Blancpain Expands The Ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Line; This Is The Top Of The Line G-Shock; Sinn Releases Damascus Titanium Watch; Moritz Grossmann Celebrates 16th Anniversary; And All The GPHG Winners

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. This year’s GPHG had a few very much expected wins, but also we saw prizes awarded to brands we would never expect to see at the Oscars of the watch world. Especially when one of the brands beats out the industry darling.

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In this issue:

• Blancpain Expands The Ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Line With New Color And Strap Options

• The Top Of The Line G-Shock Is Inspired By A Custom Ordered Katana And Will Surprise You With Its Price

• Sinn Releases The 1800 Titandamaszener, Made Out Of Tegimented Damascus Titanium

• Moritz Grossmann Celebrates 16th Anniversary With The Enamel Roman Vintage

• IWC Eternal Calendar Wins GPHG Aiguille d’Or, MING Takes Best Sports Watc Otsuka Gets Challenge Prize

👂What’s new

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Blancpain Expands The Ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Line With New Color And Strap Options

Not every watch release can be spectacular. And that’s OK. Sometimes, a brand just needs to expand their existing line with new colors and straps. And this is exactly what we have today. Blancpain, perhaps best known for their legendary dive watches, has new watches in the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe, their simpler version in the Fifty Fathoms family. They come in black ceramic cases with new combinations of colors and straps and bracelets. Like I said, nothing special, just doing what needs to be done.

First, we have the time and date Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe, two of them. Both come in the same black ceramic case, one that measures 43.6mm wide and 13.83mm thick. Both have the same stats, including sapphire crystals on top and bottom, as well as 300 meters of water resistance. There are two new colors for these basic FF Bathyscaphes, one that has a sunray brushed green dial with a matching bezel insert and one with a sunray blue with a black bezel insert. The dials remain unchanged with small applied and lumed hour markers, syringe hands and the eyesore of a date window at 4:30. Inside the watch is the well known in-house, automatic calibre 1315 which is pretty cool with its 120 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a number of carrying options — there’s a matching ceramic bracelet, a NATO strap or a sailcloth strap.

The other new watch is the new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe flyback chronograph. It has the same black ceramic 43.6mm wide case, but since this is a chronograph, it’s 15.25mm thick. It has the same 300 meters of water resistance and sapphire crystals. New for this model is the introduction of the brushed blue dial and black ceramic insert on the bezel. Inside is the calibre F385, an integrated chronograph movement with a column-wheel system and a vertical clutch. As the name suggests, it has a flyback function, beats fast at 5Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. Like the time and date version, it can be had on a matching ceramic bracelet, a NATO strap or a sailcloth strap.

The new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe variants are available now, with the time and date versions priced at CHF 12,600 on strap and CHF 19,600 on bracelet, while the flyback chrono is priced at CHF 16,900 on strap at CHF 23,600 on bracelet. See more on the Blancpain website.

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The Top Of The Line G-Shock Is Inspired By A Custom Ordered Katana And Will Surprise You With Its Price

OK, so Casio has a interesting way of paying homage to their Japanese roots within the G-Shock line. A couple of years ago they commissioned the creation of Juryoku-Maru: San, a very special katana. It was created by the swordsmith Teruhira Kamiyama and featured incredible decorations on the blade, guard (tsuba), and handle (tsuka), including a aogai-nuri (mother-of-pearl inlay) blue shell lacquer design on the scabbard. This sword inspired the MRG-G2000RJ in 2019, and now G-Shock is releasing a new watch that takes inspiration from the same sword, the MRG-B2000JS.

First, the most essential of information, the size of the watch — 54.7 × 49.8 × 16.9 mm. And this is where regular descriptions of this watch stop. What first strikes you is the recrystallized hybrid titanium bezel. It is made using a combination of pure and 64 titanium, with a three-dimensional mold of the blade pattern, and then recrystallized. Then, there’s the rally incredible blue-shell-textured bracelet, inspired by the scabbard of the katana. These unique links are created by Casio’s patent-pending process that produces light-reflecting microstructures on the metal surfaces, giving the links a dynamic glittering appearance that changes depending on the viewing angle and light.

The dial also takes on inspiration from the katana. It features a Hishimaki pattern, inspired by the wrapping style of the handle of the sword, and Casio says they have curved the indexes to match the curve of the katana. You know the rest, as this is the MRG line of watches. You get the very capable G-Shock movement inside which can connect to your smartphone and operate a number of functions on the watch.

Since this is the very top of the G-Shock model line, the new MRG-B2000JS-1A is made in Japan at Casio’s Premium Production Line and features Sallaz polishing. Only 800 pieces will go on sale in November at a price of $8,000. See more on the G-Shock website.

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Sinn Releases The 1800 Titandamaszener, Made Out Of Tegimented Damascus Titanium

Sinn is very well known for making no-nonsense tool watches that don’t really catch the eye. They’re there to do their job, not look pretty. And while doing their job, Sinn will give them a lot of tech, be it a new case material, their special coating to make them scratch resistant or oil-filled interior for even more versatility. Their latest release, the Sinn 1800 Titandamaszener is a bit different. Sure, it packs a lot of modern tech, but it’s also quite a looker with its Damascus titanium case. Very cool.

Starting off with the usual, the new 1800 Titandamaszener is quite wide at 43mm, but just 10.4mm thick and made out of titanium, which should make for an easy wear. In fact, it’s not made out any old titanium. Sinn fuses grade 2 and grade 5 to create a Damascus pattern on the titanium. But it’s not just that. Both the case and dial are milled from a single block of Damascus titanium, which allows the watch to carry on the patterns from the case to the dial. It’s a very appreciated move. But even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Sinn then tegiments the case to make it way more scratch resistant than natural titanium. Water resistance is 100 meters. The only downside I could find to this case is that it has 22mm wide lugs, if that bothers you.

Like I said, the dial is made out of a single piece of Damascus titanium and not treated with any colors, allowing it to for a single unit with the case. And since this is a folded metal, no two dials will look the same. The sea of grey is interrupted with glossy blue applied indices and hands that have strips of white colored lume running down its center.

Inside, nothing special, just the good old Sellita SW 300-1. It beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. It’s a great movement, but not one that you often see in watches that cost as much as this. Sure, the folded titanium must cost an arm and a leg, but a slightly nicer movement would have been cool to see, especially when the watch doesn’t come on a titanium bracelet but rather a leather strap with a Damascus titanium buckle.

Yeah, about that price. The new Sinn 1800 Titandamaszener is limited to just 100 pieces and priced at a whopping €9,890. See more on the Sinn website.

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Moritz Grossmann Celebrates 16th Anniversary With The Enamel Roman Vintage

How is Moritz Grossmann celebrating its 16th birthday when the person Mortiz Grossmann died back in 1855? Well, you know it. While Grossmann did have his own manufacture in Glashütte in the 19th century, his brand died with him. So it wasn’t until 2008 that watchmaker Christine Hutter revived it. Now, to celebrate this, Moritz Grossmann is releasing the Enamel Roman Vintage and it’s quite the looker.

The watch comes in a fully polished 18k white gold case that measures 41mm wide and 11.35mm thick. It’s a fairly classic case with somewhat chunky lugs and sapphire crystals on top and bottom. The one thing that stands out instantly is the pusher that sits underneath the crown, part of their very cool patented crown-and-pusher mechanism. But more on that later.

The dial side keeps it just as classic. The base is made out of black enamel and Moritz Grossmann says that it takes 90 steps executed over several days to complete it. But it’s not just the dial that’s rendered in enamel. They also pad print the Roman numerals and the red XII, the white railway minutes track, the small seconds counter at 6 o’clock and the historical Moritz Grossmann signature in enamel. The lance shaped hands are made out of steel.

Inside is the in-house, manual-winding calibre 1001.1 that is meticulously beautiful. Through the back you can see the German silver 2/3 plate with broad horizontal ribbing, polished gold chatons with white sapphires, the three-band snailing on the ratchet wheel and the Grossmann slow-beating 2.5Hz balance. You get a 42 hour power reserve. And here we get to the very cool crown and pusher. Pull out the crown and it stops the mechanism. But as soon as you let go of the crown it springs back to the 0 position. No matter, you can now use ti to set the time. Once you are done, press the pusher underneath the crown and it will restart the movement. Very cool. The watch comes on a black alligator leather strap.

The new Moritz Grossmann Enamel Roman Vintage is limited to just eight pieces and is priced at €62,800. See more on the Moritz Grossmann website.

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IWC Eternal Calendar Wins GPHG Aiguille d’Or, MING Takes Best Sports Watc Otsuka Gets Challenge Prize

Last night, the watch world got together to award the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), the so called Oscars of the watch world. Industry professionals, hundreds of them, voted on what they thought were the best watches in each of the 20 categories and the results aren’t exactly surprising in a lot of the categories.

The least surprising has to be the IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar winning the most prestigious of the awards, the Aiguille D’Or Grand Prix. This really was the standout watch of the year, not exactly for its design — they don’t award it just for the design — but for the sheer mechanical wonder of this watch. The IWC is equipped with a 400-year gear designed to skip three leap years over four centuries which allows it to calculate the leap year correctly until 3999 – and it’s been done in a very clever way too, as the 400-year gear has just eight components. And that’s not all, as it also includes the world’s most accurate moon phase display, deviating from the Moon’s orbit by only one day after 45 million years.

Then we have the second most important prize, the Petite Aiguille, which is an award for the best watches with a retail price between CHF 3,000 and CHF 10,000. Here, it’s great to see the Kudoke 3 Salmon win the award. Very cool. Again unsurprisingly, the Tourbillon Watch Prize went to the Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription, while the Time Only Prize went to the H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel.

But of all the awards, I’m happiest about three. First, the Ming 37.09 Bluefin, their incredible dive watch which won the Sports Watch Prize. Second, the extremely cool Otsuka Lotec No. 6 won the Challenge Prize, which just confirms what everyone knows — Otsuka is killing it. But perhaps most striking is the win in the Chronograph Watch Prize segment. Everyone was sure that the Louis Vuitton x Rexhep Rexhepi LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie was going to take this easily, seeing as how the collaboration was one of the most high-profile watches released in the past year with likely millions invested into its development. Instead, the Chronograph Monopoussoir Sylvain Pinaud x Massena LAB swooped in and took the prize. OK, to be fair, this is no upset by the little man as the watch is sitll priced at CHF 130,000, but it is a sort of win for the independents.

Here’s the full list of winners:

“Aiguille D’Or” Grand Prix: IWC Eternal Calendar

Ladies’ Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Jour Nuit

Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Brise d’Été

Time Only Prize: H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel

Men’s Watch Prize: Voutilainen KV20i Reversed

Men’s Complication Watch Prize: De Bethune DB Kind of Grande Complication

Iconic Watch Prize: Piaget Polo 79

Tourbillon Watch Prize: Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription

Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon Silver

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Bovet 1822 Récital 28 Prowess 1

Chronograph Watch Prize: Massena Lab Chronograph Monopoussoir Sylvain Pinaud x Massena Lab

Sports Watch Prize: Ming 37.09 Bluefin

Jewellery Watch Prize: Chopard Laguna High-Jewellery Secret Watch

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Jour Enchanté

“Petite Aiguille” Prize: Kudoke

Challenge Watch Prize: Otsuka Lotec No.6

Eco-Innovation Prize: Chopard L.U.C Qualité Fleurier

Audacity Prize: Berneron Mirage Sienna

“Horological Revelation” Prize: Rémy Cools Tourbillon Atelier

Chronometry Prize: Bernhard Lederer 3 Times Certified Observatory Chronometer

Special Jury Prize: Jean-Pierre Hagmann

You can read up more on the watches on the GPHG website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Lumiere

2/

Hands-On with the Albishorn Type 10 Classic

3/

A review of the Czapek Faubourg de Cracovie Crossroads

⏲️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

• “Throw canned goods at the Mona Lisa,” might not have been my answer to “How do we get people to care more about climate change?” But it was someone’s answer—and it did get people to talk, even if it was just to complain about those damn kids destroying precious cultural artifacts with soup. (Also: the Mona Lisa is behind glass, so restoring it only required Windex and a rag.) As Elizabeth Weil explains, art museum protests are financed, organized, and driven by strategy along with rage.

• In a piece infused with joy, Simon Hattenstone meets people who—at some point in their lives—streaked. Some have bared all just once, but some are streaking on an almost professional level. The stories of the streaks are all rather delightful (even if ending in arrests). So, too, are the streakers themselves. So take some time to meet the characters who just let things fly.

• Roberto José Andrade Franco tells the moving story of the Bowie High School baseball team of South El Paso, Texas, that won the state’s first high school baseball tournament in 1949. Franco takes his time here, talking with locals—including 92-year-old Alfonso Lopez, the last living member of the winning team—to recount what it was like for a group of barrio boys from the Mexican-American border to win the championship.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I recently started rewatching Futurama and I completely forgot how good it was. And right as I did, YouTube served me this video which reminded me why it was that good.

💵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

-Vuk