LIGHT VERSUS SHADOW
Panda dial or reverse panda dial? The Geneva watchmaker deploys his creativity to juggle shades of natural mother-of-pearl to create new contrasts between light and shadow on a pair of diamond-set watches.
The Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona watch was originally designed for motor racers, to fit comfortably on drivers’ wrists when it was launched in 1963, but has learned to reinvent itself over time. Indeed, this emblematic model in the Rolex collections now boasts a more sophisticated style, as confirmed by the two models presented this year. The tachymeter scale on the bezel is replaced by a ribbon of 36 brilliants, steel by white gold, and the dial plays with natural mother-of-pearl to create a a contrast between light and shadow.
Like a color image in negative, the iridescent face of this duo elegantly redefines the terms “panda” and “reverse panda”: the three counters (small seconds at 6 o’clock, 30-minute and 12-hour chronograph totalizers at 3 and 6 o’clock respectively) are in black mother-of-pearl on a white background or, conversely, in white mother-of-pearl on a dark disc. To make the most of every reflection, the hour-circle features eight diamond hour-markers and three Chromalight applied ones that diffuse a bluish glow in the dark, swept by the central hour, minute and second hands. The case, 40mm in diameter and 11.90mm thick, is fitted with a screwed caseback, Triplock crown and pushers to guarantee water resistance to a depth of 100m. It houses caliber 4131, a high-performance automatic movement unveiled in 2023 that provides a substantial 3-day energy reserve when fully wound.
