Time+Tide
Last week we shared the most underrated watch dials, as chosen by you in response to our Instagram post. As promised, we have assembled the Time+Tide editorial team to share our own picks and nominations. This whole conversation began when Zach pointed out the underrated nature of modern Omega dress watches, focusing particularly on the De Ville Tresor with a blue linen-like dial – which also happens to be a very underrated dial. The rules of the game: pick a watch with a very underrated dial, ideally from a brand that is not typically known for its dial manufacturing or prowess, that has also yet to be mentioned by our community on social media. You can find our team picks below!View this post on InstagramA post shared by Time+Tide (@timetidewatches)Borna’s pick: Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 39 TabacLooking at some of the other dials on this list you will soon discover that this one is perhaps not as difficult to produce nor is it full of diamonds. Having said that, when have you last laid your eyes upon a brown dial this beautiful? It’s a Marmite colour in watches (imagine having brown ceramic bezels) but when executed well, it’s just about the classiest look imaginable – and the Tabac colour of the Club Sport Neomatik 39 is indeed well-executed.The sunburst is just strong enough to go from dark chocolate to creamy caramel, and there’s texture at play too with the azurage sub-dial. Add in the perfect, Bauhaus-style typeface, and you’ve got a winning formula. Of course, Nomos is known for having strong dial manufacturing capabilities. But this tabac brown is easy to miss in Nomos’ sea of boldly coloured dials, but one you definitely shouldn’t.Buffy’s pick: Jaeger-LeCoultre Rendez-Vous Jewellery MoonWhile there's an incredible amount of temptation to pick something with an amazing finish, or perhaps an under-utilised stone dial like labradorite, I have to settle on a watch from Jaeger-LeCoultre which I rarely see mentioned. The Rendez-Vous Jewellery Moon in pink gold with a diamond set bezel falls into the camp of being overtly feminine, a realm that is chronically overlooked at the best of times. The whimsical arrangement of the curly numerals from 9 to 3 is almost like a rainbow against the bright blue cosmos, itself studded with constellations that sparkle almost as much as the diamonds. A huge aperture reveals a mother-of-pearl moonphase, and of course, the golden star can be set at any point around the dial to mark a special time (or just any general reminder).Jamie’s pick: Baume & Mercier Hampton Polyptyque Edition Musee Soulages 10th AnniversaryThis Baume & Mercier’s title is one hell of a mouthful, but it’s pretty easy on the eyes. As its name implies, its dial is inspired by one of Pierre Soulages’ works, specifically Peinture 324 x 362 cm, 1986, Polyptyque I Edition?from the series?Outrenoirs. Soulages (1919-2022) was known as the “painter of black”, and this work is one of his most striking. Outrenoir means ‘beyond black’: this piece plays with texture and light despite its Stygian form, which Baume has adroitly transferred to a dress watch, adding only the subtle hints of gold for contrast. Reimagining great artworks on watch dials is nothing new, but it’s typically found within the realm of high-end brands, like Vacheron Constantin. Baume deserves plaudits for so faithfully recreating Soulages’ art, especially at a much more accessible price point.Pietro’s pick: Vitreum FirebirdIn the past, enamel dials were only ‘common’ among the big brands, but lately, we’ve been seeing more and more of them being made by the smaller players as well. This one is special. Made in Denmark, it combines flinque enamel with a hand-engraved sterling silver base. The result is stunning, to say the least, and when it catches the light it does look like it’s on fire. All of the brand’s dials share this technique to varying degrees of complexity, and while I’m still not sure which dial in the collection is my favourite, this one has a unique glow that makes it almost like a magical artefact. And how could I forget the numerals on the dial? It’s not easy to find numerals with so much character and history. They come from the Icelandic manuscript “Haukb?k” from 1310 and yet they look so modern!Zach’s pick: Norqain Adventure Neverest Glacier 40mmWhat do you get when you cross a Tudor Black Bay 58 with a Grand Seiko Snowflake? The answer: a Norqain Adventure Neverest Glacier 40mm. Understandably, most “professional” sports watches have matte black dials. This is done to best ensure legibility. The ubiquity of such plainness, however, has left a void for sports, or more sporty watches, to have more interesting dials aside from your matte black, gloss black and white, and occasional sunburst green and blue. Norqain filled this void a few years back with its Neverest Glacier 40mm that utilises a white textured dial to pay homage to a snow-covered Mt. Everest. Its hue and ridged surface create an image of a snowy mountain facade, and the polished surfaces of the hands and applied indices darken when viewed head-on, providing a very nice contrast to increase legibility.There is also a black dial variant as well.Despite its more elevated look (yes that was meant to be a stretching mountain peak pun), it remains a 200-metre water-resistant stainless steel dive watch that also notably has a grey ceramic bezel insert and a like-Tudor Kenissi-based 70-hour automatic movement that is COSC-certified.
20.11.24