Breitling Confirms Ana-Digi Is Here To Stay With New Aerospace B70 Orbiter; Longines Brings HydroConquest GMT To 43mm; A Green Dial Aquastar Model 60; And New From Ochs Und Junior And MB&F

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. There’s nothing better than a good ana-digi watch, and it’s great news to see that Breitling is not stopping production on one of the most important examples of such a watch. But when the Breitling has to go head to head with an ochs und junior, the ochs wins every single day.

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In this issue:

• Breitling Confirms The Aerospace Is Here To Stay With The B70 Orbiter Celebrating 25th Balloon World Record Anniversary

• Longines Introduces A New HydroConquest GMT, This Time In A Larger 43mm Case

• A New Green Dial Transforms The Legendary Aquastar Model 60 Into An Even Cooler Skin Diver

• Ochs Und Junior Brings The Day/Night To Regular Production And It’s Wonderful

• MB&F Releases An All Black Onyx Version Of Their Now Unisex LM FlyingT

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 23 seconds

👂What’s new

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Breitling Confirms The Aerospace Is Here To Stay With The B70 Orbiter Celebrating 25th Balloon World Record Anniversary

Regardless of how you feel about them, analogue-digital watches are simply the ultimate form of watch. I kid, of course, but only a bit, as I am completely in love with ana-digi watches. Not just their form factor and look, but also their association with badass work, be it the Breitling Aerospace watches that are so often found on wrists of pilots, or the Omega X-33 used on the ISS, most famously fixed on board the space station by astronaut Don Pettit, a task that changed the way NASA managed their supply chain to space. But increasingly these tool watches are being phased out, and at all price points. The Breitling Aerospace, for example, has been in production since 1985 but it’s latest iteration, the Aerospace Evo introduced in 2013, has reportedly been a bit difficult to get, sparking rumors that it’s being discontinued. Well, not only is the Aerospace not going anywhere, Breitling just unveiled the brand new generation of the Aerospace. This is the new Aerospace B70 Orbiter, paying homage to the 25th anniversary of the completion of the first non-stop balloon flight around the world, which landed in Egypt on March 21st, 1999.

The new Aerospace B70 is just as similar to the EVO as it is not, so let’s see. It comes in a titanium case that measures 43mm wide and bulks up a bit to 12.95mm thick from the 10.8mm of the previous versions. This is, however, most likely due to the piece of balloon that you get in the caseback, but more on that later. It has a 52.25mm lug-to-lug measurement and the lugs are 22mm apart. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded by a bidirectional timing bezel, water resistance is 100 meters and the overall finish is brushed. New for this case are carved out sides that bring the weight down.

But even more importantly changed, and instantly recognised by all Aerospace enthusiasts, is the addition of two discreet and almost sunken in pushers. This is a big deal since the Aerospace relied for almost 40 years on just a multi-function crown to control all the functions of the watch. Newcomers to the model will likely appreciate the ease of use with pushers, but I’m not so sure that hard core Aerospace fans will let go of the crown that easy. On the back is caseback with a sapphire crystal, through which you can see only the actual piece of the Orbiter 3 balloon that circumvented the earth and inspired this watch.

More inspiration from the balloon can be seen on the dial, which gets a very bright orange shade on it, with a gradient that fades to black towards the edges. The orange color is inspired by the capsule that hung underneath the Orbiter 3 balloon. The rest is very familiar - centrally-mounted analog hands, large Arabic numeral hour markers, and two LCD screens.

And while that dial might suggest that this watch has the same internals as the EVO, it’s actually completely new. The new Aerospace gets the new B70, a manufacture caliber co-developed with MMT. It’s a a thermo-compensated SuperQuartz COSC-certified chronometer with analog and digital displays — very much in keeping with the Aerospace DNA. The key new features are the 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph (with split-time and flyback functions), an electronic tachymeter, and a lap timer, along with a countdown timer, second timezone and two alarms. The battery life is not great, but not horrible, at two years. The watch comes on either a matching titanium bracelet or a black rubber strap with a matching titanium folding clasp.

While it would only make sense that the Breitling Aerospace B70 Orbiter would be limited, with it’s use of the actual ballon in the caseback, Breitling didn’t say it’s limited, so do with that info what you want. The price is $4,700 on rubber and $4,900 on the titanium strap. See more on the Breitling website.

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Longines Introduces A New HydroConquest GMT, This Time In A Larger 43mm Case

There’s a very prevalent belief online among watch enthusiasts that any watch larger than 39mm is a monstrous blob that nobody will ever buy and shouldn’t exist. This push towards smaller watches has actually been successful in convincing manufacturers that they should offer watches in smaller sizes, and this is very commendable. However, since most watch fans keep their eyes open in the wild to spot what other people are wearing, we have all seen that non-enthusiasts and casual enjoyers of watches still prefer their watches on the larger side. And these buyers, whether we like it or not, make up the majority. This is particularly true in “certain markets”, as Longines put it, and we all know they are pretty successful in Asia. So, Longines is taking care of that need as well, by releasing a new trio of HydroConquest GMT models in 43mm.

What we get is basically the same model as the 41mm version, only a bit bulked up. I find the 41-43mm difference to be a bit weird, as it seems a bit too close to make a significant difference, but there are some neat visual tricks with the larger case that help it a lot. The new watches come in a stainless steel case that measures 43mm wide and keep the same 12.9mm thickness, which will, paradoxically, make the watch look slimmer. It has a significant lug-to-lug measurement of 52mm. Everything else remains pretty much the same with a 300 meter water resistance, a sapphire crystal and a unidirectional rotating bezel with a ceramic insert.

The dials also don’t change from the smaller version. They still have the same striking sunray-brushed finish and come in three colors - green, black or blue. Note that arguably the best color, brown, doesn’t show up in the larger size. The applied indexes and recognizable hands are filled with Super-LumiNova, while the outside of the dial features a rehaut with a 24 hour scale printed in green on green, blue on blue and red on black. The outline of the arrow on the GMT hand is color matched to the printed color of the 24 hour scale. You still have the date at 3 o’clock.

Inside is the same automatic calibre L844.5., a flyer-type GMT (meaning that you adjust the hour hand independently once you land in your new time zone). It beats at 25,500bhp and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watch defaults to a H-link steel bracelet with a folding clasp with a quick-adjust system, but you can also get it on a rubber strap for the black and blue dial models. T

The new 43mm Longines HydroConquest GMT are available now and priced exactly the same as the 41mm versions at €3,050 on rubber and €3,300 on steel. See more on the Longines website.

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A New Green Dial Transforms The Legendary Aquastar Model 60 Into An Even Cooler Skin Diver

Back in the 1960s, diver, sailor, pilot, mathematician and watchmaker Frédéric Robert founded Aquastar, a brand he developed from his father’s watchmaking business. Over the next ten years, Rober filed a number of patents that are still relevant today, like inner rotating bezels, multiple dive decompression bezels, a new crown sealing system and the friction bezel ring. When Robert retired, the brand was bought and sold by a number of companies and ended up being revived in 2020 by Rick Marei, who is known for building up Doxa to the powerhouse it is today. While not as big as Doxa, his work with Aquastar has been just as interesting - first with the revival of the Deepstar, and then with the reintroduction of their first-ever diver with modern specs, the Model 60. Now, Aquastar is giving the Model 60 a makeover with the limited-production Greenwich Edition that has a stunning dark green dial.

The watch comes in the familiar Model 60 which measures 37mm wide and 11mm thick, with a 47mm lug-to-lug. It’s a very retro looking watch, with a domed sapphire crystal, short and widely spaced lugs and an overall shape characteristic of skin divers of the 1960s. On top is a 120-click dive bezel with a luminous marker at 12 o’clock and with a screw-down crown and screw-in case back you get 200 meters of water resistance.

The dial also remains largely the same, but with a fresh new colorway. The base is a dark green sunburst with “Old Radium” Super-LumiNova indices that now have metal surrounds which the previous version did not have. There’s a discreet date opening at 3 o’clock.

Inside, there’s some big news. While the previous black version used the La Joux-Perret G100, Aquastar has obtained Elaboré-grade ETA 2824-2 automatic movements for this release, which is getting pretty cool considering how rare ETA movements are becoming outside the Swatch Group. It’s not a particularly fancy movement, beating at 4hz and with a 38 hour power reserve, but it’s cool. The watch comes on a beads-of-rice bracelet or a dark green tropic rubber strap, with the addition of a dark green seatbelt-style one-piece nylon strap included with both choices.

The Aquastar Model 60 Greenwich Edition is limited to just 100 pieces and it’s available for pre-order now with deliveries expected in May of this year. The pre-order price is $990, which will jump up to $1,390 after the pre-order window. See more on the Aquastar website.

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Ochs Und Junior Brings The Day/Night To Regular Production And It’s Wonderful

It is by no means a secret that I am deathly in love with ochs und junior watches. In fact, I adore everything that Ludwig Oechslin has done and believe him to be the true punk rocker of watchmaking. Sure, his watches might not look punk-rock at all, but he is the ultimate rebel in the industry that values complexity and complication as the pinnacles of art. It’s as if Oechslin said “hold my beer” to the entire industry and started creating complicated watches that use simple modules with only a few parts to do what others need hundreds of parts to accomplish. For example, their recent moon phase watch adds just 5 parts to a regular movement to create a perfectly accurate moon phase display. Their most recent watch is the Day/Night, a watch first introduced in 2018 but now enters the “ochs line,” meaning it gets a standardized, serialized production, without the vast array of customization options offered on most watches in the brand’s catalog.

The watch comes in a 40mm wide 2-part case in grade 5 titanium designed by Ludwig Oechslin. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom, and water resistance is a comfortable 100 meters. The case has visible machining marks and has a very simple look to it - it’s a perfectly round shape with short lugs that have not just a very minimalist look, but also allow you to focus completely on the dial.

And what a dial it is. While there are several dial options, the one you see here has a dark blue base with brass hands and indices, surrounded by a brass and dark blue ring that represent the day/date in the name. And you know this wouldn’t be an Oechslin watch if it didn’t have some sort of amazing catch behind that dial. It displays the length of day and nighttime for a given location, sunset, sunrise, solar noon, moon phase, sun and moon position in the sky, the date, and of course the current time. Now come on! How awesome is that?! To show you the length of the day, ochs und junior will have to know your location where you’ll wear the watch most, so that’s the only downside. However, if you happen to move, they can manufacture a new part for your watch to match the new location.

Day and night are indicated by the light and dark areas that surround the dial. The lines that separate these sections represent the horizon. The horizon lines change position every 10 days to account for the changing of seasons. When the watch is set correctly, the sun in the outer ring passes from the darker “night” area to the lighter “day” side at sunrise, and the process reverses in the evening. Actually, check out their video to see the watch in action.

Now we’re getting to the best part. Inside the watch is the Ulysse Nardin UN-320, used as a base movement. It has a power reserve of 48 hours and it’s produced in Le Locle. Each watch is hand-assembled decorated, and regulated at the ochs und junior workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds. To get the super complicated Day/Night display to work, the brand uses a module with just 13 new parts. Come on! The watch on a number of straps that can be specified on order.

The ochs line day/night is available now and priced at CHF 10,700 without tax. See more on the ochs und junior website.

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MB&F Releases An All Black Onyx Version Of Their Now Unisex LM FlyingT

Shrink and pink is a term used for watches that brands have intended for women by putting absolutely no effort into them other than reducing the size of an existing model and slapping on some pink color and gemstones to make it look more “feminine”. While these watches are still common in the industry, more and more brands are opting to offer something else. Something that women would actually want and that is not condescending to them. Or, on the other hand, watches that are truly unisex. While initially conceived as a women’s watch, the MB&F LM FlyingT has grown into the brands most restrained watch and a unisex beast. Now, they’re introducing the LM FlyingT Onyx, a very dark take on this interesting piece.

The Onyx comes in a 38.5mm wide 18k yellow gold case which, for the first time for the model, doesn’t have any stone setting or decorations. It’s a simple vintage dress watch, with just a hint of weird in the form of two crowns - the one on the left winds the watch, the one on the right sets the time. The watch is also quite thick at 20mm, but that’s mostly due to the extremely domed sapphire glass.

Beneath the glass is a dial made out of an impossibly black onyx. Being a stone it can be difficult to shape, but MB&F still manages to cut out an asymmetrical hole in the centre to allow the tourbillion and time subdial to poke through. They also dome the dial to match the sapphire crystal dome above. The tourbillion rotates every 60 seconds, while the hours and minutes are positioned on a 50° angled subdial with serpentine hands. The movement powering all of this has a 4-day power reserve wound by an automatic, sun-shaped rotor. The watch comes on a black alligator or calfskin leather strap with a gold pin buckle

The new MB&F LM FlyingTs is available now and it’s priced at €120,000. See more on the MB&F website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Sketch

2/

Hands on with the Longines Conquest Chronograph 42 mm

3/

A review of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’

⚙️Real Time Reviews

A new segment in which we feature reviews from real users reviewing their personal watches

The Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph is a bold beast

Another chronograph with this Breitling Navitimer B01 in 46mm!

It's a fully analog dashboard for the pilot that I am not. It fits perfectly into my collection, especially alongside my Omega Speedmaster Mark III. Much more modern and imposing at 46mm, it is paradoxically not as big as it seems due to its rather short lugs. Without being visually too thick, the proportions make it a comfortable watch to wear every day.

Read the whole review, written by a fellow watch enthusiast, on Dialicious.

⏲️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

• Andrew Crispo was one of the most prominent gallerists in New York. He just died about a month ago. But he wasn’t just a gallerist. His fall from the pinnacle of the New York art world involved murder, torture, tax evasion, extortion and two terms in prison. It’s a truly wild story.

• For Defector, Stefan Fatsis introduces us to Nigel Richards, GOAT of Scrabble, a man who can trounce you in English and French. Even though Richards doesn’t speak French, he’s said to have “inhaled some large chunk of the 386,000 words on the Francophone list” to win the French world championship in 2015.

• Antonia Cundy explores the women whose labor has supported the Opus Dei organization for decades. In theory, Opus Dei was designed to help ordinary Catholics become holy through everyday work, in practice, women gave their lives to the organization as domestic workers. Weaving together three women’s stories, Cundy creates a compelling investigation into a dubious history.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Bowl of Salmon is quickly becoming my favorite watch YouTuber. If for nothing, then for his incredibly beautiful videos. But in addition, he has access to some great watches. And whenever I see a Ressence I click on a Ressence. So you will see it too.

💵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 Ōtsuka 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