What's in a teak dial for you?

[Der Amf]

As I was passing a watch shop yesterday, I took a quick look at the ATs. I was curious to see what I made of those teak dials in the flesh. One of them really stood out of me and I wondered if I was liking it despite the teak rather than because of it. Certainly one of the other ones left me cold.

Previously I've only had one opportunity to examine a teak dial very closely, on much cheaper watch. From some angles I found it very flat and plain....but then I do have a preference for things that shimmer and shine.

So I wondering what I'm missing, and am curious to hear what other people appreciate in them.

[shemp]

I have the AT8500 in black and in the quartz version in opaline. I don't know that the teak dial makes it or breaks it for me - it's a nice dial, but there are other nice dials out there. YMMV.

How's that for a non-answer?

[Der Amf]

I have the AT8500 in black and in the quartz version in opaline. I don't know that the teak dial makes it or breaks it for me - it's a nice dial, but there are other nice dials out there. YMMV.

How's that for a non-answer?

How does opaline behave when textured like that?

[Der Amf]

Terrible photo - my phone got very confused by the lighting and it was after dusk anyway - but one can just about see the differences.



The blue at the bottom is shimmering, and the teak breaks it up, adding to the play. Lovely. The white one is much more matte, but being white you can see the patterns of the shadows created by the teak. The grey to be was very flat, with no play of light. So that's what getting / not getting from them.

[Teeritz]

My main problem with the teak dial? Who decided on vertical stripes? Why didn't they go with horizontal? Would that have made the watch look fat? And yeah, yeah, I know all about the stripes mimicking the deck of a boat, etc. I sold them for three years. It's actually meant to represent both a boat-deck and the boardwalk of a pier, hence the 'Aqua' and 'Terra' of the name. It took Omega one whole generation of models to figure that one out, since the first Gen ATs just had sunburst blue or silver dials and a gorgeous glossy, crude-oil black one.
In saying all that, if I ever see a Skyfall blue model and the price is right, then stripes or no stripes, I'll snap it up.

Sorry, Der A, I've probably been no help in this thread.

[Der Amf]

My main problem with the teak dial? ......
Sorry, Der A, I've probably been no help in this thread.

Given the question is asking what it is you like about them, then yeah

[Teeritz]

Given the question is asking what it is you like about them, then yeah

Okay then, I had customers who liked the teak dial because it wasn't just a plain flat dial, others liked the way the light played across the dial, some folks told me (after they'd bought it and worn it for a couple of months) that the dial appeared to change hue depending on the amount of light that hit it, and that there was a difference to how it looked depending on natural and artificial light, and one guy told me he liked how it looked like a solid colour from a distance when he'd see it on a coffee table across the room, but the teak striping would 'materialise' as he got closer to the watch. I must say that it does look better in natural light as opposed to sitting under half a dozen down-lights in a store display cabinet.

[Der Amf]

On the white AT is the finish plain white, or is it a textured paint (like say on a Nomos or GO)?

[Teeritz]

On the white AT is the finish plain white, or is it a textured paint (like say on a Nomos or GO)?

It's what we called 'pearlescent silver'. Like a light bulb. Mere mortals call it white.

[Der Amf]

Mere mortals call it white.

As does their website