The End of Flat Dials: Exploring the Sartory-Billard SB04-E Nuances
Nina Scally- Sartory-Billard boldly pivots from the freedom of bespoke watchmaking, presenting the SB04-E Nuances as a focused, permanent collection built for everyday wear.
- Exploring dial depth, the blue, green and red displays celebrate a single shade through deep, dynamic gradients that shift under light and shadow.
- Signature details make a comeback, with the brand’s alternating Y-shaped markers anchoring the dial, while a highly reliable 68-hour Swiss automatic movement ticks dependably within.
Limitless choice isn’t always a luxury. For example, walking into a bakery and choosing from a range of perfectly glazed fruit pastries on display makes for a very quick and simple transaction. But imagine walking towards a completely empty glass cabinet and being asked by the baker what you fancy. Suddenly having infinite options becomes quite overwhelming. For nearly 10 years, Armand Billard has been running the watch world’s equivalent of that empty bakery. Sartory-Billard has become a favourite name in the world of custom watchmaking, especially with its SB04-E platform – a canvas for creative dials.
If you could dream it up, Armand would build you a one-of-a-kind watch using exotic stones or rare metals. And although spending years working with demanding collectors is no easy task, it does make you an expert in colour and texture, which is why the launch of the new SB04-E Nuances collection is filling the glass display case, giving collectors a range of cool dial options to choose from. The “E” stands for Edition, marking a deliberate and welcome shift from building unique, client-designed watches to presenting a clear, ready-to-wear vision straight from the watchmaker’s own mind.
Up until recently, the modern watch industry has had a very basic relationship with colour. So many manufacturers fall into the habit of choosing a safe colour, painting it on a flat metal disc, and watching the waitlists grow. However, Armand says, “One colour is never just one colour,” and he’s entirely right. Take a glass of red wine, for example. In a dark room, it looks almost black. But hold that same glass near a candle, and the edges suddenly glow with bright crimson and ruby tones. The Nuances collection is an invitation for the wearer to actually sit and observe their watch. The longer they look at the dial, the more depth it unlocks.
To make the colour the star of the show, Armand had to strip away a few of his favourite design tricks. On his previous custom models, the hour markers often floated on a clear sapphire disc above the dial. For the Nuances collection, the floating disc has been removed and replaced with numbers attached directly to the dial surface. The display curves inward like a shallow bowl, finished with a sunray pattern that radiates from the centre, producing a dial with a distinct smoky fume effect around the edges. As light hits this curved surface, a gradient effect darkens the outer edges, drawing your eye inward and making the dial look much deeper than it is.
The font for the numbers is tall and feels slightly vintage without tipping into the old-fashioned. Meanwhile, the brand’s alternating signature Y-shaped markers make a return to the dial, complementing a set of polished, fountain-pen-style hands that are generously filled with luminous material. At launch, the Nuances collection comes in three distinct dial flavours, each paired with a perfectly matching rubber strap in blue, green, or red. If you prefer the classic look of metal, a stainless steel bracelet with alternating brushed and polished links is available.
The green version is a tribute to the forest, moving from dark woodland tones around the edges to bright, almost electric emerald flashes where the light hits the centre. The blue version feels anchored in the deep ocean, shifting between a cold steel blue and a rich navy. Finally, the red version is the boldest of the trio, exploring the shifting tones of a fine French wine as it transitions from bright crimson to a dark, moody burgundy.
The 100-metre water-resistant SB04-E case measures 39.5mm wide and 44mm from lug-to-lug – a footprint that guarantees comfort on almost any wrist size. This judicious approach to proportions extends to the watch’s profile, measuring a mere 10.2mm in depth, a remarkably slender architecture for a timepiece housing a self-winding calibre. However, it wears even thinner thanks to a clever inward-curving stainless steel bezel that catches the light, visually flattening the watch’s height. The rest of the steel case, topped with a sapphire crystal, alternates between brushed sides and mirror-polished edges for a detailed and modern finish.
Turn the watch over, and the clear glass back reveals the Swiss-made La Joux-Perret G101A automatic movement, which runs at a modern pace of 28,800 vph. Its standout feature is a fantastic 68-hour power reserve, meaning you can take the watch off on Friday night, leave it on your nightstand all weekend, and strap it back onto your wrist on Monday morning to find it still running perfectly. The G101A movement also features a heavy tungsten oscillating weight mounted with three screws to maximise winding efficiency and is specifically engineered without the date mechanism, avoiding the “ghost date” position on the crown.
French watchmaker Sartory-Billard has done something very smart with the SB04-E Nuances collection, since it takes the brand in a new direction, presenting the collector with a fixed collection and a set number of options to choose from. For the indecisive amongst us, this series will come as a welcome relief, taking some of the best parts of SB’s custom work (his obsession with texture and light) and packaging it into a permanent daily watch. Indeed, by treating colour as a living, shifting element rather than a flat code, the Nuances collection implores us to slow down and appreciate the hidden dimensions of a truly well-crafted dial. It serves as a reminder that sometimes the ultimate luxury isn’t infinite choice but absolute certainty.
Sartory-Billard SB04-E Nuances pricing and availability
The Sartory-Billard SB04-E Nuances collection is now available to pre-order, with the first deliveries starting in October 2026. Price: €3,600 excl. VAT (rubber strap) / €3,800 excl. VAT (bracelet)
| Brand | Sartory-Billard |
| Model | SB04-E Nuances |
| Reference | Blue SB04_ENUANBL / Green SB04_ENUANGR / Red SB04_ENUANRD |
| Case Dimensions | 39.5mm (D) x 10.2mm (T) x 44mm (LTL) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 100 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire |
| Dial | Blue, green, red |
| Bracelet | Blue, green, red rubber strap, pin buckle Stainless steel bracelet |
| Movement | La Joux-Perret G101A, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 68 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds |
| Availability | Available to pre-order now |
| Price | €3,600 excl. VAT (rubber strap) €3,800 excl. VAT (bracelet) |