The world of luxury watches is undergoing a quiet revolution, with a focus on the allure of the dial. While mechanical innovations and complications have traditionally driven growth in the industry, it's the design of the dial that is now capturing the attention of watch enthusiasts and collectors alike. This shift in emphasis is particularly evident among affordable brands, which are tapping into a growing demand for bold colors and unconventional materials. What makes this trend particularly interesting is the way it challenges traditional notions of luxury and accessibility, offering consumers a unique blend of style and value.
The revival of mechanical watchmaking in the early 2000s sparked an era of experimentation, but the appetite for unconventional dials emerged later. At Geneva's SIHH watch fair in the early 2010s, IWC introduced a model with a deep blue dial, describing it as a more interesting and versatile alternative to the black and silver-grey tones that dominated at the time. A decade later, the trend has evolved, with bright colors like orange, pink, yellow, and turquoise becoming the new norm. These colors hark back to a moment in the 1970s when the usually conservative Rolex first used such colors for its Day-Date model, albeit with limited success.
Both types of dial are now highly prized by collectors, with a set of four Daytona Beach models (blue, green, pink, and yellow) being offered for £365,000 on the Chrono24 sales platform. This trend is not limited to high-end brands; Piaget saw a market for 'something different' in 1963, launching men's and women's dress and cocktail watches with dials made from jade, coral, tiger's eye, lapis lazuli, opal, and malachite. These watches were popular with the jet set, but the trend was short-lived due to the 'quartz crisis' in the 1970s.
After decades of dull dials, some of the big brands are getting bold again. Rolex and Omega are introducing materials like meteorite and semi-precious stones, while Piaget has revived its use of malachite and tiger's eye on its Andy Warhol models. However, these watches are expensive, with a Piaget Andy Warhol with a green malachite dial costing $55,000 and a Rolex GMT-Master II with a meteorite dial costing $53,100. But now, a growing appetite for dials with a difference is being met by a wave of more affordable watchmakers.
One such brand is Dennison, a British name that was mothballed in 1967 after more than 90 years of production. Brought out of hibernation in 2024, Dennison found instant success with a range of watches featuring hard stone dials and fitted with inexpensive but good-quality quartz movements. The brand aims to sell 2,000 watches in 2025, but finished the year having shifted 4,500. One of its most popular models is the ALD Dual Time, designed by Emmanuel Gueit, who has created watches for Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Tiffany. The dial of his Dennison watch is divided into two, with one half made from tiger's eye and the other from marble, each with its own movement and set of hands, yet it costs just £672.
The current trend for watches with interesting dials really began about three years ago, and Dennison is sourcing its stones from all around the world. Malachite comes from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; tiger's eye from Brazil; and aventurine, the only synthetic stone, from Italy. The brand aims to keep prices below £1,000, with the case shape and dials making its watches stand out. In the words of Dennison's managing director, Stephane Cheikh, 'For us, the aim was simply to come up with a nicely designed watch with a reliable and affordable quartz movement.'
But interesting dials don't have to be made from stone or metal. Fordite, a man-made material composed of multiple layers of hardened car paint, is an eye-catching alternative. Discovered in the spray booths of Detroit's automotive factories in the 1940s, fordite can be sliced down the middle to create slivers of material in psychedelic patterns. It was brought to the watch world by Canadian jewelry maker James Thompson, aka Black Badger, around 2015. Thompson has created fordite dial watches for Arcanaut and Bamford Watch Department, while American maker Ocean Crawler offers a range of dive watches starting at about $1,000.
In conclusion, the trend of unconventional dials in watches is not just about aesthetics; it's about challenging traditional notions of luxury and accessibility. Affordable brands are leading the way, offering unique and stylish watches that appeal to a wide range of consumers. As the market continues to evolve, we can expect to see more innovative uses of materials and designs, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the world of luxury watches.
