Two sodalite references sit in the same white gold case at 41 mm in the current selection, and the differences between them are small enough to be worth setting out precisely. This one is a limited edition, offers a choice between white gold and baguette-cut diamond hour markers, uses a blue lacquered inner bezel and is fitted on alligator. The other is not limited, comes with baguette diamond markers as standard, and ships on rubber with a second alligator strap supplied. Same stone, same case, same metal, and a different proposition on almost every other axis. That the collection offers both rather than choosing between them is worth reading as an acknowledgement that a stone dial appeals to two quite different buyers, one who wants the material preserved and one who wants it worn, and that a single specification cannot serve both.
The case is white gold in the Code 11.59 construction, round when viewed from above and octagonal through the middle section, with hollowed lugs welded to the case band rather than cut from it. The dial is natural sodalite, a deep blue mineral shot through with white calcite veining, and the veining is the reason the material is used rather than the colour, since a uniform blue is achievable with lacquer at a fraction of the difficulty. Every slice carries its own arrangement of veins, so no two dials match. A blue lacquered inner bezel closes the display, which is a different treatment from the plain blue inner bezel on the other sodalite reference and gives this one a harder outer boundary. White gold hands cross the dial. The strap is blue alligator with a white gold pin buckle, and no second strap is supplied. Sodalite is also comparatively soft as dial minerals go, which means slices are cut thicker than an ideal dial would be and then supported carefully in the case. That thickness affects how the dial sits relative to the hands and the markers, and it is one of the reasons stone dials are more difficult to engineer than they are to admire. Very few houses cut their own stone dials for that reason, and those that do treat the operation as a specialism rather than as an extension of ordinary dial making. The yield on stone dials is also lower than on metal ones at every stage, from selecting the block through cutting, thinning and finishing, and a proportion is lost at each step.
The function set is hours, minutes and centre seconds, with no date. Cutting an aperture into sodalite would sever the veining at a fixed position and leave an exposed edge in a material whose appeal depends on the veins running uninterrupted, so the absence follows from the dial rather than from the movement. Winding is automatic. The marker choice is the variable that most changes the watch, since white gold markers leave the veining as the only pattern on the dial while baguette diamonds add a second one, and the two versions read quite differently in the same light. The centre seconds hand is the only moving element on either version, and on a dial with no date and no counters it is what confirms the watch is running before it goes on the wrist.
Two of the three limited references in the current Code 11.59 selection sit in this Selfwinding group, this sodalite version and an onyx version in the same case. Around them the 41 mm group carries malachite in yellow gold, the second sodalite reference, and three lacquered dials in rose gold, ceramic and steel. Sodalite is the material the collection uses most across the range, appearing on two flying tourbillons as well as both of these references, which makes it the closest thing the Code 11.59 has to a signature stone. Every other material in the collection appears once or twice, so a stone used four times across two complications and two sizes is being treated as a house choice rather than as a seasonal one. That consistency also makes sodalite the safest of the collection stone dials to buy, since a material the house keeps returning to is unlikely to be abandoned in a way that leaves an owner holding an orphan. Four appearances across two complications and two case sizes is a firmer commitment than most materials in this collection have received.
The buyer here is choosing between two watches that are nearly the same and should understand what separates them. This is the limited one, on alligator, with a marker choice and a lacquered inner bezel. The alternative is the everyday one, on rubber with a spare strap, set as standard. A collector buying to keep will generally take this reference for the limitation and the dressier strap. A collector buying to wear will find the other more practical, and neither is the better watch. The stone is identical and the decision is entirely about how the reference is specified around it. Anyone choosing should see both together, since the lacquered inner bezel on this version gives the dial a harder boundary than the plain blue one on the alternative and the difference is more visible in person than in any description. A lacquered bezel also holds its colour uniformly where a plain one takes some of its character from the light, so the two versions behave differently as conditions change and not only at first glance.
