When I first began writing these “Green on Green” articles for Quill & Pad, the verdant hue was an emerging trend on watch dials. How different things are now: it appears that every other newly introduced watch has a green dial. While the increasing popularity of green dials contributes to a more colorful universe of watches, I sometimes find it a bit much.

Green and blue are my favorite colors, but that doesn’t necessarily make green the right color for just any watch. Over the last few months, I have seen too many timepieces whose great design I admired but thought it a pity that green was used.

While silver (white) and black dials are easy-going, green ones really aren’t. To give the watch the extra bit of personality their designers are striving to achieve, they have to select exactly the right hue. And even then it still needs to match the watch. As many brands feel they need a green-dialed watch in their collection today, some go with just anything. And that, in my opinion, is a shame.

That having been said, the following recently introduced watches are home runs for me, and, yes, because their green dials are just right!

Glashütte Original SeaQ Reed Green: the perfect explorer watch

The SeaQ is Glashütte Original’s vintage-inspired diving watch. However, I have always felt that it was more a great survivalist timepiece that isn’t afraid of water. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel that it has everything to do with the dial’s mix of Arabic numerals and baton hour markers, plus the fact that the diving bezel is not that prominent. I mean this as a compliment as there are plenty of diving watches in the world and not that many suitable survivalist timepieces.

Glashütte Original SeaQ Reed Green

Glashütte Original has just launched its SeaQ in “reed green,” and that has become my favorite variation in the collection so far. The brand picked just the right hue, which is deep enough to have a certain authority to be a mature shade of green, yet vibrant enough to be recognized as green in every light condition.

Fortunately, Glashütte Original also stayed away from a fumé effect, which ensures that the watch doesn’t become too retro-looking and makes the green dial all the more powerful. As might be expected from a top brand in the Swatch Group stable, the background of the Panorama Date wheel is the same hue.

Glashütte Original SeaQ Reed Green on the wrist

Glashütte Original offers the green SeaQ on a metal bracelet, which not surprisingly looks amazing, and on a green rubber strap, which I personally find a bit of overkill. I was most surprised by the nylon strap in a light khaki tone, which really emphasizes the green dial and underscores that survivalist look.

While not many will put this watch through its proper paces in daily life (it will set you back €11,000), it is for sure up to the task. The SeaQ is water-resistant to 300 meters and complies with both the ISO 6425 and DIN 8306 diver’s norms.

Caliber 36-13, which powers this watch, is a thing of beauty that boasts a generous power reserve of 100 hours, making it a more than ample companion to survive the urban jungle.

For more information, please visit www.glashuette-original.com/en/watches/spezialist/seaq-panorama-date.

Quick Facts Glashütte Original SeaQ Reed Green
Case: 39.5 x 12.15 mm, stainless steel
Movement: automatic Caliber 39-11, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, power reserve 40 hours
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; Panorama Date
Price: starting at €11,000

Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Jungle Green: welcome to the jungle!

I am a big fan of Armin Strom as this brand offers very contemporary looking watches with exciting movements that become part of the design. This brand is one of the current trailblazers in the watch industry, proving that mechanical watches as functional objets d’art are still very relevant.

Armin Strom likes to push the envelope, as it did in 2016 with the introduction of the resonance watch with constant force. As that watch delivers the same amount of power to the balance all the time, it keeps time with increased precision. The movement automatically stops when the remaining power in the mainspring is insufficient to ensure optimal balance amplitude. The Gravity Equal Force of 2019 provides an equally tantalizing view of its automatic mechanics with constant force.

Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Jungle Green

Because this is the stuff that makes the heart of any watch enthusiast skip a beat, Armin Strom gifts us with a view of these mechanics on the front side of the watch. This makes the rather technical nature of this timepiece really come to life: the three visible bridges support the barrel, micro rotor, and keyless works inspired by historical pocket watch movements. Normally, this technical combination would make for the real eye-catcher, but it has to share the spotlight with the Jungle Green dial in the latest version.

Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Jungle Green

The hue that Armin Strom chose is very vibrant, but perhaps it also just feels this way as the brand opted for a black main plate and matching matte black alligator strap. The dial itself has three levels featuring a sunburst finish on the chapter ring indicating the hours and minutes and the subdial for the seconds. The center features a stunning guilloché motif that I find reminiscent of the scales of a reptile, but that might just be the color speaking to me.

The dial is crafted by another great of independent watchmaking, Kari Voutilainen. To me, this is one of the best executed green-dial watches ever and the ultimate version of my favorite Armin Strom timepiece.

For more information, please visit arminstrom.com/en/collection/system-78/gravity-equal-force-jungle-green.

Quick Facts Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Jungle Green
Case: 41 x 12.65 mm, stainless steel
Movement: in-house automatic Caliber ASB19 with micro rotor on dial side and Geneva-drive constant force barrel, 25,200 vph frequency, 72-hour power reserve
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; power reserve
Price: CHF 22,900 (sold out)

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshine Gold: green and gold make for an incredible combination

Omega shows how popular green is with the release of its new 2022 models. The only thing that Omega didn’t (yet) launch with a green dial is the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep. The latest Aqua Terra, Constellation, and Seamaster Diver 300M all got the green treatment as did several of the Speedmaster models, including the Moonwatch in Moonshine Gold. While I feel that Omega did a surprisingly good job on all accounts, it is the latter that stands out for me.

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshine Gold

A green dial and yellow(ish) gold case and bracelet are for me a particularly a good combination. It’s like the Michael Caine of watches, combining a long-lost classic style with a pleasant type of brawniness. A watch you don’t mess with and that looks good exuding its muscles, an impression that is helped by Omega naming its proprietary yellow gold alloy after home-brewed alcohol.

Omega’s Moonshine Gold has a slightly paler hue than regular yellow gold thanks to the alloy’s added silver and palladium, which makes the dial’s deep green stand out a bit more. While you can get it on a leather strap, I would suggest forking out the additional €10,500 to get it on the Moonshine Gold bracelet. This combination brings the watch more in balance as it tones down the green by adding more of the gold.

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshine Gold

I also recommend buying a watch on a bracelet even when you don’t intend to wear it on one all the time. Buying one afterward, if it is possible at all, is usually more expensive, while buying the strap is easy enough. Also, examples on a bracelet tend to remain rarer given the investment needed to get them in the first place.

There is also little to complain about with regard to the movement. Caliber 3861 is fitted with a co-axial escapement and a free-sprung balance with a silicon balance spring. It is also certified as a Master Chronometer and has magnetic resistance up to 15,000 Gauss. That makes this Speedmaster as competent as it is beautiful.

For more information, please visit www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-speedmaster-moonwatch-professional-co-axial-master-chronometer-chronograph-42-mm.

Quick Facts Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshine Gold
Case: 42 x 13.18 mm, 18-karat Moonshine Gold with green ceramic tachymeter bezel
Movement: manual wind Caliber 3861 with co-axial escapement, Master Chronometer certified, 21,600 vph / 3 Hz frequency, 50-hour power reserve
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; chronograph
Price: €26,000 on leather strap, €36,500 on Moonshine Gold bracelet

Christiaan van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite: the green galaxy

Christiaan van der Klaauw knows that a beautiful dial can make a difference. This was already the case with the Planetarium Eise Eisinga that the brand introduced in 2020, and this is also the case with the Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite launched earlier in 2022. A meteorite dial is also very appropriate for a watch with a moon phase complication that is accurate to one full day every 11,000 years (not a typo: see number 4 on The 10 Most Accurate Moon Phase Wristwatches Today).

Christiaan van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite

We have seen brands color meteorite dials before, but never in green. I must say that this hue works very well, in particular with the very visible so-called Widmanstätten pattern, named after the Austrian Count Alois von Beckh-Widmanstätten, who discovered it in 1808.

Christiaan van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite in steel with diamond bezel

On this van der Klaauw dial, the pattern also offers different hues of green, which makes the watch all the more interesting to look at. The dial of the 40 mm watch is relatively clean, focusing on the three-dimensional moon, and aside from that only offering the brand’s logo and six Roman numerals. This gives the Real Moon Joure a strong personality and makes it a true statement piece.

Van der Klaauw offers this model in three metals: white gold, pink gold, and stainless steel – with a diamond-set bezel as an option for all of them. While I like Christiaan van der Klaauw’s diamond-set bezels, I think that it is too much of a distraction on this piece, which for me should focus on the galvanized green meteorite.

I was surprised how much I was taken by the version in pink gold. The warm hue of this precious metal really brings out the best in the green meteorite dial, while the white gold and stainless steel give it a cooler appearance.

Movement of the Christiaan van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite

All share the CVDK7382 automatic movement with a 96-hour power reserve thanks to two mainspring barrels that are powered by a beautifully decorated oscillating weight. A fitting finishing touch on a watch that shows that even for timepieces with astronomical complications, green can be the right way to go.

For more information, please visit www.klaauw.com/eng/cvdk-real-moon-joure-green-meteorite-steel.

Quick Facts Christiaan van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure Green Meteorite
Case: 40 mm, stainless steel, white gold, or pink gold; diamond-set bezel optional
Movement: automatic Caliber CVDK7382, twin spring barrels, 96-hour power reserve, most accurate three-dimensional moon phase in world
Functions: hours, minutes; three-dimensional moon phase
Price: starting at €39,950

* This article was first published 16 March 2022 at Green On Green: 4 Verdant Watch Dials For 2022 From Glashütte Original, Armin Strom, Omega, And Christiaan van der Klaauw

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