Seiko Dolce 9521-5110:
Dress watches don’t usually claim to be tough, but in the 80’s and 90’s Seiko produced some amazingly tough watch cases for dress watches that were rated for hardness up to 10 times that of the generic stainless-steel watches of the time.
So why is extreme hardness relevant to dress watches? Probably for two reasons - firstly, using exotic materials can be relevant for dress watches which are designed to be ….. well, dressy. Gold is a popular exotic material in dress watches because of its luxurious appearance, and value. Super Hard cases, including Tungsten Carbide don’t have the value of gold but they are sophisticated metals, and a level above the standard stainless steel case.
And secondly, really hard watch cases don’t scratch easily so it is easier to keep up the standard of appearance required when you dress up. Incidentally, that doesn’t apply to gold which is quite soft.
The watch featured in our lead photo is a Seiko Dolce 9521-5110 from 1986. It is a “tank” style watch with a jewelled Quartz movement accurate to within 15 seconds per month. The watch has an attractive integrated bracelet, and certainly fits the dress watch criteria with a luxurious appearance, incredibly thin case (6.9mm), and a simple no-date, 3 hand format.
Seiko describe the case as Super Hard Alloy. On the caseback of this watch are the letters “NSAG”. I am not sure what the letters stand for (it is often not clear with Seiko) but Seiko’s case description is as follows –
The “Hv=1200” refers to the hardness of the metal on the Vickers scale. 316 Stainless Steel is around 230Hv, Quartz is 1200Hv, and Tungsten Carbide around 2500Hv.
Vickers hardness, is a measure of the hardness of a material, calculated from the size of an impression produced under load by a pyramid-shaped diamond indenter.
And whilst we are on the subject of tough watches – have you ever wondered why a category of diminutive dress watches are called “Tank Watches”?
One of the most distinctive watch styles from the 20th Century was the Tank, originated by luxury watch maker Cartier, and still in production today. I consider myself an amateur watch enthusiast, with a fairly broad understanding of horology, but I had always found it a little puzzling that a name associated with the horrible violence of war could be applied to a diminutive luxury wrist watch.
The unique box shape of the Cartier Tank set a new trend that has been copied by other manufacturers, and boasts some very high profile wearers.
So where did the name come from? Louise Cartier designed the Tank watch in 1917, modelled on a French military tank, the Renault FT-17. The distinctive sides of the watch emulated the tracks on this war vehicle which some historians describe as the first modern tank.
Wearers of the Cartier Tank included Rudolph Valentino who insisted on wearing a tank in every scene of the movie “The Son of the Sheik”, Gary Cooper, Catherine Deneuve, Andy Warhol (who said he didn’t wind the watch, just used it as jewellery), Princess Diana, and Muhammad Ali.
So, there we have it - Luxury dress watches might conjure up visions of flashy, over-the-top timepieces, but small is certainly acceptable, and some can be tougher than you might expect.
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