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A look at some of the particular considerations around watch dial typography
I knew Typography was a thing, but didn't know how much of a thing until I saw the Jonathan Hoefler episode of Abstract on Netflix. A retrospective of the years-long design process for the new font Decimal based on watch dial & clock face typography.
This gave me the idea to try some macro photography with some of my old watches.
The "PRECISION" text is probably no more than 0.5mm tall, but still appears very legible. Sure enough; 'C' and 'O' are taller than 'I', weight & contours of the top half of the 'S' are different from the bottom half.
The texture of the dial makes it easy to compare.
Three very different fonts in play for numerals, brand, & model.
The calligraphy for the numerals is eye-catching.
Flat-topped 'A', flat-bottomed 'V', wide apex instead of sharp interior corners, serifs to give the impression of sharper points than the old tampography ink transfer printing would really allow for at this scale.
Impressively sharp lines & sharp outside points, only a small amount of ink pooling for the interior corners.
Signature cursive font also serving as a decades long recognisable trademark. The 'e' has the closest thing to a sharp interior corner, here the weight of the downstroke becomes heavier & serves to round off the interior corner.
Three distinct fonts at work, & one way or another all letters in all fonts avoid sharp interior corners except for the 'Z' (& do see a little bit of ink pooling here). 'l' & 'y' have cross-strokes (& pooling), but the 'p' does not.
Or maybe you're just not super-concerned with keeping the presentation super-sharp...
Different watches, same signature font.
Sharp printing at very small scale, but the presentation is affected by the positioning.
Offset far enough over to the right that tail end follows the contoured edge of the dial.
Maybe not especially well suited to micro-scale printing, but definitely distinctive.
The font for "SWISS MADE" seems to match the font for the rest of the dial text, often this is not matched.
Stark & highly legible. Was it ever actually approved by Railroad Inspection Service?
(maybe not, could be just marketing...)
Flat-topped & wide-apex 'A'. '6' & 'E' has heavier weight to the bottom compared to the top.
Sharp corners, fine lines, & very small. Modern watch, so maybe laser printing instead of the old-fashioned tampography transfer?
That is one weird looking '9'...
Groovy font for a groovy 70's watch.
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