Netjets US Autumn 2022

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 2022’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.
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