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placement and proportions
Good question Andrew. I think subdial placement is one of the more subtle, yet important, design problems to solve. Agree with the the note above that unless the movement and the case are matched (and who does this better than Lange?) you end up with dials too close to the center (small movement), or too close to the outer edge (typical problem with Unitas).
I like Nomos' movements and execution quite a bit, but I'm concerned that they hitched their future to the wrong star in choosing the Peseux 7001 as the layout for their movements. At 10.5 ligne, this is simply too small to locate the seconds dial properly in the watch sizes desirable today (>36 mm). Looking at their models, you can see they are trying to design their way around this, with dates below the seconds dial, and subdials butted up against the central hands to make the subdial look larger, but ultimately I think the ebauche is not ideal.
Why I love my Dornbluth:
Perfect seconds dial placement. Evenly balanced between both the bottom edge of the hour hand boss and the railroad track, and also the center of the hands and the edge of the visible dial. Slightly oversized, but a fitting nod to the oversized seconds of the marine chronometers. Acknowedged that the 7 and the 5 are "nibbled", but frankly, eaten numbers never bothered me aesthetically.
Tom
Sub-dial aesthetics
Hi All, I thought I would follow on from jschen888's technical question about sub-seconds with a thread on the aesthetics of sub-seconds displays. What are your favourites? What works and what doesn't? How do you feel about round sub-seconds in square or ...
A little out of the box....
Here's a few which appeal because they take the standard sub-seconds that extra step - First, the Benzinger, which elevates the second hand to equal status with the hour and minute: Second (geddit???), the J*D Grande Seconde - And if you have a problem wi...
Extremes
The Grande Seconds of the first two examples struck me as the polar opposites of the PSM Shimoda in their presentation of time. Do you find that time passes any differently when wearing these watches? All nice example, and trust Journe to understand my di...
"As our Moderator commands"...
Standing by for Journe instructions. Otherwise, your question is a good one. As you know, the single hand of the Shimoda slowly and imperceptibly sweeping past the small five-minute markers on the dial rail all but 'freezes' time, and it is a fantastic wa...
variation on a theme
I don't have much to compare against, being new to fine watches, but I really like the look of the sub second dial on my watch (VC Patrimony Traditionnelle date self-winding). Here is a close-up of a picture that I previously used to highlight my newfound...
VC undoubtedly do nice dials
Thanks Jason, a lovely example. Great use of colors as well. It's nice how a relatively simple dial can be elevated with some deftly used design features such as guilloche depth and colour. And the Glashutte Original Senator Chronometer sounds like it was...
GO Senator Chronometer
Interesting about the mechanism to ensure perfect second hand and minute hand placement. I'll have to look into that sometime for a future acquisition.
Basically I prefer central second hand.
But one of my favourite sub second dials is this one with all its beautiful details; Or this one where the sub second harmonize with the power reserve; Best Blomman...
Brilliant image of the Reverso, Blomman.
My Avatar says hello. Mine is from the Grand Date, but yours has no extraneous writing to get in the way. A nice example and exactly what I was thinking of when I asked about round sub-seconds in rectangular watches. It shouldn't necessarily work, but it ...
Thank you, Andrew
The Reverso is really something special! Your avatar is great – with the “smiling” hands! The Reverso with all the small and delicate details needs time to appreciate. Here are an example of the day & night indicator. Best Blomman...
The Finger of God
Thanks Blomman, Yes it is the smiling hands, but the hour hand reaching down to the seconds hand also makes me think of Michelangelo's Finger of God image. A Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475 - 1564)...
Proportion and legibility
I like a good subdial and I own several of them. I used to own more, but I had to give up several on grounds of illegibility to aging eyes. I also have a strong objection to the "small movement in large watch" trend that results in subdials' crowding the ...
placement and proportions
Good question Andrew. I think subdial placement is one of the more subtle, yet important, design problems to solve. Agree with the the note above that unless the movement and the case are matched (and who does this better than Lange?) you end up with dial...
A little nibble is fine, but ...
... as much as I want to love the PP 5070, I can't because of what it does to the 2, 4, 8 and 10. I know there are many Purists including Quan, Nico, Provents and others that own this watch, but I do not love this design. Still, I am working on it, becaus...
For 36.5 mm and under however,
I think that it is hard to beat Nomos for subdial placement. Note that on the date complication models, the subdial is perfectly centered between the center pinion and the date window. No eaten indices either (although I actually like when numerals are ea...
another 7001 done right
This Blancpain is right at 36mm, they seem to have a similar thought by placing the "chronometer" legend at 6 o'clock:...
Intercepting circles....
It seems like this theme was in my mind in my early collecting carreer.....look at this ...no eating no adapting ,just clever design that gives the dials a playful, interesting approach. Two of my beloved,with a special note to the JD that I considered le...
Love the JD, I might
even go for the Lange if I didn't think they had got it right the first time:...
Beautiful Duo
i usually hate off Centered Sub Second Dials , but there's an exception !!! A.Lange is allowed.to do that cause it looks SO GOOD :0))))) Cheers Tony
oris big crown
Hi Seem to be extoling the virtues of Oris Big Crowns of late - here for the subdial. Placed at 9 O'clock all very legible - works well with the pointer date. Cheers JML nice sub-dial & pointer combo...