I navigated to the wallet but it just says created today (when I last opened it). Screenshot below if that helps:
when there is a change in your wallet file the client writes it on disk again so that creation date changes to the last time you opened it. it probably has something to do with the way it is written on disk again.
On another note, is it weird that on opening Electrum I don't have to enter a password for the default_wallet to open either? It just automatically pops up upon opening Electrum.
However, if I want to open my test wallet I have to enter a password.
there are two ways you can encrypt your wallet file: partial and full.
when you fully encrypt it, it encrypts everything so when you open your wallet it requires password.
but when you partially encrypt it, it only encrypts your sensitive information such as private keys and seed. but leaves the rest unencrypted such as your addresses and transaction history. so the result is that when you open this wallet your client can read the address, tx history,... so it doesn't need password. you will be asked for a password when you need the sensitive information such as when you sign a tx.