ON THE PULSE FEELING BLUE The coolest of hues took some time to make its way into the world of watchmaking, but now it’s here to stay. // By Chris Hall 60 NetJets
SINCE THE LATE 1960s, and defi nitely by the onset of the 1970s, there have always been some blue watches—the dressier kind of Omega Seamasters, a few Rolexes, Heuer Monacos. And the latter decade also saw a fair bit of wild and colorful experimentation, especially as watchmakers looked to compete with new-fangled digital timepieces. But, by and large, the watches you’d actually fi nd at a top jeweler or see advertised in a magazine came in two colors: black and white. To say it continued that way for the next 40 years would be a serious oversimplifi cation—watches associated with the sea certainly adopted blue as a dial color earlier than others, and such is the multitudinous nature of the watch world that you can fi nd an exception to any rule. But it is true that come the late 2000s and early 2010s, something was afoot. Blue was suddenly everywhere, to the extent that before long, it was accepted as almost a third default color, something to be expected every time a new model or range launched, rather than something special that would follow in due course. We see now that it was just the fi rst trickle in what would become a chromatic deluge, as manufacturing technology and fashion tastes converged to allow watchmakers to offer more or less any watch in more or less any color. First, a sea of green watches emerged, followed by a veritable rainbow of pink, purple, orange, and more. At the same time, a whole new generation of blue watches has launched—and in comparison to the wilder hues on offer, it’s starting to look like the perfect middle ground. Allow us to present the best of <strong>2022</strong>’s blue watches: not necessarily as revolutionary as they might have been a generation ago, but a very welcome additional choice. As you might expect, many brands still make the natural association between seafaring and watches in some form or other. The Baume & Mercier Riviera 10616 (baume-et-mercier.com), while possessed of the necessary water resistance and sturdy steel case to dip beneath the waves, is billed as a watch for gazing down at the water from your Sunseeker, and, appropriately enough, the semi-transparent blue sapphire dial makes the automatic movement beneath look like something halfglimpsed in the shallows. Montblanc’s 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date (montblanc.com) is another watch making metaphorical with its dial—this time using an array of complicated techniques to give the impression of gazing into the ancient heart of a glacier. Back on the open waves, and paying reference to the brand’s 176 years of maritime clockmaking is Ulysse Nardin’s latest Marine Torpilleur Moonphase (ulysse-nardin. com), a watch that could well be said to embody the safer side of blue dials (not for nothing is navy blue supposed to be the easiest color for men to wear when it comes to their wider wardrobes). But at the same brand you’ll also AZURE LIKE IT Above from left: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 50th Anniversary 37mm; Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date; Baume & Mercier Riviera 10616. Facing page, clockwise from top left: Chopard Alpine Eagle Flying Tourbillon; Patek Philippe 5470P-001; Ressence Type 8; Hublot Big Bang Integrated Sky Blue. NetJets 61
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