Calatrava 5116 dial "EMAIL" marking

[ma.st.]

Hi all, I apologize if this is a stupid question but I can't find anything on this and the search terms are too common to yield anything fruitful.

I was browsing in NY over the holiday I saw a hobnail bezel Calatrava ref 5116 with the word "EMAIL" printed beneath the 6 o'clock on the dial. I thought this was curious so I started searching the reference and see it on every enamel dial.

So, whats the deal?

[Flex368]

Email = enamel

[Tomas Eriksson]

Email in French translates to enamel

[EEpro]

Pass

[phatman]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Pass

Why pass

[scarlet knight]

Enamel existed before email. It means enamel.

Unless this watch was prospectively outfitted to be a smart watch! Can you make phone calls on it?

[ma.st.]

ahhh ok that makes sense, thanks everyone!

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by phatman

Why pass

Personal preference for two reasons. I find it to be silly and off-putting. There are plenty of solid gold calatravas running around for a good price that don't say EMAIL or Twitter or other things they haven't aged well on them. Second, $6 spray paint is a popular white enamel that dries to an even finish available in gloss or matte, so this is not exactly fancy stuff worthy of mention on the dial of a $24K watch.

Again, just my opinion, if you like the email no hard feelings.

[Russell996]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Personal preference for two reasons. I find it to be silly and off-putting. There are plenty of solid gold calatravas running around for a good price that don't say EMAIL or Twitter or other things they haven't aged well on them. Second, $6 spray paint is a popular white enamel that dries to an even finish available in gloss or matte, so this is not exactly fancy stuff worthy of mention on the dial of a $24K watch.

Again, just my opinion, if you like the email no hard feelings.

Good grief.

[PJ S]

^
No Russell, it’s much worse than that!
Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

[LooseCann0n]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Personal preference for two reasons. I find it to be silly and off-putting. There are plenty of solid gold calatravas running around for a good price that don't say EMAIL or Twitter or other things they haven't aged well on them. Second, $6 spray paint is a popular white enamel that dries to an even finish available in gloss or matte, so this is not exactly fancy stuff worthy of mention on the dial of a $24K watch.

Again, just my opinion, if you like the email no hard feelings.

See here for the method used to make Email/Enamel dials... slightly harder than spraying with a $6 can of paint...


https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/pa...-donze-cadrans



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by LooseCann0n

See here for the method used to make Email/Enamel dials... slightly harder than spraying with a $6 can of paint...


https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/pa...-donze-cadrans



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good read. I've worked with finicky processes like this myself in my field. I feel for the technicians. It's a low yielding process with poor manufacturing tolerances and variability. Hard to maintain. Hard to match color. Cracks easily. Expensive and rare because hardly any make it out in spec. I can respect it but it isn't for me.

[Vicente]

5116 is Enamel dial as opposed to 5119 which is lacquer dial ( couple of thousands dollar cheaper) , correct me if I am wrong

[EdwardC]

Would love to have an "email" dial one day. They are very uncommon and definitely low production