Baton hands are a very plain style of watch hand made from simple rectangular bars. They are long, straight and free of decoration. They are among the most widely used hand styles and appear on watches from many brands.
What do baton hands look like?
Each hand is a long, narrow rectangle with no decoration. Put simply, it is a straight bar. The ends vary. They can be cut flat, finished with a rounded edge, or brought to a sharp point. Whatever the tip, the body of the hand stays straight from one end to the other, with nothing added along its length.
Which watches use baton hands?
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual is a classic example. Its baton hands are matched with plain rectangular hour markers, so the hands and the markers share the same simple shape. The hands often carry strips of luminous material, which helps them show up in the dark. Rolex also uses baton hands on the Day-Date and the Datejust, two well-known models. Beyond Rolex, the style appears on watches from Audemars Piguet, Omega and Longines.
Where it comes from
The name describes the shape. Baton is the French word for stick, and these hands are long, narrow rectangles with no decoration, much like a stick. That is also why they are sometimes called stick hands. One Rolex model gave the style a different name. On the Rolex GMT 1675, baton hands are known as Concorde hands. The name comes from an advertising tie-up between Rolex and Concorde, the supersonic airliner.
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