3-Watch Thursday #65
Happy Perpetual Calendar Day
Good morning team,
Happy Thursday.
Even more importantly… Happy Perpetual Calendar Day!!!
29 February 2024.
What a great day it is to be a PPC owner.
I hope you’re having a good week and that the world of watches is treating you well.
We’ve got another Rolex patent story this week along with a couple of Instagram posts you might’ve missed.
So let’s dive straight in.
California Dials
I recently heard someone say that the term ‘California dial‘ used to be a term for fake or refinished dial.
This surprised me, given the strong association that this term now has with dials that have half-arabic half-roman numerals.
A quick search and the first article that comes up is this piece from Fratello with Jeff Hess outlining what the term California dial used to mean.
Essentially, the term originates from dodgy dealers in the 80s trying to make some more money.
Dial refinishers in California would do anything. Stamp Tiffany on Hamilton dials, Rolex on Tudors and Cartier on JLCs.
Heck it wasn’t even limited to dials, cases could be changed to have interesting lugs and shapes.
Anything went.
But half-arabic, half-roman dials were popular at the time, therefore many of the dials that were sent off came back with these mixed numerals and made it to market.
Hence the start of the association with the term ‘California dial‘.
The story doesn’t end there though.
While many refer to the half and half dials as ‘California dials‘, many like Jeff maintain the half-arabic, half-roman terminology. I suppose this is fair and accurate, but it feels cluncky.
Enter CH 221643 A.
A Rolex patent application from 19411
Rolex referred to this dial type as ‘Error Proof‘.
Looking at a translation of the application reveals the following:
It will be noted that this arrangement gives a clear and simple hour circle, easy to make with luminous material and allowing easy reading of the time on everything for wristwatch cases with relatively small dials. Indeed, the fact that the Roman numerals occupy half of the dial and the Arabic numerals the other, clearly distinguishes these two halves. In addition, the Roman numerals chosen are those which are the simplest to execute and the easiest to read.
It does not appear this patent ever made it to grant, but regardless it is pretty obvious to see how this dial type became synonymous with Rolex.
Looking at the whole picture then, the origins and present use of ‘California Dial‘ are reasonably clear and linked, but I’m with Jeff in the sense that the names for each type should be separate.
Like what you’re reading? Why not share with a watch friend using the button below!
Go on, you know you want to click it 👀
A TALK WITH @jasrew
I simply wanted to share that I enjoyed this post in conversation with Jas, the London based creative who you probably best know for his work with Baltic.
He talks fashion, photography and inspiration.
Well worth checking out here.
In Depth: Patek Philippe Ref 2499
On seeing this instagram post by @finehorology, I was reminded of a Hodinkee article from way back detailing the lineage of Patek perpetual calendar chronographs.
Looking back now, that article covered everything, but this instagram post has all you need to know about the different iterations of the 2499.
Pushers, cases and subdials, it’s got it all.
Well worth checking out.
That’s all for this week.
Starting to get into a bit of a flow now with some watch patent stories.
Feedback is always welcome on 3-Watch Thursday.
I hope you have a good weekend when we get there and see you next week!
Owen
It was inevitable really wasn’t it?