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Monochrome
Since its founding in 2010 in Antwerp by Belgian industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, indie brand Ressence has positioned itself as a design-led watch studio that literally rethinks how time is displayed on the wrist. Animated by Ressence’s Orbital Convex System (ROCS), time circles around the dial like planets orbiting the Sun, using highly graphic and […]
Time+Tide
Earthen company takes its revered full ceramic field watch and adds an aventurine dial for a sparkly, luxurious twistThe post Earthen Company explores stone dials for the first time with the Moonglow and Nightfall appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Fratello
Just under a month ago, I published the introduction article for the RZE Resolute Type A here on Fratello. I got the chance to go hands-on with the black-dial model in the meantime to see what’s what. I spent some solid time with it to try to answer one question: Is this another value-packed potential […] Visit Hands-On With The New RZE Resolute Type A - A Whole Lot Of Pilot’s Watch For Your Money to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
If you had told me a few years ago that much of what I’d be doing at Worn & Wound in terms of new release coverage would be writing about mother of pearl and stone dial executions like a beat reporter at small town paper assigned to the high school basketball team, I probably would not have believed it. But here we are, multiple years into a trend that does not really seem to be letting up. It started with a resurfacing of high end vintage watches with exotic stone dials, moved to bigger brands capitalizing on the hype, shifted to smaller makers and microbrands offering impossibly affordable options, and now we’re back at the high end, and seeing brands looking for new ways to combine stones and materials in novel ways. Last week, Czapek announced a pair of watches that make particularly interesting use of mother of pearl. The Antarctique S Ice Cloud is, at a glance, simply an Antarctique with a mother of pearl dial. But there’s some special artisanal work that has gone into the making of this particular dial, which has been conceived as a “poetic interpretation of cloud formations in an icy landscape.” The dial is constructed from a piece of white mother of pearl that is cut to just 0.2mm thick – the height of two sheets of paper, according to Czapek. A varnish is then applied to the underside of the mother of pearl surface using a horsehair brush, which creates a cloudlike pattern that is unique to each dial. The varnish itself is tinted blue, and the art...
Deployant
The latest millesime small seconds keeps the core architecture of the line intact while shifting the visual emphasis toward stronger contrast and more deliberate layering. The case, proportions, and RW4251 movement remain unchanged, which gives the new references a familiar baseline. The update comes through the Tuxedo‑inspired dial treatment and the way each colorway organizes light and dark zones.
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Monochrome
Among the incredible variety of materials used to decorate dials, mother-of-pearl is an all-time favourite. Obtained from the inner lining of oyster and mollusc shells, mother-of-pearl is a captivating, naturally iridescent material that adds a unique shimmer to dials. Working with GT Cadrans, a specialist Swiss dial manufacturer, Czapek embellishes its Antarctique S and Promenade […]
Hodinkee
Baltic says goodbye to a great model with a glossy black dial and a splash of bling.
Deployant
Parmigiani releases a new version of their super popular Tonda PF Micro-Rotor in an Agave Blue dial, with two expressions.
Teddy Baldassarre
Watches with California dials are among the most niche products in the industry, with a relatively vague history that somehow only adds to their mystique and quirky appeal. If you’re not familiar with the California dial - or if you are already a convert and simply curious about where in this day and age you can find these rare birds - read on as we attempt to answer all of the expected queries about the style, starting with the most basic, namely: [toc-section heading="What Exactly Are California Dials?"] Photo: Sotheby's A California dial is generally recognized as a watch dial with a combination of Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, and non-numeral indexes to mark the hour positions. On most examples, the layout is fairly consistent: Roman numerals in the top half of the dial, from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock; Arabic numerals in the bottom half, from 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock; baton-shaped or rectangular-dash indexes breaking up the numerals at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock; and an inverted triangle marking the 12 o’clock position. A few watchmakers, like Germany’s Nomos Glashütte in its Club Campus models, have chosen to stray from this formula a bit, putting the Arabic numerals in the top half and Roman numerals in the bottom half. Other variations include the less-common “Semi-California” dial, which uses the triangle at 12 o’clock and indexes at the 15-minute markers but opts for only Arabic numerals at the other positions. [toc-section heading="Who Made...
SJX Watches
Fine watches have pulled double duty as decorative objects since before the invention of the hairspring in 1675. In this sense, one could almost argue that watches have been linked to art since before they were even watches in the modern sense. This relationship emerged early in part because both types of objects were made primarily for the same clientele: wealthy elite in Europe and elsewhere. Though art and watches exist for different reasons, they are both often created with eternity in mind. The noble materials and timeless designs of many fine watches, especially those of the quality that would normally be paired with a work of art, also help justify the painstaking (and costly) work of artisanal decoration, which can, in some cases, take more than a year for a single work of miniature art. Introduction to miniature painting Of all the forms of decoration that have been applied to watches, miniature paintings are an especially important genre. Historically, these miniature masterpieces have been produced primarily in enamel, though acrylic paint is increasingly used today. Much has been written about the art of miniature painting, and it would not be an exaggeration to call it a dying art, since the number of living practitioners seems to have rarely exceeded half a dozen at any given time over the past century. Vacheron Constantin’s Masterpiece on Your Wrist programme is a partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that allows customers to commissi...
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Monochrome
Technology has overshadowed some of the advancements of watch dial lume that have progressed for over a century. For example, the digits on Hamilton’s Pulsar P1 LED watch from the early 1970s were bright by the nature of the tech – light-emitting diodes. Timex introduced INDIGLO back in the early 1990s, which provides a bright, uniform […]
Time+Tide
The current generation of the legendary Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional now has a new black and white lacquered dial.The post Omega’s latest pair of Speedmaster Moonwatch Professionals feature lacquered reverse panda dials appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
The Albishorn Type 10 Officer is the latest expression of the brand’s “imaginary vintage” philosophy, reworking the familiar codes of the mid-century military chronograph through the lens of a hypothetical Type 20 predecessor. Conceived by founder Dr Sébastien Chaulmontet, the cream-dialled Officer pairs its distinctive, parchment-like textured dial with a proprietary monopusher movement derived from a re-engineered Valjoux 7750 architecture, combining COSC-certified performance with thoughtful ergonomic and aesthetic refinements at a price that undercuts many conventional aviation-inspired chronographs. Initial thoughts Military aviation-inspired watches are a cornerstone of the luxury watch market, but most pay homage to specific historical references like the famed Type 20 of the 1950s. In contrast, the Albishorn Type 10 proposes to ‘recreate’ a hypothetical Type 20 predecessor. The cream-dialled Officer takes this idea further, suggesting a “missing link” is the aesthetic development of the military chronograph, with a lighter-coloured dial for open-air usage away from the front lines. When the Type 10 debuted with black and green dials, I was a bit skeptical of the texture, which reminded me of asphalt. The Officer’s dial features a similar texture, but the off-white colour transforms the look. To my eye, the new dial looks like vintage German etching paper, which is an appealing texture that suits the theme of the watch. Inside, the Officer is as com...
Hodinkee
The stone dial craze shows no signs of stopping any time soon, and Baltic is throwing its hat into the ring again with new, unique colors.
Worn & Wound
Baltic’s Prismic line always felt like it existed to capitalize on the stone dial trend. When the watch debuted in early 2024, the French brand’s take on the classic “cocktail watch” seemed like it was pulled from a confluence of all the forces pushing against the vintage inspired sports watch boom that preceded it. The Prismic is a small, aesthetics first, design oriented piece, about as anti tool watch as they come. Those first Prismic releases did not have stone dials, but a later set of limited editions did, and that’s when this watch really clicked into place for many of us. Now, with those LEs long gone, Baltic has introduced a new line of stone dial Prismics that will be part of the permanent collection. The new Prismic Stone collection arrives to celebrate the opening of Baltic’s first boutique, just as the previous LEs were released to celebrate the opening of showrooms in New York, London, and Paris. The four dial options make use of stones that are not common in watchmaking: Pietersite, Pink Albite, Bloodstone, and Dumortierite. Like all stone dials, each individual piece will be unique. The standout, in my opinion, is the Pietersite dial. This is a truly dynamic stone, and looks like something that could have been ejected from an active volcano just minutes ago. Bloodstone has a dark green hue with inclusions of brown and red, and could be seen as an alternative to the more commonly used malachite. Similarly, Dumortierite has a dark blue tone that...
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Deployant
Favre Leuba extends their Deep Raider Rennaisance line with two new models in a malachite dial and a meteorite dial. Details within.
Monochrome
Presented in 2024, the Biver Automatique is the brand’s vision of a classic 3-hand watch. The collection kicked off with 4 models: two showcasing monochromatic dial-and-case combinations and two from the Atelier Series featuring distinctive stone dials. A few other versions have been introduced since then, and on the occasion of Dubai Watch Week 2025, Biver Watches […]
Worn & Wound
Dubai Watch Week is here, and with it, so are a lot of new watches. Ressence is marking the moment with a new limited edition take on their Type 1°, pairing what is maybe the most core model in their lineup with a rose gold-plated dial to create something that feels both familiar and novel all at once. Produced in a limited edition of 70 pieces worldwide, this is the Ressence Type 1°RG. Ressence, as a brand, is many things to many people. For some, it’s a colorful, exuberant exploration of the fun side of independent watches - a very high-end G-SHOCK of sorts, a balm for the soul weighed down far too often by the staid and serious watches that so often clog our Instagram feeds. For others, Ressence is that staid, serious watch; a brand pushing to the extremes of what a watch can be, exploring not just the complexities of modern watchmaking, but challenging the very nature of how time can be displayed and perceived. Naturally, each of these slightly pretentiously phrased extremes captures only a part of the whole; like most things, the reality of Ressence falls somewhere in the middle of these two perspectives. Still, Ressence is a brand that deservedly invites interest, and this latest release is no exception. In practice, the Type 1° is the prototypical Ressence, a pretty straightforward summation of what it takes to be a Ressence watch, and, as such, it has often served as a platform for the brand to play with its own aesthetic. In the past, we’ve seen Ressence ...
Fratello
The Grand Seiko SBGM255 and SBGM257 bring two new dials to the classic Elegance Collection GMT. Both models preserve the 39.5mm stainless steel case and mechanical caliber 9S66 but introduce fresh dial designs inspired by the seasons. These new references serve up a restrained evolution of a design that has been a Grand Seiko cornerstone […] Visit Introducing: The Grand Seiko SBGM255 And SBGM257 - New Dials For The Dressy GMT to read the full article.
Fratello
Tokyo-based artist Towa Takaya creates pigments from soil, plants, and minerals gathered during her travels, which she then uses to craft watch dials. Now, Minase is introducing handcrafted Yusai dials made by her for its 5 Windows Mid, 7 Windows, and Divido watches. Takaya’s goal is to create a dial showing the essence of nature […] Visit Minase Introduces Handcrafted Yusai Dials For Its 5 Windows Mid, 7 Windows, And Divido Watches to read the full article.
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Monochrome
Born from the French Ministry of Defence’s Type 20 brief in the mid-1950s, the Type 20 Chronograph watches featured a black dial, a flyback (retour en vol) function, a rotating bezel, and pilot-proof robustness. Alongside fellow suppliers like Breguet, Mathey-Tissot, and Auricoste, Airain’s Type 20 quickly became one of the most recognisable field chronographs. A […]
Teddy Baldassarre
If you’re new to your appreciation of fine watches, you have undoubtedly read a lot of references to and heard a lot of opinions about watches’ bezels. It is somewhat of an esoteric term but it describes something very simple and essential. The bezel is the front part of the case (often but not always ring-shaped) that frames the dial and secures the crystal. Bezels can be made of the same material as the case middle and/or the caseback, but can also be made of a different material. Here we run down the various types of watch bezels you’re likely to encounter. Polygons and Exposed Screws Watch cases, of course, are not uniformly round, which means that bezels, the front-facing parts of those cases, can also be found in a variety of shapes - sharply squared or rectangular, like the Cartier Tank and Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso (above); softy cushion-shaped, like the Panerai Luminor and Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921; oval-shaped, like the Breguet Reine de Naples and other luxury ladies’ models; tonneau (“barrel”-shaped), like the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang and many Richard Mille models; and a host of others that combine elements of these and other polygonal shapes. The shape that has proven to be the most popular and influential is the octagon: eight-sided bezels have proliferated ever since Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak (above) in 1972, and watchmakers have also dabbled in other unconventional shapes: the sharply faceted bezel of the Zeni...
Worn & Wound
The age of the textured dial is upon us, and there’s no escaping it. No longer are we limited to Grand Seiko and similar legacy brands to bring us the third dimension on our wrists, with microbrands pitching in their own-often more innovative-takes on texture. Farer has joined the fray with their new Three Hand Series III collection showcasing three new models, each with a unique approach to the intersection of texture and color. The Three Hand collection was one of Farer’s first, and remains one of the British brand’s most emblematic. Previous iterations of the collection showcased varied numeral and index styles, and of course a huge variety of color, but with the III collection, Farer has opted for a smaller initial release of three watches. To achieve the texture, the dials are stamped with a custom press and then spray-painted, with multiple colored layers added for gradient effects. A clear lacquer layer comes next, with high gloss polishing to seal in the texture. Before we dive into the different dials, let’s take a look at the functional aspects of the Three Hand collection. With a minimalistic design and large crown at 3 o’clock, the 316L stainless steel case appears simple, but boasts some nifty construction considerations, namely a new monobloc mid-case. Sizing is on the smaller side, with a 39mm diameter and 45mm lug-to-lug span, which suits the eye-catching dial designs well. A screw-down crown ensures 100 meters of water resistance, and a b...
Worn & Wound
There’s something exciting about seeing two brands you admire collaborate, especially when those brands represent relatively different aesthetics, if shared sensibilities. So, when we heard that Ressence, the independent watch brand known for its unique ROCS dial displays and futuristic aesthetic, was teaming up with The Armoury, a traditional menswear retailer and tailor, our collective interest was piqued. And the result is, well, oddly exactly what one might expect: a more formal take on Ressence’s most wearable watch to date, the TYPE 9. Called the TYPE 9 Shattering Sun, it meets the two brands in the middle. The TYPE 9, which came out at the end of last year, is the smallest Ressence in diameter, and very thin at 39mm x 42.5mm x 11mm. Additionally, it’s one of the lightest at 39 grams for the head. Unlike other Ressences, it pushed the minute index from under the glass to an external bezel, which further compresses it visually. I reviewed that watch earlier this year and was taken with its wearability. It puts the unique aesthetic and dial display Ressence is known for into a form that would be easy to wear daily. Identifying this, the ever sartorially-savvy and horologically inclined Mark Cho, founder of The Armoury, took the TYPE 9 and remixed it to lean toward dress watch aesthetics, and, more importantly, work with a suit. The dial, originally in silver or teal, has been rendered in warm, copper-toned salmon with a subtle sandblast finish. The explorer-esque...
Fratello
It seems like Ressence’s Type 9 is in high demand, at least when it comes to limited editions. At the end of last year, Benoît Mintiens, the founder of Ressence, introduced the minimalist Type 9. With a 39mm case, it’s the brand’s smallest watch, and it comes with either an aqua blue or gray dial. […] Visit Meet The Tailor-Made Ressence × The Armoury Type 9 Scattering Sun to read the full article.
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