SEVEN WINDOWS "YUKI-HIRA Dial" Bracelet Model [VM15-M01YIB-SSB]

Of the four YUKI-HIRA dials, the ice blue is the one that makes the metaphor literal. This SEVEN WINDOWS looks like light falling across old snow late in the afternoon.

MINASE names the pattern after yukihira, a traditional Japanese hammered surface, and grows it by electroforming rather than printing it, which is why the texture holds shadow so well. The pale blue tone barely resists the light, so every hammer mark shows. Turn the watch and the whole field changes character.

The case is the reason it changes so much. Six faceted planes and a crown divided into two on the side give seven sapphire windows in total, so light reaches the dial from the front, from the back and from around the case rather than through the crystal alone. Inside that outer shell sits an inner case with the movement, the curved dial and an index ring set above it.

Steel throughout, at 37.4 mm wide, 46.5 mm long and 13 mm thick with the crystal, and about 160 grams on the bracelet. The self-winding KT7002 is a Swiss ETA 2892 and Sellita SW300 base finished and decorated by MINASE, with a date. Water resistance is 5 atm, which means rain, not swimming.

Perfect for: ice blue dial watches, light-catching textured dials, collectors of small-production Japanese watchmaking.