Face value: the new trends in watch dials
Not before time, watch brands in 2018 have been rediscovering a taste for dial watches that go beyond the received norms of white, black or silver. Colours, surface textures and the interplay with case and strap materials have rarely been used as boldly since the 1960s and 1970s – indeed, many designs recall styles from those eras, reworked in new ways. Here are two of the key trends.
Champagne supernova
Principally associated with the deluxe opulence of gold Rolex watches, the “champagne” dial, with its metallic burst of soft golden tones, is a look that is proving more versatile than one might expect.
Tudor’s two-tone, steel-and-gold standout, the Heritage Black Bay S&G, pictured above, takes on an altogether more outré appearance when rendered with a dramatic gold dial, without losing its chunky, sporty essence.
By contrast, Montblanc’s 1858 chronograph has a retro, recherché feel with a champagne dial set into a bronze case, while the master dial-makers of Grand Seiko achieve a subtle translucence that is elegance itself in a new version of its classic Spring Drive watch, the 44GS.
Fade to black
Gradient dials, in which colour flares out from the centre and fades to shadow around the edges, have been a rare but richly satisfying feature in Swiss watch design most notably deployed by the boutique manufacture H. Moser & Cie.
Right now, though, they’re having a moment, with several examples appearing this year, most recently in a limited edition model, produced exclusively for style website Mr Porter by Zenith and its customisation partner, London-based Bamford Watch Department.
Based on the Zenith’s perfectly proportioned (at 38mm) Chronomaster Heritage 146 chronograph, the look incorporates a number of tropes from vintage Zenith watches, against a blue “solar” dial. H. Moser describes its dials as “fumé”, or smoked, owing to the handcraft techniques used to make them, and now applied to its steel sports watch, the Pioneer Centre Seconds.
An even sportier outing is the vintage-themed version of Blancpain’s famed diving watch, the Fifty Fathoms, which gains both refinement and a sense of 1970s jazziness from its dial texture.
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