31 Blue Dial Watches from Under $300 to $50,000+

After well over a decade of growth in both popularity and market presence, watches with blue dials can no longer be considered either a niche or a trend; blue-dial watches now make up a significant segment of new models being released, joining basic black and silvery white as a go-to colorway, whether the watch is simple or complicated, sport or dress, sleek and shiny or boldly textured. As such, assembling a list of favorite blue-dial watches has become increasingly challenging as more and more options become available. For this list, we wanted to strike a balance between entry-level and high-luxury while also showcasing a wide range of styles and functions and turning the spotlight on some newer models as well as some established favorites. Read on for the list, arranged in ascending order of price; we’ll also likely be adding to it in the future, so feel free to leave your own suggestions for best blue-dial watches in the comments below. 

Citizen Promaster Diver

Price: $300, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness: 11.6mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 200m, Movement: Citizen Eco-Drive E168

Citizen unveiled its Promaster line of professional-grade sports watches in 1989 and its Promaster Diver models — equipped with the Japanese brand’s proprietary Eco-Drive technology, which uses light to perpetually charge the movement — have proven to be among the most popular of Citizen’s vast portfolio of timepieces. The 44mm steel case features a 60-click rotating bezel made of aluminum (here in maritime blue) and a screw-down crown positioned at 4 o’clock. The blue dial sports wide hands and large applied hour markers, all bearing generous amounts of lume for underwater visibility, and a date window at 4 o’clock. The prominent minute hand with its orange detailing adds another layer of contrast, and hence legibility, to the dial. The Eco-Drive movement offers six months of power on a full charge and boasts an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month.

Seiko Presage “Cocktail Time” SRPB43

Price: $319, Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 11.8mm, Lug to Lug: 47.5mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Hardlex, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Seiko 4R35

The “Cocktail Time” series within Seiko’s automatic-only Presage family of attainable, attractive dress watches are designed to evoke the types of high-end cocktails served at Japan’s famously atmospheric rooftop bars. This model with a stainless steel case and a sunray ice-blue dial takes its nickname and inspiration from a classic Martini. The glossy-finish dial’s ridged, rippling edges help give it the look of a birds-eye view inside the cocktail glass; the tone-on-tone date window is a subtle but impressive bonus at this price point, as is the in-house, automatic movement inside. The 40.5-mm case is topped by a box-shaped crystal made of a proprietary Seiko material called Hardlex. A specially sculpted crown helps ensure the case’s 50-meter water resistance, and the movement is magnetic-resistant to 4,800 A/m.

Bulova Wilton GMT

Price: $595, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 12.7mm, Lug to Lug: 49.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30m, Movement: Automatic Miyota 9075

Bulova's Wilton GMT is the rare example of a “true” GMT — i.e., one with an independently adjustable local hour hand — that just about any enthusiast can afford. The watch has a brushed steel case at 43mm; a dial in either white or the dashing blue featured above, with applied Roman numerals matching the case tone, a date window at 3 o’clock, and a world-map textured pattern on its surface that adds to its value proposition. The central arrow-pointed GMT hand indicates a second time zone on the bicolor 24-hour scale on the dial’s flange. The Japanese Miyota movement inside is self-winding and stores a 42-hour power reserve.

Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 Blue

Price: $650, Case size: 40mm, Thickness: 11mm, Lug to Lug: 44.6mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Powermatic 80.111

Tissot added to the growing roster of sport-luxury watches on integrated steel bracelets in 2021 with the re-release of the PRX, a watch that first hit the market in 1978. The “P” and “R” in the name stand for “precise” and “robust,” and the “X” is actually a Roman numeral “10” depicting the model’s 10 atmospheres (aka 100 meters) of water resistance. Like its predecessor from the disco era, the first modern PRX model had a quartz movement, but that one was swiftly followed by an automatic version containing the brand’s Powermatic 80 caliber. The stainless steel, barrel-shaped case measures 40 mm in diameter, a very wearable 11 mm in thickness, and integrates smoothly into either a supple steel bracelet or the black rubber strap features here. The sunray-finished blue dial features a distinctive waffle-pattern motif, while the ETA-based Powermatic caliber is showcased behind a sapphire caseback.

Baltic Aquascaphe Bronze Blue Gilt

Price: 625 euros, Case Size: 39mm, Thickness: 12mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Lug to Lug: Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Miyota 9039

Baltic Watches founder Étienne Malec found the inspiration for his watchmaking enterprise with the discovery of his father’s watch collection, and named the company, launched on Kickstarter in 2017, to honor his father’s roots, after the sea off the northern coast of Poland. Baltic has become most known for its Aquascaphe series of dive watches, which take their design inspiration from mid-20th-century divers and are equipped with automatic Miyota movements. This Aquascaphe model in a bronze case uses an aluminum-copper alloy (rather than the tin-copper alloy more commonly used for watch cases) which makes the case, including the divers’ bezel made of the same material, more corrosion-resistant and thus slower to develop patina. The numerals and bronze-colored hands pop nicely against the deep, royal blue of the dial, whose tone is echoed in the rubber strap that helps make the watch a reliable diving companion.

Hamilton Ventura Blue

Price: $975 - $995, Case Size: 32.3mm x 50.3mm, Thickness; 9.27mm, Crystal: Mineral Glass, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Quartz ETA Caliber F05.115

The Hamilton Ventura, the world’s first electric wristwatch, rose to fame when Elvis Presley wore it in the film Blue Hawaii in 1961 and the model has been associated with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll ever since. “Blue Suede Shoes,” the opening track on Elvis’s 1956 debut album and one of his first first huge hits, inspired the dial of Hamilton’s recently released Ventura Blue. The watch pays homage to the song with its gradient blue dial whose brushed pattern resonates with the curves of the triangular Ventura case. A Swiss quartz movement beats inside, while the dial hosts nickel-plated hands and a vintage lightning-bolt motif that recalls the model’s electric-powered origins. The Ventura Blue comes mounted on either a “flex” metal bracelet or a blue Alcantara leather strap that echoes the dial.

Christopher Ward C60 Trident Bronze

Price: $1,165, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 12.95mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Lug to Lug: 47.46mm, Water Resistance: 600m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200-1

Conceived during a boat ride down the Thames in 2004, Christopher Ward was the brainchild of three entrepreneurial British watch enthusiasts looking for a new challenge in their professional lives. Named for the co-founder with the most  “quintessentially British” name, the company set out to make premium Swiss-made watches that could be sold at much lower prices than their competitors by avoiding large marketing overheads and retailer margins. One of the brand’s signature pieces is the C60 Trident dive watch, including this standout edition with a corrosion-resistant, patinating 40mm bronze case and a navy blue “ombré” dial with a hand-distressed pattern that ensures each watch is subtly unique. The case houses the reliable, self-winding Sellita movement behind its trident-stamped solid caseback and boasts a remarkable 600 meters of water resistance.

Alpina Alpiner 4 Brilliant Blue

Price: $1,345, Case Size: 44mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic AL-525

Alpina based its Alpiner 4 collection on a classic model from 1938 built to achieve the “four essential features” by which the brand defined a sports watch: anti-magnetism, shock resistance, water-resistance, and stain-resistance. The Alpiner 4 Automatic, the flagship three-hand date model of  the collection, has a 44mm stainless steel case and a bidirectional rotating bezel that can be used for timing events. The watch has a convex, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, a threaded crown, and a solid, engraved caseback. Its sunray-finished “Brilliant Blue” dial has applied luminous indexes, luminous hands, and a date window at 3 o’clock. Ticking inside is Alpina’s automatic Caliber AL-525, with 26 jewels, a 28,800-vph frequency and 38-hour power reserve.

Baume & Mercier Riviera

Price: $1,800 - $4,400, Case size: 33mm/36mm/42mm, Thickness: 9.57mm/9.57mm, 13.2mm/12.1mm, Lug Width: 11mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters/50 meters/100 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW 200/Sellita SW 200/Baumatic BM13-1975A

Baume & Mercier relaunched its 1973 classic, the Riviera, in 2021, joining the now-crowded bandwagon of watchmakers offering a luxury sport watch on an integrated bracelet. The modern versions stand apart from the more classical elegance evident in Baume’s other collections, with 12-sided bezels with four visible (and functional) screws at the corners; the dials, meanwhile, evoke a sense of historical luxury with their applied Roman numeral hour indexes, partially openworked Dauphine hands and eye-catching textured motifs, like the nautical-influenced wave pattern that enhances the blue dial on the model featured here. Inside the satin-brushed case of the Riviera, Baume & Mercier installs either a dependable Sellita SW 200 or, in the models with smoked, semi-transparent dials, its in-house Baumatic BM13-1975A, with a five-day power reserve.

Frederique Constant Highlife Automatic

Price: $2,195, Case Size: 41mm, Water Resistance: 50m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Frederique Constant Caliber FC-303

Frederique Constant rolled out its original Highlife collection in 1999, shortly after the brand established itself, and revived it in a big way, after a long hiatus, in 2020. Modern Highlife models are defined by their curvilinear tonneau-shaped cases, integrated and interchangeable bracelets and straps, and a textured globe motif on the dial, as seen on the navy-blue-dialed Automatic model spotlighted here. The three-part, polished steel case measures 41mm in diameter, the silver-toned hands and applied indexes are coated with white luminous material, and the convex sapphire crystal has an anti-glare treatment. The automatic movement inside the case holds a somewhat pedestrian 38-hour power reserve but also boasts a COSC chronometer certification for timekeeping accuracy, a bonus at this price point. 

Ball Engineer M Marvelight

Price: $2,899, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 13.15mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Ball RRM7309-C

Ball Watch Company makes stylish tool watches that pay homage to the brand’s history as the U.S.’s pre-eminent manufacturer of railroad watches and the innovator of railroad timing in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Engineer M Marvelight, here represented with a bright blue dial, is noteworthy for its use of an in-house movement — a rarity for Ball, which more often adds its own modifications to outsourced movements, and a bonus at this sub-$3,000 price tag. The case is a relatively modest 40mm in diameter and 13.15mm thick; the dial’s hands and applied indexes are chock full of the tiny, bright-glowing H3 micro-gas tubes that have helped define the brand’s identity; and the counterweight on the central seconds hand features the vintage “RR” railroad emblem that calls back its origins. Automatic Caliber RRM7309-C impresses with its 80-hour power reserve and its COSC chronometer-certified timekeeping accuracy. 

Longines Spirit Zulu Time Blue

Price: $2,950, Case Size: 42mm, Case Height: 13.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber L844

Longines, a watch brand that has supplied aviation pioneers like Hugh Herndon, Clyde Pangborn and Amy Johnson with watches and onboard clocks, stylishly revisits its history of developing dual-time instruments with the Zulu Time, which joined the brand’s aviation-inspired Spirit series in 2022. (“Zulu Time” is the military radio jargon for the “zero” time at the Greenwich Meridian, aka GMT.) The watch’s 42-mm steel case houses a new proprietary movement, automatic Caliber L844.4, which allows independent adjustment of both the traditional hour hand and the GMT hand that indicates an additional time zone on the 24-hour bezel. On the sunray blue-dialed model pictured here, the bezel insert is made of dark blue ceramic with lacquered engraved numerals. The watch is mounted on a color-coordinated calfskin strap or a steel bracelet, both with a quick-change system. For lots more on the history of the Longines Zulu Time and details on the modern models, read our review here.

Oris Whale Shark Limited Edition

Price: $3,200, Case Size: 43.5mm, Lug Width: 24mm, Water Resistance: 300m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Oris Caliber 798 (Sellita SW 330-1 base)

Oris has released a number of special editions devoted to supporting environmental charities, specifically those with a mission of preserving endangered marine wildlife. Among the most notable is 2021’s Whale Shark Limited Edition, based on the Oris Aquis GMT, which features a multi-part stainless steel case measuring 43.5 mm in diameter and a robust 300-meter water resistance thanks to its securely screwed crown. The bezel, with an inlaid blue ceramic insert to match the dial, rotates in both directions and is etched with a 24-hour GMT scale that reveals a second time zone with the aid of an orange-tipped hand — meaning it’s more of a watch for traveling than actual diving. The bezel’s gradation bleeds from black, for nighttime hours, to blue, for daytime, while the dial has both a similar light-to-dark motif and a sharkskin-textured, engraved  texture that evokes the watch’s marine predator namesake; the solid steel  caseback also depicts a relief illustration of a whale shark. The movement inside is the automatic Oris Caliber 798, based on the Sellita SW330-1, with a power reserve of 42 hours.

Tudor Pelagos FXD

Price: $4,100, Case size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.75mm, Lug to Lug: 52.5mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Automatic Tudor Caliber MT5602

Tudor’s Pelagos collection of sporty divers’ watches takes historical cues from the watches the Rolex-owned brand produced for French Marine Nationale (Navy) divers in the md-20th century. The all-blue “FXD” model — named for the sturdy, “FiXeD” strap bars on its 42mm steel case, which fits only single-pass NATO straps — was released in 2021 and developed in direct collaboration with the Marine Nationale. The specially designed strap bars, a utilitarian element suggested by the navy divers for whom they’re intended, differentiate the FXD model from just about every other dive watch on the market. The marine-evocative blue colorway of the dial and bezel, the latter’s enhancement with extra-bright luminous material, and the bezel’s bidirectional rather than unidirectional functionality, are also details specifically developed with the input of the French navy. The case is in satin-finished titanium; the dial features the vintage-influenced and now-familiar “Snowflake” handset; the Tudor In-house Caliber MT5602, a chronometer-certified, automatic movement with a 70-hour power reserve, ticks inside the 200-meter water-resistant case, attached to a blue fabric NATO strap.

Rado Captain Cook Automatic Chronograph

Price: $4,750, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 14.8mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber R801 (ETA A31.211 base)

The rapidly expanding Captain Cook fleet welcomed its first chronograph models in 2022. The classic dive-watch elements are still present in the well-received line extension, which includes this model with a navy blue dial, a matching blue ceramic bezel insert, and a 43mm case made of nautically inspired bronze. For actual sailing enthusiasts who wear the model, the chronograph function of the watch’s movement, the ETA-based Rado Caliber R801, can be pressed into service to help in the timing of a regatta race. The self-winding movement holds a power reserve of nearly 60 hours. A box-shaped sapphire crystal covers the bicompax dial — with parallel counters at 3 and 9 o’clock and the telltale red-numeral date window at 6 o’clock — and the case fastens to a blue NATO strap with golden stripes.

Breitling Top Time Triumph

Price: $5,500, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 14.27mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30m, Movement: Automatic Breitling Caliber 23

In the 1960s, Breitling introduced the Top Time, an unconventional chronograph watch that was designed to capture the era’s “Café Racer” youth culture. In 2022, the Swiss watchmaker teamed with British motorcycle brand Triumph to produce the Top Time Triumph, distinguished by its two-register “bow tie” (aka “Zorro”) dial; the dial’s ice-blue hue is descended from a rare model from the 1970s (Ref. 815) and pays homage to the color of the Triumph Thunderbird 6T from 1951. The watch, launched alongside Triumph’s co-branded Speed Twin Breitling Limited Edition motorcycles, is also offered in an “Owners Limited Edition” version that can be customized by each of the 270 owners of the bike. The 41mm case features retro-style oversized mushroom chrono pushers and contains the Breitling Caliber 23, an ETA-based automatic movement with a 48-hour power reserve and a COSC chronometer certification.

Nomos Zurich Weltzeit Midnight Blue

Price: $6,100, Reference: T0786411603700, Case Size: 39.9mm, Case Height: 10.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic DUW 5201

Germany’s Nomos has attracted an avid following for its minimalist, Bauhaus-styled watches, most of which are fairly understated in their level of complication. With the Zurich Weltzeit “(German for “world time”), the brand manages a higher level of horological complexity without sacrificing its characteristic streamlined aesthetic. The case is in stainless steel and measures 39.9mm in diameter (large for Nomos but relatively modest for a world-timer); on the featured model, a galvanized midnight blue dial settles beneath a domed sapphire crystal. On the dial, two faceted hands indicate the local time while a disk at 3 o’clock shows the time in 24-hour format with a red pointer. A pusher above the crown advances the city ring between the outer track and the dial’s center to reveal the times in the 23 other time zones outside the wearer’s home time. Nomos’ in-house DUW 5201, with a 42-hour power reserve and proprietary “swing system” escapement, ticks inside.

TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox

Price: $6,450, Case size: 39mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic TAG Heuer TH20-00

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of its iconic racing chronograph, the Carrera, in 2023, TAG Heuer launched the Carrera Chronograph Glassbox at Watches & Wonders. Available in a black-and-silver “panda” version as well as the dark blue colorway pictured, the watch derives its name from the vintage-inspired, domed sapphire crystal that rises over the 39mm steel case, evoking the shape of the Hesalite crystals on the 1960s models. The crystal’s prominent curve flows seamlessly over the tachymeter scale at the outer edge of the dial, allowing it to be read legibly in a wider range of angles — an actual benefit if you’re wearing the watch while driving in an automobile race. The case’s pump-style pushers have also been carefully reshaped and repositioned to make them as user-friendly as possible. Debuting inside the model is the TH20-00 caliber, a re-engineered version of the ubiquitous Heuer 02 movement with a new bidirectional winding system meant to increase efficiency of the winding and to enable longer periods of running with its maximum 80-hour power reserve.

Zenith Defy Skyline

Price: $8,400 - $12,000, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 11.7mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic El Primero Caliber 3620

With the Defy Skyline, unveiled in early 2022, Zenith reimagines the high-frequency timing performance of its legendary El Primero chronograph caliber in a subtler, non-chronograph style. The watch's octagonal 41mm case in stainless steel is derived from the avant-garde “bank vault” case of the first Defy wristwatch from 1969 and its overall geometric, architectural aesthetic is meant to evoke urban landscapes, hence the model’s name. The watch’s 12-sided faceted bezel aligns with the hour markers on the blue dial, which is enhanced with a repeating pattern of four-pointed stars that visually recall a vintage Zenith logo from the ‘60s. Also on the dial is a small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock whose constantly running seconds hand makes a complete revolution every 10 seconds rather than every 60 — a dynamic display courtesy of the 36,600-vph frequency of the re-engineered, sans-chronograph El Primero 3620 caliber.

Omega Globemaster Constellation Blue

Price: $6,900, Case Size: 39mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Omega Master Chronometer Caliber 8900

The Omega Constellation Globemaster, the first watch to receive Omega’s “Master Chronometer” certification, takes its design cues from earlier models in the Constellation collection: the “pie pan” dial, here in bright blue, echoes that of a vintage Omega Constellation from 1952; and the fluted bezel is derived from that of another model from 1968. The 39-mm, brushed-finish case is available in stainless steel, yellow gold, two-tone steel and yellow gold, and Omega’s proprietary Sedna gold, with two polished bevels connecting the edges of the lugs to the bezel. The “Master Chronometer” movement, Caliber 8900, meets not only the strict precision requirements of Swiss testing agency COSC, but additional standards established by Omega and METAS, the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, which include functioning while exposed to magnetic fields up to 15,000 Gauss.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual

Price: $6,400, Case Size: 41mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Rolex Caliber 3230

Named for its water-resistant Oyster case and self-winding Perpetual movement, the three-handed Oyster Perpetual is the essence of Rolex’s sport-luxury simplicity: the clean, elegant dials are either sunray-finished or lacquered, in an impressive array of colors, including several shades of blue. Hours are marked by simple applied bar indexes, doubled at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock and treated with Rolex’s proprietary luminous material, called Chromalight, which glows bright blue in the dark. Rolex’s crown emblem indicates 12 o’clock, and the hands are similarly luminous-treated; the dial’s symmetry is uninterrupted even by a date window. The case is made of a 904L stainless steel, a highly corrosion-resistant alloy that Rolex calls “Oystersteel” and waterproof to 100 meters thanks to its threaded screw-down caseback and the patented Twinlock screw-down crown.

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute TI-230

Price: $9,300, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness: 14.65mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300m, Movement: Automatic Girard-Perregaux Caliber GP03300-1060

When someone at Girard-Perregaux uncovered the trivia tidbit that the discovery of titanium occurred in the same year (1791) as the founding of the watch maison that would eventually be known as Girard-Perregaux, the result was this limited edition from the brand’s sporty yet avant-garde Laureato Absolute collection. The watch’s 44-mm case, which incorporates the octagonal bezel that is emblematic of Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato models, is made of grade 5 titanium with a meticulous array of satin brushed and polished finishes and integrates into a fabric-effect “Rubber Alloy” strap that also uses titanium in its structure. Beating behind the sandwich-style dial is Girard-Perregaux’s in-house automatic Caliber GP03300-1060, storing 45 hours of power and finished to exacting haute horlogerie standards.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon

Price: $11,100, Case Size: 39mm, Lug width: 21mm,  Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 925

The historic Swiss “watchmaker’s watchmaker," Jaeger-LeCoultre is loaded with savoir faire on both the technical and decorative ends of high horology, and both are on display in the Ultra Thin Moon Enamel, a limited edition of 100 pieces. The dazzling blue enamel dial has a guilloché finish whose texture is achieved through engine-turning the dial material by hand before the translucent enamel is applied. Made entirely in-house by skilled artisans, the dial’s central talking point is the moon-phase display, with a polished white moon, which shares the 6 o’clock subdial with the small seconds display. The ultra-thin, automatic manufacture Caliber 925/2 ticks inside a similarly slender case (just 10.04 mm thick, at a diameter of 39 mm), tallying up a power reserve of 70 hours and showing off its luxurious finishes behind a sapphire caseback.

Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Collection Spring Drive Diver’s 200M “Ushio”

Price: $11,600, Case Size: 43.8mm, Thickness: 13.8mm, Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Grand Seiko Spring Drive Caliber 9R05

Following up the  launch of its Evolution 9 collection, which takes inspiration from a trend-setting model of 1967, Grand Seiko launched in 2023 a luxuriously appointed divers’ watch with an entirely new dial texture. The “Ushio” (from the Japanese word for “tide”) is distinguished by its 43.8mm case made of high-intensity titanium, its blue rotating divers’ bezel made of ceramic, and by the cascading-waves dial texture that lends it its name, which visually references the ocean currents in the coastal waters of Japan. The prominent hands and markers are all coated in Lumibrite, helping to maintain legibility deep underwater; the watch is water-resistant to 200 meters. The 13.8mm-thick case holds the recently introduced Spring Drive Caliber 9R05 with five full days of power reserve, stored in two mainspring barrels of different sizes, better for torque and for optimizing the use of space. Caliber 9RA5 is the first Spring Drive movement equipped with a sensor to monitor its internal temperature and to compensate for any related changes in the crystal’s oscillation rate.

IWC Ingenieur Automatic

Price: $11,700, Case Size: 40mm, Case Height: 10.8mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic IWC Caliber IW32111

The original IWC Ingenieur, Ref. 666, launched in 1955, was redesigned in 1976 by the legendary Gerald Genta and that version has gone on to become a collectible classic. After many different versions of the Ingenieur in the decades following, IWC this year brought the model back to the spirit of the seventies. It has reworked the Ingenieur case down to the smallest detail in an effort to pay homage to Genta’s classic design, with new proportions, an emphasis on ergonomics, an array of aesthetic details and high-horology finishing and a thoroughly modern in-house movement. The round bezel sports the five visible — and functional — polygonal screws that defined the original, while the soft-iron dial here in a very fetching aqua blue) now features an attractive, grid-like textured pattern, a structural design that balances the smooth curves of the case and recalls the original Ingenieur’s identity as a high-tech watch for scientists and technicians working around strong magnetic fields.

Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date

Price: $12,400, Case size: 43.2mm, Thickness: 15.65mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 36-13

Germany’s Glashütte Original launched its SeaQ series of luxury dive watches in homage to the Spezimatic tool watches it developed back in the 1970s when it was a state-owned East German conglomerate. The Panorama Date model has a 42mm steel case, with brushed and polished finishes, and a robust water resistance of 300 meters. The sunburst dial and unidirectional rotating bezel are both in maritime blue. The dial hosts applied numerals and indices coated with Super-LumiNova along with the signature complication — an outsize date display in a double window — at 4 o’clock. Inside, behind a sapphire caseback, is the automatic Caliber 39-13, which has an antimagnetic silicon balance and holds a lengthy 100-hour power reserve. The watch is mounted on either a steel bracelet or a water-resistant nylon mesh strap.

H. Moser & Cie. Centre Seconds Arctic Blue

Price: $14,300, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 12mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 120 meters, Movement: Automatic Moser Caliber HMC 200

H. Moser & Cie. has long been lauded for its juxtaposition of avant-garde horological complexity with a distinctively minimalist aesthetic; the Schaffhausen-based independent brand is also widely regarded for its bold forays into colorful gradient dials. One of the latest examples is this version of its Pioneer Centre Seconds model with an “Arctic Blue” fumé dial in the style of Moser’s signature clean, understated classicism: a logo subtly applied in transparent lacquer at 12 o’clock, leaf-shaped hands with luminous coating telling the time on applied bar indexes. The 40mm case in brushed and polished stainless steel is slightly downsized for easier wear than the 42mm model that preceded it. A domed sapphire crystal covers the dial, while another sapphire pane in the caseback reveals the movement, in-house Caliber HMC 200, with automatic winding, a three-day power reserve, and Moser’s patented Straumann hairspring system, which uses two springs oscillating in opposite directions to minimize center-of-gravity errors and improve precision.

F.P. Journe Chronomètre Bleu

Price: $26,680, Case Size: 39mm, Water-Resistance: 30m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Manually wound F.P. Journe Caliber 1304

Following in the boldly adventurous spirit of its founder and namesake, independent watchmaker Francois-Paul Journe, F.P. Journe introduced its first case made of tantalum — a rare, dark gray, highly corrosion-resistant metal with blue overtones, rarely used in watchmaking due to its high density and high fusion temperature — in its azure-toned Chronomètre Bleu. The mirror-polished dial, in blue chrome, harmonizes with the bluish shades of the 39-mm tantalum case, and features cream-colored Arabic numerals, F.P. Journe’s signature shaped hour and minute hands, and a guilloché small-seconds subdial. The manually wound movement inside, Caliber 1304, is another example of Journe’s signature style, with most of its parts made of solid gold, and is on display behind a clear sapphire caseback.

Panerai Radiomir Annual Calendar Goldtech

Price: $39,200, Case Size: 45mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Panerai Caliber P.9010/AC

Panerai introduced its first annual calendar watch in 2023 as part of its oldest and most historically impactful collection, the Radiomir line. The model featured has a case of Panerai’s proprietary Goldtech material with a gradient navy blue dial. The classical, cushion-shaped Radiomir case measures 45mm, with a polished finish and the retro-style wire lugs that evoke those of the earliest Panerai wristwatches. Inside, the new automatic Caliber P.9010/AC drives the watch’s array of functions, displayed on the dial: central hour and minute hands, day and date in separate windows at 3 o’clock, and the indication of the month (in abbreviated Italian, a nod to Panerai’s origins) on a rotating outer disk that lines up with a stationary arrow at 3 o’clock. Like all annual calendars, this one’s mechanism compensates for the length of every month except February, so will only need to be adjusted once per year. The Goldtech version comes on a dark blue alligator strap with a Goldtech buckle.

Patek Philippe Calatrava 24-Hour Display Travel Time

Price: $57,370, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 9.85mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 31-260 PS FUS 24H

Patek Philippe’s Calatrava 24 Hour Display Travel Time features a rare 24-hour dial with a hand that makes one full rotation (rather than the traditional two) around it per day. This unconventional timekeeping display is paired with Patek’s now-familiar Travel Time complication, which indicates two time zones via a patented system in which the local-time hour hand can be easily moved in  both directions by a press of the crown. The elegant simplicity of the navy blue dial, with noon represented at 12 o’clock with a “12,” and midnight at 6 o’clock with a “24,” allows Patek Philippe to dispense with the usual day-night or AM-PM indicator that one often finds on a dual-time dial. Inside the classical, round Calatrava case is the in-house automatic Caliber 31-260 PS FUS 24H, with a 48-hour power reserve. The dial has a variety of contrasting elegant finishes, a railway style minute track, and applied Arabic numerals and baton markers in rose gold to echo the case. The hands, including both “local” and “home” hour hands, are in the vintage syringe style emblematic of Patek’s Pilot collection and made of rose gold, except for the contrasting sword-shaped seconds hand, which is in white gold.

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date

Price: On request, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 10.48mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 2460 R31L/2

Unveiled at Watches & Wonders 2023, the Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date  features not only a high-precision moon-phase display but also the first retrograde function in a Vacheron Constantin sports watch, which reveals the date via an arrow-tipped hand on an arc-shaped 31-day scale; at the end of each month, the hand jumps back to day one. The 41mm steel case has all the hallmarks of the revamped Overseas collection, including the six-sided bezel evocative of Vacheron’s Maltese Cross emblem, a motif that continues onto the links of the integrated bracelet; the fluted screw-down crown; and sword hour and minute hands. The blue lacquered dial has a satin-finished center and a velvet-finished flange. A new in-house movement, Caliber 2460 R31L/2, beats inside, amassing a 40-hour power reserve and driving the ultra-accurate moon-phase indication in the aperture at 6 o’clock. Like all contemporary Overseas models, this watch is equipped with Vacheron’s proprietary quick-change system that allows the wearer to swap the bracelet for a rubber strap without tools.