Face Value
Female Singapore|July 2024
IN THE WORLD OF WATCHES, THE DIAL SERVES MULTIPLE ROLES KEEPING TIME AS WELL AS ACTING AS THE VISUAL IDENTITY OF A BRAND AND THE PARTICULAR MODEL IT'S DESTINED FOR. WITH THE EXPERTISE AND AMENITIES TO DESIGN AND ENGINEER THIS VITAL ELEMENT COMPLETELY IN-HOUSE, ROLEX ELEVATES DIAL-MAKING TO A TRUE CRAFT.
KENG YANG SHUEN
Face Value

“It is often said that the dial is the face of the watch and is what gives a particular model its individual personality,” says David Riboli, who is in charge of the watch prototype department at Rolex. “This is even more true in the case of dials made of natural stone or mother‑of‑pearl because materials like these inherently mean that each dial is unique. As such, the dial is a key part of the overall design – the result of a rich and intense dialogue between the designers and the research and development teams.”

The watchmaker sure takes its dials seriously – it employs some 500 people to work exclusively on dial‑making at a specialist site in the Chêne‑Bourg district of Geneva, where everything from conceptualisation to the final assembly of its dials is done in‑house. From the most time‑honoured human craftsmanship to cutting‑edge machinery specially developed by Rolex, every operation is perfectly executed, then systematically checked and appraised to always enhance end quality.

Every year, it develops hundreds of prototypes, yet only a select few make it into Rolex’s esteemed catalogue and become part of its permanent offerings. To get there, every dial design undergoes a rigorous screening process that evaluates it based on technical, aesthetic and commercial viability. No fewer than 60 operations are required to transform a metal disc into a finished dial ready for assembly in the watch.

This story is from the July 2024 edition of Female Singapore.

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This story is from the July 2024 edition of Female Singapore.

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