Watches With Bezels That Turn
What have you discovered when you landed at TurningBezels.com? Another watch blog, online magazine, newsletter or whatever label you prefer for such endeavors? Yes, absolutely. However, the focus of our content will be on a specific corner of the tool watch world, watches with timing bezels that turn.
The category commonly referred to as tool watches has many sub-categories, among them: field, pilot, racing, regatta, GMT and, of course, dive. Among dive watches, there are skin divers, scuba divers and saturation divers. Inside all the tool watch variations are examples of cases featuring turning timing bezels.
There are plenty of online venues that deliver great information and dialogue for tool watches in general, some with tool watches as the target, but most dealing with the broad spectrum of watch designs. Dress, sport, complications, manufacture movements, independent manufacturers and, yes, tool watches.
Turning Bezels will be laser focused upon watches with timing bezels. And, in case you are worried about a lack of subject matter, keep these points in mind:
- With very few exceptions, almost all manufacturers have more than one watch in their catalogue with a timing bezel (usually a diver)
- Turning bezels in production watches date back over 70 years, with limited editions and prototypes going back almost 100 years.
- Watches with timing bezels include dress models and models made from noble metals.
- Timing bezels are featured on watches in every class and price category and are accessible to everyone.
Perhaps the timeless (pun intended) appeal of turning bezels is the fundamental functionality that they deliver to the wearer. This Rolex ad from the ‘50s sums it up.
If the watch in this vintage magazine and newspaper ad looks familiar, it should. Before there was a Submariner, this Turn-O-Graph announced the daily usefulness of a turning timing bezel.
The first Submariner (Rolex 6204) looks so similar that they could easily be mistaken for the other.
Today, most dive watch owners are not professional or ever recreational divers. The timing bezel finds its use in daily timing exercises, like those described in the Turn-O-Graph ad. And while all smart cell phones have a timing app, we know that those who tell time exclusively on their cell phone or smart watch will likely never have even a passing interest in this site.
These watch bezels have become so integral a part of watch culture, that it’s often easy to know a watch simply by its bezel. Here’s a quick pop quiz. Name the current production watch that these bezels belong to:
Answers:
- Bezel A – Omega Seamaster Diver 300m
- Bezel B – Rolex Submariner
- Bezel C – Seiko Samurai
- Bezel D – Ulysse Nardin Diver 42mm
In future issues, we want to delve into many topics that I hope will enhance your passion for these compelling watches.
- Timing bezel history
- The tool watch dominance
- Turning Bezel functions – elapsed time, countdown time, alternate time zones, etc.
- Lure of the dive watch
- Design evolution, imitation and inspiration
- Watches and attire
- The appeal of vintage and retro designs
- Discontinued and retired gems
- Reader contributions of ideas and photos
Thoughtful feedback is always welcome. Really solid input will be shared, with permission of course.
Thank you for finding our new website. Of the many wristwatch websites and magazines that we read and study every week, never have we once thought that there was too much information out there. For such a passion, there can be no such thing. With that in mind, each month we will add our two cents.
