Messages: 3070 Location: Saipan, USA
Registered: February 2004
Mysteriously Cool Vintage Sandoz...
Mon, 19 October 2015 19:50
It's not often that you come across a piece that is seriously cool in every way, but that's exactly what happened when I picked up this Sandoz mystery dial a few weeks ago.
I had no idea how enamored I would be with this chunky piece of stainless steel which I'm guessing is from the mid seventies. The pictures gave me some idea that it would be a neat watch but it wasn't until it arrived that I would really appreciate it.
The first thing that struck me was that it's a hefty piece. Since I'm most accustomed to mid-century watches, I wasn't really prepared for a vintage watch with such heft, you definitely know this baby is strapped to your wrist.
It's not a mystery dial in the normal sense in that it uses plastic rotating disks in lieu of hands. It has traditional hands but the are manufactured in a way as to mesh with the colored tracks printed under the crystal to create the illusion of floating hands.
Another neat touch is the seconds hand sports a pennant-like flag that moves under the dial hash marks creating a very cool, almost Borel-Cocktail-like illusion, as it makes its way around the dial.
The icing on the cake is the colored design pattern. At first glance from straight on, it appears to be a shade of magenta, but as you shift your viewing angle the color morphs, first to a deep purple, then red, then orange and finally to a bright yellow. One of the coolest things I've ever seen on a watch!
Fitted to a nice ostrich strap the whole package really come together nicely.
- Gregoire