gold in tools and instruments

[karimium]

I am looking to buy a watch that has a gold movement inside.

The is no gold on the watch casing or the bracelet itself. The gold is used in the tiny cogs and other moving parts inside the watch because gold lasts a lot longer and has better purity than steel.

It's not to show off, it's there purely for functional reasons, the caseback of the watch is closed so it's not like I'm going to show off the gold parts inside.

I was wondering what the islamic opinion on this would be, I know that gold is disallowed as jewellery for men, however gold in instruments and other practical purposes like currency is allowed.

E.g. gold connectors in cables, and other electronic uses.

In this case the gold movement sits in-between jewellery and tooling, it's there for a practical purpose to serve a mechanical purpose, but it's inside an artefact that is considered jewellery.

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Eric H]

Greetings and peace be with you karimium; welcome to the forum

Gold is a fairly soft metal, and not that practical for mechanical purposes, I think gold has a valid use in computers.

In the UK pure gold is called 24 karat and is very soft, 9 karat gold is much harder. This is because only 9 parts are gold and the rest is made up of different metals.
This is going back about forty years in my memory, when I worked in a jewellers alongside a watch repairer.
You can get accurate and good watches for less than £50, sorry I cannot comment on the Islamic teachings

Peace

Eric

[Abz2000]

if it's not jewellery and there's no hidden intention for it to be jewellery - it's a tool, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to post that question as the pins on your cpu are covered in gold. but brother Eric seems best to be able to give advice on the durability and composition of gold and it's usefulness in a watch. though i had thought platinum and titanium are stronger metals