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Results for Watch Dial Text Conventions

23,198 articles · 5,992 videos found · page 33 of 973

Hands-On: The Cincinnati Watch Co Desk Diver Worn & Wound
Aug 26, 2024

Hands-On: The Cincinnati Watch Co Desk Diver

“Sold Out,” the words marking what was previously an “add to cart” button, reminding me that I missed out on the original drop. Just a few months ago, a small unassuming brand just 4 hours south of me in Cincinnati, Ohio teased a few images of an eye-catching dive-style watch sporting the tongue-in-cheek dial text of “0 ft = 0m, No Submersion, Superlative Desk Diver, Unofficially Certified”. While it is true that a lot of brands release watches on the more playful side of things, it is rare that the actual watch appears well executed throughout but instead leans into the whimsical, forgetting about tradition and practicality. So as further details and images were revealed of the 75-piece limited edition, it began to paint a picture of a well-made everyday watch utilizing new old stock Swiss-made cases poking fun at the seriousness plaguing the watch community. I loaded up the website, then swung and missed. So, when I learned that a non limited Desk Diver was in production with an upcoming release, I jumped at the opportunity to get the model on my wrist and give it a proper go.  Being that the original was limited simply due to the number of cases found after 50 years of hiding, Cincinnati Watch Co. set out to recreate a faithful case design made to a modern specification. The vintage-inspired cushion case measures a stout 43.3 mm in diameter. Despite its large measurements on paper, the Desk Diver Professional makes use of its clever geometry to disappear on...

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[Video] The Rado Anatom, and What the Next Vintage Watch Revival Might Look Like Worn & Wound
Rado Anatom Mar 28, 2024

[Video] The Rado Anatom, and What the Next Vintage Watch Revival Might Look Like

When you write about watches for a living, it’s impossible not to think about the concept of vintage reissues and vintage inspired watches on an almost daily basis. For the last ten years, at least, vintage inspired watches have been the key driving force in the watch market, even if you take a somewhat narrow view of what a “vintage inspired” watch really is. They have been ubiquitous for a long time now.  But that’s changing. We no longer live in an environment where every other watch that finds its way into my inbox is based on a design from the middle of the last century. They’re still there, to be sure, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming as it once was. It’s been gratifying to see many brands, a lot of them small and making watches at affordable price points, introduce popular contemporary designs that are original and have resonated strongly with the community. By the same token, the best makers of watches inspired by designs from the 1950s and 1960s have established themselves more firmly, and carved out niches for themselves in the enthusiast community where their watches don’t feel like knock-offs, but part of a long tradition, and possessed of their own unique design language.  It occurs to me though that my perspective on this could simply be that of someone who is getting older. I’ve rounded 40 now, and am shocked on a weekly basis to learn that albums and movies that meant a lot to me in high school and college are now celebrating 20 and 2...

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A Guide to Modern California Dials Worn & Wound
Panerai which has featured watches Feb 16, 2024

A Guide to Modern California Dials

The watch industry is rife with examples of watch brands turning to the past for new releases. The interest in vintage designs has led to some fun and unique long-forgotten or long-inaccessible designs finding a new audience. Consider the Timex World Time 1972 Reissue bringing some 70s funk to the 2020s. Or the Tudor Black Bay 54 giving Rolex Submariner fans the closest thing you can get to an original Sub without spending tens of thousands of dollars. And now, in the last few years watch brands have seen fit to revisit one of the most interesting and obscure vintage designs out there: the California dial. The California dial is the nickname given to watches that have Roman numerals on the upper half of the watch and Arabic on the lower half, typically with lines at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock spots and a triangle at the 12. This unique dial has a strong association with Panerai, which has featured watches with the dial in its catalog for some time now, but, like many developments in watchmaking, it was actually created by Rolex. Patented in 1942, the dial was originally known as the “error-proof” dial, designed to be more easily read because the different style numerals “clearly distinguishes these two halves” of the watch and “the Roman numerals chosen are those which are the simplest to perform and the easiest to read.” (Seems unnecessary, but it certainly wound up looking cool.) The modern PAM01349 The error-proof dial picked up the “California” moniker w...

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12 Yellow-Dial Watches From Affordable to Luxury Teddy Baldassarre
Dec 8, 2023

12 Yellow-Dial Watches From Affordable to Luxury

Yellow is a color meant to draw attention: there’s a reason it’s used in road signs, stoplights, and to highlight important text passages. When yellow is used on a watch dial, you can usually be sure that it’s a watch that is meant to be anything but understated and subtle - whether the tone is a bright, matte “signal” yellow or a more elegant, shiny-surfaced gold or champagne tone. Here are a dozen yellow-dialed watches that span the gamut from sporty to luxurious - and from affordable and easily accessible to expensive and ultra-exclusive.  Citizen Tsuyosa Price: $450, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 9.1mm, Lug to Lug: 45mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 8210 Best known for its light-powered Eco-Drive movements, Japan’s Citizen also offers a lineup of appealing mechanical timepieces, including the NJ015 automatic series, nicknamed “Tsuyosa,” a Japanese word meaning “strength.” Speaking to the contemporary trend towards eye-catching colorful dials, Tsuyosa models offer five, all with a subtle sunburst finish, including the standout yellow version above. The round, chamfered steel cases measure 40mm in diameter and 11.7mm thick, with an unconventionally positioned crown at 4 o’clock for better ergonomics on the wrist. The bracelet has what Citizen describes as a “mountain-shaped” design thanks to its individually curved links; the center links and the bezel are both sleekly polished. The self-winding...

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Insight: Perfecting the Perpetual from Quartz Crisis till Today SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet ref 5516 which was Feb 27, 2024

Insight: Perfecting the Perpetual from Quartz Crisis till Today

As we approach the leap day of February 29, the unofficial day of commemoration for perpetual calendar owners, it’s worth considering the technical advances in perpetual calendar movements of the past 20 years. The perpetual calendar is, and has always been, a staple of haute horlogerie. But for most of its history, the technology remained largely stagnant. It wasn’t until the beginning of the modern era, in the 1980s when Swiss watchmaking was regrouping after the Quartz Crisis, that a new generation of watchmakers revisited this complication in earnest. In particular, they sought to address fundamental weaknesses in the way traditional perpetual calendar designs switch from one date to the next. The quintessential perpetual calendar layout, here in the first serially-produced perpetual calendar wristwatch with a leap year indicator, the Audemars Piguet ref. 5516, which was produced in the late 1950s One of the more recent – and most notable – efforts at reimagining the complication came from Stephen McDonnell, who developed the MB&F; Legacy Machine Perpetual. According to Mr McDonnell, the traditional approach to the perpetual calendar was a flawed premise. “For decades in the Swiss watch industry, and even until the present day, it has been accepted and expected that [perpetual calendar] watches would often be damaged by owners while trying to correct them,” explains Mr McDonnell, “This was seen simply as an unavoidable factor of [perpetual calendar] owner...

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Vantablack Watch Dials: The Blackest Black Teddy Baldassarre
Dec 2, 2025

Vantablack Watch Dials: The Blackest Black

Since the advent of wristwatches, the watch industry has continuously been defined by a constant drive to refine and innovate. In the modern context, we typically see that in the competition to make the thinnest watch ever, the most intricate, complicated movements, and recently, the most sophisticated complications at the most affordable price point. All of this is fine and dandy, and makes up much of the great majority of the stories your humble writer finds across her desk on any given week. But today, we’re getting into the weeds on an even more astoundingly specific side quest, possibly the most granular I’ve embarked on yet. That is, the pursuit of pushing the limits of one particular color. We’re entering the void of Vantablack – the blackest material in existence – and the few watchmakers out there that have dared to create Vantablack watch dials. [toc-section heading="What Is Vantablack?"]  I’m going to prepare you up top that this article will be touching on some pretty complex science elements. Largely, that’s what makes the subject at hand so interesting. Admittedly, it is also what took me the longest time to wrap my head around. It’s been a long time since I was in any sort of science class, okay? But the short answer to the question at hand is, put simply, Vantablack is among the darkest substances on planet Earth.  Vantablack is not naturally occurring and is the brainchild of the British company Surrey NanoSystems, which, as its name sugg...

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Could The 1990s Inspire The Next Cycle Of Watch Fashion? Fratello
Apr 20, 2025

Could The 1990s Inspire The Next Cycle Of Watch Fashion?

The 1990s were a period of significant change in the watch industry. Those years were very much a time of realignment and ongoing recovery after the crippling Quartz Crisis two decades earlier. Today, we’re looking at 1990s watches and design principles from that era to consider whether they could inspire the next trends in the […] Visit Could The 1990s Inspire The Next Cycle Of Watch Fashion? to read the full article.

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Colorado’s Best Kept Secret: The 5280 Watch Company is Making Timepieces with Enamel Dials for Under $4,000 Worn & Wound
Rado s Best Kept Secret Jan 9, 2025

Colorado’s Best Kept Secret: The 5280 Watch Company is Making Timepieces with Enamel Dials for Under $4,000

This summer, a new American watch company quietly launched in Denver, Colorado. Fittingly named 5280 after the Mile High City where the brand calls home, this watchmaker is tackling an artistic craft that’s particularly near and dear to my heart: vitreous enamel.  5280 is the brainchild of founder Rich Keel, a longtime watch collector. For him, timepieces have always been less about functionality and more about wearable art. In addition to being a lover of watches, Keel is a lover of art of all kinds.  “I’ve always been a big fan of Impressionism and its vibrant colors, beauty, depth, and richness-really art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries is what I gravitate toward,” he shares. “Faberge eggs are another artform that’s always fascinated me. So, when I decided I wanted to bring my passion for watches and art together and create my own company, the goal was to put a Faberge egg on a watch face.” Despite his knowledge and appreciation for art, Keel admits he’s “utterly inept when it comes to being artistic,” so he knew he’d have to tap the right craftsman to execute his vision. Enter Bill Brinker, an expert in guilloche and enamel work and a true artist through and through.  I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and training with a number of masters in the arts of guilloche and enamel work throughout my career and in my personal pursuit of the crafts, but none have quite as unique and fascinating a story as Brinker. He hails from a tow...

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