Bezels at the Opera
With our focus upon tool watches with timing bezels, most of our conversations will center on watches worn at sporting, outdoor adventure and other obviously casual events. As we have already established, no watch seems to align with such days like a diver, chrono or other timepiece with a turning bezel.
However, many people, especially men, who are not pursuing a large watch collection, have sought a one-watch collection with a watch that seems to suit a wide variety of occasions. Credit a number of Swiss watchmakers with designing divers that look truly great with jeans one day, and with a suit and tie the next day. Omega, Rolex, Longines and Blancpain are some of the obvious manufacturers to be given credit in this regard. Crafting divers from gold immediately shifts the watch into a broader category than merely the tool watch universe. However, we are generally referring to steel dive watches that fit this bill.
This magazine ad from Rolex shouts the evolving versatility of the dive watch more succinctly than any narrative we could craft. The Submariner Date 116610 in steel certainly looks the part with this gentleman’s charcoal blue suit, and we can see any number of events where this complimentary attire would fit perfectly, including the opera.
However, there are watches that fall squarely into the dress watch category with timing bezels as an integral part of the design language. And we want to focus on those in this issue.
First of all, let me state that most of these “dress/tool” watches are no longer in production. Some were produced by extinct manufacturers, while others have simply been discontinued. This is disappointing, but perhaps not surprising. Dress watches overall, are becoming less in vogue and such a hybrid watch could have a tough time staying in the lineup. Let’s look at some examples and then decide if we should launch a campaign for their return.
Rolex 1625 and the ultra-rare Vacheron Constantin 6782. Both carried the moniker (or nickname) Turn O Graph, but it was Rolex that officially made this part of the model identification.
As one can see here, the quintessential dress/tool watch was the Rolex Turn-O-Graph from their Datejust family. A full issue could be devoted to the story of this watch. It was the first production Rolex with a turning bezel, even predating the Submariner. After adding the date window and entering the Datejust family, it became known as the Thunderbird to commemorate the watches being awarded to the pilots who earned their place among the US Air Force exhibition flying team with the same name. During its Datejust era, the Turn-O-Graph always featured a gold bezel, most often combined with a steel case and steel and gold bracelet or all steel bracelet.
Among current watches that could challenge for this category is the Breitling Chronomat GMT 40. However, in Breitling’s own description: “sturdy enough for the gym, yet smart enough for black tie”, it really tilts toward the versatile tool watch category. With 200 meters of water resistance, this watch is also a diver! As such, like the Submariner, Planet Ocean, Bathyscaphe and others, it is an ideal watch for someone wanting a one-watch collection. It’s not a dress watch first that has tool watch versatility because of the bezel alone. And many beautiful dive-worthy watches fall into this category.
If it’s thoughtfully designed and well-executed, watches that are classified as skin divers can qualify as dress/tool watches. They are generally thinner, less wide and feature a more compatible strap or bracelet. The Nodus Sector Dive hits the mark, with a 39mm case diameter and only 12.5mm thickness. It’s 100m of water resistance separates it from scuba dive watches. And, it’s a beauty, worthy of any occaision. As such, it meets our definition of a dress/tool watch.
Here’s a revealing exercise. Type “dress watch with timing bezel” into your favorite search engine’s image search and see what appears. You’ll see tons of versatile dive watches, but dive watches nonetheless, and then dress watches with no functional bezel at all. Most of the Rolexes that appear are Subs, GMT Masters and, far less frequently, Yacht Masters.
So, what about the Yacht Master? With a precious metal bezel, case sizes of 37mm and 40mm and only 100m of water resistance it is the closest Rolex to a Turn-O-Graph that’s currently in production. So perhaps, it’s an obvious dress/tool hybrid. Rolex has always placed it into the Professional category, but it’s versatility and gravitas cannot be questioned.
Our viewpoint is that bonified, legitimate dress watches with the truly useful tool of a timing bezel are rare, whether new or pre-owned. So consider this the beginning of our not-so-subtle campaign to see more in the market. We applaud the legacy of Rolex’s Turn-O-Graph and Seiko’s accessible 5 Sports line-up (those that were not designed like dive watches) and wish that they were still in production. (Seeing these unique Seiko 5 Sports watches becoming less and less available in unworn condition, I have acquired a number of these and consider them as among the best values that I own.) And we thank Nodus and others as yet discovered by us that are adding new dress/tool watches to their lineups.
Two discontinued Seiko 5 Sports models, the SNZJ33 and the SNZH84 provided lower cost automatic dress/tool alternatives.
This is an open invitation for all who read this to introduce us to watches that we have not yet found. And, from our perspective, here are the criteria for a dress/tool watch:
- Case diameter of no more than 41mm.
- Case thickness of no more than 12mm.
- A strap or bracelet that is beautiful first with ruggedness as a secondary concern. And no diver extension is needed.
- Water resistance isn’t irrelevant, but almost. No less than 50m, no more than 200m
- Automatic movement is a preference, with solar powered quartz as a distant second option.
- A timing bezel that turns bi or uni directionally as either a countdown or duration timing device, a tool!
- A bezel that is perfectly incorporated into the dress design of the watch, not a dive bezel afterthought.
- If there is no precious metal on the case, bezel or bracelet, then the steel, titanium or ceramic needs to be designed clearly for dress watch applications (you’ll know it when you see it).
From the first two issues of this webpage, it is obvious that we truly love dive watches. It’s an obsession, but not our only one. This issue focuses on another, the dress watch thoughtfully designed to include a timing bezel. Such watches beg the question, why would a non-chronograph watch ever NOT have a timing bezel? When such a bezel can be incorporated into a watch’s design to enhance, not detract from the beauty, uniqueness, vintage-inspiredness (not a real word) or cutting-edge nature of almost any timepiece.
We accept that cases that are not round could be valid exceptions. And truly landmark watches such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Patek Phillippe Nautilus and Aquanaut, the Cartier Santos, Tanks and Roadsters, the Yeager-LeCoultre Reverso and others form a category all their own as dress watches that should not have their designs compromised in any way for any “tool” purpose.
As you continue to dig into all the wristwatch information that’s out there, keep this category in your mind. Some may call it a hair-splitting exercise. When is a dive watch also a dress watch and when is a dress watch also a tool watch? However, if you get the chance to see a Rolex Turn-O-Graph in the metal, you’ll immediately know what I mean.