Five Salmon Watches to Satisfy your Horological Appetite

“Guess What! I got a fever… and the only prescription is more Salmon Dials!” It could be our horological equivalent of SNL’s famous “More Cowbell!” sketch with Christopher Walken. If you don’t know what that is, I strongly urge you to Google it and then come back here to continue reading. Regardless, it’s no secret the MONOCHROME Editorial Team has a strong love for dials in copper, pink-gold, salmon or whatever tone you want to call it. Heck, even our first Montre de Souscription had a salmon-coloured dial! So you can understand we get a little bit more excited when a new salmon-toned watch comes along, as opposed to classical black, silver or blue. Case in point; the Chopard L.U.C. Lunar One that kicks off this tasty Buying Guide. Whip out your soy sauce and chopsticks, as we have some finely sliced horological salmon sashimi lined up to whet your appetite!

Chopard L.U.C. Lunar One

As mentioned, the Chopard L.U.C. Lunar One was the trigger for this list of salmon dial watches. And not just because of the exquisite colour, or the new guilloché decoration, but also for the fact it’s now more compact than before. The new white (or rose) gold case comes in at 40.5mm instead of 43mm for the previous editions of the Lunar One. These more refined proportions work wonders for the watch, which is still equipped with the Calibre L.U.C. 96.13L in-house automatic capable of showing you time, but also the big date, moonphase and perpetual calendar indications. It retails for EUR 92,200 on a hand-stitched alligator strap.

For more information, please visit Chopard.com.

Quick Facts – 40.5mm x 11.63mm – 18k white (or rose) gold case, polished – sapphire crystal front & back – 18k white gold galvanic salmon (or blue) dial, sunburst guilloché finish – central hour & minute hands – perpetual calendar indications with big date & double moonphase display – Calibre L.U.C. 96.13L, in-house micro-rotor automatic – 28,800vph – 65h power reserve – blue alligator leather strap with matching gold pin buckle – EUR 92,900

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper

Ok, this next one officially has a copper tone dial, but we’re claiming it as salmon for the sake of the argument. We’re big fans of the surprisingly versatile Bulgari Octo Finissimo, and this Tuscon Copper edition is arguably one of the very best. The architectural design comes in 904L steel, which is harder and shines brighter than conventional 316L steel. The dial has a very warm glow, emphasized with rhodium-plated markers & hands. The Calibre BVL 138 in-house micro-rotor automatic keeps things nice and thin, at 6.40mm in total height. Worn on an integrated steel bracelet, it’s part of the permanent range and costs EUR 15,000.

For more information, please visit Bulgari.com.

Quick Facts – 40mm x 6.40mm – 904L stainless steel case, brushed & polished – sapphire crystal front & back – screw-down crown – 100m water-resistant – Tuscan Copper dial, sunray brushed – rhodium-plated markers & hands – Calibre BVL 138, in-house – ultra-thin micro-rotor automatic – integrated stainless steel bracelet, brushed & polished – part of the permanent collection – EUR 15,000

H. Moser & Cie Streamliner perpetual calendar concept Smoked Salmon

To be perfectly honest, I love the rich flavour of a cedar board coal-fired smoked salmon. Hence my love for the H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Calendar Concept Smoked Salmon. It captures the eye with a darker, fumé (smoked) salmon dial, just like a well-smoked salmon filet would. And Moser being Moser, there are only minimal distractions from it in the form of Globolight-inserted hands, a power reserve display, a month hand and a big date window. Around the back, the Calibre HM 812 also shows you the leap years. It comes on the wonderfully curvaceous steel bracelet and retails for CHF 49,900. Be quick though, as it’s only available until early February!

For more information, please visit H-Moser.com.

Quick Facts – 42.3mm x 11mm – stainless steel case, brushed & polished – sapphire crystal front & back – screw-in crown – 120m water-resistant – smoked salmon dial – hour & minute hands with Globolight inserts – central months hand – big date window – power reserve indicator – leap year on movement – Calibre HMC 812, in-house manual – 18,000vph – 168h power reserve – integrated steel bracelet with folding clasp, brushed & polished – special edition available for 12 months only – CHF 49,900

Frederique Constant Classics Premiere Salmon

We’re very sorry to put this one in front of you again. The fact is this Frederique Constant Classics Premiere Salmon is simply an astonishingly good-looking watch! The multi-level dial is just gorgeous, thanks to Breguet-style numerals and hands, as well as various types of finishing throughout. At 38.5mm in diameter, it’s also a lovely and very wearable size, topping out at just 10.67mm in height. It’s also backed by a reliable La Joux-Perret G100 automatic movement, and priced rather sensibly, at EUR 1,995. For that, you get a stylish brown Nubuck alligator leather strap. The only downside perhaps? It’s a Europe-exclusive edition!

For more information, please visit FrederiqueConstant.com.

Quick Facts – 38.5mm x 10.67mm – stainless steel, polished – 43.5mm lug-to-lug – sapphire crystal front & back – 50m water-resistant – multi-textured salmon dial – applied Breguet numerals & hands – La Joux-Perret G100, automatic – 28,800vph –  24 jewels – 68h power reserve – hours, minutes, central (hacking) seconds – rose gold-coloured rotor – brown Nubuck leather strap, pin buckle – Europe-exclusive – EUR 1,995

Patek Philippe 5236P-010

Simply put, this is one of our all-time favourite salmon dial watches; the Patek Philippe 5236P-010 In-line Perpetual Calendar. The clean-cut 41.3mm platinum case, the linear display for the calendar indications, and the darkened markers and hands… It just resonates deeply with us! The brass dial, finished in an opaline rose-gilt colour has an extremely fine texture to not take away too much of the rest of the splendour. The bottom half is reserved for the small seconds subdial with integrated moonphase, the leap year indicator and a day/night indicator. At CHF 120,000 it’s the priciest option on this list, but also one of the loveliest!

For more information, please visit Patek.com.

Quick Facts – 41.3mm x 11.07mm – 950 platinum case, polished – sapphire crystal front & back – 30m water-resistant – brass-based opaline rose-gilt dial – charcoal markers & hands – in-line QP display with leap-year, day/night and moonphase indicators – small seconds subdial – Calibre 31-260 PS QL, in-house – Patek Philippe seal – micro-rotor automatic – 28,800vph – 38-48h power reserve – brown alligator leather strap with platinum fold-over clasp – CHF 120,000