Roundup · MONTA

Two dial changes worth a closer look: MONTA and Bulova

MONTA returns blue and silver to the Triumph, while Bulova gives the Super Seville a sodalite face.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 19 October 2026

A dial change can be either a small correction or an excuse to pretend an existing watch is a whole new idea. Two current catalogue additions make the difference easy to see. MONTA has brought blue and silver sunburst faces back to its Triumph field watch, while Bulova has given the compact Super Seville a real stone dial. Neither needs a grand launch story. The interesting part is what each surface does to a familiar set of hands, markers and case lines.

MONTA Triumph Blue and Silver: warmth against the field-watch grid

MONTA dated its blue and silver dial announcement 18 October and says both join the permanent Triumph collection, rather than a numbered edition. The colours echo options from the original 2017 Triumph, now paired with the current V2 case. This is a range extension, not a different movement or a redesigned case. That distinction matters because the argument for either watch has to live on its face. In the brand's paired photograph, the silver dial holds the cream-toned luminous markers quietly, while the blue makes those same markers much more prominent.

The sunburst finish draws the eye outward from the hands, but the applied three and nine give the dial two anchors that are more useful than a general glow. On the blue version, the cream markers and broad hands sit above a darker centre; on silver, the contrast is gentler and the watch becomes less immediately assertive. MONTA's own article explains that the warm luminous colour is a deliberate modern choice, not aged radioactive material. That avoids the odd pretence that a watch must have lived another person's life before it earns its character.

Under either dial is the same 40 mm 316L steel Triumph case, 10.5 mm thick and 47.8 mm from lug to lug. MONTA lists a 200 m depth rating, flat bevelled sapphire crystal, screw-down crown and sapphire back. Its self-winding M-22 is based on the Sellita SW300 and has a 56-hour reserve. Those figures make the change in mood more interesting: a familiar, capable field-watch platform can read as either reserved or quite vivid without altering the watch's basic job.

The bracelet tapers from 20 mm and has a clasp with three quick-adjust positions, a detail that matters more in daily use than another claim about vintage character. The current Australian storefront lists both Blue and Silver at A$2,703 each. It takes orders, but the individual product pages say shipping begins 26 October. That is the timing to plan around, despite the more immediate language in MONTA's dated announcement. If choosing between the two, I would take the blue: the stronger contrast makes the dial change count.

Bulova Super Seville Sodalite: the pattern cannot be repeated

Bulova's Australian store marks the Super Seville Sodalite, reference 98A337, as a current addition and prices it at A$1,399, and its Australian listing showed sold out on 19 October. The US product page lists it at US$1,025. There is no dated first-party announcement in the pages reviewed, so this is a catalogue observation rather than a claim about its release day. Sodalite changes the proposition in a different way from MONTA's controlled sunburst brushing: its blue field has irregular veins, meaning the visual texture comes from the stone itself.

The 35 mm two-tone steel case keeps the Super Seville's television-shaped outline and coin-edge bezel. Bulova pairs the dial with polished gold-tone hands, a flat anti-reflective sapphire crystal and an integrated three-link bracelet with push-button clasp. The Australian page gives a 10.33 mm thickness and describes water resistance as splash resistant. That last point is worth reading before treating the bracelet and case as evidence of a more rugged watch. The stone face is the event; the case is its frame.

The movement is Bulova's Precisionist quartz, which the brand says runs at 262 kHz and uses a sweeping seconds hand. A sweep over natural stone is a slightly odd pairing, but a good one: a restless hand crossing an irregular dial keeps the watch from looking like a static piece of jewellery. I would still want to inspect the particular stone pattern before buying, because the brand's image can only show one piece of material. On this watch, variation is the reason to care.

MONTA's blue Triumph is the more useful all-rounder on paper, with its depth rating and adjustable bracelet, and it is the one I would point a friend towards first. Bulova's Sodalite is the more distinctive object. It makes a small case feel surprisingly expressive, and its Australian stock status is worth checking before treating a product page as a promise of delivery.