The vast majority of wristwatches have predominantly black, white, silver, grey, or blue dials. But what about brown? Why does this pleasing, neutral, earthy colour seem to be the watch world's ugly stepchild? There's likely no single answer to this question as I'm sure many factors come into play. When you think about it, there aren't many brown automobiles on the road, either. I have to admit I didn't think about brown being a particularly desirable colour for a watch dial, until I saw this watch. It was love at first sight. image credit: www.h-moser.com I never really had a chance at making this watch my own, as a) it cost a cool $25k, and b) the limited run of 50 pieces sold out in just a few days. But that dial really opened my eyes to be potential of Brown. I actually do own one watch with a brown dial, and I think it's quite lovely. But because it was a gift from Mrs. Jones, it could have had a purple dial with green polka-dots and it would still be a special watch to me. What about you? Do you have any love for Brown to share?
I had this Heuer Carrera 150.573f for a little while a few years ago (this photo is from Google, but this is the actual one I owned) and it was actually quite cool, if not ultimately my style. That had more to do with the barrel case than the dial though. I actually really liked the flaky hand lume, I thought it lent the watch some character!
I now like brown, but it was an acquired taste for me that I didn't care for until I fell hard for the A385.
I'll snap a picture of my chocolate sapphire sandwich and post it this evening. Brown has it's place. Love the one Mrs. Jones grabbed for you.
I've got this one hanging around at the moment, I'm not entirely sure it's always been brown though...
OMG Hijak, that watch is STUNNING! DIBS!!! ...and jealous congrats. What can brown do for you, you ask? Well Hijacks watch just "did it" for me!
People might not be interested in new brown dials - but you know as well as I the love collectors have for "tropical" or otherwise aged brown dials.
Brown dials have been around for a while, but it's a challenge to find an original, vintage, non-tropical brown dial. Tissot made a few; this one is from their centennial year of 1953. The gold-plated markers are tarnished now, but the facets still catch the light. They would have really popped against that dial.
And then there's the new bronze Black Bay, of course. Brown seems to be a popular dial color with the micro brand bronze divers that were all the rage recently, too. I guess Tudor wants a piece of that action.
Most of my dials are white or black. I thought maybe the brown Speedy Pro Moon might be the answer to adding something a bit different to the classic design. Let's just say that my wife shot it down quickly with some very unkind words. Lol. I've got my eye on the Gold FOIS which has dark brown subdials, so I might sneak one in anyway. In fact I'm going to try it on again this weekend as my local Omega Boutique has the Basel road show here now. Maybe I'll see Ulack there.