When I was a young man, free of cares and woes, there were certain things in life that were absolutes. Banks were safe places to leave money, the England football team was one of the best in the world, computers would never be small enough to fit in the average home and when you bought a good quality watch, the face would almost certainly be white. That wasn't to say other watches, famous watches at that, weren't different colours. But it was just the way things were meant to be, watches had white faces more often than not.
Fast forward (an undisclosed) number of years and the opposite seems to be the case. Almost every brand in the world strives to provide anything but a white faced watch. And I don't mean, silver, graduated, cream or off white. I mean white. Pure as freshly fallen, crispy snow, white.
So nowadays it almost comes as slight shock to see a pure white watch face. So much so I think it makes a wonderful change to the usual watch rotation. Recently I've been wearing this stunning Omega Speedmaster baby snoopy and the white face makes such as refreshing change to this iconic timepiece. A watch that is so instantly recognisable in it's standard black face form can really raise eyebrows in this classic snoopy guise.
Likewise this classic Rolex Explorer Polar (one of the very best Rolex investments in my view) just stands out in any crowd, much like its oyster perpetual sister which is quite simply one of the best dress watches around.
But perhaps my favourite white faced watch at the moment is this incredible unworn 1948- 2012 London Olympic Games Omega Seamaster limited edition watch. A watch that is a perfect homage to the original seamaster but with great modern advances, the case size is a very wearable 39 mm which although modern retains its vintage feel not least down to the slightly domed crystal. It's white face, silver case combination just screams vintage heritage and is a classic example of the less is more theory of design.
And with a limited run of just 1948 pieces all I can say is there must be 1947 other lovers of white faced watches making their friends green with envy.