Green dials and what the hell to pair them with

Borna Bošnjak

Green. The unequivocal colour of the year for both 2020 and 2021. More often than not, I find myself smooshing those two COVID-ridden years together, and the emerald blur of numerous releases certainly helped that happen. Early adopters like the Longines Legend Diver and the Seiko Willard SPB153J started the trend, while the swansong of heavy-hitters from Patek Philippe and Cartier ended strongly, before crumbling to the supremacy of a certain baby blue. One question, however, that I’ve seen arise often is how the hell to style a green dial? As resident T+T fashion guru, I thought I’d take it upon myself to look into the matter. Through my thorough research and limitless talent, I’ve simplified it into two main sections – colours and patterns.

Complementary colours

Other than just noting – hey, that looks good – there is a science behind colours that work with one another. In a nutshell, a gent by the name of Benjamin Thompson gave name to a concept devised by Isaac Newton – the colour wheel. His theory eventuated in the realisation that colours on the opposite sides of the colour wheel complemented each other. This would mean that greens pair well with reds and purples, but it certainly goes beyond that, noting it might not be an exact science.

When it comes to watches, my favourite option to pair with a green dial is brown, through the choice of strap, clothing or accessory. This will depend on the shades you’re dealing with, so for a care-free choice, pair forest green with a chocolate or coffee brown.

Pink may not be the first pairing you think of, but the Studio Underd0g above is proof that it clearly works. A trio of lime hues paired with a hot pink makes for wonderful contrast, though it’s certainly not as subdued as the forest green/chocolate brown combination.

Should you wish to a more subtle colour combination, yet still have some semblance of colour – give orange a go. For lighter greens, pair it with a pastel apricot colour, and keep the rusty, burnt oranges in mind for a rich emerald.

An important note is to play around with the intensity of the colours you’re dealing with. Shift them to pastel, it’ll give you a lot more choices and help you avoid looking like a Christmas tree. To help mesh the colours together, experiment with patterns and fabrics, which leads us to the next point.

Remember that patterns matter

To give some extra visual interest to whatever your fit is, patterns are crucial. Whether this comes from the choice of strap, fabric of clothing or even the dial itself, it’s an important consideration. While you don’t necessarily want to go tone-on-tone, you can easily do a combination of a green dial with a pocket square, socks or a plaid that has some green notes throughout.

A personal favourite, especially when it comes to a green dial, is a suede strap. As you can see in the example above, you can pair grey, green and gold together effortlessly.

Some examples, by yours truly

I’m a visual learner, however. So for the sake of those like myself, who will skip the blathering on about colour theory, a few examples. Enjoy the very brief photo collage, as I could only get my hands on two green dials in a short period of time.