The watchmaking world’s obsession with ornamental stone dial watches continues unabated, with fresh models offering us a glimpse of what more nature has to offer. Among them are the most exotic and unusual gems, showcasing the lengths to which top watch brands go in their sourcing journey to excite us.
After Rolex debuted the splendour of Tiger Iron earlier this year, it’s now Sarpaneva Watches’ turn to interpret the stone’s colours and stripes, recalling the feline’s coat as an exploding star’s aurora.
With the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon, the house also shows that ruby isn’t just stunning, clear, and faceted, but possesses a mesmerising persona in its raw and opaque form.
While Australian opal is the most coveted and scarce of the gemstones, Dior elevates its latest pieces with dials flaunting magnificent red flash, the rarest colour in an opal’s play of colours. And then there is Bvlgari’s new blue marble dial coming hot on the heels of its green marble version, both of which transport us back into the times of ancient Rome with its grand monuments.
Here are nine extraordinary watches, each with its own spellbinding dial colour and patterns, which demonstrate that horology and the wonders of nature are a perfect match.
Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
As part of Audemars Piguet’s 150th anniversary, the Le Brassus manufacture reinterprets its Code 11.59 collection with a trilogy of dazzling natural stone dials. Apart from the blue sodalite and green malachite versions, this red ruby root model captures a fiery energy, with deep red tones glowing against a 38mm white gold case. Each wafer-thin dial is cut and polished by hand, ensuring no two pieces are alike.
Beneath its vivid surface beats the ultra-thin self-winding Calibre 2968, which is a marvel of engineering that suspends the flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock as if levitating. Paired with a red alligator strap and limited to a select few, this timepiece embodies the brand’s enduring quest to merge technical mastery with emotion.
Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Roman artistry and Swiss precision converge in the 40mm Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble, an extraordinary creation, as this decorative stone becomes delicate and brittle when slivered. Despite the difficulty of taming the material, Bvlgari did it with a dial from Italian blue marble — a material celebrated since antiquity for its elegance and permanence.
At just 5.75mm thick, this platinum-cased tourbillon watch defies the limits of thinness while highlighting the natural veining of Blu Incanto variety, sourced from Italy’s finest quarries. The hand-wound BVL 268 calibre, only 1.95mm high, drives the flying tourbillon with a 52-hour power reserve.
Its architectural case and geometric beauty pay tribute to Rome’s Basilica of Maxentius, blending classicism with Bvlgari’s signature daring flair.
Chopard L’Heure du Diamant
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Chopard’s exquisite L’Heure du Diamant jewellery watch collection has long epitomised the poetic union of high jewellery and refined horology. Its latest turquoise-dial edition glows like a sliver of a bright Mediterranean sky, framed by a brilliant-cut-diamond-set bezel executed using the maison’s proprietary crown-setting technique.
The 26mm ethical white-gold case features a briolette-cut diamond on the crown, and houses the in-house 10.01-C mechanical movement — one of the smallest and thinnest of its kind. The stone’s natural veining also ensures that no two watches are ever identical.
Vibrant turquoise, believed to symbolise protection and unity, enhances Chopard’s message of harmony between nature’s wonders and human craftsmanship.
A. Lange & Soehne Saxonia Thin
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Minimalism finds its most eloquent expression in the 40mm A. Lange & Soehne Saxonia Thin, now rendered in 750 Honeygold with a jet-black, glossy onyx dial. The mirror-like surface of the rare gemstone exudes a depth that pairs beautifully with the warmth of Lange’s proprietary gold alloy.
At the same time, every polished chamfer and slender index underscores the brand’s devotion to proportion and refinement.
Measuring just 6.2mm thick, the watch slips elegantly beneath a cuff, revealing its manually wound Calibre L093.1 through the sapphire back. The movement is a masterwork of Glashutte finishing, complete with blued screws and gold chatons. This limited edition of 200 pieces distils Lange’s essence into pure, understated perfection.
Sarpaneva Supernova
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
From the depths of Finland’s night sky comes Stepan Sarpaneva’s 40mm Supernova, which is a cosmic celebration of steel and stone. For the first time, the avant-garde watchmaker experiments with natural stone dials, including blue meteorite, red jasper, and malachite, to evoke the intense aurora of an exploding magnetar.
This model with a tiger iron dial features a layered interplay of gold, brown, and black that is aptly reminiscent of a star’s fiery death and rebirth. The case, made of high-grade Outokumpu steel from Finland, houses a modified Soprod A10 automatic calibre, visible beneath Sarpaneva’s signature “turbine” rotor, with a 42-hour power reserve.
H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Small Seconds Pop
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Colour takes centre stage in the 38mm H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Small Seconds Pop, part of an audacious collection that reimagines gemstone dials through playful contrasts. This coral dial, enlivened by a turquoise small seconds sub-dial, radiates summer vitality against a minimalist steel case with no logo or indices, exuding pure Moser understatement.
Other stones featured in the collection include Burmese jade, lemon chrysoprase, pink opal, and lapis lazuli.
Beneath the surface lies the automatic HMC 202 calibre with a three-day power reserve. Each dial, limited to just 28 pieces, is a one-of-a-kind miniature artwork. With its blend of irreverence and artisanal precision, the Endeavour Pop proves that even the most esteemed watchmakers know how to have fun with colour and material.
Dior La D de Dior Coffret D’opale
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Limited to only 10 pieces, the 25mm La D de Dior Coffret D’opale is a study in celestial splendour. At its heart lies an exceptional Australian opal dial — Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane’s favourite stone — shimmering with the iridescent colours of a thousand rainbows.
And this model’s dominant red flash, the rarest in opals, makes it so much more incredible.
Its pink gold case also sparkles with a kaleidoscope of sapphires, rubies, and amethysts, while the black leather strap and jewelled buckle continue the rainbow motif. Driven by a Swiss quartz movement, this ethereal creation bridges couture and watchmaking, embodying Dior Joaillerie’s romantic vision of time as light, colour, and emotion in constant motion.
Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Obsidian Green
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Piaget redefines its signature shape-in-shape aesthetic with the new 42mm Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Obsidian Green. The mesmerising dial, which is formed from natural volcanic glass, takes on a flamboyant persona thanks to 56 emeralds on the bezel.
Within its ultra-thin, 8.65mm-thick white gold case beats the automatic 1255P movement, a triumph of micromechanical ingenuity that powers the perpetual calendar and moonphase display. Generous subdials framed in metal reveal day, date, and month, balanced by a poetic moon window at six o’clock.
Paired with a green rubber strap and an additional alligator option, this 18-piece exclusive reflects Piaget’s long-held expertise in fusing daily wearability with gemstone artistry.
Zenith Chronomaster Sport Meteorite
Art direction, digital imaging: Ashruddin Sani/SPH Media
Zenith’s celebrated Chronomaster Sport takes on a galactic allure with its 41mm steel case enveloping a silvery meteorite dial. Millions of years in the making, the grey iron-nickel surface of the space fragment reveals a naturally occurring Widmanstatten pattern, which is never replicated twice.
Ensconced within it are the brand’s iconic tri-colour chronograph counters. Inside, the El Primero 3600 calibre beats at 5Hz, enabling one-10th-of-a-second precision, visible via the ceramic-bezel tachymeter. With its integrated bracelet and 60-hour power reserve, the Chronomaster Sport Meteorite bridges cosmic enchantment and chronometric rigour — a reminder that timekeeping begins, quite literally, among the stars.
This story first published on The Peak Singapore.
