Gone are the days when watches were just used to tell time. A person’s timepiece says a lot about their sense of style and their personality. From sparkling cases to embellished dials, a watch is a great way to add colour and pep to your step this spring season. If you’re looking to bring the vibrant pastel hues of spring to your wardrobe, why not invest in a beautiful timepiece that features the colours of this happy and fresh period of the year? With various materials and artisanal methods at our disposal, watch brands bring the colours of spring to life in their horological creations.
Ceramic
There are a few ways you can incorporate colour into a watch design, one of which is through ceramic – a non-metallic solid material made of inorganic compounds such as clay that is heated at high temperatures to create solid and uniform shapes. This versatile material can be glazed or unglazed, with a polished or matt finish and is available in a wide variety of colours, including all those associated with springtime. From soft yellow to blush pink and plant green, a colourful ceramic dial adds the perfect pop of colour to your everyday wardrobe.
What’s more, ceramic is extremely durable, scratch-resistant, hypoallergenic, and very lightweight, so the added embellishments will serve to add fashion and function to your day-to-day look. Swiss watch brand Richard Mille first started using ceramic in its watches in 2012 and has since created various colourful and inventive timepieces around the material. The pieces below are inspired by the summertime season as well as the style of the rebellious 80s Italian art and architecture firm - Memphis Group, using ceramic in blush pink, lavender and powder blue tones to create miniature works of art on each dial.
Enamel
Another commonly used material which adds a valuable dose of colour to a watch design is enamel, a glassy substance that creates a fluid and colourful appearance when fused to a metal surface using a high-temperature firing process. Layers of powdered glass are applied to the metal surface and are then heated to extreme temperatures, causing them to melt and form one solid glossy colour. Each layer must be applied and heated individually, with more layers serving to provide a higher colour punch.
There are various techniques for creating enamel dials, each one requiring great precision and skill. One of the most used enamelling techniques in watchmaking is the Champlevé enamel technique, whereby the dial is carved or etched by hand into a design, creating recessed areas which are then filled with enamel. The surface is then polished to reveal the design. Another is Grand Feu enamelling, by which an extremely lustrous and glass-like enamel colour is achieved by repeatedly firing layers upon layers of enamel at very high temperatures, often over 800°C. A few of Rolex’s 2023 Watches & Wonders releases showcased exceptional use of enamel on a watch dial, the iconic brand creating a puzzle pattern using varying colours of the material in different shapes.
Mother of Pearl
Perhaps our favourite way to achieve that fully coloured dial background is using one of the gem world’s most versatile gems – mother of pearl. Also known as nacre, this lustrous material is produced in the inner layers of mollusc shells, such as oysters and abalones. Displaying an array of shimmering colours along with the magical iridescence of pearls, this light-reflecting material is another valued way of adding decorative, colourful elements to a watch dial. This natural gem can be found in various colours, including white, cream, silver, pink, blue, green, and soft yellow. Jewellery and watch brands such as Dior and Bulgari often use mother of pearl as a key feature in their watch dial designs, opting for the classic white or pink versions of the stone to act as the soft background for the additional design embellishments.
Coloured Gems
Last but most certainly not least, coloured gemstones are another beautiful way to add colour to your watch dial, with the additional benefit of sparkle! We are lucky that Mother Nature has created a wide range of colourful gems to help embellish and brighten any watch design, which not only allows for a rainbow of hues to be included in your dial but also adds the value of wearing precious stones within your timepiece. Perhaps the most popular gem used to embellish watch dials is the sapphire. This Cardinal stone is available in a kaleidoscopic colour range and can be cut into virtually any shape. Brands such as Hublot and Breitling often used sapphires within the dial structure to replace the watch numbers or around the case, acting as a frame of colourful sparkle.
As you can see, there are a plethora of options and opportunities out there for those looking to accessorise with a coloured timepiece this spring. The pieces below display the various stylistic ways these materials and techniques are brought to life by different brands. Which one will you choose?
