Men are prohibited to wear anything that is made of gold, and this prohibition extends to chains, watches and so on. Concerning watches that are plated with gold, Muslim scholars hold different views regarding them. Some say that is allowed to use such things if the amount of gold is very small. Anyhow, it is better to avoid such materials so as to be safe from any doubtful matter.
Elaborating on this issue, Dr. Muzzamil Siddiqi, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states the following: “There are a number of Hadiths that indicate that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the males of his Ummah from wearing pure golden jewellery and pure silken garments.
Besides the jewellery, the Muslim jurists also forbid men to use golden pen, golden watches, gold cigarette cases and lighters, golden cutlery. All these things are forbidden, unless the amount of gold in them was insignificant or they are not golden, or they are gold-plated with a very small amount of gold.
there are many Hadiths on this subject. For example, it is reported by ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took some silk in his right hand and some gold in his left hand and then he said, “These two are Haram for the males among my followers. The aforementioned hadith do not make any distinction between the yellow gold and the white gold.
Since the general word “gold” is used, we can say that all types of gold -i.e. natural and pure gold- are forbidden for men.”
As for wearing gold-platted watches, we’d like to cite the following: “It is permissible to wear a gold-platted watch as long as it meets the following conditions: (1) the amount of gold in it is little, and (2) the person wearing it is not putting it either as a sign of arrogance, or to show his wealth, and his superiority over other people.” [Source: www.isalmicity.com]
Given the above, it becomes clear that there is nothing wrong with wearing a watch if the amount of gold in it was insignificant or it is gold-plated with a very small amount of gold. Also, white gold does not make any difference because it takes the same ruling of natural gold.