The dial of a watch is often called its face; it’s the creative canvas on which watchmakers deploy their talents to win over potential customers. And the effect has to be immediate. A watch designer must be genuinely creative, and willing to welcome inspiration from all directions, even the most unexpected. This is one reason why cartoon heroes are making an appearance in watchmaking. The current trend has seen characters as varied as Spider-Man, Popeye, Kermit the frog and even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle giving us the time, and even the date, in their own quirky fashion. Their arms are pressed into service as hands, and their faces set the visual tone for the watch. Cartoon strips and watchmaking creativity: a marriage made in heaven? Who knows, but it has certainly produced some very charming and original offspring.
Audemars Piguet weaves its web with Spider-Man, heroically bestriding the skeleton movement of a Royal Oak.
Oris unveils an eye-catching watch with a dial in the iconic green of Kermit the Frog, the inimitable presenter of the Muppet Show. Kermit’s face appears in the date window at 6 o’clock on the first of each month.
Reservoir features the muscular, tattooed arm of Popeye indicating the minutes, while the hours are displayed in a window at 6 o’clock. The design is both whimsical and serious, showcasing two complications: a retrograde minute hand and a jumping hour.
Ulysse Nardin embraces sensuality, celebrating Italian erotic comic book artist Milo Manara. To mark the 40th anniversary of Manara’s album “Il gioco”, the artwork on the dial features one of his heroines in a seductive pose.
Hublot showcases a different kind of sensuality with the assistance of artist Marc Ferrero, renowned for his depictions of 21st-century women as sexy, mysterious and powerful. One of his iconic femmes fatales graces the dial of this Big Bang.
Who said that high fashion has to be serious? Here, Chanel has fun with a caricature of the iconic Mademoiselle, whose delicate arms indicate the hours and minutes.
Swatch introduces the humorous character of Master Roshi (Kamé Sennin) from Dragon Ball. The grand design of this Swatch New Gent features one of the greatest human martial arts masters of the Dragon Ball universe.
The last word on the subject comes from Louis Vuitton. The exquisite dial of the Tambour Opera Automata pays tribute to the ancient art of Bian Lian from the Sichuan Opera, featuring a traditional Chinese mask that moves and changes its expression on demand. The dial is created using the artistic crafts of miniature painting and enamelling.
