Blue Dial Watches

The finish does more work than the colour itself. A sunray blue shifts from near-black to bright cobalt as the wrist moves. A lacquered dial holds a single tone under any light. A fume or gradient dial darkens towards the edge and reads quite differently in person than in a photograph — worth knowing when buying online.

Seiko and Citizen anchor the accessible end, Tissot, Certina and Oris the middle, and the range continues through Longines and Zenith to H. Moser and Czapek, whose fumé dials are the reason the finish has the following it does.

Blue Dial Watches holds 796 models across 79 brands, from £25 to £114,400. Half cost less than £383, and a quarter less than £174. 345 of 796 are automatic. 314 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 1156 offers in total. Tissot lists more references here than any other brand. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.