A California dial refers to a

clock face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basic, globally recogni ...

that consists of half

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

(usually 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock) and half

Arabic numeral Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write Decimal, decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers ...

s (usually 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock). A dash is often used for hours 3, 6, and 9, and an inverted triangle for hour 12. The use of this style dates back to the 1930s, and was featured in early

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

and

Panerai Officine Panerai (also known simply as Panerai) is an Italian luxury watch manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. Officine Panerai designs, manufactures and markets watches through authorized dealer ...

watches. Originally called the “high visibility” or “error proof” dial, it was created during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to aid legibility in low-light combat conditions. After the war, the style faded away until it was popularized in the 1980s economic boom in Japan. Rolex could not keep up with demand, leading to a California-based company refurbishing Rolexes in the style, hence the name "California” dial. Modern examples of the California dial include the

Nomos Glash%C3%BCtte NOMOS Glashütte is a German watchmaking company based in Glashütte, Saxony, which specializes in artisan manual-winding and automatic mechanical watches. It was founded by Roland Schwertner in January 1990, two months after the fall of the Berli ...

Club Campus and the California watch face on the

Apple Watch Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple Inc. It incorporates fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates with iOS and other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch was rel ...

References

See also