There’s something about a watch that doesn’t look like every other watch on the planet. Walk into any room full of grown men who care about this stuff and you’ll spot plenty of black dials, blue dials, maybe a salmon if someone’s feeling wild. Then someone rolls up his sleeve and there’s a slice of actual ancient rock catching the light. Heads turn. Conversation stops for half a second. That’s the quiet power of a stone dial, and Baltic just made sure you can own one without hunting down a limited drop or paying vintage money.
Back in 2024 the French brand (yeah, French, but they get the retro-American vibe better than a lot of American brands) launched the Prismic line. At 36mm it’s pure 1960s cocktail-watch territory: small enough to slide under a cuff, refined enough to wear with a sport coat, tough enough that you don’t baby it. First versions came with colored lacquered dials that already punched above their price. Then Baltic did a sneaky limited run of natural-stone dials for their pop-up showrooms in Paris, London, and New York. Those sold out before most of us even heard about them.
Fast-forward to December 2, 2025, and the stone versions aren’t limited anymore. They’re in the permanent lineup for good. Four different rocks, each one a thousand years old (give or take a few million), cut thin and set as the dial. No two are identical. Your watch literally has a fingerprint from the earth itself.
The stones they picked aren’t random either.
Image credit: Baltic
Pietersite comes from Namibia and looks like a thunderstorm frozen in rock (swirling blues, golds, and rusty reds that shift when you move your wrist). It’s the wildest of the bunch and costs a little more because the slabs big enough for dials are harder to source. Starts at €1,450 on leather, €1,510 if you go with the mesh bracelet.
Image credit: Baltic
Pink Albite has a soft rose glow with white streaks. Quiet, warm, almost understated until the light hits and it wakes up. €1,300 on leather, €1,360 on mesh.
Image credit: Baltic
Dumortierite is deep indigo with flecks that catch light like stars. Think midnight sky in a watch. Same pricing as the Pink Albite.
Image credit: Baltic
Bloodstone (sometimes called heliotrope) is dark green with red iron-oxide spots. Old-school tough-guy stone; Roman soldiers carried it as a talisman. Again €1,300 or €1,360 depending on the strap.
Every dial gets simple polished applied markers, brushed Dauphine hands with a polished center line, and a snailed small-seconds subdial at six. No date window chopping up the stone (thank goodness). The idea is you look at the rock, not a bunch of clutter.
The case is the same clever mix they launched last year: stainless steel bezel, lugs, and caseback screwed onto a grade-5 titanium middle section that’s grain-finished by hand. Mixed polishing and brushing give it depth without screaming for attention. At 36mm wide, 44mm lug-to-lug, and only 9.2mm thick (7.4mm if you don’t count the double-domed sapphire), it sits perfect on just about any wrist six inches and up. Water resistance is 30 meters (splash-proof, not a dive watch, and nobody’s pretending it is).
Big upgrade under the hood: they swapped the old Peseux 7001 for the new La Joux-Perret D100. Still hand-wound (because a cocktail watch ought to feel like a ritual when you wind it at the end of the day), but now you get 50 hours of power reserve instead of the old 42. The movement is only 2.5mm tall, which is why the watch stays this slim. Flip it over and the sapphire back shows off modern bridges, perlage, and a big barrel. Nothing over-the-top, just honest finishing that looks good in daylight.
You’ve got two wearing options. The Italian calf leather straps are thin and supple (quick-release pins, so swapping takes ten seconds). Or go with Baltic’s braided mesh bracelet. It’s brushed steel, follows the curve of your wrist, and has a sliding clasp so you dial in the fit without tools. A lot of guys end up buying both because the mesh turns the Prismic into something you can throw on with jeans and still look sharp.
Delivery started December 3, 2025 (three to five days if you order online, or walk into one of their stores and leave with it the same day). Everything ships from France, but U.S. customers have been getting them quick with no drama.
Look, $1,400–$1,600 (before your local taxes) isn’t cheap, but stack it against anything else offering a real stone dial, hand-wound Swiss movement, titanium/steel case work, and sapphire front and back. Most brands want three or four times that once you check the “natural stone” box. Baltic keeps the middlemen lean and passes the savings on. Same reason their Sector divers and bicompax chronos have waiting lists.
If you’ve ever caught yourself staring at a vintage Piaget or Corum with a malachite or lapis dial and thought “man, I wish somebody still made those without the five-figure price tag,” this is it. Only better, because the case is modern, the movement is new, and you don’t have to worry about 50-year-old gaskets.
A lot of us grew up thinking dress watches had to be gold, paper-thin, and boring. Baltic’s Prismic Stone proves you can have refinement, toughness, and something nobody else at the bar is wearing (all at the same time). Grab one before the word gets out too far and they start playing games with production numbers again.
Sometimes the best things come in small packages. At 36mm with a slice of the earth on the front, this is one of them.
