Watch hands and hour markers

Hand styles

• Dauphine

  Tapered and faceted, so one half catches the light. A classic dress-watch hand.

• Sword

  Long, broad and pointed like a blade, often with lume down the middle. Common on field and pilot watches.

• Baton (stick)

  Simple straight bars. Clean and modern, and very easy to read.

• Mercedes

  An hour hand with a three-segment circle near the tip, so it can't be mistaken for the minute hand. Popular on dive watches.

Hour-marker (index) styles

• Batons

  Slim bars at each hour; doubled at 12 on many designs.

• Arabic numerals

  1–12 (or just 12, 3, 6 and 9). Very legible; common on field watches.

• Roman numerals

  Traditional and formal, often on dress watches. IIII is sometimes used instead of IV.

• Dots and triangles

  Round lume plots, often with a triangle at 12. Common on dive watches for quick reading in low light.

Markers can be printed on the dial or applied (separate metal pieces fixed on), which catch the light more.