From classic black to bold blues and beyond, dial colours in luxury watches are more than just a design choice – but a personal statement. As part of its global report wristwatch pre-owned specialist Watchfinder & Co. has analysed watch enthusiasts’ favourite hues to reveal the colours that dominate wrists. So, let’s discover what are the most popular watch dial colours.
The top three bestselling colours of 2025 are black at 41% of sales, silver at 17% and blue at 15%. Of those three, perhaps the only surprise is that silver is so high rather than something like white. There are multiple possible explanations, the most basic of which is that many brands use the term ‘silver opaline’ to describe the de facto dress watch dial, which sometimes appears more white, so the categories may not be as well defined as they seem on paper. Supporting this argument is the fact that half of the watches launched at Watches & Wonders (the biggest watch event of the year) were black, blue or white.
At the same time, trends have generally favoured watch designs in the retro styles of the 80s, a period where colour and bold design was starting to supplant more classical designs and white is a very classical colour. Particularly in the UK, coloured dials started to become popular in the 1970s following the launch of collections like the Rolex Stella dials and the boom of dive watches. The Stella in particular was reinterpreted in 2020 as part of the Oyster Perpetual collection, which is a series of watches that has become a byword for modern colourful dials.
It’s no surprise therefore that while black continues to be the single most popular colour, its overall place in the colour landscape is shifting as a greater diversity of colour comes to the fore. The following colours are experiencing a growth in popularity year on year: blue, green, silver, champagne, pink, orange, red. These colours are remaining stable year on year: purple, bronze, yellow, salmon, grey, mother-of-pearl. These dial colours are seeing a decline year on year: ivory, specialised, brown, diamond, white, black.
It’s a great time to be a fan of colourful watches as brands definitely monitor trends so the popularity of vibrant colours means you can probably expect to see more of them. At the same time, black isn’t going to go anywhere. For one thing, it’s an integral colour to multiple wristwatch archetypes including dive watches and military field watches, which are themselves very popular. To put that statement in context, the most popular black watch of 2025 is the Rolex Submariner, which was responsible for 12% of black watch sales.
Thank God for color, so much out there is boring. Wow, Rolex has another black watch, exciting. Those people wear them just so u know they have $$ and are “important” people!!