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Results for Watch Dial Text Conventions

25,479 articles · 231 videos found · page 539 of 857

Luminous Pixels and Retro Design on Mido’s Commander 1959 SJX Watches
Longines amongst others Mar 13, 2025

Luminous Pixels and Retro Design on Mido’s Commander 1959

Originally a low-key, perhaps even boring, vintage remake, the Commander 1959 Pixel Dial livens things up with a vibrant array of blue, purple, and pink squares printed on the black dial. The new Mido departs from our usual focus on higher-end mechanical watchmaking, but at a little over US$700, it combines affordability, good-enough quality, and fun. The blue and pink squares are actually Super-LumiNova on matte black, creating a striking illuminated pixel dial in the dark. The dial is housed in the classic Commander 1959 case characterised by a “Milanese” mesh bracelet, flat bezel, and domed acrylic crystal, which evokes an unmistakable mid-century aesthetic that contrasts with the funky pixel dial. Initial thoughts Several of Mido’s recent releases, including the Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961, combine inject vibrant colours and details into vintage-inspired designs. The new Commander 1959 continues this with its unmistakably 1950s-style case paired with a modern dial. Despite the dial’s array of colours, legibility is excellent thanks to the wide hands and markers. The Pixel Dial is a simple iteration of the original, and consequently remains affordable at US$740. Like many other watches in the same price range made by Mido’s parent Swatch Group (which also owns Tissot and Longines amongst others), the Commander 1959 is equipped with the Powermatic 80, a no-frills, economical movement that nonetheless provides an impressive 80-hour power reserve. Pattern...

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Frédéric Arnault Departs LVMH Watches, to Become Loro Piana CEO SJX Watches
Louis Vuitton Mar 13, 2025

Frédéric Arnault Departs LVMH Watches, to Become Loro Piana CEO

A year after being tapped to head the LVMH Watch Division, Frédéric Arnault has been named the next chief executive of Loro Piana. Mr Arnault will assume the top job at the Italian maker of clothing and shoes in June 2025. Loro Piana is synonymous with “quiet luxury” for its emphasis on materials, restrained colours, and discreet branding, but it has become successful enough that the Loro Piana look is ironically recognisable while its trademark Summer Walk boat shoes have become footwear’s equivalent of the steel Rolex Daytona. Though only 18 months long, Mr Arnault’s leadership of the French group’s watch brands saw a management renewal across all its three brands, namely TAG Heuer, Hublot, and Zenith, as well as the announcement of a group-wide strategy for movement industrialisation and production. The period has also been a challenging one for the watch industry, with a sustained pullback in demand for watches that peaked during the pandemic. According to insiders, Mr Arnault also played a leading role in sealing the decade-long sponsorship deal with Formula 1. His ascension to the top job at Loro Piana part of succession planning at LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group. Mr Arnault’s successor at the watch division has yet to be announced, but his predecessor at Loro Piana, Damien Bertrand, will move onto the deputy chief executive job at Louis Vuitton.  

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Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy With €10K, €20K, And €30K Fratello
Mar 13, 2025

Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy With €10K, €20K, And €30K

We would all love to have an unlimited watch budget, but that’s not the case for most of us. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some hypothetical fun and select the watches we’d buy with €10K, €20K, and €30K. On today’s episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho, RJ, and Lex run through their picks at […] Visit Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy With €10K, €20K, And €30K to read the full article.

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Introducing: The Hamilton Boulton Death Stranding 2 Limited Edition Fratello
Hamilton Boulton Death Stranding 2 Mar 12, 2025

Introducing: The Hamilton Boulton Death Stranding 2 Limited Edition

Hamilton is no stranger to working with creative teams behind movies to produce imaginative watches. Now, with the introduction of the Boulton Death Stranding 2 Limited Edition, the brand has a watch appearing in an upcoming video game. It’s a fusion between a traditional tank and a futuristic techno-apocalyptic creation. This watch is most definitely […] Visit Introducing: The Hamilton Boulton Death Stranding 2 Limited Edition to read the full article.

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Blancpain Scales Down the Fifty Fathoms Tech SJX Watches
Blancpain Scales Down Mar 12, 2025

Blancpain Scales Down the Fifty Fathoms Tech

Primarily vintage-inspired, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was given a modern makeover with the first “Tech” model launched in 2023. Now Blancpain follows up with the Fifty Fathoms Tech Ocean Commitment IV. While retaining the same lug-less case, the latest model is more compact and streamlined than its Tech predecessor, though it’s still 45 mm in diameter. And it features an “absolute black” dial - coated with a substance that absorbs 97% of incident light - ensuring maximum contrast for the luminescent hands and block-shaped hour markers. Like earlier Ocean Commitment editions, which were all vintage-inspired, this watch will help support the Blancpain’s marine conservation efforts, specifically the Blancpain x Sulubaaï Marine Research Center in Palawan, Philippines. Initial thoughts The new Fifty Fathoms Tech offers notable refinements over the earlier Tech Gombessa edition from two years ago. While the oversized, 47 mm Tech Gombessa was designed primarily as a specialised diving instrument, making it arguably too large for everyday wear, the new model adopts a more conventional dive watch dimensions. At 45 mm, it’s still large but more manageable, improving its wearability. The “absolute black” dial is also an interesting upgrade that makes sense in a dive watch given the need for legibility. While Blancpain doesn’t specify the details of the dial coating, it appears to be similar to Vantablack and other blacker-than-black coatings used by other ...

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Hermès Elegantly Facelifts Arceau Complications SJX Watches
Hermes Mar 11, 2025

Hermès Elegantly Facelifts Arceau Complications

Whimsical and graceful in the typical Hermès style, the Arceau L’Heure de la Lune and Arceau Le Temps Voyageur are both unusual takes on familiar complications; the two were incidentally conceived with the aid of Chronode, a complications specialist. Hermès has reworked the palette for both models, most notably with a two-tone case for the Arceau L’Heure de la Lune. This returns as a set of three watches, each featuring a dial made of a specific type of meteorite, namely Blue Grey Moon, Vesta, and Erg Chech. All three are housed in a 43 mm case with contrast-colour lugs. The Arceau Le Temps Voyageur, on the other hand, is offered separately in two guises: 41 mm in white gold, or 38 mm in rose gold with diamonds. The Arceau L’Heure de la Lune three-piece set Initial thoughts Among Hermès’ whimsical complications, the Arceau L’Heure de la Lune stands out as an unconventional and interesting reinterpretation of the simple date-and-moon-phase watch. Unlike traditional moon-phase displays, this employs mobile counters that orbit the dial over a 59-day cycle to reveal the current lunar phase. It’s a large watch and a little thick, but still elegant thanks to the design. The new variants look more modern than their predecessors thanks to the two-tone cases and meteorite dials that sport subtle colour accents that are typically Hermes. The main downside is the fact that the three are delivered as a set, which not only means the cost is high – the set retails for ...

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Introducing: The Biver Automatique Japan Edition - Minimalism And Maximalism Collide Fratello
Mar 11, 2025

Introducing: The Biver Automatique Japan Edition - Minimalism And Maximalism Collide

When Biver launched to great fanfare in 2023, the debut watch displayed watchmaking maximalism at its finest. Father and son Jean-Claude and Pierre Biver must have asked themselves, “What if we turn everything up to eleven?” The young brand’s second model, the Automatique, dialed things down somewhat. Still, it looked distinctly intricate and truly Biver-esque. […] Visit Introducing: The Biver Automatique Japan Edition - Minimalism And Maximalism Collide to read the full article.

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Certina Watches Review: History and Highlights from the Modern Collect Teddy Baldassarre
Certina Watches Review History Mar 10, 2025

Certina Watches Review: History and Highlights from the Modern Collect

Certina is a watch brand that may be fairly new to you, especially if you live in the United States, where distribution has been limited to non-existent over the past several decades. In actuality, however, Certina is among the oldest Swiss watch brands currently in operation and today represents an appealing and perhaps underrated option in the arena of stylish sports watches that are solidly built yet priced affordably. The Kurth Brothers, Grana, and the Dirty Dozen Certina has its origins in 1888, when two Swiss brothers, Adolf and Alfred Kurth, set up a watchmaking workshop in an annex to their family home in the town of Grenchen (above). Initially, the brothers made movements and parts that they supplied to other watch companies in the region, but by 1906 they were making enough of their own complete timepieces that they introduced a brand name: Grana, which was a shortened version of the Latin word “Granatus,” referring to Grenchen. The early Grana watches found success, but for several years the Kurth brothers continued to also make and supply movements to other companies; the name “Certina” - another Latin-derived word, from “certus,” for “sure” or “certain” - began appearing on the company’s timepieces throughout the 1930s. The name, which was also easier to pronounce than “Grana” in more languages, was registered in 1933 and eventually became the company’s sole name in 1949.  Few Grana watches are remembered as milestones today, i...

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What I Discovered on My Visit to The Aristo-Vollmer Factory Worn & Wound
Mar 10, 2025

What I Discovered on My Visit to The Aristo-Vollmer Factory

I recently visited the Aristo Vollmer watch and bracelet manufacturer in the Black Forest town of Pforzheim. Aristo-Vollmer was founded 14 years ago as a merger of two well-known companies from the towns of Birkenfeld and Pforzheim. After three generations in the possession of the founding Epple family, the watch manufacturer Aristo Watch was sold in 1998 to Hansjörg Vollmer, a member of the founding family of watch bracelet manufacturer Vollmer, which has been associated with Aristo since 1927. Hansjörg Vollmer is a grandson of the founder of the metal bracelet manufactory Vollmer (Vollmer, Evvo, New Line), which was founded in 1922 and had maintained business relations with Aristo since 1927.  After World War II, the production of bracelets moved from Birkenfeld to Pforzheim where it is still located next to the Pforzheim train station. Since 2005, the Aristo-Vollmer’s portfolio includes watch brands (Aristo, Aristomatic, Aristocrat, Messerschmitt, Vollmer, Bellana, Aristella, and Erbprinz) as well as bracelets (stainless steel, titanium, carbon), buckles, and deployant clasps. The bracelets are used for its own watch brands, and supplied to retailers, as well as outside the group. Recently Aristo added Klaus Jakob’s Jacques Etoile brand, which we’ll come back to a little later. Hansjörg is an intriguing personality, very driven yet approachable. He is a high-speed fanatic and professionally races BMW motorcycles, and even custom builds them upon request. I att...

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Hands-On With The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton Fratello
Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton Mar 10, 2025

Hands-On With The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton

What would happen if you started working out in 1969? How would you look today? Well, if you were a watch, you would probably look like the 42mm Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton. When the athletic Defy A3642 came to life 56 years ago, the watch, with its muscular octagonal case and chiseled tetradecagonal (14-sided) […] Visit Hands-On With The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph Skeleton to read the full article.

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Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - RJ’s Picks From Heuer, Breitling, Omega, and Rolex Fratello
Breitling Omega Mar 10, 2025

Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - RJ’s Picks From Heuer, Breitling, Omega, and Rolex

Our managing editor, Nacho, asked us to choose our favorite vintage watches under €5K. First, we need to define what “vintage” means. There is no clear universal definition in the watch industry, but the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie once used 20 years or older as a guideline. To some purists, a vintage needs to […] Visit Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - RJ’s Picks From Heuer, Breitling, Omega, and Rolex to read the full article.

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Hands-On With The New Citizen Tsuyosa 37mm - A Sweet Spot In The Market Is Now Also A Sweet Spot In Size Fratello
Citizen Tsuyosa 37mm - Mar 8, 2025

Hands-On With The New Citizen Tsuyosa 37mm - A Sweet Spot In The Market Is Now Also A Sweet Spot In Size

The Citizen Tsuyosa lineup has always impressed us as an absolute sweet spot in the market. I struggle to think of any watch offering more for the price. The Tsuyosa collection, then, can make you think twice about anything fancier. So what if you want all of that but in a more classical, elegant size? […] Visit Hands-On With The New Citizen Tsuyosa 37mm - A Sweet Spot In The Market Is Now Also A Sweet Spot In Size to read the full article.

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The Evergreens - An Interesting Case… The History of the Almost Century-Old Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Monochrome
Vacheron Constantin Mar 7, 2025

The Evergreens - An Interesting Case… The History of the Almost Century-Old Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Today, there is only one Reverso, with Jaeger-LeCoultre printed on its dial, but this was not always the case. During the 1930s, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Cartier made watches that used the Reverso case for their timepieces. Moreover, the 1931 Reverso was not the first reversible case design. A few years earlier, Universal Geneve […]

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Fratello’s Top 5 Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronographs Fratello
Rolex Chronographs Another Friday another Mar 7, 2025

Fratello’s Top 5 Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronographs

Another Friday, another list! This week, we’re highlighting the best pre-Daytona Rolex chronographs. While most watch fans know of such models’ existence, it’s not something we focus on often. This is for obvious reasons. The legacy of the Daytona has become one of the industry’s greatest success stories, so that is where the focus is. […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronographs to read the full article.

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Our Favorite Special-Edition Watches At The 2025 British Watchmakers’ Day Fratello
Mar 7, 2025

Our Favorite Special-Edition Watches At The 2025 British Watchmakers’ Day

Are you attending the 2025 British Watchmakers’ Day in London tomorrow? If so, I guess you already have your ticket ready because the ones for club members and the general public are all sold out. I considered attending the event this year, and that was mainly because of the Gimlet, a very attractive special-edition watch […] Visit Our Favorite Special-Edition Watches At The 2025 British Watchmakers’ Day to read the full article.

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Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - Lex’s Gold Picks From Audemars Piguet, IWC, And Minerva Fratello
Audemars Piguet IWC Mar 7, 2025

Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - Lex’s Gold Picks From Audemars Piguet, IWC, And Minerva

I need gold. My watch collection lacks precious metal, so with that in mind, I started looking for gold watches on a budget of €5K. Please enjoy my gold choices from Audemars Piguet, IWC, and Minerva. And yes, my colleagues told me I cheated by choosing the steel-cased Minerva, but I responded that the gold […] Visit Fratello Favorites: The Best Vintage Watches Under €5K - Lex’s Gold Picks From Audemars Piguet, IWC, And Minerva to read the full article.

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Hands-On With The New Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech BOC IV Fratello
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech BOC Mar 6, 2025

Hands-On With The New Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech BOC IV

Ask a random watch enthusiast about the great diving watches in history, and the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms will be on the tip of many tongues. In 2023, Blancpain celebrated the 70th anniversary of its legendary Fifty Fathoms in three acts. With a trio of completely different releases, the brand gave us a good idea of […] Visit Hands-On With The New Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech BOC IV to read the full article.

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[VIDEO] Hands-On: the Zenith Defy Revival Diver Worn & Wound
Zenith Defy Revival Diver Mar 6, 2025

[VIDEO] Hands-On: the Zenith Defy Revival Diver

For most of my watch-buying life, fun dive watches have mostly been big dive watches. Colorful, loud, capable waterproof options have tended to correspond with case dimensions of equal impact and presence, while the sub-40mm dive watch space has belonged to relatively sedate interpretations of the classic dive watch formula - and even then, 39mm has been the sweet spot for ‘small’ divers. But over the last few release cycles (if those even exist anymore), we’ve started to see signs of a shift, and I can think of few better examples of this change than the Zenith Defy Revival Diver A3648, released last year as part of Zenith’s grand re-entry into the dive space. Last summer, I got to spend a few weeks with the Zenith Defy Revival Diver’s bigger, brasher brother, the Defy Extreme Diver, and I came away wildly impressed. The Defy Extreme Diver was a watch that punched way above its weight class (or at least its price point) while feeling like a genuinely novel take on a modern dive watch from a brand with shockingly little history in the space. So when I had the chance to spend some time with that watch’s vintage-inspired counterpart, I jumped. This extended visit with the Revival Diver wasn’t my first hands-on experience with the watch - I got to spend a few minutes with it when I went to pick up the Extreme Diver back in June - but on that day, I didn’t find myself particularly taken with the Revival. While I’ve long admired Zenith’s dual identity...

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Tissot Introduces the PRC 100 Collection with a New Solar Powered Movement Worn & Wound
Grand Seiko s Spring Drive comes Mar 6, 2025

Tissot Introduces the PRC 100 Collection with a New Solar Powered Movement

There are a number of watchmaking technologies that are tough to appreciate until you’ve actually spent considerable time with a watch. Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive comes to mind, especially if you’re inclined to constantly check your watch’s accuracy. The consistency over time of a Spring Drive movement is kind of mindblowing if you’re used to “normal” mechanical watches. Similarly, high accuracy quartz, from any brand, is tough to wrap your arms around until you’ve gone months without needing a reset because your watch is keeping time to within a second or two. And ultra-thin watches deserve a mention here as well. A watch that you literally forget you’re wearing because it’s so thin can be a special thing when properly executed.  But in terms of actually making your day to day life easier, there are few technologies that match the practicality of solar powered timekeeping. There are a bunch of brands that offer watches with solar movements, and for some it’s really become their stock-in-trade. Today, Tissot expands their solar offerings with the new PRC 100 Solar collection, bringing an aging collection up to date with some modern tech that should have broad appeal to both the mass market and the most sensible, practical, enthusiasts among us.  The PRC 100 was originally introduced in the mid 2000s and is easily identified by its dodecagonal bezel. PRC is an acronym that stands for “Precise, Robust, and Classic,” which seems like the right canv...

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Anoma Introduces the A01 Slate SJX Watches
Anoma Introduces Mar 6, 2025

Anoma Introduces the A01 Slate

Having made its debut last summer, London-based Anoma returns with the A1 Slate, an entry level watch that punches above its weight in terms of design. Inspired by a triangular table designed in the 1950s by French designer Charlotte Perriand, the A1 Slate executes the mid-century aesthetic with aplomb. Over the past few years we’ve seen a number of unusually shaped watches come to market, perhaps as a cultural reaction to the proliferation of classical designs that otherwise dominate. Among these, the Anoma A1 stands out for its commitment to value and its undiluted form. Initial thoughts When the Anoma A1 debuted with the First Series, my first reaction was that it was simply a triangular watch. Closer examination revealed a number of intriguing details, like the offset rotation of the crystal relative to the case. The A1 Slate takes things up a notch, with an attractive grooved dial that brings the design to life. The A1 is all about its triangular stainless steel case, which is roughly 39 mm in diameter. The curved edges call to mind a Wankel rotory engine, and give the watch a pebble-like presence. A slim leather strap fits into hidden lugs, allowing the watch’s shape to remain undiluted. Like its predecessor, the A1 Slate is powered by the Sellita SW100, a diminutive automatic movement that was chosen for its ability to fit within the compact triangular case. The movement is common and industrial, which should give potential buyers confidence in its ability to be...

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