Over the last few weeks we have looked at how watch dials are made or finished, what features make them useful, and then some of the more exciting and complicated tools included by designers. This week we will dive further into the parts that designers add to indicate the time.

The first thing to say is that some watch dials are completely “clean”. The Swiss company Moser makes watches where the dial is entirely blank, and the beauty of the watch is left to the enamelled finish of the dial itself. Similarly, many ladies’ watches are small in size and feature no dial markings. When the famous Swatch watch was launched in the early 1980s, the focus on colour and dial art meant that many models also featured nothing extra on the dial. Find a great series of 1980s swatches here. Another Swiss brand, Rado has had great success with very simple dials over the decades.

Watch Numerals (or Numbers)

The most obvious thing to consider is the numbers on a watch. The fancy name for these in the watch world is numerals. This may seem fussy, but this term incorporates such ideas as the use of Roman Numerals, often found on many Rolexes, and the numbering system of languages like Arabic or Japanese. The first big difference we find is whether the numerals are applied or printed onto the dial. Printed means they are created at the same time as the rest of the dial printing or painting, and applied means they are made separately and then stuck on. Applied numerals stand out more, and often are more complicated, involving luminescent materials so they glow in the dark. For expensive watches the applied numerals are often made of gold and highly polished.

Some styles of numeral are famous. If we were talking about this in terms of text design, we would say fonts, but in the watch world they are referred to as “styles”. One of the most famous is called the Breguet numeral style, which was popularised by the one of the greatest watch makers of all time, Abraham Breguet, for his early customers. Strangely enough it is the Swiss brand Patek Phillippe that is most famous for using them today. The Rolex Oyster range has featured Roamn Numerals for decades, and today many microbrands also use them, inspired by their use on military timepieces. One unusual dial design that has become recently popular is the so-called California dial, which features a mix of numbers, numerals, and indices!

Watch Index Markers, Indices, or Shapes

When watch designers choose to use shapes instead of numbers, these are known as Index markers, or Indices. This is the parent category of things so a number is a kind of index marker when it comes to watch design. The indices used on a watch dial to help you tell them time can be any shape, and you can find dots, stars, arrows, lines, batons (thick lines), and even small pictures. They are usually a contrasting colour to the rest of the dial, and often are made of a paint that lights up in the dark, which is known as luminous paint, or lume for short. Some have metal surrounds and different coloured inners to make them stand out. Rolex in particular pioneered this technique.

Breitling Superocean Heritage 57 - with rainbow index markers

Strong Lume For Seeing in the Dark

Watch designers have always wanted to help the wearer tell the time in the dark. Since the start of the wristwatch era, different luminous material shave been deployed to achieve this. When military watches were designed and manufactured for the Second World War, large luminous numbers became common. When Scuba Diving became popular from the 1950s onwards, watches featuring even more interesting index shapes were designed for ease of visibility. These included triangles, squares, and batons, all created in lume painted onto dials. Today, a huge range remains available, from brands such as Seiko and Panerai, as well as many dive watch focussed microbrands.

Dazzling Jewellery Watches

If you are designing a watch primarily to sparkle and stand out, the indices of a watch are a great place to put jewels. For ladies watches and many jewel-encrusted men’s watches, there are often diamonds at the index marker locations. Even when the watch is not using precious stones or metals, shaping the index batons in a certain way can really make the markers shine. This is very common feature for this type of watch, and can be found at every price range.

Jaeger LeCoultre Mystery Dial

Brands, Dial Text and Other Markings

There is one piece of text you will find on a dial that is definitely the most common in the world of watchmaking; the words “Swiss Made”. This signifies that the watch contains 60% of the parts by value were manufactured in Switzerland and that it was assembled in Switzerland. Understandably most watches made this way are proud to signify this on the dial, usually at the bottom edge of the Dial.

Most watches also have the brand of the watch company, or the logo, on the dial, most commonly between the centre of the watch and the 12 O’Clock position. Many dial designers put the Logo or brand name elsewhere if there are functions on the watch, or it has interesting design features like sub dials. Many watch dials contain a large amount of text describing the name of the watch. This tradition was started by Rolex, as it wanted to clearly inform the consumer the model range of the watches, even the very first Submariner had the range name included from very early on.

Explore and Enjoy the Variety!

The world of watches has a huge amount of variety. Hopefully, this short series on dials has shown you just how many options there are out there, and encouraged you to explore further. We at The Watch Collectors’ Club don’t believe there is a best watch dial design, we just like exploring and owning a variety and are always keen to learn more. We run educational watch events every month, and all the details are on our Watch Events page. If you’d like to join us, please make sure you follow us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, and tell your watch loving friends.