Sometimes, it takes something positive to happen for us to realize just how bad things are. Okay, that might sound overly dramatic. However, this Grinding Gears is about an issue I have briefly mentioned in years past, more recently has been on my mind again, and must absolutely get out of my system now. Why now? Well, the other day, Tudor launched a new “Flamingo Blue” version of its Black Bay Chrono, a full year after a pink version — which “shocked” us all by introducing the first bold color in the modern history of the brand. This situation, where we wait a year for a single new color from Tudor, and a fruitless eternity for one from many of its competitors, makes me think it’s about time we start configuring watches like cars, especially their dial colors.

Why My Gears Are Grinding — Oh, And Some Positive Developments

We all probably know and respect the fact that the watch industry is unlike any other, in many ways and for many reasons. It works more slowly, treads more carefully, and far too often still takes just one cause for caution to axe a design, project, or idea that has a thousand things going for it. Despite all this, the industry as a whole, including its small and major players, has improved tremendously in product launch cycles. This industry has sped up from a one-time dump of new products at Baselworld or SIHH to launching new references, models, and even collections several times a year. Some big brands have road maps with a new launch every month.

Imagine BMW launching the M3 Touring in blue two years after it launched it in black. Wouldn’t everyone think, “Are you serious? What have you been doing all this time?”

What we gained is not just a faster product cycle (in which tough-to-sell references are phased out quickly, albeit quietly) but what also feels like more products to choose from. Seiko famously launched a new reference every single day in 2023 (I referenced this in this article on the aBlogtoWatch Weekly podcast at the time) between Seiko, Grand Seiko, and Credor. That year, Omega had over 1,400 different references on offer simultaneously. Plus, we saw the rise of successful independents who bombarded us with a more or less quick reaction to the integrated bracelet watch craze. It is safe to say, then, that 2023 and 2024 each saw at least a thousand new references launched, and probably a lot more than that.

Despite this new-found push in product development, production, and market introduction, it still felt as though the collections we received were very rigid, scarcely ever offering a good variety of options to choose from. What brands did and do is develop a large batch of references (mainly color and maybe bracelet variations of the same model), and then launch these over the course of several years. There’s only one thing less fun than reading multi-page press releases on a new dial color, and that must be writing them.

It would be a gross overstatement to suggest that the main cause behind Swatch Group’s $8,000,000,000 (that’s eight billion) unsold inventory or Richemont’s $567 million inventory buyback program (of unsold watches back in 2016-2018) was lack of choice. Maybe though, just maybe, a more diverse product portfolio with more choice would have helped a bit in shifting a few more of those items. To be clear, much of that inventory build-up is due to dramatic shifts in consumer behavior — I suggest reading into why watches were so popular in the industry’s main markets of Hong Kong and mainland China and why those markets sell half as many or fewer watches today. Many watches were bought not for personal enjoyment (let’s put it that way). That said, many other watches with limited choice and variety remained in the stores simply because they were too familiar, because “everyone I know already has one,” or because they looked old or unable to match one’s personal taste and style.

Take, for example, the most recent launch of Vacheron Constantin’s extremely well-received 222. To be clear, it is not fair to single out any one brand or watch, so please do feel encouraged to keep your eyes peeled for new releases and their variety (or lack thereof) from other brands in the future. The Historiques 222 is a beautiful watch that reappeared in 2023 in a form very close to its original version from 46 years back. Despite the gold launch model’s overwhelmingly positive reactions, it took Vacheron Constantin two full years to follow up with what looks to be the exact same watch — in steel, with one dial option.

Two years. For steel and blue. Even if Vacheron Constantin does not have the aspiration to pump tens of thousands of these out, it still is baffling to see such a heavily and arbitrarily limited launch of a new, important, and popular reference. You are as tired of blue dials as I am? Well, that’s a shame. And, unlike with, say, the Rolex Submariner, which has had an extremely limited color palette for decades, don’t think for a second that Richemont-owned Vacheron Constantin will limit the 222 to just one dial color. Those considering a 222 will have to wait months, if not a year or more, to see what those other colors will be, though (probably black). Not for an important product update, or various little improvements to performance or wearability — just for a new color that in all certainty is ready for production, or has already been produced and is sitting in a drawer as you are reading this.

As a customer, I see absolutely no value or interest whatsoever in the delayed introduction of new colors.

The problem I am getting at is that I, for one, want to know for a fact that I will never be given a choice (as it is with the steel Rolex Submariner or Daytona where the former comes in just black and the latter in black or white) or have that choice offered to me right at the time of purchase. As a customer, I see absolutely no value or interest whatsoever in the delayed introduction of new colors. Brands tend to offer a new dial option in bombastic ways, trying to underline how fantastic it is to be braced by the royal beauty of burgundy, or the timeless elegance of deep blue, while, in fact, these are not worthwhile or meaningful product developments. Imagine BMW launching the M3 Touring in blue two years after it launched it in black. Wouldn’t everyone think, “Are you serious? What have you been doing all this time?”

What To Do?

Introduce all dial colors at once, allow customers easy access to different dials, and launch meaningful upgrades to performance and wearability down the line as product updates — not new colors. Having followed the industry closely, I may have experienced this a bit more often than someone who is shopping for a new watch once every couple of years, or more. However, it is true that I have shrugged at certain new collections simply because they came with uninspired color options, and by the time a fascinating new color arrived (years later), I had long since forgotten about that watch and have put other references on my wishlist.

What I would love to have access to is a configurator that I can visit and revisit to assess new combinations of colors. What brands such as Omega or Panerai do instead is try to list every possible iteration on their websites as a different reference, creating immense confusion while also still not allowing customers to have the exact watch they desire. Then, customers either wait, hoping for the launch of a slightly different combination of components that matches their taste or move on. Interestingly, the brand producing by far the highest volume of watches (hundreds of thousands more than Omega or TAG Heuer and several times more than Breitling or Cartier) somehow manages to offer the greatest configurability. This brand has reconfigurability where not only the dial color can be changed, but it can be matched to different bezel styles and materials, as well as different middle case and bracelet options. Once such a great tool exists, it is difficult for those who don’t have it to justify not matching up.

I dare not go so far as to suggest that people should be configuring all luxury watches to the extent Rolex allows it because there are carefully judged and important design codes that are essential to the recognizability and integrity of both the brand and the collection. Likewise, luxury watches are delicate things assembled with great care and are (hopefully) tested rigorously to ensure outstanding quality of fit and finish. Nevertheless, I also think we should be given more than one or a handful of color options upon launch until the big reveal of a new color years later. I could see main boutiques and high-profile authorized dealers with after-sales service centers being equipped and trained to perform a dial change.

Dealers would stock a large variety of dials (which take a lot less space, are much easier to manage, and are cheaper to have as inventory when compared to complete watches) and would have their service center swap the dial to the desired one. I learned recently that Rolex no longer allows a dial change in the first five years of ownership (while the warranty is valid) but used to perform such dial swaps until not that long ago, even after purchase. Rolex also had strict rules as to what dial you could add to which reference — it would not add a platinum-only Ice Blue dial to a white gold watch, for example.

Why Not?

Let’s sympathize for a moment with the watch industry, especially its product planning, manufacturing, and sales departments and teams. It takes a million little decisions for a watch to progress from the drawing board to the dealer’s window. Legibility, quality assurance, design continuity, and recognizability are just some of the factors taken into account when making aesthetic decisions. To create two, three, or four times as many variations can take two, three, or four times as much work, which sometimes is simply not possible. And yet, as we outlined above, brands have been successfully increasing the rate at which they develop and launch new releases, only to then decide to slowly roll these out, even when said development and sometimes production work had been done long before.

It is also a struggle for brands to keep their products relevant, and new color launches are deemed an effective way of achieving this. While that assessment is largely correct, I wish it was performed with truly special combinations of colors and materials that do have the appearance of taking a long time to develop and produce. Going from gold to steel, or from blue to black, falls far from that impression.

Last, not every watch collection, or even brand, is ideally suited to have more than a few variations. The watch industry needs — as much as I loathe the word by now — its icons. It needs watches that are recognizable by the masses as design masterpieces or relevant props to popular culture. These by definition have to stay true to their original aesthetic code, because it is mostly through repetition that the greater public develops the ability to identify these watches as important and noteworthy.

As always, many different reasons could be raised (beyond those I mentioned above) to explain why the industry might feel like it should not, or cannot, offer more choice and configurability. I do, however, strongly feel that many of today’s top 30 watchmakers could, and indeed should, offer greater choice. What to do with the remaining time? Change the case profile, the movement decoration, the bezel style, or update your bracelet or clasp. Bring in what the car industry calls face-lifts or “life cycle impulses” with noticeable changes to the product — and stop altogether with considering a new color a meaningful or newsworthy product update.