The Supplier Shortcut and Stern Dials | Ref. 08
How the Must de Cartier pushed Switzerland's most famous dialmaker toward the democratization of luxury.
The Roundup
2026 GPHG nominees are out. One of the fun things is the “leaks” of future releases for the rest of the year as brands have to submit to be considered for awards. A couple I spotted from Toledano & Chan and Christopher Ward, above. Gotta admit, I kinda dig the CW Loco Classic even though it’s obviously very Breguet. The Toledano & Chan gets that zebra look through a clever play with finishes, mixing polished and frosted titanium.
Watchlist: A couple quick picks from eBay. Links below for paid subs only.
Harvard clamshell chronograph, for those of you who “went to college in Cambridge”. Uneven dial patina, but sharp case. Clamshell cases are the first real waterproof chronographs—most associated with Gallet, but used by a bunch of brands. They’re smaller, maybe 35mm if measuring for an MLB roster, but a solid chunk of 1940s steel:
An exotic Zodiac Sea Wolf, one of my favorite eBay searches. Also little watches—pretty much any 36mm diver watches wear small—but slept on as one of the original divers:
Worn and Wound officially announced its acquisition of Lorier, which we covered a few weeks ago. I’ve already talked to founder Blake Malin about it, and will have more later this week.
A fun game to add to your daily Wordle routine: Analog Watch—read three clocks as fast as you can.
New to Unpolished? Start here:
Stern Dials and the Supplier Shortcut
The Ref is a weekly story about a sometimes-forgotten watch or moment in history. Today: One big order shows how a supplier’s stamp matters far less than the brand’s brief.
In the late 1970s, Cartier placed an order for 150,000 dials to Stern Frères. The order was for its breakout Must de Cartier collection, the affordable, mostly quartz watches that helped revive Cartier.
At the time, this was 10x Stern’s entire annual production capacity. Its production and workforce had been decimated by the twin quartz and currency crises of the 70s.
With all that going on, it was the kind of order Stern couldn’t refuse. So it said yes, and quickly spun up an entire new facility in Gaillard, France, outside of Geneva.
There’s this oft-repeated advice to collect suppliers. It’s something I’ve even repeated before. The Swiss industry has historically been an établissage system, where a central brand brings together parts from external suppliers and artisans. So if you know the name of Patek Philippe’s case or dial makers, you can get Patek quality without Patek prices, or so the thinking goes.
But that advice isn’t exactly right; at least, not always.
For most of the 20th century, Stern Frères was the most famous dialmaker, and one of the most important suppliers, in Switzerland. It made dials for Patek Philippe 1518s, Rolex Day-Dates, cloisoinné enamels for several brands. It’s the supplier family that became so important it acquired Patek Philippe in 1932. The fourth generation still runs the show today.
