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- AP Swings For The Fences With A Spider-Man Watch And It’s Awesome, Breitling Drops SIX New Watches In One Go, Nivada's Antartic-Diver Is Fabulous And Behrens Shows Lightest And Most Interesting Watch Of The Year
AP Swings For The Fences With A Spider-Man Watch And It’s Awesome, Breitling Drops SIX New Watches In One Go, Nivada's Antartic-Diver Is Fabulous And Behrens Shows Lightest And Most Interesting Watch Of The Year
If we can't have fun with watches, then what are we even doing? It's nice to see AP agrees
Vuk Radic
May 26, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 22 minutes
Hey friends, finally, a packed day at It’s About Time. There are some truly fantastic watches in today’s edition, but go check out that Behrens and tell me that’s not your next purchase.
In this issue:
AP goes way overboard with a Spider-Man watch and it’s awesome
Breitling drops SIX new watches
Nivada Grenchen’s Antartic-Diver is fabulous
Behrens introduces the lightest and perhaps most interesting watch of the year
And… invite your friends to win a Seiko Alpinist
Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 50 seconds
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the Alpinist, so we can get this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
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Watch people love to take themselves very seriously. Lamenting the benefits of hand guilloché dials while reciting mid-70s Vacheron Constantin reference numbers is something that just goes with the turf of liking watches. You know what else goes with liking watches? Outrage when a brand has some fun. Just look at the outrage that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept ‘Black Panther’ stirred up two years ago when it launched. People called it ugly, an insult to the brand and called for the resignation of the CEO who made the watch - Francois Bennahmias.
Personally, I didn’t like the Black Panther. Not because of what it was, I just didn’t care much for the look. But the haters got what they wanted - Bennahmias is leaving. Not because he was fired, of course. But before he goes, he has one more thing to show us. The absolutely bonkers and insane Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Spider-Man Tourbillon. It’s like the Black Panther but even more in your face, even more over the top and even more fun. I love it.
“Look at AP going the way of Invicta,” people will say, like they did of the Black Panther model. Oh boy, this is so far off from an Invicta. AP used all of their significant watchmaking skills to place a sculpture of Spider-Man into their watch. You think I’m kidding when I say they go all out? According to AP, it takes them 50 hours to create just the little Spider-Man. First a rough blank is milled from a block of gold in a CNC machine, then etched with laser to create the fine texturing on the suit. Next, a single artisan engraves and refines the details on the upper body. It’s followed by hand painting to create Spider-Man’s trademark blue-and-red outfit.
The Spider-Man utilises the latest version of the Royal Oak Concept case, which remains large and chunky but more wearable than earlier generations. It’s 42 mm in diameter and 15 mm thick, but with shorter lugs and a curved profile. Made of titanium, the case is matched with a bezel and crown in black ceramic. Being a Royal Oak, all surfaces, be they titanium or ceramic, are finished to a high level with a mix of brushed, polished, and frosted finishing.
Inside is the cal. 2974, a new, hand-wind movement derived from the cal. 2948 found in the Code 11.59 Tourbillon Openworked.
To be clear, this is a 100% silly collaboration. But being silly is really good. Despite the fact that people online will cry out that AP is ruining its brand, keep in mind that this is a crossover between pop culture and high horology. And it will only be made in 250 pieces, with an insane price tag of CHF 195,000. So don’t worry, you likely won’t have to see one in the flesh.
And just one more thing… AP will be making a piece-unique variation of this watch up for auction to benefit the First Book and Ashoka associations. It will be called the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon ‘Black Suit Spider-Man’. A white gold case will be finely engraved to give it the effect of a luminescent spider’s web. It is combined with a black ceramic bezel. Spider-Man appears on the dial in a black suit, a reference to the one worn by the superhero in several 1980s comics, notably The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in 1984. The Black Panther also had a piece unique go up for auction and it sold for $5,200,000.
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It seems that Breitling no longer likes to introduce a new watch or two. They just bust through the door with a box full of new stuff and start pulling them out screaming “look at this! How about this one?!”. I’m not complaining. Far from it. This time, Breitling is showing off a complete new line of aviator chronographs with the shrunken down 42mm Classic AVI - all together six new watches.
Starting off with the 42mm Classic AVI line, it, just like the 46mm Super AVI watches that were released in 2021, honors four legendary aircraft, each with their own color schemes: blue dial with a steel bezel for the F4U Corsair; black dial with steel bezel or black dial and rose gold case for the P-51 Mustang; green dial with steel bezel for the Curtiss Warhawk; and black dial with white counters and a combination polished and satin-brushed black ceramic bezel for the de Havilland Mosquito. In each case, the watch has a bidirectional ratcheted bezel and comes on either a calfskin leather strap with a folding buckle (and lug width of 22mm) or a five-row, stainless steel bracelet with a butterfly clasp.
All the new watches are powered by the Breitling Caliber 23, an automatic caliber with 48 hours of power reserve. Those movements are cased in stainless steel (or 18k rose gold), measuring 42mm by 14.7mm with a 48mm lug-to-lug, 100 meter water resistance and an engraving of the airplane linked with each model on the caseback.
But it’s not just the Classic AVI Breitling is showing off, they have two new watches in the Super AVI and AVI Co-Pilot lines. First is a black ceramic Super AVI "Mosquito Night Fighter" that measures 46mm by 15.9mm. The watch runs off the COSC-certified Breitling Manufacture Caliber B04, featuring 70 hours of power reserve and a second timezone. Then there’s also the AVI Ref. 765 1964 Re-Edition, a simplified and classic 41mm reverse panda chronograph.
Pricing for the Classic AVI models starts at $5,800 and rises to $6,100 for the F4U Corsair model (on a steel bracelet). The Super AVI B04 Mosquito Night Fighter has a list price of $12,100, and the AVI Ref. 765 1964 Re-Edition is limited to 164 pieces, each selling for $9,050.
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Ever since Guillaume Laidet revived the Swiss watch brand with incredible history, they have primarily been focusing on updating their chronographs. And I can’t blame them - chronos are always desirable watches, sell well and, after all, you have to start somewhere. But they sure as hell aren’t stopping at the chronographs like the Chronomaster and Datomaster models. The latest release from Nivada Grenchen is the reintroduction of the Antarctic-Diver, the brand’s first dive watch from the late 1950s.
The original watch was around 36mm in diameter, while the new Antarctic-Diver is more modern, but still not too large, at 38.2mm wide and 45mm from lug tip to lug tip with a thickness of 12.9mm. The top and bottom of the lugs are bushed and the side of the case and the back are polished. The watch comes with a unidirectional bezel with a lumed ceramic insert. The dial seems busy but is rather simple, with no numerals and faux patina on the blocky indexes. For the size of the dial, the hands are relatively large, which looks a bit weird, but takes no time to get used to.
Inside the watch is a Soprod’s P024. Based on an ETA 2824, the P024 is a self-winding time-only movement with a date indicator. The caliber offers approximately 38 hours of power reserve and operates at a 28,800vph frequency.
Nivada is becoming famous for their huge selection of bands for their watches. The new Antarctic-Diver also comes with ten options. Five straps - brown or black leather in two styles or a black rubber tropic strap. Or, choose from one of five steel bracelet options - three Forstner bracelets (Klip, Rivet, Bead of Rice), and two from Nivada (Oyster, Beads of Rice). While the Nivada BoR has curved end links, the Forstner end links are straight, and the design of the bracelet differs.
Nivada has priced the new Antarctic-Diver starting at $900, which puts it right smack into the desirable under $1000 category. It’s not a limited watch in quantity made, but it is time limited. Sales of the Antarctic-Diver started yesterday, May 25th at 4PM CEST and will be limited for only two weeks on the Nivada website.
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Maurice Lacroix is out to provide us all with affordable sports watches. And I think we can all agree that this is simply a great idea. After offering the Aikon in a number of materials and configurations, the brand is turning to their Pontos line and releasing a reaimagining of the Pontos S Diver. Fun fact, ML introduced the watch at an event in Dubrovnik with Croatian world-champion freediver who the brand consulted during the development phase Lidija Lijic in attendance. It’s About Time is also based in Croatia. Maurice Lacroix, I guess my invite to the presentation got lost in the mail?
The Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diver is a modern take on the 1970s compressor-style dive watch with a twist. The original reissue from 2013 featured a 43mm wide case that’s 600m water-resistant and fitted with a helium release valve. The new 2023 version takes a more relaxed approach - not only is it smaller at 42mm, it cuts down the water resistance to 300 meters and ditches the helium escape valve. The case features two oversized crown - one to to wind the watch and the other to operate and
Inside the new Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diver is the automatic calibre ML115. Based on the Sellita SW200-1, this ubiquitous movement brings a 38-hour power reserve. You can get the watch on three straps - an M-branded fabric strap and two integrated rubber straps embossed with Maurice Lacroix. The bronze version comes with a blue rubber strap and a calfskin leather strap featuring a gold M logo. These straps are all fitted with quick-release spring bars allowing you to swap your straps in seconds with no tool.
The watch will set you back EUR 2,100 for the steel versions and EUR 2,650 for the limited bronze edition of 500 pieces.
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At the same time Watches and Wonders was going on two months ago, there was another watch show on it’s way in Geneva called Time To Watches, focusing on indie brands. I completely missed covering the event and boy did I miss something huge. Thanks to Fratello, we now know that Behrens, the Chinese brand making increasingly more interesting watches, announced the BHR030 20G at the show. Hiding behind that pretty bad name is a watch that reaches way beyond its price point.
As a caveat, the watch you see in the pictures is a prototype that Fratello got to handle live and Behrens has already said that they will be making a number of improvements to it, including the only one that harshly stands out - they will refine the contrast between the hands and markings for enhanced legibility.
The biggest gimmick the BHR030 20G is it’s insane weight. The 20g in the name stands for 20 grams. It’s hard to describe how light this is. A standard A4 piece of paper weighs 5 grams. So take four pieces of paper, and that’s the weight of this Behrens. For reference, Richard Mille’s RM 67-01 weighs 32g. Their crazy RM UP-01 Ferrari collab weighs 30g. The current lightest watch in the world is the Ultralight by independent French watchmaker named Valentin Remontet and it weighs 17g. However, Behrens already has plans to release a second version of the BHR030, which will be even lighter than 20g as it will use a proprietary carbon composite instead of titanium like the case on this one does.
The BHR030’s asymmetrical trapezoidal case measures 42mm long on the longest side. The 38mm diameter means it is nice and compact too. The watch measures just 5.2mm thick. You want to know what the crazies part about these stats is? With that thinness and the lightness, you still get 30 meters of water resistance, so it should be able to handle daily wear with ease.
Since a dial has some weight to it, Behrens said toss the dial. Look at the watch, and all you see is the movement with markings printed directly on the movement or the underside of the crystal. To display the time, Behrens uses two retrograde displays, with one for the hours and one for the minutes. Also, it’s interesting to not that the entire movement is curved to follow the curvature of the case, which, in turn, is curved to follow the curve of most wrists.
The starting price of the 32 gram RM 67-01 is $85,000. The 30 gram RM UP-01 starts at $1,888,000. The BHR030 20G will be a smidge cheaper than that. When orders start in October, Behrens expects they will be able to sell it for $7,500. Which is just insane. Production will be limited annually to 180 pieces.
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When people were looking at MB&F as complete nutters in 2005 for creating outlandish watches, the founder of the brand Maximilian Büsser says that one of their first supporters was Laurent Picciotto, founder of the famous Chronopassion Boutique in Paris. Now, to mark this 18-year friendship, MB&F has created 15 editions of the LMX in white gold with a purple dial plate known as the LMX Paris Edition. And It really is one of the best purple dials ever made. Not that there are a ton of them out there.
The latest collaboration between MB&F and Picciotto, the LMX Paris Edition, will be available exclusively at Picciotto’s Parisian boutique. The LMX was conceived as a 10th-anniversary watch of the Legacy Machine 1 of 2011. The Legacy Machine 1 displayed an overtly classical spirit with a round case and an exposed 14mm flying balance wheel placed in the centre of the dial plate. With its two white stretched lacquered dials with Roman numerals, the movement of the LM1, developed by Jean-François Mojon, offered dual time zones that could be set independently. Büsser’s change of direction paid off handsomely, and the LM1 swept up two prizes at the prestigious GPHG 2012 awards.
Ten years later, in 2021, the LM1 was feted with the LMX, a special supercharged anniversary edition with more of the mechanics exposed on the dial. The spectacular balance wheel still rules the show but is fitted with inertia blocks for greater accuracy. Other salient changes include the inclination at 50° angles of the two independent GMT sub-dials, the exposed rotating 7-day power reserve indicator at noon, and the crowns’ relocation to 10 and 2 o’clock.
The latest LMX Paris Edition shares identical specifications to earlier editions of the LMX but now comes in an 18k white gold case with a stunning deep purple sunray-brushed dial plate. The dimensions of the case – 44mm diameter with a height of 21.44mm (incl. super-domed sapphire crystal) – are the same as other LMX editions.
The sapphire crystal caseback reveals MB&F’s manual-winding 367-part movement fitted with three concentrically arranged mainspring barrels, which deliver the mighty 7-day power reserve.
The MB&F LMX Paris Edition is a limited edition of 15 timepieces sold exclusively at Picciotto’s Chronopassion Boutique in Paris. The retail price is EUR 146,400 (incl. taxes).
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
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⚙️Watch Worthy
A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like
For those who were into scuba diving in the 1960s/70s and did not care for the professional-grade dive watches from Rolex and Blancpain, skin divers offered a more wearable and equally cool horological experience. Skin divers got their name from the fact that they were meant to be worn directly on the skin and not over a wetsuit, indicating they were not meant for deep underwater exploration. Traditionally, they came with 100 to 150 metres of water resistance and a thinner case profile. Unlike their distant cousins the Submariner, Fifty Fathoms, and even the Doxa SUB 300, skin divers were supposed to be more versatile and easy to wear on land in everyday life situations.
⏲️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
David Kushner offers a riveting account of the shipwreck of the Guerrero, a pirate slave ship that had been en route to Cuba and crashed off the coast of Florida in 1827. This thread of the story offers a peek into the transatlantic slave trade — and our world’s ugly history.
Being a kid and your dad saying “let’s follow in Captain Cook’s footsteps” sounds like a dream. Who wouldn’t want to sail around the world. Turns out, it’s a complete nightmare. How do we know? In 1976, Suzanne Heywood’s father decided to take the family on a three-year sailing ‘adventure’ – and then just kept going. It was a journey into fear, isolation and danger
The notorious Alpha02, the dark web’s most notorious kingpin, oversaw millions of dollars a day in online narcotic sales. For cybercrime detectives, he was public enemy number one—and a total mystery.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
You can expect some bizarre videos on here. This one might be the most bizarre. It is an almost three hour video of the DVD commentary Francis Ford Coppola recorded for Apocalypse Now, set over the film. However, due to copyright reasons, the YouTube video cannot play the film, so what you essentially get is a slideshow of stills from Apocalypse Now, with the actual sound from the move, along with Coppola telling you stories about how they made the movie. It’s a bit trippy, but think of it as a different version of a podcast, something you could listen to over the weekend.
💵Pre-loved precision
Buy and sell your watches. Think of this section like old school classifieds - i don’t guarantee anything except that a bunch of people will see your ad and I’ll put the buyer and seller in touch. Want to advertise your watch? Contact us
LOOKING TO BUY: One of our readers is looking to purchase three very specific watches: an Islander ISL-133 Mother of Pearl, a Sinn 556 Mother of Pearl or a Zelos 300m GMT Mosaic Mother of Pearl. If you’re selling any of these, reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch
FOR SALE: Longines Heritage Skin Diver, box and papers. €1400. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch
Want to sell your watch to a community of passionate horologists? Reach out to us and we’ll put your ad up. $15 per listing without photos, $25 with photos. 10 available slots per day, discounts for multiple slots.
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
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