Luxury watch powerhouses Audemars Piguet, Cartier, Rolex, Parmigiani Fleurier and Zenith dare to go pink with their dials.
In the sometimes-too-serious world of high horology, a pink dial watch adds a touch of whimsy and is an expression of personal style.
Watchmakers that are dedicated to the craft of making superlative mechanical timepieces often turn to black, white and silver dials. These colors provide a great amount of style flexibility, are neutral enough to be worn in most day-to-day settings and complement an array of sartorial styles. More boldly colored watch dials can be fun, though, and there’s no need to compromise mechanical excellence for color. While pink in particular gives off a lighthearted vibe, what lies under the dial in the timepieces below is serious horological power.
Shape Shifter
Cartier’s Ballon Bleu first made an appearance at the 2007 SIHH show (now called Watches and Wonders) in Geneva. Cartier is known as the watchmaker of shapes, and the Balon Bleu is a perfect example. The watch’s round case is punctuated by an oversized crown guard, a clear departure from traditional design. The Ballon Bleu pictured here measures 33 millimeters across and is powered by an automatic-winding movement.
Royal Pink
Audemars Piguet celebrated its 150th anniversary last year, a testament to the brand’s horological excellence. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, launched in 1972, has achieved icon status with countless iterations over its decades-long history. Two of the Royal Oak’s most distinguishing features are its octagonal bezel and guilloché Tapisserie dial. The Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding chronograph pictured here is crafted of titanium with a diamond-set bezel.
In the Swim
The Rolex Oyster celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. In 1926, Hans Wilsdorf, the brand’s founder, declared it to be the world’s first waterproof watch—and he gave a swimmer an Oyster to wear while traversing the English Channel to prove it. The watch was still ticking when swimmer Mercedes Gleitze emerged from the water. Ever since, the Rolex Oyster has been guaranteed to be waterproof. The Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 pictured here is crafted of white gold with a diamond-set bezel and hour markers.
Perfect Timing
Zenith’s mastery of chronograph movements is legendary. The brand designed the world’s first automatic-winding chronograph movement in 1969. Fittingly named the El Primero movement, it is accurate to one-tenth of a second. The El Primero continues to be a gold standard in automatic chronograph movements to this day. The stainless-steel Zenith Chronomaster Sport pictured here features the legendary movement.
Design Language
Master watchmaker Michel Parmigiani founded his eponymous brand, Parmigiani Fleurier, in 1996. The brand is known for its superlative mechanics and design modernity. “From the outset, the Grain d’Orge guilloché [dial] of the Tonda PF collection was conceived as a language rather than a motif,” the brand said in a statement. The Parmigiani Tonda PF Automatic 36MM pictured here is made of stainless steel with a platinum knurled bezel.
