Do You Wish They All Could Be California Dials?
Let's talk about California watch dials. You know, the ones that have Roman numerals up top for 10, 11, 1 and 2, and Arabic numerals down below for 4, 5, 7 and 8. Originally conceived during World War II to increase dial visibility during low-light flight missions, are they now just a marketing gimmick or legitimate design element?
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Tom
Chief Communications Officer for my life and watch collection.
Bay Area, California
Member since
Last active: 5 min ago
6.50” / 16.51 cm
I bought my wife a Nomos Club Campus to celebrate her promotion and she loves it. Obviously I do too.
It also got her compliments around the office as her co-workers thought she was an enthusiast as well. 🤣😂
Is that a weed dial with the 4:20 in green? That is absolutely amazing and I'm going to look that up now...not for me but for my friends of course 😜
Believe it or not, some people claim not to like these. I think they are trolling.
Is that a weed dial with the 4:20 in green? That is absolutely amazing and I'm going to look that up now...not for me but for my friends of course 😜
Yeah, something about that leaf doesn't quite smell right to me. Perhaps its appearance here will "spark up" additional discussion. 🤣
This is the dangers of WC, you get introduced to all sorts of gateway drugs and now I'm addicted🤑
Yeah, something about that leaf doesn't quite smell right to me. Perhaps its appearance here will "spark up" additional discussion. 🤣
Suddenly, I have the munchies.😜
I don't like them, it plays havoc with my sense of order. One or the other, never both😂
Not my thing but I don't have strong love/hate opinion on them.
I think there would be a lot more peace and love in the world if there was more weed. Just my uninformed opinion though.
DeGuzman and Co., a micro brand out of The Philippines, have a really cool "California" dial on their Diver ... ancient Babayan (Filipino) script for the top indices and regular Arabic numerals on the bottom; very unique! 👍
I need a C. Sometimes depending on the watch.
Not at all a fan. And another thing, why another reference to California? Doesn’t that state have enough items linked to it already? Old man rant over
Was that title a reference to The Beach Boys' song ?
I wouldn't count out owning one, but I have no plans to. It's a little quirky, but that's about all for me.
Was that title a reference to The Beach Boys' song ?
Nailed it! I wish I could give you a prize for being the first to get the pun. 🎯
Love a Cali dial, tho don't own one at the moment
Help me Rhonda - yeah - get them out of my house.
What a dumb idea. California dials almost lost us the war. And we would have lost too, if it wasn't for our brave pilots who swore that we wouldn't be conquered and be forced to wear sterile German Fliegers all our lives.
I wouldn’t own one
I like the dial would buy one of the Panerai Radiomir models with the dial if I could justify the high MSRP!
I like them but I don't own any of them.
I like them but I don't own any of them.
Yet another watch to add to the list now, Craig!
They've always been a gimmick, even before WWII.
Not a bad looking one, but I personally prefer even numerals, 3-6-9, or indexes only.
I need a vote for meh, whatever. I'm not opposed. Could be OK on the right watch. Though other things being equal I would probably choose something else.
Yet another watch to add to the list now, Craig!
I'm trying to buy my way into a smaller list but somehow the list keeps growing. 😂
I'm trying to buy my way into a smaller list but somehow the list keeps growing. 😂
Hah! Said everyone on WatchCrunch! 💯
I don’t know that I don’t like California dials… I just haven’t seen it done in a way that really grabs me. In general I don’t think I’m a fan.
I need a vote for meh, whatever. I'm not opposed. Could be OK on the right watch. Though other things being equal I would probably choose something else.
I’m in the same boat.
I like them, and I have a NOMOS Club Campus. But I wouldn’t want all of my watches to have California dials.
This is the only one I have that's pretty much a California dial. Didn't even notice until it's had it for a month or two. But most California dials, that's a hard no from me, not a fan at all.