These Bulova X Complecto Super Seville Stone Dial Watches Hit All the Trends
There have been a lot of trends in the watch industry in recent years. Integrated bracelet stainless steel sport watches and vintage-inspired divers for example. But one of the biggest trends from the 1970s is back, and the Complecto and Bulova collaboration that just launched is leading the way in the stone dial resurgence. The stone dial watches have been popping up all over the place recently, from high end luxury brands like AP and Piaget to more affordable options like the recently relaunched Dennison. But I might go out on a ledge and say that the Complecto X Bulova Super Seville Stone Dial Collection is the best stone dial around that extremely competitive $1,000 price-point. And why do I say that? Well, I will get into the design, the fit, and the quality of this watch, which to me makes it a great buy.
But first, let’s get into the history of stone dial watches. You can’t talk about stone dial watches without talking about Piaget. The first Piaget stone dial watches appeared in the 1960s with Lapis Lazuli, opal, malachite, tiger’s eye among other stones. While Piaget was first, Rolex quickly followed suit in the 1970s, as well as Cartier in the 1980s.
Of course, there have been plenty of modern stone dial watches throughout the past 5/10 years. But only really recently have we seen a real surge in affordable watches with real stone dials. And the Complecto Bulova Super Seville Stone collection is one of the best.
So let’s talk about the design. It’s classic yet modern. The watch recreates the original Bulova Super Seville design from the 1970s. It has a tv or cushion shaped case that gives the watch a distinctly 1970s aesthetic. But, I have been seeing a lot of non-circular case watches being launched recently, so I think it fits the trend. Now, the Super Sevilles of the 70s were Day-Dates so they had the date at 12 o’clock. The new Super Seville Precisionist does not have the day complication, but other than that it is a pretty faithful recreation. And the fluted bezel classes the watch up quite a bit.
The collaboration between Complecto and Bulova adds three new models to the Super Seville collection. Steel with turquoise dial, a yellow gold tone with tiger’s eye dial, and a rose gold tone with snowflake obsidian dial. Interestingly, the rose gold tone is new to the Super Seville collection.
These are real stone dials, so of course they come at a premium over the rest of the Super Seville collection, but in my view it’s worth it. Besides the new Dennison stone dial watches, there are very few watches with real stone dials at this price-point.
It is hard to say which dial and case combination I like the best. I am a big fan of tiger’s eye, so the combination with a yellow gold-toned case gives the watch that 70s feel that is so popular. The turquoise dial with stainless steel case is also incredibly nice. It is a little more subdued but plays into the tiffany blue trend of a couple of years ago (is that still going on?). That is not to say I don’t really like the rose gold toned case with snowflake obsidian dial. The grey snowflake spots in the obsidian are something I have never seen before, and I actually really like it. As these dials are all real stone, no two dials will be exactly the same. So if you are looking for something unique, you can’t go wrong here.
And besides the design, these pieces just fit really well and look great on the wrist. The case width is a reasonable 37.5mm and the modest 42.3mm lug-to-lug measurements keep this watch very wearable. With its cushion style case, the 37.5mm will wear a little larger than your typical 38-ish mm watch. But the shorter lug-to-lug distance makes up for the square-ish case shape. The integrated 3-link bracelet is also very comfortable. Though I would have wished if Bulove used screws instead of a push-pin link removal system.
Overall, the watch wears pretty well on my 6.75 inch wrist, as you can see. And I think if your wrist is a bit smaller, or a bit larger, it will still wear very well. And at 10.5mm thick, it has a slim profile that will slip under the cuff for that more formal occasion.
Finally, let’s get to quality. Just holding the watch, you can tell that it is well made and high quality. What you wouldn’t realize just holding and looking at the watch is that it runs on a quartz movement. That is because the second hand sweeps smoothly, much like an automatic watch. This is due to Bulova’s “Precisionist movement”. This proprietary movement not only has a second hand sweep (which I do like), but is 8 jewels quartz and vibrates at 262kHz, which is eight times greater than standard quartz movements. So beyond the smooth sweep of the seconds hand, the watch is accurate to within seconds a year and also offers increased resistance to temperature swings.
Overall, I really like this collaboration from Complecto and Bulova. It really hits the mark in terms of quality, design and wearability. It is an interesting enough collection that it should have appeal beyond Complecto members. And it is definitely playing into the growing trend of stone dial watches.
Each variation of the Complecto X Bulova Super Seville Stone Collection is limited to 718 pieces (this represents New York City, as it is an area code that covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx, as well as part of Manhattan). The stainless steel and turquoise retails for $1,095 USD, the rose gold and snowflake obsidian retails for $1,195 USD, and the yellow gold and tiger’s eye retails for $1,295 USD. You can pick one up here.
