How to Make a Nice Watch Iconic: Order Up a Salmon Dial
GQ US|September 2023
When the biggest players in the watch world look to fashion a special-edition timepiece that will be highly sought after and remembered for ages, they all go for this coveted dial.
CAM WOLF
How to Make a Nice Watch Iconic: Order Up a Salmon Dial

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, the team at the Swiss luxury watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. was fiddling around with ideas to make its Streamliner watch "iconic." That's the word the company's CEO, Edouard Meylan, used on a recent call. The watch's dial already came in a bright emerald, but Meylan wanted something less showy and more classic for the next iteration of the $21,900 flagship design. The team at Moser played with champagne and gray but eventually arrived at the same place nearly every watch brand in 2023 has when it wants to make something more than just special but iconic: salmon.

Since prominent brands including Rolex and Jaeger-LeCoultre started deploying salmon dials almost a century ago, the shade has been used to turn baseline models into extremely special ones. Salmon won out by being just different enough: neither black nor white but a unique prize for the rarest editions. It's nearly golden without conjuring images of '80s excess-there's a reason makers initially paired salmon almost exclusively with rose gold cases, or that Patek Philippe calls its truest salmon shade "golden opaline."

This story is from the September 2023 edition of GQ US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2023 edition of GQ US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM GQ USView All
Why Does Everyone Have Big, Fake White Teeth Now? - Veneers were once a dirty secret. Now they're the new luxury status symbol, and the famous and wealthy are flocking to Hollywood's favorite dentist in search of ever more perfect teeth.
GQ US

Why Does Everyone Have Big, Fake White Teeth Now? - Veneers were once a dirty secret. Now they're the new luxury status symbol, and the famous and wealthy are flocking to Hollywood's favorite dentist in search of ever more perfect teeth.

Early one afternoon in August, at his office on the ninth floor of the Camden Medical Arts building in Beverly Hills, Dr. Kevin Sands slipped on a black surgical mask and latex gloves before peering into the mouth of a sleeping princess. Instead of standard medical scrubs, he wore black Amiri slacks, a matching James Perse T-shirt, and Nike sneakers designed by Travis Scott. On his left wrist was a Patek Philippe Aquanaut with a khaki green dial and matching strap. The watch cost just over $50,000, which is about a third of what her royal highness was paying to have 28 perfect-looking cosmetically enhanced teeth restored with a new set of handmade porcelain crowns and veneers.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
'90s-Inspired Sneakers Have Never Looked This Fresh - The 1990s, a golden era for fashion and sport, left an indelible mark on global culture. It was a decade of high-flying slam dunks and superstar athletes with runway-worthy personal style.
GQ US

'90s-Inspired Sneakers Have Never Looked This Fresh - The 1990s, a golden era for fashion and sport, left an indelible mark on global culture. It was a decade of high-flying slam dunks and superstar athletes with runway-worthy personal style.

The 1990s, a golden era for fashion and sport, left an indelible mark on global culture. It was a decade of high-flying slam dunks and superstar athletes with runway-worthy personal style. The sport-style sneaker, once confined to the court, made its way to the streets, becoming a style staple of everyday life. With its enduring influence, this historic moment continues to shape fashion choices of the supremely stylish, even today. It's this beloved nostalgia for the past that inspired the latest sneaker from Golden Goose: the cutting-edge yet perfectly retro Forty2.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Paul Mescal Enters the Arena - The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II.
GQ US

Paul Mescal Enters the Arena - The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II.

The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
From Budapest to Guadalajara With Mexico's F1 MEGASTAR
GQ US

From Budapest to Guadalajara With Mexico's F1 MEGASTAR

FORMULA 1 drivers like to say that there is very little race car driving involved in driving race cars these days.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
GRIN
GQ US

GRIN

Artist Chase Hall paints his canvases with coffee, making large-scale works that examine mixed-race identity in America. Now, on the eve of the biggest show of his career, Hall is reconciling his fractured past with his blindingly bright future.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
can THESE GUYS MAKE ROCK Bands COOL AGAIN ???
GQ US

can THESE GUYS MAKE ROCK Bands COOL AGAIN ???

When FONTAINES D.C. were living in Dublin and making their first album, Dogrel, the five band members would pile into drummer Tom Coll's car and blast their freshly recorded songs through the speakers.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
VAGES RISING
GQ US

VAGES RISING

No place in America is more prone to reinvention-and Las Vegas is new all over again. New food, new art, new sports, new heat, and, yes, new Sphere. We sent BRETT MARTIN to take stock of the great American city of the future-and find out whether this Vegas is the best version yet.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
THE SEASIN OF THE NOVA KNICKS
GQ US

THE SEASIN OF THE NOVA KNICKS

LIKE SO MANY College friends, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Mikal Bridges were resigned to going their separate ways after school.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
The Original! Reversible! Luxury Sport Watch!
GQ US

The Original! Reversible! Luxury Sport Watch!

Three new versions of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s legendary Reverso arrive just in time for the resurgence of this unsung icon of sport-watch history.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
Can Anyone Catch Lamar Jackson? - There is an awestruck, almost mythical way that folks discuss Lamar Jackson. Teammates, coaches, and fans talk about the Baltimore Ravens' incandescent 27-year-old quarterback
GQ US

Can Anyone Catch Lamar Jackson? - There is an awestruck, almost mythical way that folks discuss Lamar Jackson. Teammates, coaches, and fans talk about the Baltimore Ravens' incandescent 27-year-old quarterback

There is an awestruck, almost mythical way that folks discuss Lamar Jackson. Teammates, coaches, and fans talk about the Baltimore Ravens' incandescent 27-year-old quarterback like he's the football version of Paul Bunyan, if Bunyan ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds.

time-read
9 mins  |
October 2024