Meteorite Dial

The dial is a slice of an iron meteorite - a fragment of the core of a small planet that broke apart at the beginning of the solar system. That core cooled by about one degree every million years, and only at that speed do the crystals grow that appear when the metal is cut, polished and etched: the Widmanstätten figure, long bands of iron-nickel crossing one another, with dark mottled fields between them. It cannot be produced on Earth, and no two slices are the same. It is the reason the finest watchmakers use this material, and it is the whole dial here.

Everything laid on it is what a watchmaker would lay on it

• Applied faceted indices in polished steel, each throwing its own shadow, with a double baton at 12 - a printed mark would vanish into the crystal figure.
• A railway minute track engraved on the polished flange.
• Blued-steel hands with a polished chamfer down each edge and a matte lume inlay.
• A date aperture at 3, the index beside it cut short, as it is on any watch with a window there.

Your readings, in counters turned into the slice

Steps, unread notifications and battery sit in three counters milled into the meteorite itself, their floors snailed so they catch the light groove by groove, each under the icon of the data it holds. Change a counter to something else in the editor and its icon changes with it.

Three etches of the same material

• Steel: cool silver-grey, as the metal comes from the acid.
• Tobacco: heat-tinted to a warm brown.
• Night: etched deep and blackened, the figure showing as bright steel out of the dark.

Nothing on this face moves but the hands. There is no scene, no glow and nothing to tap for - which is also why it is easy on the battery.

Make it yours

• Etch: steel, tobacco or night.
• Seconds hand: on by default; switch it off to save battery.
• Three complications, one in each counter.

To customize, touch and hold the watch face, then tap Customize.

Works on watches with Wear OS 6 or later. Made in Watch Face Format: nothing to install on your phone, no permissions, no data collected.

Part of Tempus Arcanum, a collection of watch faces.