Breitling Shrinks Down Top Time To 38mm For A Perfect Retro Vibe; Formex Introduces Its First Ceramic Watch; Alto Glows With Yellow Gold ART 01; Czapek Adds Tourbillon Antarctique; An Expensive RM

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I have a feeling that this Breitling will be a huge hit for the brand. But if I had to keep one watch from today’s lineup, give me that Alto. Can’t wait to get my hands on it in Geneva next week.

In this issue:

• Breitling Shrinks Down The Top Time To 38mm, Drops The Chronograph, With The Retro Looking B31

• Formex Introduces Its First Ceramic Watch, The Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC Automatic

• Alto Steps It Up With A Fully Yellow Gold Stone Dialed ART 01 Falcon Eye

• Czapek Gives Their Sporty Antarctique Model An Impressive Tourbillon

• The Richard Mille RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari Is Wildly Expensive

👂What’s new

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Breitling Shrinks Down The Top Time To 38mm, Drops The Chronograph, With The Retro Looking B31

Even people who are not fans of Breitling’s design have said that the Top Time collection is something else. The collection launched, unofficially, in 2020 with a limited edition watch that reached back to the history of watches and Breitling to create a motorsport inspired retro chronograph. The watch was an instant hit and the collection only grew and got better. It was also housed in a case that measured 41mm, which is kind of a standard for chronographs, but also too large for quite a number of wrists. That’s why Breitling just did what everyone wanted them to do — they released the Breitling Top Time B31 in a smaller case, with no chronograph function, and a hell of a lot of vintage charm.

The new Top Time stainless steel case is all round and measures 38mm wide, 10.3mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 45.8mm. Those sound like pretty perfect proportions. The case has a combination of brushed sides and polished tops. On top is a sapphire crystal with a date magnifier, as well as a sapphire caseback. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There are three dial options offered for the new Top Time B31 — a matte white with a light blue outer ring, a vertically brushed blue dial with a white outer ring, and a green variant with a black outer ring. They all look retro and despite not outright saying they are styled with motorsport influence, it’s very clear there’s a bunch of it. They all have applied hour markers with lume strips, just like on the hands. All three versions have date apertures at 3 o’clock with white date discs inside, as well as orange center seconds hand. Those contrasting outer rings are reserved for the minute track.

Inside, you’ll find the new Breitling Caliber B31, which has fantastic stats. It beats at 4Hz, has a 78 hour pwoer reserve and is COSC-certified for accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day. The watches can be had on either a three-row stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp that has micro-adjust or on a racing-style perforated leather strap in various colors.

The new Breitling Top Time B31 is available now, at a price of €5,600 on leather and €5,900 on steel. See more on the Breitling website.

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Formex Introduces Its First Ceramic Watch, The Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC Automatic

The Swiss brand Formex sits at an interesting position in the watch world. Not small enough to be a micro brand, not large enough to afford to play with the big brands. They are a true independent that has focused on doing one thing right — making solid watches. And the fact that they are not a huge conglomerate often means they can’t just put out new variants and new materials quickly and without significant investment. So, when a brand like Formex choses to add a new material to their existing line, it’s quite the big deal. Their latest release is their first ceramic watch. This is the new Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC Automatic 41mm.

Unlike ceramic watches we’ve seen from other brands, the Essence Ceramica keeps the same dimensions as the metal version, which means it measures 41mm wide, 11.2mm thick and has a 46.2mm lug-to-lug. You still get the same bezel with cutouts for the screws, the spring-loaded mid-case for added comfort, and sapphire crystals on top and bottom. At this price point, you’ll be hard pressed to find a ceramic case like this, with a combination of brushed and mirror polished surfaces. Water resistance remains at 100 meters, which is also great.

There are two versions of the dial to choose from, the GT and the Stradale. The GT has a gear-shaped flange on the periphery and rose-tone indexes and hands, while the Stradale has a plain round and brushed flange with black hands and hour markers. But it’s not all black for the Stradale, as pops of color come from the white, purple, or blue lume. All of the dails have a skeletonized construction which shows the movement, with a dark grey ruthenium plating.

The movement you see inside is not anything revolutionary. It’s the well known Sellita SW200-1. It beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. Essence also regulates the movement to within COSC chronometer specs, which is really cool. The watches come on ceramic three-link bracelet. I don’t know what the bracelet is like, but it closes with a ceramic clasp with a toolless micro-adjust, which is really impressive.

The new Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC Automatic 41mm is available for pre-order now, with deliveries expected in July. Price for the Stradale is set at €5,350, while the GT version is priced at €5,600. See more on the Formex website.

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Alto Steps It Up With A Fully Yellow Gold Stone Dialed ART 01 Falcon Eye

Last year was a huge year for brutalism-inspired watches. Everyone from small indie brands like Toledano & Chan to Audemars Piguet came out with avant-garde shaped watches that took on the tenants of 20th century art forms and transformed it into something quite unique. One of these watches was created by the newly formed Paris-based ALTO and it’s called the ART 01. According to the founder, Thibaud Guittard who worked for Audemars Piquet, the watch is inspired by avant-garde 1970s design, including wedge cars and architecture of the same name. It was a super compelling thing made out of titanium and a multi-layered dial. Well, now, they have something that’s a bit more… exclusive. This is the new Alto ART 01 Falcoln Eye.

Alto was never really good at giving dimensions to their watches. What we know is that it measures 41mm, always has, even when it was made out of grade 5 titanium. Only, the titanium case is now gone, replaced with 3N yellow gold that has the same brushed finish. But what remains unchanged is the truly impressive sapphire crystal which combines curved and faceted outer surfaces and a hemispherical inner surface, covering both the top of the watch and the two sides. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Then, there’s the dial. If you thought it was cool previously, you should see this. It still has the same stepped arrangement of plates, each smaller the one underneath it, creating a mesmerizing and dramatic hexagonal pattern. But while previous version sused brass plates, the plates in this one are made out of the falcon’s eye precious stone. It’s a deep green stone with a lot of striations in it and ti looks absolutely incredible. The hour and minute hands are also done in gold and it still has the funky counter-clockwise running seconds hand.

Inside is a micro-rotor movement created by Le Cercle des Horlogers on the same base architecture they use to make movements for Trilobe and Speake Marin. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 48 hour power reserve. It’s decorated, but not in an ornate way you might expect. Instead, you get a very geometric array of titanium bridges that have a gold coating, sitting on a beautiful deep green baseplate. The watch comes on an olive green nubuck leather strap closed with a pin buckle.

The new Alto ART 01 Falcon Eye is limited to just 12 pieces and available for preorder now. While previous versions were priced at €25,000, the gold and stone in this piece have bumped up that price significantly. But I would say it’s worth it, even at €61,500. See more on the Alto website. 

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Czapek Gives Their Sporty Antarctique Model An Impressive Tourbillon

Czapek has proven that they make a great luxury sports watch. It’s their Antarctique, which was introduced in 2020. And since then, they’ve made practically every single version one can imagine, with different dials, colors, finishes and complications. Now, as Czapek is celebrating 10 years of its revival, the brand is introducing the new Antarctique Tourbillon with a new movement and great looking dial.

The case of the new Czapek Tourbillon seems to look like the case of the regular Tourbillon, but there are slight modifications to fit the oversized tourbillon. The case measures 40.5mm wide, 11.5mm thick and still has the same barrel-shaped case with hollowed-out grooves on the sides. Only now you’ll find glass box sapphire crystals front and back, which in turn means that the bezel has been minimized. The case has a vertical brushed finish with polished bevels and central links on the integrated bracelet. Water resistance is 50 meters.

On the dial side, the first thing that will catch your eye is the incredible bridge that spans the entire width of the dial, holding up the skeletonized, lumed and curved hands. below that bridge, you’ll see the openworked flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock and at 12 is another opening in the dial to show off the barrel which is held up with an openworked bridge. Both of the bridges have hand-bevelled finishes, and the three-armed convex titanium tourbillon cage is satin-polished.

The base of the dial is made by Metalem, the damous Le Locle-based dial maker, and it has a hand-guilloché pattern on it made up of rhomboids that decrease in size as they reach the vertically aligned components in the centre of the dial. There are three versions available — the above pictured Glacier Blue, Photon Sphere which is a rose gold color, and the Secret Alloy which is a grey dial.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre 9, designed and made in-house. It beats at 3Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watches come on an integrated steel bracelet with micro-adjustment in the clasp, and a complimentary rubber or calfskin strap.

The new Czapek Antarctique Tourbillon is part of the regular collection in the Glacier Blue and Photon Sphere colors, while the Secret Alloy will be limited to 50 pieces. Price is set at CHF 63,000. See more on the Czapek website.

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The Richard Mille RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari Is Wildly Expensive

The last time we’ve seen Richard Mille work with Ferrari, the result was the crazy UP-01, a watch the thickness (and general shape) of a credit card that held the record for the thinnest watch in the world for a while. Now, the two brands are teaming up again, for a much more traditional Richard Mille that comes in with the regular high-tech you would expect from an RM and en even more outrageous price. This is the new Richard Mille RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari.

On the outside, there’s nothing that revolutionary happening on the outside. These are still tonneau shaped watches that measure 44.5mm wide, 15.8mm thick, with a 49.94mm length. This particular model comes in two case materials — either a sandblasted titanium with a Carbon TPT mid-case or a full Carbon TPT version. On the side are chunky chronograph pushers and water resistance is humble at 30 meters.

While the WR might be humble, nothing else is. Like most RM watches, there is no dial to speak of. Instead, you get a fully skeletonized movement with a bunch of functions. The running seconds are indicated by the five 12-second segment hands on the tourbillon in the bottom right. The chronograph 30-minute counter is at 9 o’clock and a power reserve indicator above it. At the top right is a torque indicator, underneath which is a crown function indicator. At the bottom left is a Ferrari plaque in the same shape as the wing of a 499P hypercar. For more Ferrari connection, the barrel jewel setting is inspired by the clutch of a V8 engine and the 30-minute chronograph counter is inspired by Ferrari dash instruments. The hour and minute hands are centrally mounted, just like the double central seconds hand, which make it a split-seconds chronograph or rattrapante.

The new Richard Mille RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari is available now but only 75 pieces will be made. Which is a lot. Like, a hell of a lot. Because these are priced at CHF 1.15 million for the titanium version and CHF 1.35 million. Incredible. See more on the Richard Mille website.

⏲️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

• Alexandra Plakias will have you squirming in your seat with this fascinating look at what we humans find disgusting. Sometimes disgust protects us, but at other times it can mislead, originating as it does in incorrect beliefs about “identity and foreign-ness.” We are drawn to the familiar, but when is it time to push through disgust to try new things? Are you ready to try your first cricket?

• The Texas-Mexico border, long misrepresented in media as a lawless and violent land, is emerging as a new backdrop for film. Local filmmakers, part of an emerging “Border New Wave” movement, are reshaping and reclaiming border narratives—and portraying life along the Rio Grande as it really is, free of cartel violence and Border Patrol conflict.

• I used to know this guy who once read an article about Blue Zones, parts of the world where people live suspiciously long, and convinced himself that he wants to live forever. And his solution was to become a very annoying vegetarian. Emphasis on the annoying. The whole story of Blue Zones was always a bit weird to me. Turns out, my hunch was spot on. The longevity doesn’t come good genes, special diets or magic radiation in certain places. It’s actually a combination of misreported data and scams when people don’t report deaths so they can continue getting pensions. Of course it is.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’ve had an incredible soft spot for the Final Destination movies. They might be my favorite bad franchise out there. And while I have doubts that this movie will be good, I’ll still see it because it was Tony Todd’s last movie. And Tony Todd was just the coolest person in horror.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk