Orient's Complicated Dials

What does a watch brand do if it wishes to present to compete with higher-end watchmakers but it does not have the capacity to produce high-complication movements? What can it do to attract the more sophisticated buyers, who are looking for elaborate designs?

One way to go is, make the watches look more complicated than they actually are – and where a watch is made that does contain some level of fancy technical intricacy, emphasize it as much as possible. And this, Orient always knew how to do.

First of all, let me return to my thesis, which I first mentioned when discussing multi-year calendars, which date back to the 1960s. Back then, decades before the arrival of the smartphone, the wristwatch was the most advanced (and often, the only) piece of technology a person would carry around. The watch was not only functional as a time-telling device, it was the only item one could show off anywhere or fiddle with at times of boredom. Making it complicated, then, made sense.

Indeed, the multi-year calendar presented Orient's busiest-looking dial at the time. Showing a full month calendar, a year disc, the date, and, of course, time, owners had plenty to keep them interested.

Another great way to add interest (and visual heft) to a watch dial, is a World Time complication. A world timer bezel, with names of cities from all time zones, can become a pretty dominant part of a dial – particularly when coupled with a 24-hour track, as is not always – but often – the case.

Since the early 2000s, Orient also often included numerous sub-dials with its world time / GMT models – e.g. for the date, seconds, and power reserve – adding to the impression of a very sophisticated product.

Speaking of sub-dials, that is also a proven method of complicating things, in a good way. Add a small-seconds sub dial (instead of a central second hand), a power reserve etc., and you got yourself a smart-looking dial. Even if the sub-dials don't really add much information, they give the impression that they do.

And indeed, even the humble Bambino can benefit from an upgrade to its plain dial! Or does it?... many would prefer the basic, yet elegant, dress-watch design.

And then, of course, is the skeleton – particularly the semi-skeleton approach, which Orient so often uses. In its simplest, "open heart" form, it adds a bit of technical flair to otherwise standard dial layouts; but other times, it can be turned into a much more elaborate element and become the focus of the watch design.

Orient has indeed often did just that: while relatively limited in its ability to produce highly complicated movements, the brand's designers often excelled in delivering very imaginative expressions of time-telling, in watches like its "retro-future" series, or more recently the avant-garde skeletons.

Luckily, I'm fond of the Orient design philosophy. While I have much appreciation to a well-executed time-only dress watch, I find a busy watch dial to be entertaining – and when properly done, also very aesthetic.

And how about you…?

The pictures of the Avant-Garde skeletons and Bambino variants that appear in this post were taken from Orient catalogs. Other pictures that appear in this post are copyright of the blog.