After salmon pink and forest green, ice blue dials are dominating the horological lingo lately and we think the festive season has something to do with it. Blue timepieces have always been popular among watch collectors, given how well it complements the wrist and how nicely it pairs with all kinds of outfits. After a prolonged bout with navy blue followed by a short but frenzied dalliance with Tiffany blue, the market has since pivoted towards a lighter tone known affectionately as ice blue, a colour first introduced by Rolex with its 2013 Cosmograph Daytona.
Shimmering like the surface of a frozen lake, ice blue dials exude a contemporary elegance. The aesthetic is fresh and crisp, yet the colour is not too experimental like how purple or orange can be. As such it promises a kind of timelessness that suit men and women with equal aplomb. The gender neutrality of this beautiful hue endears itself to all kinds of timepieces, from the sporty to the classical, and spurs watchmakers to apply their creative chops to the dial. Enhanced with different textures and finishes, or a fool-proofed design through a simple sunburst décor, ice blue dials are anything but one-note, and are a 2022 must-have for all watch lovers.
Here are 12 of Esquire Singapore’s favourite ice blue dials to get you through winter.
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Bell & Ross BR-X5 Ice Blue Steel
Stylish and urban yet technically sophisticated, the Bell & Ross BR-X5 offers a case design brimming with mechanical finesse and avant-garde design spirit. A pleasure to wear and to admire thanks to a melange of polished and micro-blasted surfaces, this 41mm watch is now endowed with a playful personality through this frosty ice blue hue, matched either to a blue rubber strap or steel bracelet. Inside, the Kenissi manufacture movement Calibre BR-CAL.323 comes with three-day power reserve and COSC-certification.
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Omega Speedmaster 38mm
The iconic Speedmaster by Omega takes numerous guises but few come close to this 38mm model where refined elegance is concerned. The familiar tachymeter scale has been cleaned up and simplified—which is fine because everyone knows your other Speedmaster is a legendary Moon Watch—and its 38mm size makes it extra pleasurable to wear. Indeed, two millimetres makes a world of difference in wristwatches. The sun-brushed ice blue dial with oval sub-dials and date window is made even more alluring with a matte blue bezel.
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Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary Limited Edition SBGP017
Famous for its beautiful dials inspired by the landscape surrounding its creation studio in Iwate, Japan, Grand Seiko once again presents a new timepiece that offers collectors a slice of the manufacture. In the Shinshu area where Grand Seiko quartz movements are made, the air sometimes gets so hot and humid that dense clouds gather and overlap to create a sea of clouds above the lowlands, stretching away to the horizon in every direction, and that is tinged with blue by the clear skies above them. This new 44GS model reflects this natural phenomenon with pinpoint accuracy.
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Tissot PRX 35mm
By now everyone who is a watch aficionado would have heard and/or already acquired a Tissot PRX to wear and enjoy every day. Tissot’s latest rendition of this timepiece is a quartz-powered 35mm model that pairs surprisingly well with both masculine and feminine wrists. Its stainless steel integrated mono-link bracelet is beautifully finished and tapers elegantly towards the clasp, and this stylish ice-blue version brings a touch of horological finesse to any wardrobe.
5 / 12
Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43
The quintessential pilot’s watch, Breitling’s Navitimer boasts a time-honoured aesthetic that can be easily recognised even from far. With its rotating circular slide rule, fluted bezel, and tri-compax chronograph layout, this timepiece needs little else—except the occasional change from Flying B logo to the AOPA logo for a touch of nostalgia. However, when Breitling came up with this ice blue panda dial, few watch aficionados could envision how different that would make the watch look. It’s a Navitimer for the new generation.
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Gorilla Watch Fastback GT Nomad
Love fast cars and flashy watches? Then Gorilla Watch must be on your radar, and you’ll immediately get all the auto-racing and automobile references in the designs. The Fastback GT Nomad is an ode to one of America’s most iconic motorcars, the Chevrolet Nomad, which was created as the first two-door sport wagon in the US. Like a surfer’s road trip along the Californian coast, this watch pairs a brown ceramic bezel and baby blue dial evoking dramatic canyon ridges against the turquoise Pacific ocean.
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Cartier Ballon Bleu 33mm
With a name like Ballon Bleu, how could this elegant Cartier timepiece be left out of the ice blue trend? And the maison makes short work of it by combining a blue silvered sunray-brushed dial with its signature blue-steel sword shaped hands, not forgetting that cabochon shaped spinel set into the crown. Its 33mm diameter makes it a great choice for women looking for an everyday timepiece with a colour that pops, and yet with a classic round case and bracelet making it ideal for corporate attire.
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Grönefeld 1941 Principia Automatic
One of the fastest rising stars of independent high-end horology, Grönefeld has reportedly been snowed under by so many order requests that it is no longer accepting any new orders until the foreseeable future. Still, there’s no harm ogling at some of the beautiful watches it has produced thus far, and right now we’re lusting after the 1941 Principia Automatic with a light blue dial. Crafted in sterling silver, this dial is complete with baton indexes and lance-shaped blue steel hands.
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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding 37mm
It was a toss-up between this watch and the full gem-set model completely studded with baguette-cut light blue tanzanites, but we finally decided that a mid-sized 37mm case crafted in stainless steel would yield a far better cost-per-wear ratio. This 50th anniversary model looks absolutely stunning with its light blue Grande Tapisserie dial, and its updated Calibre 5900 marks the occasion through a 50-years oscillating weight in rose gold.
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Seiko Presage SRPB43
Reflecting a vibrant colour palette inspired by an open bar and cocktails the world over, the Seiko Presage raises a toast to happy moments enjoyed with friends. The Presage SRPB43 combines the distinctive Seiko aesthetic with slim, shiny markers evoking the stem of a cocktail glass, along with a box-shaped hardlex crystal, and delicately curved hands. Its sophisticated light blue dial derives its colour tone from the rum and blue curacao-spiked cocktail called Skydiving.
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Atelier Wen Perception
Inspired by traditional Chinese architecture, the Atelier Wen Perception launched to meteoric acclaim and is completely sold out for the year. But worry not, for the brand has announced a retail release slated for after Chinese New Year 2023. What watch lovers especially loved about this collection was how much finesse the watch offered, from classical hand-made guilloché to the extra-thin movement, and a distinctive shaped case with integrated bracelet all made in 904L stainless steel.
This model in misty blue is such a pleasure to behold, its shimmery effect accentuating the beautiful basket-weave guilloché emanating from the centre.
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Czapek Antarctique Passage de Drake
Embracing the tried-and-true success formula that is the modern luxury sports watch with stainless steel integrated bracelet, the Czapek Antarctique Passage de Drake was one of the most memorable new launches of 2020 (the year it was introduced). Despite its athletic leanings, the watch has an ultra-Zen aesthetic thanks to the atypical trapezoid dial motif made using a three-dimensional stamped surface. Done in the flinqué style which combines engraved surfaces with translucent enamel, this Glacier Blue rendition perfectly embodies the codes of the Antarctique collection.
