Photographing Ardoise

I find blue dials and grey (ardoise) dials very difficult to capture in a photograph. Light plays such a big part. It is easy to get a light dome and capture a flat shot but they tend to be dull.

However, in the right setting with bright sunlight, the dials show just why ardoise is a favourite dial for several collectors.

Ralph, what a stunning set of watches!!! I agree on the difficulty to capture the true beauty and bright light indeed is the way forward. Here are a few of my best shots.

Groeten,

Bob

Well Ralph, I don´t have any IWC with an ardoise dial, but this one is similar.

I hope it is not against the forum rules to show a foreign brand as an example ?!

I got/get the best results in the shadow with an overcast sky but never with direct sunshine.

Also not bad for movement shots.

Regards

HEBE

Those or beautiful photos Ralph (and Bob & Hebe)! I especially like the shot with the sun glinting off the crystal!

Thank you for this stunning photos, Ralph and Bob! The ardoise dials are turning the watches into chameleons :-)
Depending on the light they always look different. And you guys seem to have the best mediums for this effect. The PPC, the Repeater and the Portuguese look perfect in this version. Chapeau!
Best,
-christian

Here you see my then brand new Spitfire Chrono in the Swiss sun, where the ardoise dial shone furiously. Love this watch, wear it right now because of the warm weather: that bracelet with the micro adjustment proved its worth when my wrist swelled. This early morning the bracelet quickly went back to the original position.

All those metallic ardoise dialled Portuguese are fabulous!

Kind regards,
Paul

Here is my contribution.

BOOM!

You just blew my mind.

Well Richard, I hadto buy the 5001 ARDOISE after you started posting pictures of yours and later of your ARDOISE PPC.

Thanks for inspiring me ;-)

Regards,

Bob

Agree, it's very tricky. Here's a quite OK shot of my 3878 from last summer

Best
/Anders

Some stunning pics here. The ardoise dial is a favourite. Bob, the pics of your 5001 are awesome.

Cheers,

Jarrod

My current one and only.

Some excellent photographs.

I thought this thread would be sufficient bait to get a bite from Richard, Mr Ardoise, himself.

Other ardoise pics in my collection, taken in Schaffhausen at a Collectors' meeting. Not great photos taken indoors with lots of tungsten lights.

If you have an ardoise watch, you need an ardoise car.

What a thread, gentlemen... Makes my hands shake, I just can't wait for my ardoise!

Gents, there are some superb shots in this thread. I need a new tripod as I can not find my not so old carbon tripod.
That central sun spot on the repeater is a cracker.

a couple of my own ardoise beauty...

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[](s1164.photobucket.com/user/teeveetee9/media/IMG_1239.jpg.html)

[](s1164.photobucket.com/user/teeveetee9/media/P1030412-1.jpg.html)

regards,
thang