What's the Deal with Salmon Dials?

They’re a thing to remind us that salmon sushi is the best sushi and only right way to eat salmon.

As an Asian, let me say this: I don’t understand you white people. How can eat cooked salmon? It’s disgusting. It’s all rough and scratchy and dry. Yuck. Same with your tuna! And you all like to eat chicken breast!

Raw fish is called bait, and I'll let your benign racism slide this one time, but if you have any evidence for this claim that salmon dials have some link to Commodore Perry ... wait a minute, wouldn't we be seeing salmon pocket watches were that the case?

You are not wrong in this. The way to eat tuna and salmon is raw. Also, chicken thighs are superior to chicken breast. And in Japan you can even get chicken sashimi, because somehow salmonella isn't a thing.

White Brit, agree with you on Sushi , love it!!

I don't get the whole salmon dial thing....maybe copper dials? I doubt it's "fauxtina" , guess it's just a popular colour like Tiffany is at the moment 🤔

I think that most things are best enjoyed raw. (Can someone please make an intercourse joke here so my reputation doesn't need to take another ding.)

Celebrated anniversary with the Mrs last Wed just walked out to a small Japanese/ Korean fusion eatery for our simple dinner! Best sashimi, futo maki, some grilled black cod, wagu beef! Tiny lemon tart at the conclusion, no saki! Honestly salmon, tuna etcetera is luxurious prepared by a master sushi chef.

People, despite the thread image the topic is not actually fish. I just threw that up because no image means a buried thread and I couldn't be bothered to look at some Breitling or whatever.

I just skimmed one article on the topic and the gist seems to be that rich people have weird taste and less rich people trying to look like them are even worse. I'm hoping someone can summarize more favorably than I. Besides, it didn't really answer the question.

🍣 that is all

I could eat sushi until the salmon swim home! As for salmon dials - I'm with you in that I don't really get them. Love pink dials, love orange dials, but salmon is a bit of an odd mixture to me - can see why others like it though.

Salmon is soooooo boring unless it’s smoked. Fresh sockeye and Copper River are the exception.

Eat mackerel. Not the Portuguese stuff, you want very fresh Spanish mackerel because of its full flavor. Jersey blue fish too.

Marinated mackerel! I need to go out for sushi tonight.

You're right, this thread veered way off course. What's next, wristwatch reviews in articles about sushi? Speaking of which, I don't like it. I always burn mine.

A nice maple glazed salmon fillet is one of the best things out there... That said, for sushi I prefer tuna and mackerel.

I don't get salmon dials either, they just look a bit off to me.

I don’t care as long as you have white rice!!

Damn what are we talking about?!

Conserva……check it out.

Also, yes. We need all you can eat sushi above a smilers deli in NYC where the owner scowls at you after the fifth serving plus a pitcher of nondescript beer.

Would love to tell you more about my visit at a salmon factory in norway but i’ll skip that for now.

i don‘t get salmon dials either. They can look pretty nice but nothing i would wear.

This sent me down an interesting and somewhat unsatisfying rabbit hole. There doesn't seem to be a strict definition of what a sector dial is, but most would agree it contains multiple circles which separate the minute and hour markers from the rest of the dial, often called "railroad track" style. Additionally, these dials sometimes contain a crosshair within the dial circle.

Here are a few theories I found in my reading, I can't speak to the veracity of any of them:

• This was a style originally found on pocket watches that naturally carried over during the advent of wristwatches.

• The style was popularized during WWI as it offered easy and precise legibility for military. According to this article, the sectors could also be used as a rudimentary compass, although I struggle to imagine how that even works (https://www.watch-wiki.net/doku.php?id=sector_dial). The addition of a crosshair would make more sense to me as a way to mimic a compass. In comparing images of WWI to WWII watches, it seems like the sector dial might have been more prevalent in WWII.

• This was simply a design birthed from the Art Deco movement and it gradually declined in popularity as new design theories entered the zeitgeist (until it was revived in modern times).

As a huge fan of salmon dials (see previous posts linked below), I can help shed some light on this matter.

During the 1930s-1950s, but primarily during the 1940s, salmon dials were the most fashionable dial color to have. Some of the most important vintage watches have salmon or copper dials.

(rare Minerva chronograph from 1947)

In our current age of retro styling, the salmon dial has re-emerged as a way to give a watch a vintage appeal while being modern.

Has it been overdone? Not possible for me as my favorite dial color is salmon/copper. Is it the marmite/vegamite of dial colors? Hardly.

There is nothing classier than a salmon dial done right. That's why you see some of the most expensive watches today by Patek, ALS and VC using salmon as the dial color.

Have there been salmon dials that verge on pink? Yes...not so impressed with the pinker salmon dials.

Happy to post more gorgeous salmon dial watches if anyone is interested...

Previous salmon dial posts...

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/salmon-ella-infection-update-13224

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/anyone-else-afflicted-with-salmon-ella-8499#comment-100639

Major important new releases with salmon dials...

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/i-left-my-heart-in-glashutte-43722

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/vacheron-just-stole-my-heart-again-20726

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/what-dreams-are-made-of-patek-philippe-world-time-flyback-chronograph-17465

https://www.watchcrunch.com/ChronoGuy/posts/i-just-saw-the-most-unbelievably-gorgeous-watch-in-a-watchtime-post-16487

Sushi and chicken thighs 👍🏻

Salmon coloured watch dials👎🏻

What’s wrong with blue it’s the only colour you need 😉

"It's just a color . . . it's not anything more than that." Thank you!!

Thank you. That's exactly it.

Just like sushi. Some like it, and some don't.

Maybe it just reminds them of something delicious or pleasant... to each his own! And yea, gimme that sushi or sashimi anytime...

I knew that you would eventually come down off of the top rope with your miles of dials.

This is the only one that I have. I think that it was trying to complement the rose gold. It is unreadable, but it's a Gruen, so I can't stay mad at it.

I'll spare anyone from reading this Hodinkee article.

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/why-salmon-dials-are-still-a-thing-and-probably-always-will-be

It adds a little jibber jabber about old gold, like ancient Roman old gold, being rosy because of impurities, and some poetic waxing but not only fails to add much more, it actually cites the previous article I mentioned.

🤣🤣 hilarious this thread turned into a discussion of salmon/sushi.

I’m guessing the intrigue had something to do with patek. Whenever I see a watch with a salmon dial, the AD always mentions/compares it to patek. Something about the dial, people seem to associate it with them.

Of course this is me speculating.

I like both salmon dials and salmon sushi. Not sure which topic we are discussing here anymore. 😫

Brilliant 😆👍🏻👍🏻🤣

I’m a white dude & come from Scotland - we are known for exporting salmon. I concur with your comment.

Salmon sushi is the way to go - cooking ruins it.