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- Breitling's Great Colors On Superocean Heritage ‘57 Highlands, Farer Introduces Back-Lit Numerals, Lebois & Co. Brings Peak Bicompax With Black/Gold, New From Havid Nagan And Sarpaneva
Breitling's Great Colors On Superocean Heritage ‘57 Highlands, Farer Introduces Back-Lit Numerals, Lebois & Co. Brings Peak Bicompax With Black/Gold, New From Havid Nagan And Sarpaneva
We just entered the last week of It's About Time newsletters for this year. What a year it was
Vuk Radic
December 18, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 17 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. We just entered the last week of this newsletter for this year. I’ll be taking a break between Christmas and New Year, so you can expect a brief look back at the best of last year over the next four days.
If you like this newsletter, you might consider supporting it. You can do so in two ways. Forward it to someone you know loves watches and ask them to subscribe, or you can directly support it through Patreon.
In this issue:
Breitling Releases Superocean Heritage ‘57 Highlands Capsule Collection With Some Great Colors
Farer Introduces The Meredith, A New GMT With Very Interesting Back-Lit Lume Numerals
Lebois & Co. Brings Their Bi-Compax Chrongraph To It’s Peak With A Black And Gold Version
Indie Brand Havid Nagan Releases Second Watch, The Very Attractive Moonphase HN01 Lucine
Go Find A Better Lumed Dial Than The New Sarpaneva Midnight Sun, I Dare You
Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 13 seconds
👂What’s new
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After an intense year, full of some great releases (look at all the new watches with Bucherer), some spectacular releases (looking at the Top Time models), some unfortunate releases (come on, the Avenger really needed the in-house movement) and some major business news (buying Universal Geneve), Breitling could have just coasted into the next year. But in the last weeks of 2023, they showed off just one more thing. Here’s four new watches in the Breitling Superocean Heritage ’57 Highlands series, with four great new colors and tweed straps.
The new Breitling Superocean Heritage ’57 Highlands, inspired by the eponymous Scottish Highlands, comes in the same form as the regular Hertiage, meaning you get a 38mm wide and 9.35mm thick case that has a lug-to-lug of 42mm. On top is a cambered sapphire crystal and the line’s recognizable concave rotating timing bezel which is rendered in 18k red gold and with a ceramic insert that matches the color of the dial. Despite having a definitively diving look, the crown does not screw down, meaning you only get 100 meters of water resistance.
The dials, the part most inspired by the Highlands, have a sunburst finish to them and come in four colors - green, blue, a great beige that’s almost brown and a spectacular shade of mustard that looks almost orange. Really, that mustard might be one of the best colors a major manufacturer has used this year. You get triangular hour markers which along with the hands have a super mid-century-modern look.
Inside is the Breitling Caliber 10, an automatic based on the ETA 2982. It’s a fine COSC-certified chronometer with an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day, a 4Hz beat rate and a 42 hour power reserve. But the other Superocean Heritage models get the in-house movement made by Kenissi. The watches come with a stainless steel mesh bracelets, but also a new and great looking tweed-inspired fabric straps - the blue model gets a dark brown strap, the beige a lighter brown, while the green and mustard dials get a dark green strap.
The new Breitling Superocean Heritage ’57 Highlands will not be limited in number, but they will be available for a limited time only. A time that Breitling has not specified. Despite being fitted with the Caliber 10 instead of the in-house movement, the rose gold bezel bumps up the price to $6,250 all four versions. See more on the Breitling website.
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No other brand in the world, at any price point, deals with colors as Farer does. For their latest release, they decided on another GMT in their collection - another thing they do great - called the Meredith GMT with a truly unique use of lume this time.
The Meredith GMT comes after the Palmer GMT and the Lander GMT, and takes design cues from both. It comes in a round case that measures 39.5mm wide and 10.8mm thick, with brushed and polished surfaces. The lugs are short and angled. I love some of Farer’s attention to detail, like the crown that has a bronze cap with their logo.
The dial, as is traditional with Farer, is where the magic happens. The base of the dial is almost a mix between it’s two predecessors, the Palmer and the Lander, with large Arabic numerals and a raised, external, brushed ring and internal textured disc – both of which are copper coloured. There’s a short GMT hand and 24-hour scale around the inner portion of the dial, while the time telling hands are sword shaped. But the truly amazing thing is what happens with the numerals. Instead of them being filled with lume, Farer made the numerals out of X1 Super-LumiNova and then painted the top of each number. This gives it an incredible back-lit appearance as the light shines from the sides of the numbers.
Inside the watch is the familiar Sellita SW330-2 ‘Top Grade’ movement, an automatic that gets a 56-hour power reserve and is rated to be accurate to 4 seconds per day. Like other Farer watches, this one can be had on a number of different straps, but the basic blue leather straps matches with the copper dial perfectly.
The Farer Meredith GMT will be available in 100 pieces, like most Farer watches and sells for €1,460. See more on the Farer website.
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Tom van Wijlick is a Dutch entrepreneur with a seemingly simple idea that drives his business decisions - make incredibly cool, vintage-inspired, watches that sell for an accessible price and meet pretty much every demand the market has. And he’s doing good. One of the brands he owns, Airain, is developing new models in close collaboration with its fanbase and the other, Lebois & Co. is recreating some of the best designs of the past. Actually, that’s not true. Lebois has been making a wide range of watches, from modern to avant-garde, and only a year ago did they launch their Heritage Chronograph which thrust them into the limelight of vintage-revival. The Heritage Chrono came with a bi-compax setup and a number of fantastic retro colors, including the coveted salmon. Now, Lebois & Co is introducing a fifth iteration of the watch, the Heritage Chronograph Black & Gold.
The stainless steel case remains the same, meaning that it measures 39mm wide and 13.9mm thick, including the domed sapphire crystal, which is essential for the retro look. The case has a mix of brushed and polished surfaces, with a thin beveled bezel. The pushers, which look amazing, and the angled lugs have a strong and pronounced bevel to them.
While the case is the same, the dial is brand new and in competition for the best colorway with the salmon one - it’s a new black & gold colour scheme. The black dial is rendered in a glossy finish, while the Breguet-type numerals, leaf-shaped hands and all other dial elements are coloured in gold. The subdials for the small seconds and chronograph 30 minutes have a snailed finish.
Inside, and visible through the caseback, is the calibre LC-450, which is essentially a manual wound La Joux-Perret L100 series column wheel chronograph movement made for Lebois & Co. The movement beats at 28,800vph and has a great power reserve of 60 hours. Decorations are on point, as well - a blued column wheel with polished column tops and blued screws, perlage and Côtes de Genève. The watch can be had on a number of straps - a cognac or midnight blue leather or a brown, black or blue suede.
The new Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph Black & Gold is part of the permanent collection and not limited. The price is €2,800, preorders are open and deliveries are expected in January 2024. See more on the Lebois & Co. website.
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We are definitely living in the golden age of independent watch brands. The democratisation of access to production methods and complex movements have made it so that pretty much anyone with an idea and a a couple of thousand dollars can launch a successful watch brand. This, unfortunately, leads to many, many watches looking very much alike, with the same movements and ideas behind it. Then there are people like Aren Bazerkanian who runs Havid Nagan, whose first model the HN00 was very much different than everything else. Now, for their second model, Nagan is releasing their take on the moonphase called the HN01 Lucine.
The watch retains the same case as the HN00, meaning it’s made out of titanium, has a cushion shape and measures 40.2mm wide. It’s a bit thinner at 10.2mm, which is a fantastic thinness for a moonphase. There is no bezel to speak of, as the case has a huge cutout in the center and the dial is set down into its depths.
The dial is very interesting. It’s attached to a backplate with two visible and polished screws. The dial builds on the HN00’s guilloche pattern and comes in a grainy sandblasted texture that appears matte. There are two colorways to chose from - a minty green and a very light blue. The minute and hour hands are positioned off-center and the moonphase display is at 12 o’clock. That display is unlike any other you’ve seen before. It contains two photorealistic moons that float on a “mystery” style transparent sapphire wheel.
To power this function, Havid Nagan uses a Chronode base movement that has been heavily modified to include a moonphase module which has to adjusted on only one day from every 2.5 years to every 11.6 years. The movement beats at 4Hz, has a 60 hour power reserve and a bunch of decoration - hand-applied anglage and additional perlage clouds on the mainplate (both sides), skeletonized bridges and the brand applies nickel-anthracite (NAC) throughout the movement.
The HN01 Lucine will retail for $15,000, and the brand is asking for a 50% deposit with delivery expected in the third quarter of 2024. See more on the Havid Nagan website.
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When you think of Scandinavian watchmakers, you might think of clean and minimalist designs. It might, then, come as a surprise to hear that Stepan Sarpaneva is one of the most prominent indie watchmakers from Scandiavia. Because his watches are as far as you can get from clean and minimalist scandi-design. They are complex, highly detailed odes to the Scandinavian nature with very creative applications of lume. Such is his new watch, the Sarpaneva Midnight Sun which pays tribute to the endless summer days of Nothern Finland. Which is ironic, because to truly appreciate it, you need a lot of dark.
Sarpaneva often uses the same case, as he does on this model as well. It’s made from Outokumpu stainless steel from Finland, with a scalloped design and it measures 42mm wide. The lugs are super short and matched with a new(ish) Moonbridge bracelet which matches the case perfectly in both material and design.
But like most Sarpaneva watches, all the attention is on the dial. In dayliht, you see an incredibly complex mix of layers, openworked segments and plates, that make up a representation of the Moon and stars. Looking at the dial it’s easy to forget that this is a watch, as the hands blend in with the intricate dial, but you still get a beautiful hour-minute-second handset. Then, when it get’s dark, you see the insane use of Super-LumiNova in various shades of orange, blue and white, 8 colors in all, that paint a painting in glow-in-the-dark paint. It really is something else.
Inside is a modified Chronode automatic movement with a 60h power reserve and wound by a Sarpaneva Moonface rotor.
The Sarpaneva Midnight Sun is limited to just 20 pieces and I suspect they will go fast, despite the €19,000 price tag. See more on the Sarpaneva website.
🫳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 likewatches
The first key feature of the Lorca is, therefore, are its dimensions. It measures 36mm in diameter (37mm at the bezel), 44mm lug-to-lug, 11.2mm thick, and has a lug width of 19mm. Don’t worry about the latter, the bracelet the Model No.1 comes with is quite exceptional, but we’ll talk about this shortly. Given its dimensions, you might be surprised, just like I was, to learn that the Model No.1 GMT boasts 200 metres of water resistance thanks to a screw-down crown and case-back. And you might be even further surprised to hear that the 11.2mm of thickness includes a double-domed sapphire crystal which gives the Model No.1 a touch of vintage aesthetics which perfectly matches its reasonable dimensions.
⏲️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
A journalism that starts out assuming it knows the answers can be far less valuable to the reader than a journalism that starts out with a humbling awareness that it knows nothing. Exactly this is happening to The New York Times, the most important newspaper in the world. The Times is becoming the publication through which America’s progressive elite talks to itself about an America that does not really exist.
On the Run With Pussy RiotForced to flee Russia, the dissidents fight Putin from abroad, one blistering punk show at a time.
As the US boosts production of silicon chips, an American journalist goes inside TSMC, the mysterious Taiwanese company at the center of the global industry.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
You know that feeling where one of your streaming services or cable providers recommends a movie you’ve seen many times and you’re debating whether to watch it again. Yeah, don’t hesitate, don’t debate, watch it. You know you will love it. It happened to me the other day, when my cable provider said I should rewatch Aposcalypse Now. Not only was it as close to perfect as a movie can get, it reminded me of the crazy stories of the PBR, the patrol boat river, a unique river patrol boat that became iconic in the Vietnam war. Just watch the video to see what I mean.
💵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
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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