using yellow gold, we can custom-make the same design in white gold just for you!