Tropical
How time and pressure produce another type of diamond in the world of vintage watches
A tropical dial is a dial that has typically discolored, patina’d, and deviated from it’s original condition. It is most often used to describe black dials that have aged and changed color from black to brown. The reason for the “tropical” moniker is because a good portion of these tropical watches that have been discovered, have been found near the equator in tropical climates. The common thought was that the humidity present and intense sun were often the catalyst that caused the paint or lacquer on a dial to react and change slowly over the years.
Tropical
Art & Alchemy
Tropical Variation can take place in both Matte and gloss dial variants. Certain years and dial types have been known to have a precursor to going tropical. the 1966 Submariner dial known as the Bart Simpson dial is known to produce wild tropical dials. Some were known to spider and crazy, and others a beautiful even patina.
The beauty in tropical dials lie in their uncertain levels of tropicalness. This 1016 appears to have aged from the left hemisphere to the right, these gradients can also be quite attractive. Uniformity sometimes loses depth when compared to a watch such as this tropical 1016
