Time+Tide are developing a knack for adventurous and unconventional collaborations with watch brands ranging from Zenith and Doxa, to the likes of Studio Underd0g, and now, Dennison. Their latest effort is done with the historic name, Dennison, who has had something of a spotty, though rich, history that begins with the founding of Waltham back in the mid 19th century. It’s a name that’s taken on new meaning with a refresh in 2024, boasting a lovely design done by the man behind the Royal Oak Offshore, Emmanuel Gueit. Refreshingly, these watches are accessible at under $1,000, and boast an original design language making use of interesting materials and textures. All of this comes to a head with this collaboration with Time+Tide, and a watch called DateNight.
DateNight comes with the dress watch label applied, though I’d argue it avoids many of the typical formal tropes we expect to find in dressy affairs. The watch uses the familiar steel TV shaped case that measures 37 x 33.5mm, with smooth polished surfaces that reduce any tension to an absolute minimum. It’s the same case we find elsewhere in the Dennison catalog, and that’s a very good thing as it’s one of the strongest elements of the design (not to mention it wears beautifully). However, the star of the show is the mother of pearl marquetry dial that appears to be woven under the crystal.
Mother of pearl has made something of a comeback in recent years thanks to more brands using it in unconventional ways. This goes well beyond the white, sea shell like appearance of old school applications, and shows off a versatile side by incorporating different color schemes and texture profiles that we’ve seen incorporated into everything from dive watches to, well, whatever you’d like to call this. How it’s been utilized in DateNight is among the most creative executions I’ve come across, and it takes the already unique design into new territory.
Every dial will be unique given the nature of the material, and being set into the geometric marquetry design reveals an unexpected personality. It does feel formal, but the blocky pattern bringing all manner of right angles into the design creates that missing tension from the case in the form of interrupted sections, so the mother of pearl isn’t uniform across the plane of the dial. There are no index rings or hour markers to distract from the experience, however the offset placement of the Dennison branding does feel slightly out of sorts.
A finely finished set of cathedral-esque hands track the time with no seconds hand in sight. The watch uses a Swiss Ronda quartz movement that keeps the total thickness of the watch to an impressive 6mm. This one is about the design more than anything, though I imagine we will see a mechanical entry from the brand at some point in the future. The DateNight will be available exclusively online for a 24 hour period beginning August 27th, 2025 at 14:00 CET. After this window, the watch will be available exclusively at Time+Tide Watch Discovery Studios in Melbourne, London, and New York. Dennison / Time+Tide