Quote:
Originally Posted by jm433
One thing I've often wondered about is why the two-colored bezels? I'm assuming the idea was to separate day from night at a glance, but never thought this made much sense. Daylight doesn't necessarily correspond to 6 am to 6pm and the use of military-time hour indicators on the bezel already indicates a.m. versus p.m. at a glance.
Was the two-colored bezel just for decoration? You've shown your black bezel model and I don't think you lose any functionality with that....  |
This has been the topic of conversation...some of it heated, over the years..
The original ref 6542, which had a very short life was navy over red. Keeping in mind that this was a pilots watch, the design is similar to an artificial horizon instrument, probably the main instrument used by pilots.
The color quickly became the familiar "pepsi" dial within a few years. Now, at the time Pan-American colors were bright blue and silver or white, depending on if you were looking at the airplane or the uniform, and red/white/blue was uniquely American, so blue over red seems a natural..
It does provide a quick reference when looking at it as the 6 am to 6pm area is generally daylight and it is red, whereas, the 6 pm to 6 am time is evening/dark and the bezel is black/blue in this area. (another theory for the colors)
The functionality of the black bezel is the same, but I do notice a difference in "hunting" for the 24 hour hand without the two colors..