The Daymark Dark

The Daymark Dark is an automatic watch with the same case dimensions as our classic Signalman and the other members of the Markers range. Although it has been made from one piece of vapour-blasted stainless steel, the shine and sheen of the Daymark’s case have been sullied by the darkness. A ceramic coating has been applied which introduces the foreboding of the English coastline’s rocky outcrops. Changing the colour changes the atmosphere from one of steely austerity to one of understatement. If the Daymark is a tower rising above the landscape, the Daymark Dark is its shadow, gloomy perhaps but not drab. It is the Daymark’s silhouette. It is the Daymark at night, barely perceptible against the darkness of the night sky and yet present all the same.

The crown is a pull-out type and in the gallery below you can see a nail notch milled into the case. There is also a deep groove running around the circumference of the crown. These two details make it easy to pull the crown out. This groove also indicates the ‘affordance’, the action required of the crown, teeth to show rotation and the groove to show pulling in and out.

The ceramic coating which is used on the Daymark Dark was chosen for several reasons, including how it looks and its scratch and chemical resistance. Firstly, its ‘traditional matte’ coating that is in the lowest band of gloss that is possible to attain by modern standards. In terms of scratch resistance it is, again, right at one end of the spectrum as it clocks in at a 9H in the Pencil Hardness Test used for coatings which is the most scratch resistant that a coating can be rated. When sprayed continuously with water two and a half times as saline as seawater the ceramic coating was over ten times as resistant to corrosion as stainless steel.

Powered by a Swiss automatic, ETA 2824, the watch is a 3-hander, hours, minutes and seconds. The case has a 44mm diameter with an exhibition case back. The price shown is with UK VAT. If you are outside of Europe then VAT will be deducted at the checkout.

• The word ‘Schofield’ replaces 9 minute marks on the chapter ring
• The hour markers in the chapter ring are pink anodised ‘top hats’ filled with Super-LumiNova C3 that catch the light
• All the parts of the hands and the windows line up when overlapping
• The second hand tapers towards the tip and the counterpoise
• The second hand counterpoise is filled with lume
• Only the word ‘Daymark’ appears on the dial
• The case has a new nail rebate for pulling out the crown
• The crown has a groove for your nails to grip to pull out
• The case has a slight radius on the outer edge of the bezel
• The box is black-stained ash the queen of English timbers
• The ceramic coating is rated at 2.3 Gloss Units at 60°
• The coating is 5% salt spray rated at 1,000 hours