Citizen Adds Colors To 37mm Promaster Dive; Another Nomos For Doctors Without Borders; Nivada's Green Antarctic Diver; The Glassbox, Now With Diamonds; Colorful Hublots; Two New Gerald Charles'

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. What a week of watches. TAG Heuer really is setting themselves up for another great year. But today, it’s all about this Promaster Dive. I think Citizen would make a killing if they started cranking out a bunch of these smaller ones.

In this issue:

• Citizen Equips The 37mm Promaster Dive With Sunray Brushed Dials And Monochrome Bezels

• Nomos Releases Another Limited Edition For Doctors Without Borders, This Time The Ludwig

• Nivada Grenchen’s New Green Dialed Antarctic Diver Is One Of Their Best

• TAG Heuer Hides A Lot Of Diamonds Underneath The Glassbox Crystal Of The Carrera

• Hublot Brings Colorful Ceramic Cases To The Spirit of Big Bang Chronograph

• Gerald Charles Celebrates 25th Anniversary With New Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin and Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon

👂What’s new

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Citizen Equips The 37mm Promaster Dive With Sunray Brushed Dials And Monochrome Bezels

The Citizen Promaster Dive sits very comfortably on the Mount Rushmore of dive watch legends. It’s tough, good looking, affordable and versatile. But at 44mm wide, it’s a chunky boy that scares off a lot of people. No worries, though, as Citizen also has a smaller version, one that’s significantly easier to wear. And sure, on their website, Citizen calls these women’s models, but that’s just silly. Look at them. Now, we’re getting three new colorways for the smaller Promaster Dive, and they’re very nice.

The smaller case of the Promaster Dive measures 36.5mm, a significant reduction even from the rather rare mid-size model that measures 42mm. But despite the smaller size, it’s still a very capable watch. It has a fully brushed finish on the stainless steel case, with a matching unidirectional bezel on top. The scale on the bezel is fully graduated and color matched to the dials, with the iconic lumed pip at 12. Unfortunately, you still get mineral glass on top, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a smashed crystal on a Promaster Dive. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The three new dials are available in either red, blue or purple, with all three leaning a bit towards the pastel side. They all have a sunray brush to them, applied markers and the iconic oversized lumed hands. There’s a white chapter ring around the entire dial and a date window sits at 4 o’clock with a white date disc.

Inside, you’ll find the Eco-Drive E168 movement, one of Citizen’s solar powered quartz movements that essentially means you never have to change the batter. The red and purple models come on a stainless steel 3-link bracelet and a signed folding clasp, while the blue-dial version comes on a matching blue rubber strap with a steel pin buckle.

The new 37mm Citizen Promaster Dive models join the regular collection and are priced at $375 on rubber and $450 on the steel bracelet. See more on the Citizen website.

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Nomos Releases Another Limited Edition For Doctors Without Borders, This Time The Ludwig

For 13 years now, Nomos Glashütte has been releasing limited editions watches in association with Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders. Proceeds from these editions are donated to the named charity and so far, more than €1.3 million has been raised. That’s more than respectable. Nomos just introduced the latest of the limited editions, this time in their Ludwig dress watch, available in two sizes and the already iconic red 12, which has appeared on all MSF limited editions.

In a sea of minimalist and elegant watches, the Ludwig might be the most elegant of them all. It’s a fully round case, made out of polished stainless steel, with slender lugs that stick out pretty far out. The two sizes the LE comes in are 36.4mm and 38.5mm, with both measuring in at 7mm thick. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom, and water resistance is 50 meters.

The dials are practically identical on the two models. You get a stark white dial with a black minute scale on the periphery, along with black painted hour markers — a combination of thin stick markers and Roman numerals. The only color comes in the form of a red numeral XII. The rest of the printing is also black, with the ‘Made in Germany’ text on the very edge of the dial at 6 o’clock replaced by Ärzte ohne Grenzen’, German for Doctors Without Borders. There’s also a small seconds dial at 6 o’clock.

Inside you’ll find the ultra slim in-house DUW 3001, which measures just 3.2mm thick, pretty cool for an automatic. The movement beats at 21,600vph and has a 43 hour power reserve. It’s also fairly nice, in a Glashütte-way, with ribbing on the three-quarter plate, tempered blued screws and perlage. The wathces come on a black leather strap.

The new Nomos Ludwig Neomatik X Doctors Without Borders watches are limited to 250 pieces per size and priced at €2,880 for the smaller and €3,050 for the larger. According to Christian Katzer, executive director for MSF Germany, the EUR 125,000 raised by sales of the Nomos Ludwig is supposed to provide therapeutic food to treat 4,460 acutely malnourished children. See more on the Nomos website.

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Nivada Grenchen’s New Green Dialed Antarctic Diver Is One Of Their Best

The whole philosophy behind the modern iteration of Nivada Grenchen is to recreate the best watches from the vast catalogue of the company. And it’s a philosophy I can get behind. Because all of a sudden, we are getting these wonderfully designed vintage watches, with none of the downsides of a vintage watch — these are robust and easily servicable watches with the charm of the 50s and 60s. Two years ago, they brought back one of their first watches ever, the 1950s Antarctic Diver. While looking like a mid-century diver, it came with a matte black dial and was a nice watch. But their update to the Antarctic Diver is just fantastic, with a sunray brushed green dial and a couple of cool details.

On the outside, very little has changed. It’s still a very classic skin-diver watch that measures 38mm wide, 12.9mm thick and with a 45mm lug-to-lug. Despite the short lug-to-lug, the lugs look fairly long and pointy, likely because they are thin. On top is a unidirectional bezel with a ceramic insert that has a fully-graduated 60-minute scale. The bezel surrounds a double-domed sapphire crystal. The crown screws down, just like the caseback, giving you 200 meters of water resistance.

But this watch is all about the dial. It’s a deep, deep emerald green, with a sunray brushed finish, interrupted by the Antarctic Diver in cursive text, along with a combination of applied and painted rectangles, all with beige Super-LumiNova. Gone is the crosshair on the dial, but it keeps the blocky silver brushed hands. You also get a choice whether to have a nicely framed date aperture, or no date at all.

Inside is the modern Soprod P024, an increasingly popular clone of the ETA 2824-2. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on a slew of leather or rubber straps or an option of a beads of rice or flat link stainless steel bracelet.

The new Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Diver Green is, unfortunately, a limited edition, with 75 dates and 75 no-dates being made. The watch goes on sale January 30th and it’s priced at €955. See more on the Nivada Grenchen website.

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TAG Heuer Hides A Lot Of Diamonds Underneath The Glassbox Crystal Of The Carrera

When you have a blockbuster watch, you make as many versions of it as you can until people are sick of it and you move on. That’s what big watch brands do, and we will not be changing their mind any time soon. Take, for example, the TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox. It’s a wonderful retro chrono that became a runaway hit, mostly because of its insanely good looks. Well, now we’re getting the first big departure from the formula that made the Glassbox a success in order to see how far the collection can be pushed. These are the two new Carrera Chronograph Glassbox editions that replace the tachymeter scale underneath the crystal with a row of diamonds. Do I love it? Not, it’s certainly not for me. Do I hate it? Absolutely not, I actually think it works great.

TAG is using the smaller of the two glassbox cases, meaning that it measures 39mm wide and 13.86mm thick. You get the same faceted lugs, hugely domed sapphire crystal that extends to the edge of the case, brushed and polished surfaces, as well as a 100 meter water resistance.

There are two options for the dial — dark blue or powder pink, both with a circular brushed finish — and it has the same setup as a regular Glassbox, with 30 minute and 12 hour silver-framed totalizers at 3 and 9 o’clock, and a printed seconds counter at 6 o’clock. But, while other Glassbox models have a tachymetre scale printed on the raised flange on the edge of the dial, these ones feature 72 brilliant-cut diamonds. It actually looks very impressive, especially magnified by the domed crystal.

Inside is calibre TH20-00, an evolution of the Heuer 02 with a vertical clutch and column wheel. It has a pretty great 80 hour power reserve and is visible through the caseback. The watches come on either a dark blue alligator strap or a pink calfskin strap.

The new diamond-studded Carrera Chronograph Glassbox models are available for purchase now and are part of the regular collection. The pink version is priced at CHF 8,400, while the blue is just slightly more expensive at CHF 8,500. See more on the TAG Heuer website.

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Hublot Brings Colorful Ceramic Cases To The Spirit of Big Bang Chronograph

The Big Bang is likely the most popular Hublot collection, and for good reason. It’s the epitome of everything that Hublot is good at — large, statement piece, watches, modern materials, interesting movements… So, the Spirit of Big Bang collection was a very welcomed addition to the brand when it was introduced 10 years ago. It took the same basics — modern materials and interesting movements, but packaged into a uniquely different case, one that’s tonneau shaped. And while the Big Bang got a lot of colored ceramic cases, this has evaded the Spirit of Big Bang collection. Until now. The Spirit of Big Bang collection just got three new ceramic colors.

The new Spirit of Big Bang Chronographs come in a barrel shaped case that measures 42mm wide and 14.1mm thick. The cases, as well as the bezels and caseback, are made out of ceramic with three colors available — Sand Beige, Dark Green and Sky Blue. The ceramic is micro-blasted with polished details all over the watch. Despite the complex construction and even the caseback being made out of ceramic, you still get 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial looks just as familiar as the case, but with the new colors. It’s a skeletonized dial, with skeletonized hour and minutes hands, counters at 3 and 6 for the chronograph function and a running seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock. The chronograph central seconds hand with an open tip and the familiar H-logo counterweight.

The movement you see through the dial is the skeletonized chronograph calibre HUB4700, which is a modified Zenith El Primero. But it’s heavily modified, with a low-friction silicon escape wheel. It beats at 36,000vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. The watches come on black rubber straps with color matched central inlays.

The new colored Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Chronographs are limited edition, with only 200 made of each. Price is set at €28,500, regardless of color. See more on the Hublot website.

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Gerald Charles Celebrates 25th Anniversary With New Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin and Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon

Yesterday, I wrote about a new watch from Gerald Genta, the brand started by legendary designer Gerald Genta that hasn’t been under his control for at least a decade before his death as he sold the company. Today, we have two new watches from a company that he founded right after he sold the eponymous brand — Gerald Charles. It’s been 25 years since the brand was started and they are celebrating with two new models, the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin with a lapis lazuli stone dial and the Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon with an incredible hand-hammered gold dial.

Staring with the Ultra-Thin, it comes in the instantly recognizable Maestro stainless steel case that features an almost octagonal-square case, if it weren’t for the bump at the bottom of the case which introduces a significant curve. The case measures 39mm wide and just 8.7mm thick. The case is fully polished, as a dress watch should be. But unlike a dress watch, it has a heavily knurled crown that screws down to give you 100 meters of water resistance. On top is a sort of stepped bezel, with the one closer to the dial getting a blue Colormix galvanic coating.

That blue echoes the dial, which is made out of a beautiful blue lapis lazuli stone. On the periphery is a printed white railway-style minutes track, and you get applied baton and dot hour markers, lumed, just like the hands. At 6 o’clock is an opening for a date, with a blue disc.

Inside, you’ll find the ultra-slim automatic Vaucher calibre GCA 3002 movement that beats at 4Hz and has twin barrels to give you a 50-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue rubber strap with a Clou de Paris embossed pattern. Price is set at €23,100. See more on the Gerald Charles website.

Then, there’s the Maestro 9.0 Roman Tourbillon, kind of a jaw-dropping thing. It comes in pretty much the same sized case, but a bit thicker at 9.3mm. The case is steel and polished, but on top is a stepped titanium bezel with the same blue Colormix coating. However, things get wild when you get to the dial. It’s made out of 18k white gold, and then hand-hammered to create a wonderful radiating pattern of uneven lines, almost like what you would get if you tried to straighten out crumpled up tin foil. The hour and minute hands are filled with white Super-LumiNova and outlined in blue, just like the Roman indices at 12, 3 and 9. At 6 o’clock you’ll see the 60-second flying tourbillon with a gold tourbillon bridge and a titanium GC logo-shaped cage.

Powering all of this is the calibre GCA 3024/12, once again a Vaucher automatic movement with a rose gold honeycomb rotor. It beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue alligator strap and it’s limited to 50 pieces. Price is set at €122,000. See more on the brand 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

• Ready for a wild ride? For FT Magazine, Miles Johnson tells an epic story about a man, Paul Lambrino, who had claimed for years to be the grandson of King Carol II and the heir to the defunct Romanian royal throne. In 2006, “Prince Paul” was contacted by a man who said he could make Paul’s dreams a reality; the man represented a group of international investors who had the legal and financial resources to back Paul and his wife Lia as he pursued his claim to the throne. In return, the group’s company, Reciplia, asked for half of any royal assets they won. Johnson’s piece is as intriguing as it sounds—an international intrigue thriller you can’t stop reading until the end.

• Koko the gorilla and her facility with sign language have met their Very Online counterpart: “talking buttons” that humans train animals to use in order to communicate their wants and needs. Are they a conduit to our pets’ consciousness, or just a testament to our ability to see patterns where we want to see patterns? Camille Bromley talks to the true believers and the skeptics—both inside and outside the research community—to find the truth about doggy dialog.

• For Sapiens, Kirsten Bell explores laughter as a social, cultural, and cross-species phenomenon. As she examines why what we find amusing is sometimes associated with good (or bad!) taste, she suggests that sometimes busting out is well beyond our conscious control.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Did I already share this here? I’m not sure. But even if I had, enjoy some good music this weekend. Trust me, this is like nothing you are expecting.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk