As a watch collector — or a high school graduate, for that matter — you’re no doubt familiar with the distinction between Arabic and Roman numerals. Roman numerals are the ones that use Is and Vs in order to confuse Americans, whereas Arabic are the ones we can easily understand. Jokes. Roman numerals come from — of course — the ancient Romans, whereas Arabic numerals originated in India. Its decimal system, which includes a zero symbol, makes computation significantly easier than with Roman numerals, which is why it gradually replaced that system in the West beginning in the medieval age.
However, there’s a third numeric framework that’s occasionally found on watch dials, mostly in special editions made for the Middle Eastern market. Called “Eastern Arabic” or “Indo-Arabic,” this system more closely resembles the Arabic numerals that originated in India, whereas the commonplace version used throughout most of the world today has been westernized. Eastern Arabic numerals are still in widespread or partial use in countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. If you’re a Rolex fan in particular, you may have noticed that certain Middle Eastern-market watches bear Eastern Arabic numerals — indeed, the Crown has been making these special watches and selling them locally in certain countries for decades.
Speaking of the United Arab Emirates — last month marked the 10th anniversary of Dubai Watch Week, a quickly-growing trade show, plus the 75th anniversary of Ahmed Seddiqi, the legendary local jeweler that sponsors the show. This significant milestone has provided the basis for a slew of contemporary takes on the Eastern Arabic-dial watch, many of which honor Seddiqi’s 75th anniversary. In addition to rounding up several of the most notable of these below, we’ve also scoured the watch world for other modern Eastern Arabic watches to bring you a wide array of pieces at different price points and looks. While this list is by no means comprehensive, it represents some of the coolest new Middle Eastern-market timepieces in the world, many of which debuted in Dubai this November.
The one bummer? Most of these watches are available only in Ahmed Seddiqi boutiques in Dubai — meaning you best open up Google Flights and get your butt on a plane if you find anything below that you particularly fancy! A few of these watches won’t even be visible to readers unless they surf the internet using a VPN, but trust us — they exist.
The Best Eastern Arabic Dial Watches
Cyrus Dominion Jawhar
This special take on the Cyrus Dominion GMT is a 42mm Grade 5 titanium travel watch with a unique design: Set within the dial above a small-seconds display is a retrograde 24-hour register — using the crown activator at 9 o’clock, this hand can easily be jumped to track a second time zone. On the Jawhar (“essence” in Arabic), these numerals are in Eastern Arabic type, and are complemented by white Eastern Arabic 12-hour indices set between the 24-hour track and an outer open minute track. The automatic cal. CYR708 movement, meanwhile, can be admired in all its skeletonized glory beneath the various hour tracks.
Diameter: 42mm
Movement: Cyrus cal. CYR708 automatic
Water Resistance: 100m
Hublot Big Bang Titanium Grey Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary
In addition to the 75th anniversary of the Seddiqi’s family business, Hublot has yet another anniversary to celebrate this year — namely, the 20th birthday of its famed Big Bang collection. The new Big Bang Titanium Grey Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary is one of two limited-edition models that light the candles on both metaphorical cakes, offering a polished and satin-finished titanium case with rose-gold accents paired with a cool grid-style dial featuring rose-gold Eastern Arabic numerals and matching typography within the grey chronograph registers. Power, meanwhile, is provided by the Hublot HUB1280 automatic movement with a custom oscillating weight engraved with Seddiqi’s 75th anniversary logo.
Diameter: 44.5mm
Movement: Hublot cal. HUB1280 automatic
Water Resistance: 100m
The Best Watches of November 2025
Dubai Watch Week saw major releases from Tudor and Laurent Ferrier, but brands had lots to showcase elsewhere, too
Girard-Perregaux Laureato Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Limited Edition
Another double-anniversary watch, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Limited Edition celebrates both the Seddiqis as well as the 50th anniversary of the Laureato — GP’s luxury sports watch that debuted back in 1975. Measuring 42mm in stainless steel, this model features a stunning off-white enamel dial with a sunray flinqué motif. And while the applied green PVD-treated GP logo and indices aren’t in Eastern Arabic type — they’re baton-style indices — the date window’s date wheel features green Eastern Arabic type. Thin at just 10.68mm tall, it’s among the more subtle (and more beautiful) of the Seddiqi special editions.
Diameter: 42mm
Movement: Girard-Perregaux cal. GP01800-2672 automatic
Water Resistance: 100m
Perrelet x Diaa Allam
Limited to 50 pieces, this colorful watch is a collaboration between Biel-based Perrelet and Emirati artist Diaa Allam, who specializes in Arabic calligraphy. Utilizing the brand’s Turbine design, it features a lower dial consisting of a colorful painting inspired by Emirati wickerwork, plus an upper, turbine-shaped dial set at its periphery with applied Eastern Arabic indices. Powered by the in-house, COSC-certified Perrelet cal. P-331-MH automatic movement, it’s housed in a 41mm Grade 2 titanium case with a black DLC coating paired to an integrated black rubber strap.
Diameter: 41mm
Movement: Perrelet cal. P-331-MH automatic
Water Resistance: 100m
Tutima Patria Evergreen
Perhaps less well known than its fellow Glashütte-based brands A. Lange & Söhne and Nomos, Tutima Glashütte has been crafting fine timepieces since 1927. The Patria line is a fine example of the brand’s fare, boasting an in-house, hand-wound movement with a signature three-quarter plate and an asymmetric case with prominent crown protectors. The new Evergreen execution, made in celebration of Dubai Watch Week and limited to just 25 pieces, boasts a beautiful green dial with a dynamic pyramid texture and applied, diamond-cut Eastern Arabic numerals. Made of Grade 5 titanium and paired to a green leather strap, it’s a handsome tribute to the Gulf region.
Diameter: 41mm
Movement: Tutima cal. 617 hand-wound
Water Resistance: 50m
Vanguart Black Hole Arabic Dial
Though it was established in 2017, it was really only this year that Vanguart seemed to explode onto the scene, capturing immense horological mindshare as celebrities such as John Mayer and Ed Sheeran were seen wearing its eye-wateringly expensive pieces. The eight-piece limited-edition Arabic Dial execution of its Black Hole Tourbillon features a spectacular design in which Eastern Arabic indices appear to collapse in on themselves while surrounding a spectacular “levitating” tourbillon. Fashioned from Grade 5 titanium and equipped with a cool “joystick” time-setting system, the Black Hole is a futuristic piece that collectors the world over are falling in love with.
Diameter: 45mm
Movement: In-house hand-wound
Water Resistance: 30m
HYT S1 Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Bespoke Edition
HYT’s Middle Eastern-themed offering actually consists of three separate special editions of its S1 watch, each of which features an Eastern Arabic dial and pays tribute to Ahmed Seddiqi. Available in green, blue and sand-colored editions, it’s probably the latter that feels the most appropriate to the native climate of the UAE — though all three are distinctly handsome pieces. Coming in at 45.3mm in colored ceramic-coated titanium, the S1 utilizes a unique fluid-based system to indicate the hours in retrograde, while the Eastern Arabic indices seen around the dial periphery are executed in a tone matching the case color.
Diameter: 45.3mm
Movement: HYT 501-CM hand-wound
Water Resistance: 50m
Louis Erard La Petite Seconde 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Edition
Among the more affordable options on this list is the La Petite Seconde 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Edition from Swiss watchmaker Louis Erard, a firm established in 1929 that collaborates frequently with watchmakers such as Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter and Konstantin Chaykin. Crafted from stainless steel and powered by an automatic movement from Sellita, its 39mm case is fitted with a cool sand-tone dial with Eastern Arabic indices over a satin-finished outer section; an inner section finished with circular gadroons; a small-seconds display at 6 o’clock; and a unique, Art Deco-esque handset inspired by Dubai’s famed Burj Khalifa building.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: Sellita cal. SW261-1 (élaboré grade) automatic
Water Resistance: 50m
Doxa Sub 250 Ahmed Seddiqi
Also among the more approachable Eastern Arabic watches of 2025 is this cherry-red take on Doxa’s Sub 250 dive watch. In addition to its vibrant, eye-catching colorway, it features gold-tone accents throughout its applied, luminous indices, plus subtle black Eastern Arabic typography throughout its no-decompression bezel insert, which tells a diver how long he can remain submerged at a given depth without the need for a decompression stop. Rendered in stainless steel and limited to 75 pieces in honor of the 75th anniversary of Ahmed Seddiqi, it comes paired to a cool steel beads-of-rice bracelet and lists for under $4,000.
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: Sellita SW300 automatic
Water Resistance: 250m
ID Genève MorphoDune 75th
Those in search of a more flamboyant expression of an Eastern Arabic dial would do well to check out the MorphoDune 75th: Produced by eco-conscious Swiss watchmaker ID Genève, it takes the form of a 37mm satin-finished and brushed stainless steel sports watch with a matching integrated bracelet. The dial, created in collaboration with Swiss firm Morphotonix, uses nano-engraving to form unique holographic structures directly into the metal. The result is a unique textured surface whose color shifts subtly depending upon the viewing angle. This surface is paired with Eastern Arabic hour indices that glow blue in low light.
Diameter: 37mm
Movement: ETA cal. 2892 automatic
Water Resistance: 50m
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph MEIA Limited Edition
This ultra-cool riff on the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph is a Middle East exclusive. Housed in the brand’s 39mm “Glassbox” case, it makes use of the modern Carrera’s dynamic design to offer an Eastern Arabic tachymeter scale along the inner bezel — due to a clever design, this scale flanks a 1/5th-seconds track without causing a visual traffic jam, framing a set of applied gold-tone indices and set of chronograph totalizers, two of which likewise feature Eastern Arabic numerals in gold typeface set against black backgrounds. When combined with a green ombré-effect dial and paired to a steel multi-link bracelet, the result is one of the coolest Eastern Arabic watches to hit the shelves in 2025.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: TAG Heuer cal. TH20-00 automatic
Water Resistance: 100m
Moritz Grossmann TEFNUT Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Edition
Movement aficionados will no doubt be attracted to the TEFNUT Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Edition, a limited run of just seven pieces made by historic German watchmaker Moritz Grossmann. Within the confines of its brushed stainless steel case beats the brand’s in-house caliber 102.1, a beautifully finished, hand-wound engine featuring a German silver mainplate engraved with the Seddiqi logo in addition to the manufacturer’s name and the watch’s movement number. The dial, meanwhile, features a beautiful color and texture inspired by the desert and achieved using a special paste made of silver powder and other ingredients.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: Mortiz Grossman cal. 102.1 hand-wound
Water Resistance: 30m
Arnold & Son Nebula 40 Steel Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Edition
This compelling piece places its hand-wound movement front and center via openworked architecture: The caliber A&S5201 — with seven bridges beautifully and symmetrically arranged in a circle and twin barrels providing a whopping 90 hours of power reserve — occupies nearly the entire dial and caseback, with only a thin strip of garnet-hued flange providing a surface upon which to place gold Eastern Arabic hour indices. Cased in a 40mm stainless steel housing and paired to a matching steel multi-link bracelet, it’s a sporty, everyday design that nonetheless manages to evoke Dubai and the Middle East.
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: Arnold & Son cal. A&S5201 hand-wound
Water Resistance: 30m
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