1950's Longines Mystery Dial in 14k white gold w/ factory diamond bezel

FOR THE LADIES & ADOPTED BY THE BOYS

I’ve seen this watch plenty of times online, and to be honest, it never really hit the mark for me. Well, it’s safe to say that’s completely changed.

Mystery dial watches were conceived by who else but Cartier in the 1920’s. The illusion of time telling is executed by placing the hour marker on a central disk while the minute hand conventionally remains on the pinion. Yes, there are deviations from this principle but this is the basic concept. Pre conceived notions might lead you to believe that this a difficult way of reading the time, but frankly, the brain adjust quickly and it arguably becomes more intuitive then your archetypal “3-hander”. Longines experimented with other mystery dial watches in the following decades, most notably with the Comet.

In all, this beautiful example sits in that sweet spot of 33 mm (realistically wears like a 34.5-35 because of dial presence and lug-to-lug dimension) that can be adorned by anybody with an average wrist. I’ll admit that this has opened up new atheistic vistas for me and I love it…also white gold is so much cooler than colored metals.