Sector dial watches remain popular with watch enthusiasts thanks to a winning combination of well-balanced design and timeless appeal. So, how does Furlan Marri’s interpretation of this classic style stack up?
Swiss brand Furlan Marri exploded onto the scene in 2021 with a neo-vintage Mechaquartz-powered chronograph that won the 2021 GPHG Horological Revelation Prize, a remarkable achievement. Fast forward to 2024 and its Disco Volante has again grabbed all the industry headlines, understandable given its ambitious design that is a modern reinterpretation of the avant-garde ‘flying saucer’ watches popular in the 1950s-70s. However, in-between these two releases, the Sector Dial was added to the brand’s permanent line-up. As well as chronologically straddling the other two watches, the Sector Dial is centre stage in terms of price and ambition, sitting between the affordable CHF 555 Mechaquartz collection and the premium CHF 2500 Disco Volante collection.
Sector Dial Collection Overview
The three-hand Sector Dial collection was launched in 2022 and now comprises three permanent dial colours all priced at CHF1250. My review focusses on the Salmon dial, but Furlan Marri also offers a White dial variant with thermally-blued hands and a Grey dial variant with silver-coloured hands. Sadly, my favourite colourway, the Outback Elegy, a special edition watch made in partnership with Time+Tide is now sold out. It featured a brown lacquered dial said to evoke the vastness of the Australian outback with gold-coloured hands and Roman numerals for the even hours.
The three-hand Sector Dial is a very pretty watch which is designed to appeal to those who connect with the classically styled, but timeless watches of the 1930s and 40s, such as the Patek Philippe Ref 96. Think ‘old money’, the squeak of aged, vegetable-tanned leather as you sink into the seats of a Jaguar SS100, fine whisky, tailored suits and cocktail bars.
The Case And Wearing Experience
Three things struck me immediately about the Sector Dial’s case; the drop-dead gorgeous cow-horn style lugs, the high standard of finishing and the fact that from top-down, you’d swear the 316L stainless steel case is larger than the quoted 37.5mm diameter. It’s not though, I measured it! I think this must be partially down to the stylised welded lugs, which are not a common sight and certainly add to the wrist presence. Once you start to move your wrist around to get a greater sense of the mass, you realise that this broad stance combines beautifully with relative thinness, resulting in wrist presence without bulk. It looks elegant but never delicate. It’s all about balance, with the 10.5mm overall thickness, 37.5 diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug and 20mm lug width coming together to create harmonious geometry.
There is a lovely mix of alternating mirror-polished and brushed finishes applied to the case, which show attention to detail and help add to the sense of refinement and quality. I decided to call it a Mille Feuille case in reference to the layers of alternating finishes (and because I like patisserie!) Yes, I’ve coined a phrase. Yes, it’s ridiculous. But, let’s make it a thing…come on!
Working front to back, protecting the dial is a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with five layers of anti-reflective coating and one fingerprint-resistant coating. The stepped bezel has radial brushing to the top face with polished sides. The mid-case has a sandwich style construction with horizontally brushed sides flanked by polished bands top and bottom. The horizontal brushing on the sides of the curvaceous cow-horn lugs match the mid-case and contrast beautifully against the areas of high polish.
The rear of the mid-case is bead-blasted, as are the sides of the decagon screw-down caseback. The sapphire exhibition caseback has a polished steel outer, with a radially brushed inner band deeply engraved with the brand name and model number. Finally, between the lugs at six you’ll find an engraved serial number, and between the lugs at 12, you’ll find ‘No.0625’, ‘Furlan Marri 20202’, a reference to the case number. These are set against polished bands that end at the lugs.
Remarkably, a perlage finish is also machined to the inside of the caseback, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before at this price. Owners of these watches will probably never see this, but I’d describe it as a statement of intent that illustrates Furlan Marri’s attention to detail.
The crown is oversized, unsigned and polished. Initially I thought the crown’s diameter was too big for the watch, but the longer I spent with it I ‘switched sides’ as it makes it very easy to wind. Furlan Marri states that ‘the notches on the crown have been left “rough” and prominent to assert an aesthetic choice and attachment to history. Whilst this might be the ‘correct’ choice, I did find that the sharp edges could be a little uncomfortable when flexing my wrist. Water resistance is 50m, as to be expected for a watch of this type.
The already excellent wearing experience is enhanced by two very supple unpadded leather straps, which are included as standard. One is a textured green strap with colour-matched stitching, that features curved spring bars for a closer fit to the case. The other is a black textured strap with colour-matched stitching and straight springs bars. Both straps taper from 20mm down to 16mm. The supplied straps could maybe be a tiny bit thicker, but then thin straps do suit the vintage aesthetic and add to the comfort.
To accommodate different types of straps and ensure a perfect fit, Furlan Marri has machined two sets of springbar holes on the lugs. Straps with straight springs bar should be fitted using the holes furthest from the case, whereas straps with curved springs bars are used in the holes closest to the case. This is a thoughtful touch and gives buyers a wider choice of aftermarket straps from which to choose. However, I’m not quite sure why both included straps don’t have curved ends, as given the choice, curved ends look more premium. Furlan Marri has also created custom buckles for the straps, something that I always appreciate. The buckles echo the shape of the cow-horn lugs, have a mix of polished and brushed finishes and are engraved with the brand name on the upper and case reference to the underside. The underside also has a channel to help the strap sit flat. No afterthoughts here…bravo!
Sadly, no bracelet option is offered. This may put off some buyers, but then it’s a tricky task finding a suitable bracelet for this style of watch, and it could be argued that it suits leather straps best anyway. Other than that, my only other gripes are minor and relate to the crown and the straps as above. Oh, and the stepped case can pick up lint and gunk quite quickly.
The Dial
As mentioned earlier, the dial is a classic sector dial design, which emulates that of vintage watches. The dial is not complicated, but as with all good design it doesn’t need to be. Everything is organised and easy on the eye. The dial itself has a fine granular finish with the subtlest of sheens, achieved by what Furlan Marri describe as electrical discharge machining. To my eyes, the colour is the most accurate representation of a salmon dial that I’ve seen to date, with just the right mix of pink, coral and bronze tones.
Everything bar the hour markers is precisely double-printed in black. Working from the outside in, we have an outer railroad minute track with Arabic numerals at every five minutes (that switch orientation between 4 and 8 o’clock), large hash marks for every minute and smaller hash marks denoting fractions of a second. The outer railroad track is only interrupted at six o’clock to allow space for a simple ‘Swiss’ designation.
Inwards of the minute sector is the wider hour sector. Printed hash markers reference fractions of hours/minutes and extend to about a third of the way in, which leaves negative space to give the hour markers more prominence and room to breathe. Applied Breguet style numerals are used for the 3, 6, 9, and 12 hours, with simple applied batons making up the remaining. All applied markers have a polished black gunmetal PVD-coated finish to match that of the hands. The dial reference number (2154-A ) is printed in italics between the 4 and 5 o’clock hour markers. Centre of the dial is a circle with crosshairs drawing your eye to the capped pinion. As regular readers will know, a pinion cap always gets a thumbs up from me. I still don’t understand why all manufacturers don’t use this to tidy up the pinion for a more premium look. However, I did notice some moderate tarnishing on the pinion cover. Whilst this was only visible when using the macro lens it’s a real shame as it’s the only area I can see for improvement. Domed leaf-shaped hands and a lancet style seconds hand complete the dial furniture. Furlan Marri is printed mid-way between the pinion and 12 o’clock.
The is no lume anywhere on the salmon Sector, but with it being a dress watch, that’s fine by me. I’m not a heathen! Legibility in daylight though is exceptional, something that I often struggle with on dress watches. Furlan Marri has made excellent choices with the sapphire, blackened hands against a grained dial, and the level of anti-reflecting coating applied.
Furlan Marri Sector Dial Movement Choice
The Sector Dial houses the G100, a modern Swiss made automatic 24 jewel movement from La Joux-Perret with a 68-hour power reserve. It has a uni-directional tungsten rotor with galvanized palladium coating. Engraved onto the rotor and filled with gold is ‘crafted with care, designed for details, twenty-four 24 jewels – Swiss made’ and the brand name. The rotor is held in place by three heat-blued screws and the extra density of tungsten ensures a smooth rotation and weight distribution. The balance is fitted with a KIF anti-shock system and an ETACHRON-style watch regulator system allows fine adjustment.
Whilst I wouldn’t call the decoration elaborate, it’s certainly not basic and it’s nice to see Côtes de Genève, snailing, polished chamfers and thermally-blued screws on show. Winding is smooth and the crown action is positive. Furlan Marri doesn’t state whether they regulate movements themselves, so we can assume that the accuracy is ±12 seconds per day. Beat rate is 28,800 bph (4Hz). Long-term reliability is untested as the movement only debuted in 2021, but Citizen own La Joux Perret, so it’s safe to assume that it should prove to be very reliable. My only point of contention here is that in some ways it would have been nice to see a hand wound movement used instead. It would be more akin to the watch’s vintage vibe and would have also allowed the case to be made even thinner. Maybe Furlan Marri could offer a manually wound special edition in the future?
Final Thoughts on the Furlan Marri Sector Dial
The Furlan Marri Sector Dial is essentially a dress watch. As such, it has to fight hard to impress and lure buyers in, the majority of whom are preoccupied with the ever-popular dive watch and GADA watch segments.
But impress it does, and it’s not entirely surprising. From the outset Furlan Marri has gone its own way, by taking the best that vintage watch designs have to offer, honing in on the details that matter and ensuring the quality of finish warrants the price. It then adds its own sprinkling of fairy dust for good measure, a certain je ne sais quoi! And it’s a recipe that seems to work, as the enthusiast community has lapped up everything the brand has to offer so far.
The three hand Furlan Marri Sector Dial bridges the gap between the brand’s entry-level chronograph and the lugless Disco Volante (flying saucer), coming in at mid-price and mid specs. It evokes the well-healed glamour of a bygone era and offers buyers period charm combined with modern materials and high levels of finishing at a very fair price. You also have to appreciate the thoughtful little details such as the custom strap buckles and the reference numbers/serial numbers discretely engraved or printed on the case and dial.
However, at CHF1250, it is still very much a considered purchase. And unlike the Disco Volante, buyers have more choice when it comes to classic three-handers. The Sector Dial finds itself up against stiff competition from mainstream brands such as Raymond Weil (Millesime), Longines (Heritage range), Frederique Constant (Classics) Alpina (Heritage Automatic). These mainstream brands will be a stronger draw for those who feel reassured by their high street presence, prestige and heritage going back decades. However, comparing full retail price to full retail price, all of these options are more expensive and arguably don’t quite nail the look as well as the Furlan Marri. The only other strong neo-vintage offering comes from Microbrand, turned independent, Baltic. But whilst the Baltic is considerably cheaper and I love the heavily domed acrylic, in every other aspect the Furlan Marri feels and looks superior, and it has a more premium Swiss movement.
The Furlan Marri Sector Dial therefore will draw buyers in with its drop-dead-gorgeous looks, perfect vintage-esque proportions, exceptional case finishing and distinctive cow-horn lugs. The choice of movement might not be everyone’s liking, the crown is a bit scratchy, there is no bracelet option and I personally would have preferred a high domed Hesalite crystal. But these are pretty small and somewhat subjective negatives. This watch will be a compelling option for those after an undiluted vintage aesthetic who like to walk the path less trodden by supporting a smaller brand. I for one am smitten. The Furlan Marri Salmon Sector is one heck of a fish supper!
