What colour is this “gold” Apple Watch?

They used to call the pink gold "Rose Gold". Checking the current Apple Store site, they now seem to call both 'gold' & 'rose gold'… just 'gold'. I'd call that a naming fail.

I just grabbed screenshots of two "gold" watches - see for yourself. You don't need to let the pink strap put you off, just photoshop one near the other & they are clearly not the same 'gold'.

I'd say you have a fair claim at being mis-sold - though Apple being Apple, I doubt you'd need to do anything more than say you're 'a bit unhappy' it's not what you thought it should be & they'll bend over backwards to try to correct that.

Watches as they appear on the store site. They don't state they're the same material, but they do state they're the same colour.

One watch rather crudely superimposed on the other, one is what they used to call rose gold, the other… isn't.

Looking at all the examples down the range, it does seem like aluminium is 'rose', steel is 'gold'.

I agree it is a bit disturbing but I can confirm that this is the new version of the Apple Watch Gold Aluminum Case since Apple Watch Series 3.

Gold aluminium cases started changing with the Apple Watch Series 3 and we can slightly notice the difference on the website, it doesn't look "that gold" compared to Series 1 and 2. So yes, this is a gold Apple Watch !

Apple Watch Series 6 Gold Aluminium Case

Apple Watch Series 2 Gold Aluminium Case

Also one of my friends owns one and it look exactly like your picture shows. I don’t have a proper photograph yet to share so I hope the marketing images help for now.