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Results for Watch Dial Text Conventions

25,574 articles · 223 videos found · page 7 of 860

Mido’s Affordable Rolex Datejust Alternative: Hands-On With The Datoday Two Broke Watch Snobs
Rolex Datejust Alternative Hands-On Apr 20, 2026

Mido’s Affordable Rolex Datejust Alternative: Hands-On With The Datoday

We’ve always had a thing for Mido. It’s a brand we talk about a lot at TBWS because, when someone is ready to break into the four-figure range without getting too wild, Mido usually has something worth looking at. They’ve got a huge catalog of fun divers, GMTs, and everyday pieces, and that variety has always been part of the appeal for us. So when Mido announced the refreshed Commander Datoday, I was stoked to hear we’d be getting one in for review. It looked like the kind of watch that could make a lot of sense as an everyday option, but still clean up well enough if you wanted to wear it a little differently. The post Mido’s Affordable Rolex Datejust Alternative: Hands-On With The Datoday appeared first on Two Broke Watch Snobs.

Vacheron Constantin Facelifts the Iconic American 1921 SJX Watches
Vacheron Constantin Facelifts Apr 13, 2026

Vacheron Constantin Facelifts the Iconic American 1921

Vacheron Constantin has gently updated one of its most distinctive time-only watches, the Historiques American 1921. Now kitted out with a silver grained dial, the 1921 retains its characteristic dial layout, along with blue Breguet numerals and hands. Like its predecessor, the new 1921 is also available in two sizes, 36.5 mm and 40 mm, but only in pink gold for now. Initial thoughts Ordinarily, cosmetic variations would not be that interesting, but the 1921 has not been iterated upon too often, despite being almost 20 years old. In fact, the 1921 is a fixture in the VC catalogue, yet has varied little given its tenure. As a result, the facelifted model is appealing and also arrives in a timely manner. Though the changes are subtle, namely to the dial texture plus hand and numeral colour, they give the dial a little more life. The updates also make the watch feel a little more modern, but the result still sits comfortably with the historical design. A driver’s watch Sometimes known as a “driver’s watch” for its off-the-vertical dial layout, the 1921 was modelled a small number of watches made by VC in 1919 and subsequent years. The unusual dial alignment was reputedly to improve legibility while driving, or while preaching at the pulpit for one of the owners of the 1920s originals was an American clergyman. The latest version retains the same design and layout as past iterations, with the dial 45 degrees off the vertical and the crown at two o’clock. Instead of a...

Windup Watch Fair San Francisco 2026 Returns to the Waterfront Worn & Wound
Frederique Constant Apr 11, 2026

Windup Watch Fair San Francisco 2026 Returns to the Waterfront

If there’s a more beautiful place to spend a weekend surrounded by watches, we haven’t found it. Windup Watch Fair San Francisco returns… and yes, it’s still the one with all the views. We’re talking sweeping sightlines of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz sitting quietly in the distance, salt air rolling through Fort Mason and, if last year was any indication, the very real possibility of whales breaching right off the pier while you’re mid-conversation about your next watch. Windup Watch Fair San Francisco Friday, May 1 – Sunday, May 3, 2026 Gateway Pavilion at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture San Francisco, CA Free and open to everyone. No registration necessary. Inside Gateway Pavilion, you’ll find our Lead Sponsor brands who you know and love: Bremont, Brew, Christopher Ward, Frederique Constant, and Oris. We are so grateful for their ongoing support of Windup and the whole enthusiast community. Each Lead Sponsor will be sharing and debuting watches that are well worth seeing in person. Alongside their new releases, go hands-on with over 80 brands’ products from around the world and experience their craftsmanship firsthand. Here’s a list of just some of the other amazing brands attending this year’s Windup Watch Fair San Francisco: This year, the EDC Expo returns, presented by GiantMouse. Everyone at GiantMouse have been staunch supporters of the Windup Watch Fairs for years and we’re honored that they’ve stepped up this year to really cha...

If You Missed Out on One of the Coolest Releases at British Watchmakers’ Day, Apiar Has You Covered with the Gen1.1 Night Tube Worn & Wound
Ming out Apr 2, 2026

If You Missed Out on One of the Coolest Releases at British Watchmakers’ Day, Apiar Has You Covered with the Gen1.1 Night Tube

Whenever I go to a watch event, whether that’s a local meetup, Watches & Wonders, or one of our own Windup fairs, my brain does that thing where upon leaving, I’m trying to figure out the MVP from that event. Not that the watches are in competition with one another – it’s just how I organize my thoughts, figuring out what I liked the most. Coming out of British Watchmakers’ Day last month, the clear MVP for me was the extremely limited Apiar Gen1.1 Underground. I reviewed an early version of this watch last year and was really impressed, and this limited edition (just three pieces!) had a London Underground inspired dial made by The Dial Artist himself that really won me over. I’m a bit of a public transportation nerd so this one called out to me in a strong way, and I admit that I left London last month with a twinge of regret that I didn’t pull the trigger on this watch when I had the chance. Luckily for at least some of us (but not me, I’m tapped out, really) Apiar has followed up the Gen1.1 Underground with a predictable but very welcome sequel, the Gen1.1 Night Tube. As you can probably gather from the name of the watch and the photos, this is effectively a blacked out version of the Underground, because people, of course, ride the subway at all hours of the night in London. This marks the first time Apiar has used a DLC coating on one of their watch cases. Aesthetically, it really shifts the focus to the dial, which I think takes on a brighter quality...

Raymond Weil Marks 50 Years with 50 Year-Old Valjoux 23 SJX Watches
Patek Philippe ref 1436 “Tasti Tondi” Mar 31, 2026

Raymond Weil Marks 50 Years with 50 Year-Old Valjoux 23

Building on the success of its retro wristwatch, Raymond Weil is marking its 50th anniversary with the Millesime “The Fifty”. While it retains the familiar “sector” dial of the Millesime, the Fifty boasts upgraded mechanics in the form of a “new old stock” Valjoux 236 dating from 1976, the year of brand’s founding by the eponymous Raymond Weil. The Fifty combines the vintage movement with a thoughtful design that includes an appropriately sized 37 mm case – steel but with a white gold bezel no less – and novel texturing on the “sector” dial. Notably, the Fifty is also priced well at under CHF9,000. Initial thoughts The base model Millesime is good for what it is, combining an appealing design with an affordable price. The Fifty is more expensive, but arguably even better, because it still has an appealing aesthetic, but now with an excellent movement and a fair price. Watches powered by a vintage Valjoux 23 usually cost more – Singer Reimagined’s equivalent costs almost double – making the Fifty a good value proposition. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that it evokes the Patek Philippe ref. 1436 “Tasti Tondi”. But it’s more than just accessible; the design of the basic Millesime has been elaborated on in a concise and logical manner. The result is a watch that clearly resembles the standard model, but with finer details, including the linear patterning on the dial centre. I disagree with some minor details, like the luminous hands that don...

A Fresh Palette for the Breguet Tradition SJX Watches
Breguet Tradition Breguet refreshes Mar 31, 2026

A Fresh Palette for the Breguet Tradition

Breguet refreshes its Tradition collection for 2026 with new colourways and expanded grand feu enamel dial options across five references, building on the momentum of the brand’s 250th anniversary year. The line-up spans four automatic variants of the Seconde Rétrograde and one manually wound GMT, all underpinned by the architecturally distinctive cal. 505 that has defined the collection since its 2005 introduction. Initial thoughts Inspired by an original Abraham-Louis Breguet’s montres à tact pocket watch from the late 18th century, the Tradition collection, released in 2005, was Breguet’s first major new model family under Swatch Group management. The central barrel placement and unusual gear train arrangement perfectly captures the essence of the original pocket watches, and this aspect of the design remains as recognisable and distinctive as ever, despite the a growing number of independent watchmakers that have introduced watches with a similar layout. In fact, the cal. 505 is so successful as a contemporary interpretation of Breguet’s work that a variation of it was adapted for use in the award-winning Classique Souscription 2025 introduced last year. For 2026, the Tradition collection has been slightly refreshed with modern colourways and more grand feu enamel dial options. The five new models include four automatic variants of the Seconde Rétrograde, one of which features a diamond-set bezel, and one manually wound reference with a dual-time complicatio...

Baltic’s Affordable Heures du Monde Worldtimer SJX Watches
Baltic s Affordable Heures du Mar 31, 2026

Baltic’s Affordable Heures du Monde Worldtimer

The value-forward, design-savvy French micro-brand Baltic debuts its first worldtimer, the Heures du Monde with a trio of stone dials – sodalite, tiger’s eye and labradorite, each limited to 200 pieces as a lead up to a future regular production version. It’s a fully functional and sharp-looking vintage-styled worldtimer, with a modern set of features that includes a brushed ceramic bezel, plenty of lume, and a surprising 100m depth rating, for a reasonable price. Initial thoughts Stone dials and worldtimers are each in vogue, and it is only natural to combine the two – especially as worldtimers as a genre are predisposed to vibrant dials, such as enameling, engine turning, or miniature painting. It doesn’t hurt that the Heueres du Monde is a competent watch and fair value proposition over all. Baltic pitches the model as an homage to the work of Louis Cottier, who invented the format. It specifically takes after his earliest worldtimers, which comprised a simple 24-hour disk geared to the hands, and a rotating bezel with the names of cites arrayed around its perimeter. The sodalite, tiger’s Eye and labradorite dials are tasteful, fit the overall watch, and will no doubt age better than many other stone dial offerings from micro-brands today. That said, it was the probably the right decision on Baltic’s part to make these colourways limited, as it doesn’t fit with what I suspect is a more vintage, rather than neo-vintage, vision for the model. Given the br...

Introducing A Tribute To A Video Game That Conquered The World - Do You Want To Play With The Krayon × Pac-Man? Fratello
Krayon Mar 27, 2026

Introducing A Tribute To A Video Game That Conquered The World - Do You Want To Play With The Krayon × Pac-Man?

Ask yourself, how many hours have you spent playing Pac-Man? That may be hard to recall, but quite possibly when you were in your teens in the 1980s or ’90s, it was many, many hours. Pac-Man is undoubtedly the most iconic arcade game ever. Since it only requires a joystick and simple movements, it’s easy […] Visit Introducing A Tribute To A Video Game That Conquered The World - Do You Want To Play With The Krayon × Pac-Man? to read the full article.

Doxa Introduces the SUB 200 II Diver Worn & Wound
Seiko Mar 25, 2026

Doxa Introduces the SUB 200 II Diver

Since its launch in 2019, the Doxa SUB 200 has been one of my favorite value oriented dive watches to recommend. When it debuted, it was under $1,000 and really stood out in a crowd of vintage inspired divers. It was a particularly compelling option for enthusiasts who were after something affordable and loaded with a bit of history and was definitely not a Seiko. They were also getting that vintage appropriate sizing right before the pendulum swung all the way back toward watches under 40mm – the SUB 200 measures 42mm but wears significantly smaller thanks to the short lug profile. It was and is a great wearing, classically styled dive watch from a truly important dive watch brand.  Doxa has just refreshed the SUB 200 and the watch that was revealed this week reflects a lot of what’s going on the industry at the moment, while also appearing to serve as a worthy heir (and complement) to the existing SUB 200. The new SUB 200 II sees Doxa making some unexpected refinements to the case and also offering the watch in a new suite of colorways and a novel case treatment. Taken together, it’s a significantly more contemporary execution of something we’ve all come to associate with pure vintage nostalgia.  We’ll start with the case, which now measures 44mm in diameter. I did a bit of a double take when I saw that particular spec – we’re deep in the era of brands downsizing their iconic sports watches to accommodate the current appetite for sleeker, small-to-medium ...

AI Designed My Custom Swatch Watch SJX Watches
Swatch Mar 25, 2026

AI Designed My Custom Swatch Watch

Announced last year, Swatch’s AI-DADA platform is now live, enabling customers to design and build their own custom Swatch with a design that will never be repeated. With a low entry price and quick turnaround, I took the platform for a spin. Why AI Swatch has been a design-oriented brand since its debut in 1983. Not only has Swatch produced a dizzying array of original designs of its own, over the years the brand has collaborated with celebrated artists and leading institutions to democratise access to wearable art. About a decade ago, Swatch’s world-class logistics infrastructure enabled it to offer customised watches via an online configurator that enabled customers to mix and match different elements from a pre-selected range of options. That was quickly followed by the ability to generate a custom-printed design, by dragging a Swatch template over a selection of human-created patterns and designs. The AI-DADA system, launched earlier this year, builds on this basis in way that only Swatch could pull off. The system leverages an undisclosed large language model (LLM) to generate a custom design based on a user’s 300-character prompt. The result is a made-to-order Swatch of the customer’s own design, delivered in as few as five days. What’s more, the cost is little more than an off-the-shelf model, at just US$195. With little to lose, I took the plunge. AI-DADA Swatch watches are powered by standard quartz movements in the typical New Gent case size. Three str...

First Look - The Final Editions of the Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S² now in White or Black Ceramic Monochrome
Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S² now Mar 17, 2026

First Look - The Final Editions of the Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S² now in White or Black Ceramic

Within Greubel Forsey‘s modern catalogue, the Convexe collection has become one of the brand’s most recognisable showcases of its approach to watchmaking. Revealed in 2019, the Convexe case introduced a double-curved construction, designed to follow the natural shape of the wrist and presenting the movement as a sculptural object. The Balancier Convexe S² first appeared […]

Fratello On Air: When A Cult Brand You Enjoy Goes Mainstream Fratello
Mar 10, 2026

Fratello On Air: When A Cult Brand You Enjoy Goes Mainstream

Welcome back to another episode of Fratello On Air! We’re back (sort of) after more travels, and this week, we discuss the fallout that happens once a formerly unloved brand becomes popular. Call it sour grapes or wanting to keep something to oneself, but feel free to listen to our thoughts on the subject. Enjoy […] Visit Fratello On Air: When A Cult Brand You Enjoy Goes Mainstream to read the full article.

Introducing - The Bremont Terra Nova 38 Jumping Hour Stealth Black Monochrome
Audemars Piguet Feb 12, 2026

Introducing - The Bremont Terra Nova 38 Jumping Hour Stealth Black

Watches with jumping hour complications are all the rage these days, with hot-off-the-press contributions from Audemars Piguet and the recently revived specialist brand, Niton. However, the biggest surprise in the jumping hours corner came from Bremont with the introduction of its Terra Nova Jumping Hour models in 2025. A brand associated with rugged, aviation-themed instrument […]