25 White-Dial Watches Suitable for Every Budget and Style

In a watch world increasingly populated by bolder and more eye-popping colorways, watches with white dials remain, for many, the epitome of elegance and understated style. White dials, in the estimation we used to compile the following list, are distinct from the more commonly seen “silvered” or “silver” dials, some of them with textures that enhance their three-dimensional appeal or matte finishes that impart to them an appealing sense of solidity. Scroll down to discover 25 of our favorite white-dial watches — as always, covering a wide array of price categories, and styles from dress to diver to pilot to GMT (no chronographs however; white “panda” dials with black subdials is a separate list). 

Mondaine Classics Swiss Railway Watch

Price: $275, Case Size: 36 mm, Lug Width: 18 mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 30 m, Movement: Quartz Ronda 513

Founded in 1951 in Solothurn, Switzerland, Mondaine is a family-owned watch manufacturer that exudes pride in its essential Swissness (as evidenced by its logo, which incorporates the national flag. Mondaine’s signature product is also distinctly Swiss in its inspiration: the simply named Classics collection, the first of which was launched in 1986, derives its clean, ultra-legible, Bauhaus-flavored aesthetic from Switzerland’s distinctive (and notoriously accurate) railroad clocks. Based on the enduring design by Hans Hilfiker for the Federal Swiss Railways clock in 1944, the watch captures minimalism in its purest form with its simple, bold dial elements: thick black rectangular hands and indexes along with a splash of red from the central seconds hand. The starkly simple visual resonates perfectly within the modest, round 36mm case and the watch’s railway-worthy performance is ensured by an accurate and reliable Ronda 513 quartz movement.

Citizen Promaster Diver FUGU Automatic White Dial

Price: $595, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness: 12.8mm, Lug-to-Lug: 50mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200m, Movement: Automatic Miyota 8204

Deriving its nickname from the Japanese word for a puffer fish — a reference to the distinctively grooved shape of the rotating divers’ bezel — the “Fugu” model from Citizen’s Promaster Diver family originally debuted in 1989 and was revived for modern audiences in 2018. The white dial on the featured model is framed by a contrasting black dive-scale bezel. The hefty steel case (44mm) features a textured screw-down at the unusual position of 8 o’clock, which prevents it from poking into the small of a diver’s wrist. The hands and hour indexes are thick and brightly luminous-coated for underwater legibility; at 3 o’clock, the hour marker gives way to a day-date window. A Japanese-made, self-winding movement, the Miyota 8204, ticks inside, providing a 40-hour power reserve.

Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical White Dial

Price: $595, Case Size: 38mm, Thickness: 9.5mm, Lug-to-Lug: 47mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Water Resistance: 50m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Manual-wound Hamilton H-50 (ETA 2801-2 base)

Hamilton Watch Company, founded in the USA and now based in Switzerland, basically invented the field watch genre with the “trench watches” that it supplied to American troops in World War I, which kicked off a long tradition of making tough, simple, reliable timepieces for U.S. military units. The civilian offshoot of these watches is the Khaki Field, which traces its most direct inspiration to the 1960s model worn during the Vietnam War. The Khaki Field Mechanical, with its modest 38-mm case, 12-hour and 24-hour dial arrangement, and manually wound Caliber H-50, represents both the best value proposition in the Khaki Field collection (which also includes automatic and quartz options) as well as the most period-appropriate execution for lovers of vintage military watches. Among the many colorways now offered in the collection is this attractive but decidedly non-stealth-oriented model with a matte white dial with vintage-look “old radium” lume on the hands and hour markers.

Frederique Constant Classic Index Automatic White Dial

Price: $995, Case: 40mm, Thickness 10mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water-Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic FC-303 (Sellita SW200-1 base)

The Classic Index Automatic is Frederique Constant’s no-nonsense, Swiss-made dress watch, available in a variety of dial configurations and colors. In one of its most elegant executions, it offers a clean, silvered white dial with applied bar hour markers and sharply faceted sword-style hands that are luminous-treated, an element that’s often inexplicably absent from dress watches. The watch is powered by the staunchly reliable FC-303 caliber, based on the ubiquitous Sellita SW200-1 and features all the bells and whistles you’d expect from it: date display, hacking seconds, and hand-winding as well as self-winding. The 40mm two-part case has a sleek, polished finish and the quality of the calfskin leather strap is a step up from most others available in this price range.

Accutron Legacy RR-0

Price: $1,290, Case Size: 34mm, Thickness: 12.5mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200

Once the flagship collection of Bulova, Accutron established itself as its own watch company in 2020 with a new electrostatic-movement version of the famous and futuristic (for the ‘60s, at least) Accutron Spaceview leading the way. The Legacy collection that followed up that flagship model revived an array of less renowned but cult-classic Accutron designs from its Bulova days. One of the most well received has been the RR-0, a modern version of a piece made to the specifications of the Canadian Railroad in the 1970s. Decidedly retro in its case size (34mm!) and sporting a clean, bright white dial with contrasting black numerals, the RR-0 stands slightly apart with the rare “0” in place of the 12 on the main hour scale on the and an unconventional winding crown at 4 o’clock. The black hands, orange seconds hand, and black date window aperture also make a fun and quirky statement.

Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic White Dial

Price: $1,295, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness: 11.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Alpina Caliber AL-525

The vintage-inspired Alpina Startimer Pilot, launched in 2011, was relaunched in 2017 with a new dial design and additional case options. The watch's 44-mm case is equipped with an oversized crown typical of today’s pilot watch designs and a solid caseback featuring an engraved Alpina logo. The matte-finished white dial has an outer minute track with Alpina’s hallmark red triangle at the 12 o’clock position, along with applied Arabic numerals broken up with rectangular markers at each of the quarter hours. The hour and minute hands are markedly curved and the red seconds hand uses the triangle logo as a counterweight. The date appears subtly in a small window at the 3 o’clock position. Ticking Inside the Startimer Pilot is the self-winding, Sellita-based caliber AL-525, with a 38-hour power reserve and special finishing by Alpina.

Longines Conquest VHP

Price: $1,295, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 13mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Quartz ETA Caliber L288.2

Longines released its first Conquest watch in 1954, and 30 years later, during the “Quartz Crisis” year of 1984, the venerable Swiss brand leaned into the trending quartz technology that so many of its Asian competitors had embraced with the launch of the first Conquest VHP. The current version of the Conquest VHP (whose initials stand for “Very High Precision”) launched in 2017, outfitted with the ETA-produced Caliber L288.2, a cutting-edge quartz movement that is notable for its precision of +/- 5 seconds per year, higher than standard quartz calibers; its use of a GPD (gear position detection) system that quickly resets the watch’s hands after an impact or exposure to a magnetic field; and its exceptionally long battery life of nearly five years. This version of the Conquest VHP sports a white dial with a discreet snailed pattern and the telltale large 12 and 6 numerals that are emblematic of the Conquest, Longines’ first named collection.

Formex Essence Automatic Chronometer White 39

Price: $1,390, Case Size: 39mm, Thickness: 10mm, Lug-to-Lug: 45.5mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200

Founded in 1999 and based in Biel, Switzerland, independent brand Formex has drawn admiration for making durable and stylish watches at value-oriented prices. The Essence Chronometer at the heart of the Formex collection is, as its name suggests, a COSC-certified chronometer and also features all three of the technical elements upon which Formex builds its brand identity: a fine adjustment system for giving the straps and bracelets a perfect fit; a patented case-suspension system drawn from the world of high-performance bikes that uses tiny springs between the upper and lower case to cushion the movement; and a quick strap-changing system that requires no tools. The simple dial, here in a crisp white, is lent an extra layer of interest by its CNC-machined horizontal line pattern and the mirror-polished bevels of its hands and applied hour markers. The chronometer-rated Sellita movement inside is automatic and impeccably decorated, with a signature skeletonized rotor. 

Marathon Arctic Edition Large Divers Automatic

Price: $1,500, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 13.6mm,Lug Width: 20mm, Water Resistance: 300m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200-1

Since 1939, Canada-based Marathon Watch has been making timepieces for the North American market and since 1941 has been supplying them to the U.S. armed forces. (Today, the company is the sole supplier.) Now manufactured by the fourth generation of the founding family, Marathon watches — designed in Canada, manufactured in Switzerland —have become well regarded for their military durability and mission-ready precision. The Arctic Edition of the brand’s Divers Automatic model features a bright white dial with both 12-hour and 24-hour (military time) scales; hands and indexes with Tritium H3 micro-gas tubes, for a brighter and more lasting nighttime glow than dials that use the more common Super-LumiNova; and a contrasting red central seconds hand. The unidirectional dive-scale bezel is also highly readable in the dark, with Maraglo paint illuminating its 12 o'clock orientation triangle, and the Swiss-made automatic Sellita SW200-1 does its duty inside the steel case.

Tudor Black Bay GMT

Price: $3,850 - $5,550, Case Size: 41mm, Case Thickness: 15mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Automatic Tudor Caliber MT5652

The Tudor Black Bay GMT takes the classical design of the GMT-Master from parent brand Rolex and gives it a very contemporary spin that is distinctly its own.  Like its iconic predecessor, the watch’s bezel sports a bicolor 24-hour ring on which the wearer can read a second time zone thanks to the dial’s GMT hand; on the Tudor model, the famous bright red-and-blue “Pepsi” colorway of the bezel is slightly modified to a more muted indigo-and-burgundy combo that speaks to the design language of the Black Bay. The latest version, unveiled at Watches & Wonders 2023, features an opaline white dial with a galvanic finish that imparts to it a silvery-grained texture. The outlines of the dial’s hour indexes have been darkened to stand out more boldly. The 41mm steel case holds Tudor’s self-winding,  manufacture Caliber MT5652, with a “weekend-proof” 70-hour power reserve and a chronometer certification by the COSC.

Junghans Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus

Price: $1,400, Case Size: 38mm, Case Thickness: 9.7mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber J800-1 (ETA 2824-2 base)

The Max Bill collection from Germany’s Junghans, named for the Swiss artist that designed it, offers an elegantly minimalist aesthetic (we explore the collection in depth here). The Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus Edition was released in 2019 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, the famed German design school that had such a profound impact on Max Bill and other pioneers of 20th century architecture and design. The anthracite PVD coating of the case evokes the facade of the school building in Dessau while the red hands and red date window on the matte white dial pay tribute to its famed red doors. The gray strap of the 1,000-piece limited edition, Junghans says, is inspired by the concrete used in the construction of the building, which is also represented in an illustration on the sapphire caseback.

Oris Roberto Clemente Limited Edition

Price: $2,200, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 11.8mm, Lug to Lug: 46mm, Lug Width:  20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Oris 754 (Sellita SW200-1 base)

The Oris Roberto Clemente Limited Edition, which took the field in 2020, pays homage to legendary Pittsburgh Pirates player and renowned humanitarian Roberto Clemente, who won a World Series title with the Pirates in 1960 and perished in a plane crash in 1972 while on a humanitarian aid mission to Central America. The watch’s white dial, with black-and-gold accents, is inspired by Clemente’s Pirates uniform colors, and its 40-mm stainless steel case has a solid engraved caseback with a relief image of the Hall of Famer along with the watch’s limited edition number: Oris made 3,000 total pieces in honor of Clemente’s historic achievement as the first Latino player with 3,000 hits. The timepiece sports Oris’ signature fluted “big crown,” which securely screws into the case to ensure its water resistance, and a similar fluted motif on the bezel. It’s equipped with the Sellita-based automatic Caliber 754, which powers the timekeeping as well as a pointer date indication, and is mounted on a brown leather strap with baseball-style double stitching.

Rado Captain Cook Automatic White Dial

Price: $2,250, Case Size: 37mm, Thickness: 11mm, Lug to Lug: 43mm, Lug Width: 19mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200m, Movement: Automatic ETA C07.611

Rado’s Captain Cook models are based on a 1960s diving watch and eschew the modernist aesthetic that chiefly defines Rado’s collection in favor of a sporty, vintage look. Like many popular watch families, Captain Cooks are now available in a variety of sizes, from the original, somewhat stately 44mm models to the more midrange 42mm ones to the understated (and most historically accurate) 37mm sizes. The unidirectional bezel has a dive-scale insert made of high-tech ceramic, an emblematic material for the Swiss brand. The case has a solid caseback stamped with three seahorses, an aquatic motif that references historical Rado dive watches. The dial hosts a wide arrow hour hand, broad geometrical indexes, and a date window at 3 o’clock. Another vintage touch is the Rado rotating anchor symbol at 12 o’clock with its ’60s-inspired ruby-colored background. The watch featured here has a white dial with a gradient effect and comes on Rado’s retro-styled beads-of-rice bracelet.

Nomos Orion 35

Price: $2,360, Case Size: 35mm, Thickness: 8.7mm, Lug to Lug: 45mm, Lug Width: 18mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Manual Caliber Alpha

Founded in 1990, just two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nomos has, in the short span of thirty years, risen to become one of the most popular makers of German luxury watches that combine sensible pricing, classic Bauhaus design, and recently, a side helping of technical innovation. The Orion 35 (the number refers to its case diameter) is a throwback to the days when gents and ladies both wore smaller, more understated timepieces. The dial is accordingly clean and sedate, with simple bar indices and tempered blue baton hands on a stark white background, the only additional element being a small seconds sundial with its own blued hand at 6 o’clock. The watch fastens to a Horween leather strap and contains Nomos’s proprietary manual-winding Alpha caliber, whose high-end decorations are visible behind a sapphire caseback.

Mühle Glashütte SAR Rescue Timer Lumen

Price: $2,800, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 13.5mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW 200-1, Mühle version

Mühle Glashütte, founded in 1869, is the oldest family-owned watch company in Germany while also being, in practice, one of the youngest, having not produced a wristwatch until 1996. The company’s history of making speedometers, dashboard clocks, and other equipment for military vehicles provided the impetus for the S.A.R. Rescue Timer (the initials referring to Germany’s Maritime Search and Rescue Service, which first commissioned it and still uses it today). The watch’s tough rubber bezel acts as a shock absorber for the Mühle-customized automatic Swiss movement inside the steel case. Under a dense 4mm sapphire crystal with a cyclops lens to magnify the date, the white dial of the Lumen model — with the emblematic large triangular markers in black at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock — is fully coated with luminous paint for nighttime visibility.

Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver White

Price: $3,990, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.05mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300m, Movement: Automatic BR-CAL.302 (Sellita base)

Bell & Ross launched its first divers’ watch, the round-cased Hydromax, in 1997, followed it up with the tonneau-cased BR-02 in 2007, and finally, in 2017, unveiled the original BR 03-92, the first dive watch in the square case shape for which the brand has become renowned. The recently introduced BR 03-92 Diver White adds a “polar-inspired” white dial to the model’s squared ergonomic case, which measures 42 mm in diameter and resists water pressure to 300 meters. The watch’s 60-minute unidirectional bezel features a luminescent dot at 12 o’clock for orientation and its crown is protected by an impact-resistant guard, fitted with a rubber insert for easy handling. The antireflective sapphire crystal and the solid caseback are both extra-thick, at 2.80 mm and 2.85 mm, respectively. An inner cage made of soft iron inside the case protects the movement — the automatic BR-Cal.302, based on the Sellita SW 300.1 — from the effects of magnetic fields.

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Night Diver

Price: $4,100, Case Size: 43mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300m, Movement: Automatic TAG Heuer Caliber 5

TAG Heuer added the the Night Diver, a revival of a 1980s model, to its revamped Aquaracer series of sporty divers’ watches in 2021. The watch’s 43-mm steel case, 12-sided rotating bezel, engraved solid caseback, and adjustable clasp are all coated in matte black DLC (diamond-like carbon). In stark contrast, its white dial is fully luminescent, bathed in Super-LumiNova that glows green in dark conditions. Black lacquer is used on the edging of the hour markers, and a blue Super-LumiNova on elements like the seconds hand and the bezel’s 12 o’clock triangle help them stand out from the green-glowing main dial. The Aquaracer’s hallmark 12-sided unidirectional bezel has faceted sides for an easy grip. Its scratch-resistant sapphire crystal has a magnifying lens integrated into its underside to showcase the date display on the dial at 6 o’clock. The screw-down crown ensures a water-resistance of 300 meters, and the caseback features the stamped image of a scaphander diver’s helmet; behind it is TAG Heuer’s automatic Caliber 5, with a quick date correction and a 38-hour power reserve.

Louis Erard Excellence Émail Grand Feu II

Price: $4,290, Case Size: 39mm, Thickness: 12.25mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita Caliber SW261-1

Independent watchmaker Louis Erard plunges into the realm of artistic metiers d’art with its Excellence Émail Grand Feu II. Émail, for the non French-speakers out there, refers to enamel, not electronic communications, while grand feu (literally “big fire”) refers to the specific type of enamel used for the elegant dial, in which fine powders, one for each of the colors used in the dial’s ensemble, are fired in a kiln at 800 degrees Celsius to achieve a long-lasting brilliance; in this model, it’s the gleaming white of the dial, the bright blue of the hour markers and Roman numerals and the rich red of the 12 o’clock numeral. Also distinguishing the dial of this 99-piece limited edition are Louis Erard’s signature “tree” hands and the delicate Roman hour numerals. The steel case measures 39mm and houses an automatic Caliber from Sellita.

Grand Seiko SBGA211 “Snowflake”

Price: $6,200 - $4,500, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 12.5mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Spring Drive Caliber 9R65

Grand Seiko released its first “Snowflake” edition, Ref. SBGA011, exclusively to the Japanese market in 2005. The sequel, Ref. SBGA211, was released in the 2017, the year that Grand Seiko split from parent Seiko to become an independent brand, and differs from the original “Snowflake” in one significant detail: the pristine white, snow-textured dial features the “GS” applied logo and “Grand Seiko” text at 12 o’clock and the simple “Spring Drive” text at 6 o’clock — as opposed to the classic Seiko logo at 12 and “Grand Seiko Spring Drive” at 6. The 41mm case is constructed from Grand Seiko’s “high intensity” titanium, an alloy that’s stronger but 40 percent lighter than stainless steel, and finished to a high gloss with Zaratsu polishing, which allows for sharp, ridged borders between mirrored and hairline surfaces. The elegantly faceted indexes and razor-style hands are silver-polished, while a blued steel seconds hand sweeps around the snowy dial. The highly accurate Spring Drive Caliber 9R65 inside, oscillating behind a sapphire caseback, provides a three-day power reserve.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M White Ceramic Dial

Price: $5,300, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 13.5mm, Lug to Lug: 50mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Omega 8800

Omega’s Seamaster Diver 300M series made its debut in 1993 and shortly thereafter achieved cinematic glory as the go-to watch of superspy James Bond. Now available in dozens of colorways and executions, this stylish tool watch debuted in a version with a white ceramic dial in 2019. The 42mm case is made of stainless steel and sports a unidirectional bezel with a scalloped edge for easy gripping and a ceramic insert with a white enamel scale to set dive times. The watch’s rugged 300-meter water resistance is ensured by a screw-down crown and enhanced with a helium release valve. Like other models in the Seamaster Diver 300M family, its ceramic dial hosts a laser-engraved wave pattern and skeletonized hands; on this vibrant white dial, the motif calls to mind whitecaps and cresting waves at sea. The tip of the central seconds hand and the “Seamaster” script below the Omega logo at 12 o’clock add a touch of subtle contrast. Despite the model’s extreme water resistance, Omega has managed to install a sapphire crystal caseback, offering a view of the automatic, co-axial Caliber 8800, which has earned a Master Chronometer certificate for its reliability and magnetic resistance.

Cartier Tank MC

Price: $7,350, Case Size: 44mm x 34mm, Thickness: 9.5mm, Lug Width: 25mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Cartier Automatic Caliber 1904-PS MC

Louis Cartier created the Tank watch in 1917, deriving its rectangular, curvilinear case shape as well as its name from a French military vehicle used during the First World War. (Perhaps fittingly, the recipient of the first Cartier Tank watch was U.S. General John “Black Jack” Pershing, a commander of the Allied forces.) The Tank has been a coveted style object ever since, in a variety of sizes, colorways and materials designed to appeal to men and ladies alike. This 44mm model in steel contains a Cartier in-house automatic movement, Caliber 1904-PS MC (the “1904” denoting the year of Cartier’s founding, the “MC” standing for “Manufacture Cartier”) and a white silvered dial with a distinctive “flinqué” textured pattern. The dial hosts the Tank’s renowned outer track of radiating Roman numeral hour markers, blued sword hands, a date window at 3 o’clock and small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. On the right side of the case is another Cartier detail, a faceted crown topped with a synthetic blue spinel. The sapphire back displays the movement and the decorative Geneva waves that adorn its rotor and plates.

Rolex Explorer II Oystersteel

Price: $9,650, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.5mm, Lug to Lug: 50.1mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Rolex Caliber 3285

Rolex introduced the original Explorer watch in 1953, the year of Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent to the peak of Mount Everest, a mission for which the Swiss watchmaker was a sponsor and provider of watches. The Explorer II followed in 1971, distinguished from its rugged predecessor by the addition of a dual-time GMT capability, debuted in 1971. For that model’s 50th anniversary in 2021, Rolex introduced this sleek “polar dial” version of the Explorer II, in a 42mm steel case with a satin-finished 24-hour bezel in the same material —  in contrast to the ceramic bezels of Rolex’s other dual-time watch, the GMT-Master II. Like that watch, the Explorer II has been upgraded to the in-house Caliber 3285, decked out with an array of patented tech, including an energy-efficient Chronergy escapement and an antimagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring, and boasting a 70-hour power reserve. The dial’s large, geometric markers and cyclops date window evoke another iconic model, the Submariner, and the bright orange GMT hand creates a pleasing contrast with the white dial.

RGM Pennsylvania Series 801-CE Classic Enamel

Price: $13,900, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 12.3mm, Lug to Lug: 57mm, Lug Width:  22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Manually wound RGM Caliber 801

Roland G. Murphy, A trained watchmaker and former Hamilton Watch Company technical manager, founded the RGM watch brand in Lancaster County, PA, one of America’s ancestral watchmaking centers, in 1992. In 2008, Murphy made the first high-grade mechanical movement made in the U.S.A. in over 40 years, Caliber 801, whose components are all made by local suppliers. For the Pennsylvania Series 801-CE model, Murphy places the movement behind a vintage-pocketwatch-style “double sunk” enamel dial, constructed of three separate pieces soldered together and finished in the grand feu (French for “Great Fire”) process for a gleaming white finish. The dial hosts vintage-style Roman numerals, a railway track minutes scale, and blued Breguet hands, all elements evocative of pocketwatches from a largely bygone era of American watchmaking. Caliber 801, with its array of old-school horological highlights including classical bridge shapes, hand-polished and blued-steel components; and a seven-tooth winding click system, is on display behind the sapphire caseback.

Panerai Radiomir Quaranta Goldtech

Price: $18,200, Case Size: 40mm, Lug Width:  24mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Panerai P.900

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Panerai helped usher into the luxury watch world a “bigger-is-better” trend that has been ebbing in recent years, as more modest case dimensions find a receptive audience. Even Panerai, which built its brand cachet on large, military-style timepieces, hasn’t been immune to the trend. In 2021, the brand released the first Quaranta (italian for “forty”) models in its Luminor collection, which replaced the 42mm versions that were at the time the smallest options, and followed those up with Quranta versions of the company’s oldest and most historically significant model, the Radiomir, shortly thereafter. This handsome Radiomir Quaranta uses Goldtech, Panerai’s proprietary precious metal alloy, for its 40mm cushion-shaped case, with a polished bezel and brushed surfaces and the hallmark large, diamond-shaped crown. The sandwich-style dial — another Panerai mainstay — is in a glossy sunbrushed white, with golden hands, hour numerals and indexes, and a small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock balanced out by a date window at 3 o’clock. The movement inside is the automatic Panerai 900 caliber, originally developed for another “downsized” Luminor sub-family, the Luminor Due, which packs a three-day power reserve. 

Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 6119R

Price: $29,570, Case: 39mm, Thickness: 8.1mm, Water-Resistance: 30m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Caliber 30-255 PS Price: $29,570

Perhaps no brand embodies the classical dress watch style better than Patek Philippe, which recently added a hobnail “Clous de Paris” bezel, first used on the classic Ref. 3919, to its iconic Calatrava (Ref. 6119R), providing a much needed facelift to the outgoing 5119R. The new version comes in at 39mm in either rose gold or white gold — larger than its 36mm predecessors but still elegantly sized and also very thin at just over 8mm high. The harmoniously balanced, creamy white dial — with Roman hour numerals on the rose-gold model, gray-to-black with applied indexes on the white-gold — features a recessed small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock and a railroad minute track on the periphery. Both models contain Patek Philippe’s in-house Caliber 30-255 PS, which boasts an extended power reserve of 65 hours in its redesigned twin-barrel system as well as the host of high-end finishing for which the maison has become renowned.