Hands On With The New Baltic Prismic Stone Dial Limited Editions

I’ve been covering and getting to know the team at Baltic watches for about half a decade now, and in those five years I have watched the brand – with founder Etienne Malec at the helm – transform itself from “microbrand,” playing in the vintage-inspired sandbox, to venerable player in the game, full stop. Where we once heard the Baltic name and immediately thought of watches like the Aquascaphe or Bicompax chronograph, the intervening years have seen launches like the MR-01 micro-rotor model, and the Prismic (foreshadowing) with sprinkles of appearances at Only Watch thrown in for good measure.

Returning to the Prismic, that watch debuted earlier this year and represented a venture into fresh territory for a company mostly known for producing tool watches (the MR-01 being the lone prior exception). So when I walked into the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland during Watches & Wonders this year to say hello to my pals at Baltic, I expected to see the entire current catalog and get my hands on those Prismics which I did not yet get a chance to see in person. 

Little did I know that they would have three surprises on hand… in April… nearly six months before they were et to be released. I am, of course, talking about the three new limited additions to the Prismic lineup which launched this week. They take the same case construction as the existing models – 36mm wide by 9.2mm tall – but pack a real punch by way of the dials.

Where the standard Prismic utilizes colorful dials with dimensional, mid-century-styled markers, these models look – dare I say – Calatrava-esque in terms of their overall layout (small seconds and the use of the classic, straight markers). But to talk just about the dial layout is to miss the point of this release, a point which very colorfully stares you right in the face.

The three models each contain a different, colorful stone dial surface, and each pays respect to a city which serves as home to a different Baltic showroom. You have the blue Lapis Lazuli edition for Paris, green Jade for New York, and red (don’t call it orange) Agate for London. All are limited to just 200 pieces and priced at $1,310.

If that number scares you at all, just remember what you're getting here. Baltic generally swims sub-$1,000 waters and is known to pack a ton of value into the watches it produces. While this creeps above that $1k threshold, the brand is presenting limited, individually bespoke stone-dial watches for a price that most brands could only dream of hitting.

And just to double down on the above point, there were no shortcuts in the production process here; there is no artifice. For the Lapis, Jade, and Agate, every watch produced will look slightly different and entirely unique due to the cutting and implementation of each stone for each dial.

Inside these watches beats the ETA Peseux 7001 with decorations including côtes de Genève on the bridges. It is more than normal for brands to utilize ETA calibers, and it is always interesting to see how they uplevel them in terms of finishing. The Prismic seems to be in that “upper echelon” range for Baltic, much like the MR series, so it is great to see the brand leaning into the haute-er side of things.

Having seen these dials in person, I can confirm that they – to borrow a tired phrase – punch far, far above their weight. The colors are vivid, the size of the case is right, and the marriage of dial and case is really something. The Agate is red but it definitely plays as orange both in real life and in photos. The blue is striking, but I also feel like we see a lot of Lapis these days. That is no knock on the watch in a vacuum, just a note industry-wide. The Jade New York edition should be the leader in the clubhouse, because it’s our U.S. edition and it really is a looker in the metal. I have a feeling Agate is going to be an enthusiast favorite. 

So, without further ado, tell me in the comments what you think of the new Baltic Prismic Limited Editions and which dial color is your favorite.