AP Brings Experimental Bulk Metallic Glass Material To Extra-Thin Royal Oak, Launches Black Ceramic Supersonnieres, Seiko Celebrates 55 Years Of Super Cub, New Watches From Montblanc And Lederer

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. A lot of experimental watches today, but also some very affordable stuff. Don’t sleep on that Montblanc, the price is pretty incredible.

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In this issue:

• AP Brings Their Experimental Bulk Metallic Glass Material To The Regular Collection With A Beautiful Jumbo Extra-Thin Burgundy

• Along With The Extra-Thin, AP Launches Pair Of Royal Oak Minute Repeater Supersonneries in Black Ceramic

• Seiko Celebrates 55th Birthday Of The Most Iconic Motorcycle In The World With A New Original Colorway

• Montblanc Is Back With New Versions Of The Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph

• Lederer Introduces Two New Versions Of Their Incredibly Beautiful Central Impulse Chronometer

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 2 seconds

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👂What’s new

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AP Brings Their Experimental Bulk Metallic Glass Material To The Regular Collection With A Beautiful Jumbo Extra-Thin Burgundy

Audemars Piguet, or as they are known in watch circles - the Royal Oak company, have four very distinct collections in their lineup. There’s the hit-and-miss Code 11.59, the classic Royal Oak, the sporty Royal Oak Offshore and the fully experimental Royal Oak Concept. Rarely are there crossovers between the four collections. But every now and again AP will bring something highly experimental, something that belongs in the Concept collection and bring it to the Royal Oak. Their latest watch, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin Burgundy, does exactly this by using a super rare material called bulk metallic glass.

The term Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) defines a new class of solid non-crystalline materials, including amorphous metals. Think of it as a metallic alloy that is rapidly cooled in such a way that it has many of the properties of glass, namely hardness, reflectiveness and elasticity. These properties make it durable, shiny and possible to shape into the signature octagon of the Royal Oak. AP first used BMG in 2021 with the 39mm Jumbo Extra-Thin piece unique made for Only Watch, but this is the first time ever that it’s been used in a standard range of watches.

The case for this new watch is more or less identical to that original Only Watch piece, which means a 39mm diameter design in titanium with a BMG bezel and caseback as well as an integrated titanium bracelet featuring polished BMG studs. The BMG shines like crazy in photos, but people who have seen it live say the effect is even more pronounced. Equally striking is the dial, which features a dramatic red fumé gradient similar in smokiness to 2021’s Jumbo Extra-Thin with green gradient dial.

Inside the watch, visible through the exhibition caseback, is the Calibre 7121 with Côtes de Genève finishing. It’s a time-and-date model with a 55-hour power reserve and that measures 3.2mm in thickness, allowing for the extra-thin case which is itself only 8.1mm.

Pricing on the watch is on request, but many people speculate it will fall right between a steel and gold version, so somewhere between 34 and 77 thousand euros. See more on the AP website.

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Along With The Extra-Thin, AP Launches Pair Of Royal Oak Minute Repeater Supersonneries in Black Ceramic

Most minute repeaters come in cases made out of precious metals. At least the traditional thought says that the sonorous qualities of the metal enhance the sound. But every now and again a brand verges off from this beaten path and this time Audemars Piquet decided to put their minute repeater into a full ceramic case, a challenging feat as ceramic completely changes the dynamics of sound an forced AP to adapt the case in special ways.

This new watch comes at the same time as the highly experimental Extra-Thin Burgundy, and comes as a pair. I swear, I studied the side by side photos of the two references, the 26591CE.OO.D002CA.01 and 26591CE.OO.D002CA.02 and could spot a difference. If it were that game spot the difference, it would be on expert mode. Turns out, one of the watches has has white gold indexes and the second has diamond ones. When you read this, you can kind of tell a difference, but in photos they look virtually identical.

This seems like a regular Royal Oak, with it’s central hour and minute hands with a small seconds subdial against a black Grand Tapisserie backdrop, but pretty soon you notice that the case is different. Up front it’s still a Royal Oak, but in the back you see the brand’s first ever full ceramic caseback to help enhance the sounds produced inside the ceramic case. The caseback is engraved with the sonic waves produced by the chiming complication housed inside and there are slits around the edges that allow the sound to escape the dampening qualities of the ceramic.

The supersonnerie debuted as part of the Royal Oak Concept line back in 2015 and is designed to increase the volume and resonance of the repeater to the levels expected of a pocket watch rather than a wristwatch. One of the key aspects of the supersonnerie is attaching the gongs to a titanium membrane rather than the mainplate as usual. This allows for good resonance regardless of the material characteristics of the rest of the watch.

The movement powering the Royal Oak Minute Repeater Supersonnerie Black Ceramic is the Calibre 2953, a manual calibre with a power reserve of 72-hours. It’s a cool combination of haute horology and high performance materials working together in harmony.

Again, price is on request, but there’s no guessing how high it can go. Check out the website for more.

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Seiko Celebrates 55th Birthday Of The Most Iconic Motorcycle In The World With A New Original Colorway

Almost exactly a year ago, Seiko teamed up with Honda to release two limited edition watches in their 5 Sports line inspired by the Honda Super Cub, the world’s best-selling motorcycle. It was an iconic team-up, as both Honda and Seiko dominated the global market in the 1950s with their affordable alternatives to American and European products and became icons. Now, Seiko is releasing another variant, the SRPK37 which marks the 55th anniversary of the launch of the Super Cub and gets a new colorway.

The watch is almost identical to the previous versions, other than the color. This means that you get a SKX dive-style platform wich are water resistant to 100 meters and come in a steel case that is 42.5mm wide, 46mm lug-to-lug and 13.4mm thick. Nothing unusual about the case, as all the novelty comes from the dial, which features the two-tone face of the Super Cub motorcycle when seen straight on. At 12 o’clock you see square and round applied hour markers which look like the headlight and turn signals of the iconic motorcycle and an applied Super Cub emblem is above the six o'clock marker, much like that found on the front of the motorcycle.

The watch comes in a shades-of-blue colorway, with a dark blue bezel, baby blue on the outsides of the dial and a navy blue in the center. It also features a translucent red caseback, mimicking the brake light on the Super Cub and featuring a very cool Super Cub emblem and the individual serial number ranging from 0001/7500 to 7500/7500. This might have given it away, but the watch is limited to 7,500 pieces.

Inside is Seiko's caliber 4R36, a self-winding movement with its day-date complication displayed at three o'clock. This is the same movement used throughout the affordable 5 Sports lineup, offering hacking, hand-winding, and 40 hours of power reserve when fully wound. The watch comes on a nylon NATO-style strap that matches the color of the dial, as well as the Super Cub emblem, and Honda's recognizable winged logo.

I can tell you that this watch will find it’s way to customers this month, but what I can’t really tell you is the price. However, since the previous models were around the $400 range, you can expect this one to be in this neighbourhood as well. See more on the Seiko website.

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Montblanc Is Back With New Versions Of The Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph

Montblanc has been on quite a roll these past few years. The stuff they have done with the 1858 line has been quite impressive. However, while focusing on developing the popular sports collection further, many feared that they have given up on their Montblanc Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph watch collection, which was originally introduced in 2007 with a unique and creative dial layout and a great movement inside.

The uniqueness of the dial comes from the way it displays the chronograph function, and Montblanc says this is directly inspired by Nicolas Rieussec’s first invention of the chronograph. At the time, the first-ever chronograph had the chronograph subdial discs rotate under static hands and when stopped an inked marker was pressed on the rotating disc to mark the time. Over they years chronographs evolved to use hands that turned over static dials, but Montblanc brings it back, without the ink marker, but with two rotating discs under a stationary marker that mimics the style of dauphine hands.

For 2023, Montblanc is introducing two updated styles for the Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph. Both come in a 43mm wide case and a chunky 15mm thick that is necessary to house the complex movement and complicated deep dial with a clous de Paris patern. The watches come either a black DLC-coated stainless steel case with a black-and-golden dial, limited to just 500 iterations, and a bare steel version with a blue dial, rhodium-coated hands and counters, and no limitation. They come on matching textile straps and folding clasps that are not among the slimmest or most comfortable out there.

The dial has golden text on the flange ring between 4 and 8 o’clock. Other details include the sandwich subdial for the time, the date frame secured by golden or blued screws, and the overall intricacy and quality of the dial itself. Oh, and it has a trick second time zone hand that can be hidden under the main hour hand when not in use and is adjusted using the pusher in the side of the case, while the other pusher is solely responsible for the starting, stopping, and resetting of the chronograph.

Inside the watch is the Montblanc MB R200 caliber with a 72-hour power reserve and a 4Hz operating frequency. It was the two barrels that pushed the going train to the lower half of the movement where it was arranged in a straight line, another hint at a thoroughly new and fresh construction. In other words, the Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph features a fully bespoke caliber.

Here comes the best thing - the price. The black version is priced at €8,600, while the unlimited white and blue dial version is €8,300. This is a crazy low price for a fully bespoke movement from a reputable Swiss watchmaker with an amazing design. See more on the Montblanc website.

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Lederer Introduces Two New Versions Of Their Incredibly Beautiful Central Impulse Chronometer

Some watches just drop jaws. The Ledered Central Impulse Chronometer, the winner of the Innovation Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2021, is just such a watch. Yeah, it’s stunningly beautiful. But turn it over and it’s game over. You have never seen something like this:

The watch Central Impulse Chornometer not only looks incredible, it’s also an incredible technical achievement. Lederer improved on George Daniels’ Independent Double-Wheel Escapement by incorporating it into a wristwatch. Just like for Daniels Space Traveller I and II pocket watches – 2Hz, the escapement is driven by two independent gear trains each with its own barrel. Bernhard Lederer brought his own tweaks to the escapement and added a remontoir d’égalité for each gear train. And this year we get two new versions of the Central Impulse Chronometer, one in pink gold and the other in 904L steel.

The new version keeps the 44mm case with two box style sapphire crystals, which you will be thankful for because that movement is stunningly beautiful. The engine-turned dial features an “8” shaped opening at 9 o’clock. Almost invisible, at the center of the two openings are two second hands that turn in opposite directions. The hands are slim dauphine-style with cutouts in the center with a highly polished finish.

The two new versions come with either a pink gold case with a black rhodium dial or a 904L steel with a shade of blue that the brand calls Pacific. If 904L sounds weird, it’s because most watches are used 316L steel, while the 904L is a tougher alloy that’s famously used by Rolex.

These two new versions of the Lederer Central impulse Chronometer are released in limited editions of just 25 pieces each. They both retail for CHF 138,600 excluding taxes. A lot of money, but just look at it! You can see more on the Lederer website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands on with the new-for-2023 Accutron Spaceview Evolution

2/

A review of Archimede’s response to the Sinn 556i, the Pilot 200

⚙️Watch Worthy

A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like

The Nullarbor Terrain is inspired by Australian nature

Rather than print a bunch of koalas and emus on the dials and calling it a day, Nullarbor has focused on representing three distinct climates of the country with colours. All of the watches have white dials for optimum legibility no matter the colour, and markers printed in each theme. Outback Brown captures the sandy deserts which make up a huge percentage of the country, Forest Green represents the lush areas of vegetation along our coasts, and Ocean Blue brings it home with an homage to the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans which surround us. The hands, printed markers and the bezel are all filled with luminous paint, giving it some decent visibility after-dark.

⏲️Wait a minute

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• In the last 20 years, no American man has won any of the four major tournaments in tennis. Not since Andy Roddick, who was the face of U.S. tennis for a decade, but his career ran up against the sport’s Big Three: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic who collectively won all but a handful of major tournaments in the 2000s and 2010s. Reporting for GQ, Sean Manning reveals that the long-retired tennis player—to quote a close friend of his—wouldn’t have had it any other way.

• A profound piece on the emptying of an Albanian village as the men leave for London, encouraged by videos they find on TikTok. It’s hard for this village—beautiful as it is—to compete against the allures of a city and potential wealth. But following an algorithm has costs. The community mourns the loss of the men risking dangerous boat crossings to follow a potentially fictional TikTok dream.

• When The New York Times does an interactive story you can usually bet that it will be something fantastic. And this one doesn’t disappoint. As it turns out, close calls between two planes are far more often than we previously knew. And NYT dissects it through fantastic interactive graphics.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Keeping it simple with the video recommendation today. The legendary Japanese studio Toho is releasing a new Godzilla movie and this is the trailer. Need I say more?

💵Pre-loved precision

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