Christopher Ward Adds GMT To Their C60 Trident Pro 300 Range; New MoonSwatch Is Blue Moon Themed; Raven Brings Back Trekker 39; Junghans Updates Their Chrono; Horage Solves Watch Regulation

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Horage has been on the very top of my list of very cool watches. With their latest innovation, things are really stepping up for them.

In this issue:

• Christopher Ward Brings The GMT Complication To Their Professional Dive Watch Trident Range

• Swatch Continues Cranking Out MoonSwatch Variants, Now A Super Blue Moonphase

• Raven Brings Back Their Mid-Sized Tool Watch, The Trekker 39 With Three New Colorways

• Junghans Gives Their Iconic Chronograph An Even Sportier Look And New Steel Bracelet

• Horage’s Revolution 3 MicroReg Is A Completely Radical New Way Of Watch Regulation

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 31 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Christopher Ward Brings The GMT Complication To Their Professional Dive Watch Trident Range

What a good month July has been for Christopher Ward. Not only are they leaning into the summer months with a wild looking (and real) C65 Super Compressor Elite, but they’re wholly embracing them with the new 38mm case size for the The Twelve Ice Cream Collection which brings summer-themed pastel colors to one of the brands best watches. Now, they are updating one of their original divers with a complication that it’s actually puzzling that it didn’t already heave. The watch is the C60 Trident Pro 300 and the complication is the GMT, coming next week in three colorways.

The C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT uses the familiar light-catcher of the regular Trident and that’s just fine as it’s pretty sure that it’s a good idea not to fix what’s not broken. The brushed and polished steel case measures 40mm wide, a comfortable 11.8mm thick and with a 47.4mm lug-to-lug. On top is a bi-directional coin-edge bezel that has a 24-hour scale — allowing for the tracking of a third time zone — that’s different on all three watches - two get bi-color ceramic inserts with lumed markings and one has a steel insert with a grained surface and polished markers in relief. As the name suggests, water resistance is 300 meters.

The dials are also very similar to the non-GMT versions, so a quick glance might tell you that this is a GMT update to the regular C60 Trident Pro 300 collection, which works just fine. But you also get new colors, which are pretty good. There’s a blue dial with a dark and light blue insert, as well as a light blue GMT hand; there’s a white dial with a blue and white insert on the bezel and a light GMT hand; and lastly, my favorite, a gradient dial that goes from turquoise on the edges to a cream centre and a yellow GMT hand.

Inside, and to no one’s surprise is a movement from Sellita, this one is the SW330-2 automatic movement with a GMT function. Being a caller GMT you adjust the GMT hand independently. It beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on either a FKM rubber strap they called the Aquaflex, on the three-link Bader or the five link Consort steel bracelet and both of the bracelets have microadjust on the clasp.

The new Christopher Ward C60 Trident Pro 300 GMT is still not on sale, but will be made available on next Thursday. Price will be right about €1,295 for the watch on the rubber strap, €1,495 on the Bader bracelet and €1,540 on the consort. Like I said, these watches go on sale in a bit under a week and will only then make their way to the website.

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Swatch Continues Cranking Out MoonSwatch Variants, Now A Super Blue Moonphase

Following a hugely successful launch year in which they sold more than a million watches, the Swatch x Omega Bioceramic MoonSwatch faltered a bit last year. This was mostly due to the fact that Swatch chose a super weird approach of aligning the releases with full moons, using only one color with almost imperceptible differences between releases and an overall lack of enthusiasm. I guess they realised this was a bad move, as they kicked it into high gear this year. First, there were the white and black releases that included not just a moonphase complication, but also brought the Snoopy to the controversial collaboration. That was followed by three new fantastic colors of the regular MoonSwatch. Now, we’re getting a new release, the MoonSwatch Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase, which looks pretty good in a blue case, but is veering closely to the craziness of last year’s releases. Fingers crossed they don’t go down that path again.

The MoonSwatch Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase is, according to Swatch, here to “celebrate the festive and joyful atmosphere of sunny days back at the beach, but also highlights the full blue moon on August 19, the first super moon of the year.” So, you might have already got that this watch is based on the Mission to the Moonphase models that featured the Snoopy. However, this one gets a fully blue dial, a nicely contrasted beige dial and it ditches the beloved cartoon character for a more photorealistic blue-tinged moon. Gone too is the Snoopy footprint from the battery cover on the caseback. But a bigger change can be found on the bezel, as it’s perhaps the biggest departure from the original Moonwatch. Ever since its inception, the Speedmaster (save for a few lesser known editions) has had a tachymeter scale on the bezel. The Super Blue Moonphase ditches that for a pulsometer. I’m not exactly sure why, but can’t wait to find out.

The one issue where Swatch is skating too close to the woo-woo of the moon stuff from last year is the fact that the Super Blue Moonphase will be available only from August 1st to August 19th, which is the date of the full moon, and you can buy them from Swatch store only after 5 pm. A bit cringey.

The watch comes on the familiar velcro strap that’s blue and it’s priced at $310. See more on the Swatch website.

3/

Raven Brings Back Their Mid-Sized Tool Watch, The Trekker 39 With Three New Colorways

With the explosion of independent and micro brands over the past 15 years, it’s easy to forget the brands that were here way back when it wasn’t that easy to start a watch brand. There weren’t any Chinese agents that will put you in touch with the best factories, Swiss-made off-the-shelf movements weren’t as ubiquitous and Kickstarter wasn’t around. One of the brands that launched in those dark times, way back in 2008, was Raven. In 2016, the brand released the 40mm Trekker, a slab sided tool watch. In 2021, they completely redesigned it, shrunk it down and made an even better piece. Those watches sold out, but Raven is bringing them back for 2024 with new colorways.

The Trekker is a simple watch. Made out of brushed (and polished) stainless steel, it has a classic look to it, measuring 40mm wide, 12.5mm thick and has a 48.5mm lug-to-lug. That’s a bit of a departure from the original Trekker, slimming down 1mm, but also gaining a millimetre in the length dimension. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal, and the thinning down resulted in a slightly lower water resistance — 200 meters. There are three versions of the new Trekker variants — Matte Black, Gloss Grey and Vintage Blue. The Matte Black gets a matte black DLC coated steel bezel and crown (and will also be available in a brushed steel case, or a matte sand blasted steel case), while the Gloss Grey and Gloss Blue get a gloss grey or gloss blue ceramic bezel.

The dials on the three models are all a bit subdued to work with the tool watch aesthetic, with a couple of bright details. The Matte Black gets, no surprise, a matte black dial, yellow accents, white hands and has no date aperture, unlike the other two. The Gloss Grey has a gloss grey dial with polished raised indices and a 3:00 date, along with an orange second hand and orange accents. And last, the Vintage Blue has a gloss navy blue dial, reminiscent of the original Raven Vintage which was first produced in 2012, with raised and polished indices.

Inside are variations of the same movement. The blue and grey get the Miyota 9015 Automatic movement with a date complication, while the no-date matte black gets the Miyota 9039. They both beat at 4Hz and have a power reserve of 42 hours. Accuracy is rated at -10 to +20 seconds per day. All three watches come on a stainless steel bracelet that features the NODEX adjustable clasp.

The three new Raven Trekker watches are available for pre-order right now, with the Gloss Grey and Matte Black being limited to 100 pieces, and the Vintage Blue having no noted limitations. The pre-order price is the same for all three watches — $600 — and the price will go up to $650 after the pre-order window closes. The watches are expected to ship in September. See more on the Raven website.

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Junghans Gives Their Iconic Chronograph An Even Sportier Look And New Steel Bracelet

Being known for their Bauhaus-inspired Max Bill watch that just oozes mid-century style, it’s easy to forget that Junghans has been around since the middle of the 19th century and have been making everything from clocks, flight instruments to pilot’s watches and chronographs in the meantime. Looking past the Max Bill and you will notice their legendary Meister Chronoscope chronograph that can usually work in a sports and less-sporty occasion. Their latest version gets even more sporty and gets a new good looking steel bracelet.

While Junghans made the Meister Chronoscope for a while in a really large size, they downsized it a bit lately and now offer it in a 40.7mm wide and 13.9mm thick, all polished steel case. It’s very pronouncedly round, with relatively short lugs that heavily curve down, making the watch look like it was moulded to your hand. On top is a heavily domed sapphire crystal and since the watch has an impossibly thin bezel, it’s all dial for this watch. Water resistance is a bit meh for a sports watch at 50 meters.

But speaking od the dial, you get a smoked dark grey dial with a slight of a gradient from dark grey on the outside to a lighter shade in the middle. This is offset with bright yellow varnish on the sub-dial hands. Mimicking the curves of the case, the dial is also curved, while the sub-dials are bowl-shaped. The sub-dials have a 6-9-12 setup, with a day-date function at 3 o’clock. The Dauphine-shaped hands are polished.

Inside is the Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph, a cam-style chronograph movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a brand new stainless steel bracelet that is available only on the Meister Chronoscope. Brushed and polished, it has a multi-link construction.

The new Junghans Meister Chronoscope is available for purchase right now for €2,850. See more on the Junghans website.

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Horage’s Revolution 3 MicroReg Is A Completely Radical New Way Of Watch Regulation

Mechanical watches have been around for hundreds of years and have been perfected bit by bit over time. But in essence, we are making incremental changes, without any major moves in decades. It’s interesting to think about the huge amount of effort we have put towards perfecting something that is inherently imperfect and very much susceptible to environmental factors. And every now and again, a company does make a breakthrough that pushes up one huge step close to more perfection in the imperfect system. One of the most important factors for precise timekeeping is regulation which in essence adjusts the length of a balance spring to make it run faster or slower in order to reduce inaccuracies.

But the problem with regulation is that you can’t exactly predict the environment the watch will live in. Humidity, temperature, even magnetic fields from everyday things like speakers affect regulation, which is why brands usually state their accuracy as a range of seconds that it deviates from zero throughout the day. In an ideal world, the watchmaker would be able to regulate the watch in your home, but that just wouldn’t make any sense. Only, Horage believes they can solve this issue.

To solve it, they have the Horage MicroReg device which will be part of the Revolution 3 MicroReg watch. The watch has two ports at 4 and 10 o’clock which line up with the device, which will then allow you to regulate the movement by plus or minus 0.1 second with the press of a button, without having special tools and without opening the case. Horage do advise that some horological knowledge may be required in order to understand the degrees to which it should be regulated in order to achieve accuracy, but the act of using the adjustment tool is itself simple.

There are so many cool things about this device. First, it doesn’t create any additional draw on the system, as it’s only engaged when the adjustment tool is connected. Second, it’s a tiny addition to the movement, which means that in theory it should be possible to fit it to almost any movement.

And to show this contraption off, Horage went all out with a crazy design. The Revolution 3 MicroReg doesn’t have a traditional dial at all. Instead, Horage got rid of the dial and flipped the movement over to show what would be the underside through the top crystal, so you can see the movement in constant action. Housed in their familiar 42mm steel case, the time is told with a small aperture at 6 o’clock with a rotating disc that shows the time, with hours marked alongside five-minute intervals. But you will be focusing more on the micro-rotor at 9 o’clock, above which is the MicroReg device. Interestingly, because the movement is flipped, the exhibition caseback reveals a timekeeping display with hours, minutes and seconds.

This looks like a futuristic watch and it is, as it won’t be available for at least another two years. Horage believes they will be able to deliver the watches in late summer 2026. But you want to know what the cool thing is? The price. This is not a multi-dozen-thousand Swiss Franc watch. Buy it now, while they offer a Founder’s edition, and you will spend CHF 3,900, which seems like an amazing deal. However, if you’re in love with the tech, but don’t like the watch/don’t want to spend CHF 3,900, you can become a Founder Supporter for CHF 150 to receive a CHF 300 voucher at launch for use across the Horage webstore, supporting the project without spending too much. It’s just incredible. See more on the Horage website.

🫳On hand

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A review of the limited-edition Citizen The Citizen AQ4100-65L

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Could the French Neotype LM02 Type C be the ultimate multipurpose tool watch?

Tool watches are generally understood to be larger, better built, and more versatile than everyday watches. They are also typically endowed with a more utilitarian design so that they can more easily fulfill their purpose-oriented tasks. The case of the Neotype LM02 Type C is the first clue as to what type of watch we’re dealing with today, both because of the way it looks – its design and dimensions – as well as how it’s made. Dimension-wise, we’re dealing with a diameter of 41mm, a lug-to-lug of 48.5mm, a total thickness of 13.80mm, and a lug width of 22mm. These relatively generous measurements are paired with 200 metres of water resistance (screw-down crown, pushers, and case-back), as well as a 3.5mm-thick double-domed sapphire crystal.

Read the whole review on Time + Tide

⏲️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

• At the tap of a buyer’s smartphone, Chinese chemical sellers will air-ship fentanyl ingredients door-to-door to North America. Reuters purchased enough to make 3 million pills. Such deals are astonishingly easy – and reveal how drug traffickers are eluding efforts to halt the deadly trade behind the fentanyl crisis.

• One of the United States’ finest chroniclers of gun violence embedded with Michigan prosecutors as they pursued homicide charges against Jennifer and James Crumbley, whose son killed four students at Oxford High School. The result is a riveting legal narrative centered on Karen McDonald, the chief prosecutor in the cases.

• Thirty-seven years ago, Ryan Nourai’s mother was kidnapped, brutalized, and shot in the head. She would go on to have a son, with whom she shared some—if not all—of what she had endured. Now, after her death, Nourai writes how he came back to her ordeal, tracing her steps and even tracking down the men responsible. A tough read at times, but a tender one.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I may be repeating myself because I just posted a Hot Ones video, but I don’t care. This is Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds on the show. This is epic.

💵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

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• 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