Timex x Nano Universe bespoke Camper Watch with California Dial, Japan Exclusive, December 2019.
Hi, this is Alan. Contact info is below. As always, thanks for reading these pages. Here is a pretty fun watch. It's the 2019 Timex Camper California Dial, another collaboration using the Original Camper base model, this one with Japanese retailer Nano Universe. It is the first Camper with a California dial and only the second Timex ever with a the dial. If you wish to see the other, see the Marlin California, from November 2019.
The meaning and significance of the so-called "California Dial," a 1940s Rolex original (also patented) is extensively detailed at that link to the Marlin California, so please check that out for more details!
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Watch uses the standard and familiar Original Camper 36 mm as a base model. Case is in black, and the dial features the mix of Roman and Arabic numeral for the hours. At 12 there is an inverted isosceles triangle, adn at 3, 6, 9 there are horizontal hash marks. The numeral are painted on the dial, and the lettering is essentially identical to the thick, Art Deco style of the 1940s original.
See below for the Rolex patent, applied for, May 1941, patent granted June 1942.
1940s Rolex ad, showing a California Dial Oyster Perpetual.
Image from Nano Universe sales site.
It's not easy to show, but the dial paint for the hours has thickness, depth, almost a bas-relief, simulating the original radium-based paint. I was hoping that the paint would be luminous, but alas only the hands have light-activated glowing material.
Nano Universe shipping box.
Image from the Nano Universe sales site.
The words TIMEX and NANO UNIVERSE on the dial are stamped in grey, not white, maybe so as not to overpower the California dial. Notice the outer track, also in grey, like the patent drawing.
Image from Nano Universe sales site.
Caseback, with sticker showing tne model number TWLB26100. More product details, below.
It's a pretty handsome watch. The greyscale nature, lack of color, and the stark contrast between the thick, white numerals and the black dial is striking and pleasing. it also amuses me, somehow, the combination of the iconic Rolex dial with a watch that began its life, way back when as a throwaway military watch for ordinary soldiers. Part of the fun of these Camper collaborations is the light-natured fun approach, sometimes a little bit irreverent, always interesting.
Image from Nano Universe sales site. The belt creates a military feeling, YOU BET IT DOES
Sales tag, 9,200 yen.
Timex California Camper bespoke design from Timex Japan x Nano Universe.
Thank you for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
