Santos - blue dial. Any regrets?

[-dustin]

About to pull the trigger on a Santos, large. Can’t decide on dial. Green is a pass.

Blue grabs my attention, but in reading some posts, seems legibility might not be awesome. I didn’t experience this, but store lighting is a lot different that real world.

Anyone here purchase blue and end up swapping for white? Or end up disappointed by legibility once you got home?

Notes:
Already have BB58 and Pelagos with blue dials. No white dials. Would like to get a Tank at some point (white dial). White dial not having lumed hands bugs me to no end. Fine on a Tank. Seems like a miss on the Santos. Blue dial not having Cartier signature at 7 bums me out a bit.

[agriculture&watches]

It’s nothing wrong to have a lot of blue dials in the collection. I would go with medium size blue dial Santos

[116510lv]

Originally Posted by agriculture&watches

It’s nothing wrong to have a lot of blue dials in the collection. I would go with medium size blue dial Santos

+1

I think the medium is better - is the blue dial the same as the one with the PVD bezel?

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[RoRoRo]

Personally don’t like the polished markers on a sunburst dial. Too shiny for me. The regular white is my choice and have the oem
Green croc strap and oem blue rubber strap for it. Such a strap monster.

Feel the blue dial is more limited for strap
Change ups

[AAMD11]

The blue is my choice and I’ve been wanting it for years just havent pulled the trigger yet

[Dino944]

Originally Posted by -dustin

About to pull the trigger on a Santos, large. Can’t decide on dial. Green is a pass.

Blue grabs my attention, but in reading some posts, seems legibility might not be awesome. I didn’t experience this, but store lighting is a lot different that real world.

Anyone here purchase blue and end up swapping for white? Or end up disappointed by legibility once you got home?

Notes:
Already have BB58 and Pelagos with blue dials. No white dials. Would like to get a Tank at some point (white dial). White dial not having lumed hands bugs me to no end. Fine on a Tank. Seems like a miss on the Santos. Blue dial not having Cartier signature at 7 bums me out a bit.

I've had my steel blue dial Santos for nearly 5 years. I find the legibility to be quite good, other than in maybe some low level lighting, but then the hands have lum to help in those situations. I have no regrets about my choice. The white is nice, but I have and prefer the a silver dials of my Tank Louis and new large steel Tank Americaine. I think the blue dial Santos has a more interesting and more beautiful dial than the traditional white. The white is a classic, but to me the blue is truly spectacular and elevates the watch's beauty.

Wishing you lots of fun and good luck with your decision!

Originally Posted by 116510lv

is the blue dial the same as the one with the PVD bezel?

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No, the dials are a bit different. The PVD blue dial has horizontal lines in the center of the dial and the date wheel is white. The blue also doesn't seem as graduated to dark as the steel model. The steel graduated blue dial with a sunray brushed finish dial and the date wheel is blue to match the dial.

[Dino944]

Originally Posted by RoRoRo

Feel the blue dial is more limited for strap
Change ups

Not really, I have the standard blue calf, the blue alligator, the oem black rubber strap, and the oem blue rubber strap, and one can easily do the gray, black or brown alligator which look great with it. I think the only colors I wouldn't do with it are green, red, or orange, but I wouldn't do red or orange even if I had the white dial.

[Kinnakeet]

I found the blue difficult to read.

[RoRoRo]

Originally Posted by Dino944

Not really, I have the standard blue calf, the blue alligator, the oem black rubber strap, and the oem blue rubber strap, and one can easily do the gray, black or brown alligator which look great with it. I think the only colors I wouldn't do with it are green, red, or orange, but I wouldn't do red or orange even if I had the white dial.

Personally wouldn’t pair many of your colour choices with the blue dial and shiny markers. The bracelet and navy croc are about as far as I’d go. The sunburst just makes it that little bit more dressy that even the enclosed blue calf you get with it looks strange. IMHO

[Dino944]

Originally Posted by RoRoRo

Personally wouldn’t pair many of your colour choices with the blue dial and shiny markers. The bracelet and navy croc are about as far as I’d go. The sunburst just makes it that little bit more dressy that even the enclosed blue calf you get with it looks strange. IMHO

People wear blue with brown, gray and black all the time, but to each his own.

[RoRoRo]

Originally Posted by Dino944

People wear blue with brown, gray and black all the time, but to each his own.

Wearing clothes is different. Trousers and shoes for example depend a lot on style, use, textures.

The style of a watch dial, bezel and strap is more cohesive as it is one. The style should suit.

Hence why a nato looks better on a 5 digit sub that has an aluminium with a slightly sheened bezel, whereas on a ceramic 6 digit it just looks wrong.

It’s nice to think that colours would just generally match but there’s more at play with a blue dial santos compared to a white dial which has slightly more neutrality which is why a lot more straps suit it.

[Dino944]

Originally Posted by RoRoRo

Wearing clothes is different. Trousers and shoes for example depend a lot on style, use, textures.

The style of a watch dial, bezel and strap is more cohesive as it is one. The style should suit.

Hence why a nato looks better on a 5 digit sub that has an aluminium with a slightly sheened bezel, whereas on a ceramic 6 digit it just looks wrong.

It’s nice to think that colours would just generally match but there’s more at play with a blue dial santos compared to a white dial which has slightly more neutrality which is why a lot more straps suit it.

Comparing a 5 and 6 digit reference Rolex is apples and oranges. While they may carry the same name some many have completely different cases, lugs, dials, hands, etc. Honestly, I'm not a fan of a Nato straps regardless of the model.

Have you actually tried any of the other color straps on a blue Santos, or are you simply going by what you can or can't imagine? The blue is a gradient dial that goes to a very dark gray almost black at the outer edges, so I'm not sure why you think black wouldn't work with it or gray (depending on the shade chosen). Anyway, I suppose we will have to agree to disagree.

[RoRoRo]

Originally Posted by Dino944

Comparing a 5 and 6 digit reference Rolex is apples and oranges. While they may carry the same name some many have completely different cases, lugs, dials, hands, etc. Honestly, I'm not a fan of a Nato straps regardless of the model.

Have you actually tried any of the other color straps on a blue Santos, or are you simply going by what you can or can't imagine? The blue is a gradient dial that goes to a very dark gray almost black at the outer edges, so I'm not sure why you think black wouldn't work with it or gray (depending on the shade chosen). Anyway, I suppose we will have to agree to disagree.

Yeah agree to disagree but simply the white is a way better strap monster for oem straps than the blue. Too much about the blue that doesn’t work. You do you.

[-dustin]

Picked up a nice, bargain priced large blue from Nashville Watch. Have worn it the past 3 days through yard work, car washing, dinner making, day job, etc etc and haven't had any issues with legibility. Think I made the right call.