Firstly, the fundamental principle is that the use of gold for adornment by men is prohibited, and this is a consensus among the scholars. This is based on the hadith of Bara’ah ibn Azib, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited seven things, including “a gold signet ring or a gold ring.” (Bukhari). And in the hadith narrated by Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), he saw the Prophet (peace be upon him) taking a silk cloth in his right hand and a gold piece in his left hand, and then he said, “These two are forbidden for the males of my Ummah, but permissible for females.” (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah). This is in the case of pure gold.
Secondly, the Imams differed regarding items that are coated with gold, and they have lengthy discussions regarding whether the gold can be separated from the rest of the item or not. The conclusion is that the Hanafi school of law permits using an item that is coated with gold if the gold cannot be extracted from it. This is also the opinion of the Shafi’i school of law and one of the opinions among the Hanbali School of law. Therefore, there is no harm in wearing the mentioned watch that is described as above.
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr