Elite Traveler Spring 2021

DISCOVER MEN’S WATCHES

by Roberta Naas

SPRING HUES

It’s no secret that one of the most beloved dial colors for luxury watches is blue. Brands have been offering blue hues for years, and making them brighter and bolder every year. Recently, however, green has also been garnering the spotlight — in rich, verdant shades that grab the eye and the heart. Top brands are achieving these blue and green dial colors via plating processes, lacquer or enamel work, and even by turning to nature’s finest stones like lapis lazuli and malachite. With the grass getting greener for spring and skies getting bluer, it’s the perfect time to indulge in green...or blue...or both!

PIAGET BLACK TIE VINTAGE REEDITION Recalling the days when Piaget was a leader in creating gemstone dials during the 1960s, this Black Tie Vintage Reedition watch boasts a dazzling natural malachite dial with its striations in horizontal format. The striking green gemstone is a thinly sliced layer of malachite that weighs 6.51 carats and creates a beautiful contrast with the 18-karat white gold stepped case. The integrated alligator strap is perfectly matched. The 43mm watch is powered by a self-winding mechanical movement that provides 42 hours of power reserve when fully wound. $34,700, piaget.com

GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL PANOMATICLUNAR The tall fir trees in the Ore Mountains that surround this Saxony-region German watch brand provided the inspiration for the forest-green dial of the PanoMaticLunar. The brand’s in-house dial manufacture in Pforzheim, Germany, works with brass disks, coating them in galvanic nickel and then spraying a black lacquer on the outer edges. The entire dial is then painted layer by layer with transparent green lacquer to achieve the gradient effect. The watch is equipped with an in-house- made automatic winding caliber and offers off-center hour, minute and small seconds, as well as a large Panorama date and moonphase display. It is crafted in stainless steel and finished with a nubuck leather strap. $9,900, glashuette-original.com

BOVET VIRTUOSO VII The independent house of Bovet delights watch lovers with its elaborate open-worked movements and spectacular hand-guilloche dials. The green on the center dial and on the outer edges is created using an elaborate hand-painted lacquer over a dial whose pattern has been etched into the metal by hand. The highly complicated watch is equipped with a hand-wound mechanical movement and offers a retrograde perpetual calendar that displays day, month, leap year and date via a retrograde indication (in addition to the time). Even better, the 18-karat white gold AMADEO® convertible case system enables the watch to be worn on the wrist or as a pocket watch, or it can serve as a nightstand clock. $89,000, bovet.com