Perfect Timing: PanoReserve and Shinola Runwell in Blue

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Two weeks into the Perfect Timing feature, and already my favoritism for watches with blue-dials is showing. What can I say in my defense, besides that I’m a sucker for my favorite color?

So perhaps I’m a bit biased in stating that there’s a chill magnetism to blue-faced watches. Glashütte’s PanoReserve is a hell of a handsome hand-wound watch as it is (if, perhaps, a bit overly labeled), with the six models already available. A lot of watches look cluttered when they add too many complications to the face. The PanoReserve shows off a sub-dial, a date display and power-reserve dial, but somehow doesn’t look remotely crowded to me. Especially in that beautiful blue piece of work up top. Damn, it’s like looking into a peaceful, placid ocean, isn’t it? I swear I can hear it speaking to me.

What’s that, PanoReserve? You want me to steal the diamonds? But I’m in the middle of a post. Also…which diamonds?

All right, snap out of it Compton. You’re not even half done with this write-up.

Two new editions enter the fold in 2015, the one pictured above that I can’t quit staring at, and–for those who don’t share my particular palette palate–a red-gold version with a black dial (below). Both come with options for the leather strap. My preferred model (guess which color) comes with either a matching cattle leather strap, or a strap made of Alligator Nubuck.

Glashutte-PanoReserve-Red-Gold-Black

No official price has been set, but given the retail of the current models of the PanoReserve, you can expect these to easily come in at five figures.

If you need to get your blue dial fix on a more modest budget, we might have you covered there too.

The Shinola Runwell series of watches now come with midnight blue dial.

Shinola-Runwell-Midnight-Blue

While the PanoReserve can boast luxury craftsmanship from Saxony, Shinola is bringing you quality, handmade watches from Detroit. I’m not going to go all super-patriotic over watches here, but I do like to purchase from home whenever feasible and reasonable. The Shinola Runwell is better than reasonable, it’s attractive. And now it comes with a midnight face enclosed by stainless steel and sapphire crystal. The stitched tan leather strap makes the face stand out even more than it already would. I’m not the biggest fan of the size and prominence of the numerals; I tend to favor the 3-6-9 look when it comes to the numbers, but that’s my personal bias peeking out again. The Runwell’s new midnight look plays, and at $550, you might not have to plunder your 401k, sell your car and hit a scratch off to get it.

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J. Compton is an author whose stories have appeared in Pseudopod, Arkham Tales, Fantasy Scroll Magazine and other publications. As co-host of the BNC he hopes you enjoy the site and only asks that you please remember to use coasters.