The Greatest Typefaces On Watches

Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. We're well aware that Shakespeare wasn't talking about the nuances of luxury watch brand typography when he penned that exceptionally quotable line from The Twelfth Night, but that doesn't mean that the sentiment doesn't apply.

Even though it may not be something you've ever actively considered before, it's not too hard to think of a handful or more iconic examples of typeface on watch dials, an area which, while traditionally small in scale, is often packed with text. From the looping cursive of 'Speedmaster' to the surprisingly gothic script of Grand Seiko, there's a lot of diversity in dial text.

Before we dive into the stand-out examples of horological typography, here is a word about the surprisingly interesting role typefaces have played in the broader luxury world over the last few years. Major brands, from Balenciaga to Berluti, have gone to a phenomenal effort to remove every serif, along with any sense of individualism and personality, from their textual brand, resulting in a universal language of luxury 'bland' identity that was as boring as it was expensive.

To understand why this happens and why the watch industry seems to play a different typographic game, we spoke to someone uniquely qualified on the topic; Maxime Plescia-Büchi. You might well recognize the name as the creative force behind the popular Sang Bleu series of Hublot watches, but in addition to being a talented tattoo artist, Büchi is also one of the Managing Directors of Swiss Typefaces, a company that has worked with a catwalk's worth of high-fashion clients including Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens and Vogue, as well as a number of high profile watch brands. So we got Büchi's take on why fashion logos and watch logos look so different.

"What you see In fashion is a lot of logos. Comparatively, there haven't been a lot of updated type-based logos in the watch world. Most that you see now are heritage logos, and they really are meant to be like that, whether it's true heritage or a veneer of it. There's a very different logic to fashion, in that it's really meant to be about the clothes, and the logo is meant to not orient the way people look at the clothes. Having done fashion logos, you always get the same brief; 'timeless and elegant'. Elegance is the backbone of the brand, but the expression should be in the clothes, and not stuck in a moment. Watches, though, are all about a specific moment, and that's reflected in their logos; look at brands like Breguet or Richard Mille; their logos speak to the time they were created. Richard Mille uses a version of a font called Euro Star for their logo, and it's very specifically from the 90s, which makes sense for the brand."

As to whether Büchi thinks that watch brands will walk the same path as fashion, he argues that for the older brands, it does not make sense, but says, "I would not be surprised if new brands that come up started using fonts that are more comparable to fashion — that sans serif style. It's much more in the current zeitgeist. We're already seeing it, MB&F has one, and Ressence uses a rounded sans serif.

From this, it's clear that the typefaces a watch brand chooses to deploy onto the dial of a watch matter; after all, numbers play a hugely important role on many a dial. A typeface can add to the story of a watch and can improve a design or, if little care or thought goes into the selection, bring it down. We're not here to talk about the misses, only the hits, so in the spirit of Shakespeare, here are typefaces that achieved greatness, had greatness thrust upon them or were, quite simply, born great.

Born Great: Hermès and A. Lange & Söhne

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our two examples of watch fonts born to greatness are on the younger side. The first example comes from Hermès. The Slim d'Hermès is a contemporary dress watch, with a pared-back design that allows the low profile and distinctive typeface to do all the talking. Creative Director of Hermès Horloger Philippe Delhotal made the most of this opportunity, commissioning a custom typeface from French graphic designer Philippe Apeloig just for this watch. That Hermès, which is primarily a fashion house with, as Büchi puts it, a "strong graphic culture" chose to hero their bespoke typeface should come as no surprise, and it's clear the investment paid off.

The example of A. Lange & Söhne's distinctive typeface is another example of a watch brand that nailed it out of the gate. The brand has had a famously fractured history, and is famously German. All this is reflected in their instantly recognizable font, particularly the ampersand, which instantly evokes a particularly Germanic version of the Art Nouveau aesthetic from the turn of the last century when Lange was first on the world stage. In fact, the typeface they use is a version of Engravers that was first seen in 1899 but has been modernized to fit Lange's purpose. For a brand which, in its current form, dates back to 1994, the choice of a font that consciously references their legitimate heritage and classical design is a powerful and very deliberate, design decision.

Achieved Greatness: Rolex and Patek Philippe

Few watch brand typefaces have the weight of Rolex and Patek Philippe. Using a serif and sans serif typeface, respectively, both brands are bulwarks of traditionalism and stability, and their choice of typeface reflects that. Büchi asserts that these blue chip brand identities reflect their long-reigning positions at the top of the tree. “These brands don't update their logos really, or if they do, it's very minimal. In our lifetimes, the amount of watch brands that have changed their logo is very limited. Logos and typography are very interesting signifiers for deeper dynamics and how brands think about themselves. This sort of typeface is ubiquitous and obscure at the same time.”

This duality of ubiquity and obscurity is fascinating. Both Patek Philippe and Rolex are amongst some of the most recognizable luxury brands in the world, appearing on dials, billboards and sponsorships the world over. At the same time, there's an incredibly deep level of connoisseurship around these words. Not just the typeface but how they're printed, with what ink, and where. A slightly blurred letter can call into question the authenticity of a watch, and a subtle variant can cause values to skyrocket. This depth of knowledge is only possible thanks to the fact that these two brands, in particular, have been leaders in their field for generations. They have achieved greatness and brought their distinctive typefaces along for the ride. 

Greatness Thrust Upon Them: F.P. Journe

Finally, those typefaces that have, because of reasons wholly unrelated to their particular typographic virtues, become iconic. In this context, Journe's watches have achieved legendary status and brought the font along for the ride. There's no better example of this than F.P. Journe's watches feature not only his text-based logo but also the 'Invenit et Fecit' strapline, as well as other pertinent information like the model name and some of the complications. This text-heavy approach, combined with his retrofuturist design language, has led to a visual language that's instantly recognizable and, thanks to his incredible talent, highly desired. But what about the typeface itself? Well, as befitting F.P. Journe's reputation for exacting oversight on every single element of his watches, the typeface was designed by Journe himself and appears to be based on a font called Clarendon, a no-nonsense and sturdy design with a modern feel, and one entirely appropriate for Journe's watchmaking. No one could have predicted — not even the man himself — that his choice of a workmanlike, old-world typeface would end up an integral part of one of the most iconic watch designs of the modern era. A prime example of a font with greatness thrust upon it.

Throughout this brief exploration of the role fonts play in watchmaking, there are a few recurring themes. The text on a watch is rarely something you pay active attention to, but these typographical choices made by designers are important in accentuating the brand's identity and values. So next time you check the time, pay attention to the words on the dial.