Mercedes or Snowflake?

I am not a unique and beautiful snowflake. The Tudor ones are not beautiful either. It looks like a seconde/seconde low resolution pixelation of the Mercedes hand, or like one that was beaten with a straight-edge.

I used to love mercedes and hate the mace (snowflake? It's clearly a medieval pole arm!)

Later, the mace grew on me and I fell out of love with the mercedes.

Nowadays I like both. Not on current Roleces, since they're too blingy for my taste and not tooly enough. But the old ones, or many other brands, mercedes is a classic.

Rambling follows: It's a clear lineage. Trench watches needed legible hands, got cathedrals. Rolex needed legible hands, so they simplified cathedrals to mercedes. Then Tudor pushed the utilitarism even further by coming up with the massive "snowflake". Each of them is good, if done well.

Give me Mercedes!

Snowflake hands for me. Particularly love the patina’d yellow ones on the old Tudor subs, especially the blue dial version 😍

Very well put analysis of the evolution of handsets.

The Oris pointer date big crown is a lovely modern example of the cathedral hands.

Snowflake with square indices, Mercedes with round indices.

I really do like both. Both serve a practical purpose, or at least used to. The only thing I don't like is when other brands borrow the Mercedes hand.

Both are equally hideous.

Never a snowflake.

Never.

My main complaint about the snowflake is that it's flat at the end. If it came to a point, I would like it a lot better. Of course, with the point, it would look less like a snowflake, and more like the North Star.

Here is a drawing I made with MSPaint. Forgive the crudity of it.

I would like something similar to this design much better. I prefer to have the hands actually point to the indices.

Why so? This element has been copied for a long time - Citizen, TAG Heuer...

I thought about that as well. If there wasn't that mesa-like protrusion, instead there would be just a square turned 45 degrees. It would more resemble the Ranger shovel. Also, it would need to be accordingly longer.

Your design tapers to a fine point, like the mercedes, and it might perhaps clash with the rest of the (blunt) hands and indexes.

I have both and I like both

Its not the end of the world by any means, but to say that it isn't a symbol of Rolex is slightly disingenuous. I like both those brands you've mentioned and they both have enough history and design chops to create something that isn't icon of another.

Point taken. So... how about this?

Love em both

I like ‘em both.

Maybe it’s a cop out to say that, but I feel like it’s part of their respective identities, and both happen to speak to me.

I have both, and like both.

But if I had to pick a favorite, I lean towards my Tudor with the snowflake.

I own both a Tudor and a Rolex. There is no comparison here, so not a hater, but there is no comparing lol. The snowflake will never be a Mercedes

With all due respect, neither. First, it's not a snowflake. It's a square or diamond, and overall looks more like a caveman's axe. Secondly, like @RyanGochuico, I prefer pencil, baton, stick, sword, leaf, and dauphine handsets.

Snowflake for me

Yeah, a poll should have the complete list of options: a, b, a+b, neither.

"Symbol for Rolex"...I don't know, it's all marketing. Fifty years ago people saw it differently and fifty years from now it will be different again.

Public perception is a funny thing. When a brand/product is new, people compare it to other products in that area, but with time it also gains some perception how it should look compared to the history of the brand. And also that nobody else has the right to look similarly.

In my opinion, everything but registered trademarks is fair game, if it's done well.

The so called "Snowflake" hand looks crude and unrefined and it's more of an attempt at placing a road hazard sign on a dial rather than making something that looks like a snowflake.

It's like Tudor is desperate at proving that they are not the lesser Rolex and that they can be original and creative. Which if true is also hilarious because no other brand has been so successful at exorcising originality from its design language.

None. I prefer Doxa's hand or Omega Ploprof. Very striking and identifiable. Not to mention easy to read.

Love snowflake hands, but hate round indices - the Pele looks so much nicer than the cash grab BB Sub homages. Can't stand Mercedes hands either. Just something about circular shapes on dials grates 🙄😂

Depends on the watch it’s in. Looks bad on a bb 58 but great on the Pelagos. The Mercedes hand looks good on a tool watch

The snowflake with square markers works.. not so much with the circular markers

But the Mercedes hand just screams old man

Snowflake, a clunky abomination. Should I drop my subtlety? 😂

I am that man. 😎