Why do gold Swiss (and American) watches fabricated for the US market tend to be 14K while Swiss watches destined for the rest of the world tend to be 18K?
It is true that 14K gold is seldom used for fine jewelry outside the US. To explain this, we need to understand a law past by the US Congress around the Great Depression. Between 1933 and 1974, United States citizens were not allowed to own 18K or 24K in bullion form because of laws put in place in 1933 to prevent hoarding of precious metals when the US went off the gold standard for its monetary system. Further, the US placed high import taxes on many permissible forms of gold 18K and higher, particularly jewelry and watches. These two factors discouraged the sale of solid and higher carat gold jewelry and watches in the US for many years. It was not until 1974 that these laws were repealed and US citizens could again purchase and own 18K and finer gold in bullion form. At the same time, the additional import taxes on many forms of gold were repealed. So many of the 14K gold Swiss watches made for sale in the United States during those years were made of genuine Swiss movements that w
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