The Best Cheap Watch In The World, The Casio F91 And Mq21, Get Summer Color Updates; Lorier Releases The Rambler; Ba111od Has A Green GMT Tourbillon; Damascus Steel Oceaneva Deep Marine Explorer II Is So Cheap It’s Suspicious

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. The summer is also time for affordable watches and while the Casio is a well known affordable option, the Oceaneva will shock you to your core how cheap it is.

In this issue:

• The Best Cheap Watch In The World, The Casio F91 And Mq21, Get Color Updates Just In Time For The Summer

• Lorier Teams Up With Janus Motorcycles For A Field/Pilot Crossover Watch Called The Rambler

• Ba111od Introduces The Green Dial Chapter 4.8 GMT Tourbillon Greenwich Limited Edition

• The New Damascus Steel Oceaneva Deep Marine Explorer II Is So Cheap It’s Suspicious

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 22 seconds

👂What’s new

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The Best Cheap Watch In The World, The Casio F91 And Mq21, Get Color Updates Just In Time For The Summer

Without any semblance of a doubt, the most popular wrist watch ever made is the Casio F-91W. Not only is it incredibly simple and durable, it can be had for less than a cost of a lower quality strap you would use on a watch that’s marketed as affordable. Prices under €2o are not rare. It is so popular it is worn by pretty much everybody, from President Barrack Obama all the way to the notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden. In fact, the watch is incredibly popular among terrorists as it offers a reliable and extremely cheap timing device for bombs (check out more of this Casio-terrorist link in this fantastic article from Watches of Espionage, perhaps my favorite watch media outlet). The F91W — or its analogue alternative the MQ-24B — is also a great summer watch as you won’t cry about smacking it into a rock or leaving it in a hotel room. Well, now the watches get even better with a number of new colors.

Starting off with the F-91W, it gets a completely monotone colorway, while keeping the compact case that measures 38.2mm wide, 8.5mm thick and 35.2mm long. There’s the black F-91WB-1A, blue F-91WB-2A1, white F-91WB-7A, and gray F-91WB-8A. Othewise, it’s the same watch that has sold in the tens of millions, not much to it than the side pushers and the simple digital display. You get a couple of functions - 1/100-second stopwatch, an alarm, a hourly time signal, LED light, auto calendar, and 12/24-hour time format. It should be water resistant enough for a shallow water splash and can get seven years of battery life.

The MQ-24B is also getting new color updates. The 34.9mm wide, 7.8mm thick and 38.8mm long case now comes in five new monocrhome colors. There’s the black MQ-24B-1, green MQ-24B-3B, white MQ-24B-7B, gray MQ-24B-8B, and yellow MQ-24B-9B. Battery life is three years and it has the same resin strap as the F-91W.

All of these new models are launching today in Japan, but should be available globally pretty soon. Price should be somewhere around €25. See more on the F-91W here and the MQ-24B here.

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Lorier Teams Up With Janus Motorcycles For A Field/Pilot Crossover Watch Called The Rambler

We haven’t seen a new release from Lorier in a while and I almost began to miss them. The makers of one of my favorite watches of 2023, the incredibly cool action-star themed Hydra Zulu, along with a number of very classically styled and farily priced everyday watches, is now back with a very interesting retro inspired watch. It was designed in collaboration with Janus Motorcycles, an Indiana-based maker of vintage looking motorcycles. And this same style is applied to the new watch, named the Rambler, and taking all the best vintage cues from early field and pilot's watch references, packaged into a very usable everyday watch.

The case of the Rambler is as classic as it gets, completely round with pointy lugs, an oversized crown and an almost non-existent fixed bezel on top. The measurements are perfect for what people want right now - 36mm wide, 9mm thick (11mm with the crystal) and with a 44mm lug-to-lug. The stainless steel case is brushed with polished details and a polished bezel on top. The domed crystal on top is made out of Hesalite to keep with the vintage theme. And before you start complaining, Lorier will supply you with a tube of Polywatch to get rid of scratches. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial continues with the vintage theme and keeps things simple. The base is cream colored with a railroad minute track on the perimeter. The Arabic numerals are filled with orange lume and outlined of black, like you might find on a field watch, while at 12 o’clock is a triangular marker like you might find on a pilot’s watch. You’ll fin the same orange lume on the black hands, while the central seconds hand is red. Beneath the 12 o’clock position is the Lorier logo and above the 6 o’clock is the stylised Rambler name.

Inside is the Miyota 90S5 automatic movement. This is a no-date movement from Miyota’s premium 9 Series line and it beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a brown leather strap with a quick release system.

Lorier says the Rambler is a special edition, but doesn’t specify if it means that it’s limited, so I’m betting no. The watch will be available for purchase in late August for a really nice price of $499. See more on the Lorier website.

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Ba111od Introduces The Green Dial Chapter 4.8 GMT Tourbillon Greenwich Limited Edition

The Swiss brand Ba111od has, perhaps, the simplest possible value proposition - make super well made watches with otherwise very expensive complications and then sell them for a suspiciously low price. They have this whole line of watches that are equipped with a Swiss-made toubillon that just crushes the competition when it comes to price — the first Ba111od with the tourbillon was priced under CHF 4,000, which was just crazy. Since last year, they have been making the tourbillon model with a GMT function, and now they are introducing the Chapter 4.8 GMT Tourbillon Greenwich Limited Edition with a brand new green dial.

It uses the same case as the previous GMT Tourbillon models, which means it has a 44mm case in raw grade 5 titanium, with the crown positioned at 4 o’clock. It is inspired by the curves and colours of a metallic green Morgan Plus 6, which is famously owned by Ba111od’s owner. The case has a sporty combination of brushed and polished surfaces. On top is a domed crystal which has an invisible NFC chip installed inside, but more on that later. The model also has 50 meters of water resistance.

This new model gets a beautiful sunray brushed green dial, with the same applied markers, dauphine-style hands and gold details on the tourbillon and the GMT hour hand. The tourbillon is displayed in an aperture at about 7 o’clock while the GMT function gets its own sub-dial with a ghost image of the planet at the 1 o’clock position.

Inside is a hand-wound mechanical movement with a 105-hour power reserve developed by the brilliant watch designer Olivier Mory. While remaining classical, they also opt for some high tech solutions like incorporating NFC technology in the watch’s sapphire crystal, with features such as a concierge service and a personalised user experience. It also comes on brown crocodile-style leather strap with a folding clasp.

Then there’s the price. The new Ba111od Chapter 4.8 GMT Tourbillon Greenwich Limited Edition is priced at CHF 7,800 before taxes and limited to 50 pieces. See more on the Ba111od website.

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The New Damascus Steel Oceaneva Deep Marine Explorer II Is So Cheap It’s Suspicious

I wrote about Oceaneva once before. I remember it very clearly because I was just as confused with it as I am with this one. That was the Deep Marine Explorer II in titanium which came in a titanium case with a water resistance of 1,250 meters, a helium escape valve, a stainless steel bracelet and a Sellita SW200-1 movement for less than $500. That was just incredible. Well, Oceaneva is back with another watch you won’t believe how cheap it is. The new watch is the Deep Marine Explorer II Pro Diver Damascus Steel Limited Edition 1250m, and you can see from that name, there’s a lot of good going on here.

Starting with the case, it’s completely bonkers. It’s made out of Damascus steel, meaning layered steel that produces striations. But it’s not just the case that’s made out of this grained steel, it’s also the bezel, which is quite a unique look. This case too has a 1,250 meter water resistance, which means that it also has a helium escape valve. But, another thing to drop your jaw is that they don’t test their watches in pressurised machines. Instead, Oceaneva is the only USA based watch brand to ever send their watchers to deep depths of the oceans for actual real word testing and only the 6th brand globally to ever do so. This watch was lowered to over a kilometre beneath the surface and came out fine.

There are three different versions of the watch. You can get them with either a traditional white or black dial, but Oceaneva also has a full Damascus steel dial, which is just incredible. Oh, and just to casually mention - the Damascus dial is priced exactly the same as the regular watches. Whichever colourway is your favourite, it comes with lume filled hour markers in hyper legible circle, rectangle and triangle shapes. The different shapes are designed so that you can still read the time in the dark even if the watch is at an odd angle. There’s a date aperture at the 3 o’clock position.

Inside, more shocks at this price point. It’s the same Sellita SW200-1 as the titanium model. This is a very well known movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. It’s a well known workhorse movement that has powered a bunch of sub $1,000 watches in the past several years but have increasingly pushed to the $1,000+ range. The Oceaneva comes on rubber straps.

Now, the completely unbelievable thing. The Oceaneva Deep Marine Explorer II Damascus Steel, to recap, has a Damascus steel case, 1,250 meters of water resistance, a helium escape valve, a damascus dial and a Sellita SW200 movement. It’s also limited to 1,000 pieces. And it’s priced at $404. That’s so low you actually start to doubt if there’s something wrong with the watches. But previous customers swear this is the real deal. See more on the Oceaneva website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Nomos Tangente 38 Date Limited Editions

2/

Hands on with the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rewind

3/

A review of the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Monopusher Chronograph

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition steps it up with their very own manufacture micro-rotor movement

Crafted from 316L stainless steel with linear brushed surfaces and high-polished bevels, the case of the Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition (ref. 22.24.66.SN.L6) takes advantage of its micro-rotor movement’s thin architecture to create a sleeker and more refined version of the brand’s popular vintage-inspired dive watch. Measuring 39mm in diameter by 9.5mm thick, the case is fitted with a double-domed sapphire crystal that brings the total height of the watch up to approximately 12mm, and its faceted lugs are set 19mm apart and extend to create an overall lug-to-lug profile of 46mm. Rather than aiming for the thinnest possible design, the Navygraf Slim CMM.20 simply intends to be a more slender rendition, and its revised proportions offer a noticeably thinner on-wrist experience, while still providing much of the same vintage-inspired charm that has made the Navygraf series a favorite among enthusiasts.

Read the whole review on A Blog To Watch

⏲️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

• When a Canadian man murdered a shaman deep in the Peruvian jungle, the safety of ayahuasca, an ancient hallucinogenic brew, suddenly came into question. The true, complicated story of the Ayahuasca Murders

• But speaking of murders and true crime, of course there are numerous true crime conventions. Vanity Fair goes into the field to uncover the dark origins of the true crime frenzy at CrimeCon.

• She came to the US with a dream. Using platforms like Uber, Instacart, and DoorDash, she built a business empire up from nothing. There was just one problem. It was all a fraud. Meet Priscila, Queen of the Rideshare Mafia.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I usually mix it up in these videos to not have two of the same type videos one after the other, as in, no two car videos one after the other. And yet, despite having the new Porsche 911 GTS yesterday, I had to throw this in today. Not only is Jay Leno the sweetest person in the car world, how many times do you get a detailed tour through the most expensive car in the world?

💵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: Here’s a crazy request. One of you is looking to buy the Lotēc No. 7.5. Sure, it’s a big ask, but if any of you have one and want to sell, reach out to and I’ll put you in touch

• SOLD: Well, not really new. It’s a great looking mid-90s Tudor Submariner 75090, offered for sale by a member of the It’s About Time reader crew. I love the way it looks and seems to be in great condition. Check it out over on Chrono24.

• 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

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-Vuk