Citizen Brings Back The Bullhead, This Time In Titanium; TAG Releases Reverse Panda Glassbox Tourbillon; Vero Repeats Smokey Bear Watches; Vacheron Constantin Pays Tribute To Chinese Culture

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I hope you had the chance to take a summer break, the people in Switzerland all did. So we don’t really have a lot of watches this week. It looks like we’ll probably have one or maybe two more editions this week, but let’s keep it light and see where it takes us.

And a quick side-note: I love you all and this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without the help of all of you. To pay you back just a tiny bit, and since there's not that much going on in terms of releases, I unlocked my last look into the history of watchmaking on Patreon so you have something to read. It’s the pretty incredible and mostly true story of the ruthless and revered Pasha of Marrakech and how the modern Pasha de Cartier was inspired by his life. Or maybe it wasn’t. Oh, and give the red box a read:

In this issue:

• Citizen Brings Back The Bullhead With A Racing Inspired Shiny Case And Equally Shiny Blue Dial

• TAG Heuer Releases Reverse Panda Carrera Tourbillon For Watches Of Switzerland

• Vero Teams Up With Smokey Bear One More Time To Celebrate 80 Years Of The Campaign

• Vacheron Constantin Pays Tribute To Chinese Culture And Art With New Metiers d’Art Collection

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 27 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Citizen Brings Back The Bullhead With A Racing Inspired Shiny Case And Equally Shiny Blue Dial

Among the absolutely massive catalogue of Citizen watches, one case shape stands on a particularly high pedestal of coolness — the bullhead. Introduced in 1973, the bullhead is special for its placement of crown and chronograph pushers at the top of the watch, instead of at the more traditional 3 o’clock. These sporty watches quickly earned a cult following, but Citizen refuses to keep them in standard rotation. The bullheads come and go, often as limited editions, which is a shame as 70s and 80s watches are all the rage these days and could make Citizen quite the few bucks. Alas, we are in the middle of another bullhead revival, as Citizen releases the Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L with a hand-assembled movement and a very flamboyant angular case made out of Super Titanium.

Like most bullhead watches from Citizen, this is a huge watch. It measures 43.3mm wide and 14.85mm thick. I can’t find the exact lug-to-lug measurement, but if similarly sized bullhead models that have integrated lugs are something to go on, it could be in the 48mm range, which is not that bad. That relatively reasonable lug-to-lug, combined with the fact that it’s made out of Citizen’s Super Titanium alloy and therefore very light, likely makes for an easy cary. The whole thing is made up of sharp angles, polished surfaces and facets. On top is a flat sapphire crystal and you get those very cool pushers on top, along with a screw-down crown. But those on top are not the only pushers and crown on the watch. There’s a secondary crown at 5 o’clock that’s a combination crown/pusher used to set and activate the alarm and at 7 o’clock you’ll find a deeply recessed button that resets the watch to factory settings. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The dial is super complicated at a glance, but it gets easier to understand the longer you look at it. On the very edge of the dial is a black tachymeter scale, while the internal part of the dial gets a bright blue surface with black registers punctuated by red and white markings. There’s an on/off indicator for the alarm at 4:30, a date window at the crazy 1:30 position, 60-minute counter for the chronograph at 12 o’clock, a 12-hour totalizer at 6, a power reserve at 9 and a running seconds at 3 o’clock.

The fundamental layout of the dial fitted to the Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L follows in the footsteps of its 50th-anniversary sibling, with a quartet of registers, an on/off indicator for the alarm at 4:30, and a date window placed at the rather unusual 1:30 location. Regarding the dial layout itself, a 60-minute counter for the chronograph sits at 12 o’clock, while a 12-hour totalizer resides on the opposite side at the 6 o’clock position. Additionally, the 3 o’clock sub-dial serves as a running seconds display, a power reserve indicator occupies the register at 9 o’clock, and surrounding the outermost periphery of the dial is a contrasting black tachymeter scale, which is used in conjunction with the centrally-mounted chronograph seconds hand.

Powering all of this is the hand-assembled Caliber E210 Eco-Drive movement, a light-powered movement that has a meca-quartz flyback chronograph with a programable alarm and power reserve indicator. You don’t get radio-controlled timekeeping or a perpetual calendar, but it will be accurate to 15 seconds per month. The watch comes on a black racing-style perforated leather strap, completing the car-theme.

The new Citizen Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L is limited to 2,500 pieces and priced at $1,195. See more on the Citizen website.

2/

TAG Heuer Releases Reverse Panda Carrera Tourbillon For Watches Of Switzerland

TAG Heuer is having a good couple of days. Last week they launched with Hodinkee a recreation of the Seafarer, the legendary regatta timer they made for Abercrombie and Fitch in the 1960s. Yesterday, their partner Watches of Switzerland unveiled their latest collaboration, the Carrera Tourbillon in a Glassbox form factor and with a reverse panda setup. Watches of Switzerland, if you didn’t know, is the largest UK retailer that has expanded to the EU and to the United States where they have a significant presence, making them one of the largest watch retailers in the world. And they’ve been around for a while. In fact, they have been celebrating their 100th anniversary this entire year. And this very limited release is part of that celebration.

To house both a chronograph and tourbillon, TAG needed a lot of space. Which is why this watch comes in a case that’s slightly larger than the regular glassbox case. It grows in both width (to 42mm) and thickness (to 14.3mm), but manages to keep a relatively compact lug-to-lug of 48mm. The thick profile of the watch gets a polished finish, but from the front you don’t see anything else except for that beautiful dial. The beauty of the Glassbox Carrera lies in that incredible crystal which is heavily domed and pushed all the way to the very edge of the case, incorporating in it an internal bezel with the 60-second/minute scale in a brushed silver with a very nice red stripe on the very edge. The rest remains much the same, with vintage style pushers and a 100 meter water resistance.

The dial is a standard TAG affair. A purely black base is interrupted only by the two sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock that are silver for a reverse panda effect and a tourbillon opening at the 6 o’clock position. The sub-dials at 3 and 9 have a snailed finish. This is a very recognisable dial, with applied indices at the hour positions, polished hands with lume and a red central chronograph hand.

Inside is the TH20-09 movement, an evolution of the Heuer 02 launched in 2016. The movement is a column-wheel chronograph, has bi-directional winding, beats at 4Hz and has a 80 hour power reserve. It’s COSC chronometer-certified and it has a redesigned rotor that now looks like a coat of arms from the TAG Heuer logo. The watch comes on a black alligator leather strap.

Only 10 pieces of this Watches of Switzerland TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon will be made, at a price of $25,250. See more on the WoS website.

3/

Vero Teams Up With Smokey Bear One More Time To Celebrate 80 Years Of The Campaign

Last year, the American brand Vero killed it with their collaboration with one of the most famous bear in the world, Smokey Bear. The bear has been an iconic figure in promoting fire safety and prevention and the watches were a huge hit, selling out quickly. A year later, and the Smokey Bear campaign is celebrating 80 years, making it by far the longest running public service announcement campaign in United States history, and Vero is back with two new Smokey Bear watches, this time in bronze.

The new Smokey Bear watches take on the same form as the previous one, which would mean you get a very traditional field watch, exactly what Smokey Bear would wear while patrolling the forests. The case measures 38mm wide, 12mm thick, with a 46mm lug-to-lug, and it’s made out of bronze and has a satin finish. Vero points out that the bronze will develop a natural patina over time, giving each watch a distinctive character. On top is a flat sapphire crystal and water resistance is 120 meters.

As for the dials, they take on what was the clear favorite of the two watches from last year, and include the Smokey Bear head on both dials. You can get the dial in either a forest green and a navy blue, both of which have a slightly grained surface. On the periphery is a railway track for the minutes printed in a burnt orange color, the same color that’s used for an outline for the lumed numerals. On the inside of the dial is a secondary hour scale in 24-hour format. At the 12 o’clock position is the Smokey Bear head with the iconic “only you” text right beneath it.

Inside both watches is the Seiko’s NH38 automatic. It’s a simple and very affordable movement that beats at 3Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. Both watches come on light brown leather straps with quick release spring bars, with an additional black canvas NATO strap.

The new Vero Smokey Bear watches are available now and depending on when you order it, your delivery date might change as Vero does staggered releases. If you order it now, shipping will start August 22. Batch 3 will start deliveries September 3rd and batch 4 will start September 12th. Price is set at $550. See more on the Vero website.

4/

Vacheron Constantin Pays Tribute To Chinese Culture And Art With New Metiers d’Art Collection

In 2022, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations collection, a quartet of limited-edition watches inspired by masterpieces from the Louvre. It wasn’t the first such collection from VC, and surely not the last. Because now were’t getting the Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Tribute to Traditional Symbols Eternal Flow and Moonlight Slivers, a series of four watches that pay homage to Chinese art and cultural heritage.

The four watches are split up between two dial designs and two case materials. All four watches feature two different approaches to portraying Seawater Cliffs with different techniques and stylisations. Seawater Cliffs are an often seen motif dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, most common on Imperial robes as the combination of protruding mountains rising from the sea symbolised the emperor’s strength.

Starting off with the two watches that carry the name Eternal Flow, available in 39mm wide white or pink gold cases. Both have a hand-engraved bezel with long swirling lines that are representative of bats’ wings, as bats are symbols of happiness. The dials are brightly colored and made out of cloisonné enamel — a technique that originated in China — featuring a mountain rising from tidal waves and surrounded by ginger bud plants. In the Chinese language tide and dynasty are homonyms while the word cliff can also mean ginger bud.

Then there’s the Moonlight Sliver models. Both also come in 39mm wide white or pink gold cases, but these get a bezel set with diamonds. More diamonds can be found on the dial, standing in for an image of waves crashing against the cliffs that are rendered in champleve enamel, all of which is on a blue Grand Feu enamel background.

Inside both watches is the Vacheron Constantin 2460 calibre, an in-house automatic movement with a 40-hour power reserve. The movement is certified Hallmark of Geneva. To mark the occasion, the 22k gold rotor is engraved with waves. The watches come on alligator leather straps.

The new Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Tribute to Traditional Symbols Eternal Flow and Moonlight Slivers are limited to 15 pieces each in each metal. The watches will be available worldwide, but they are obviously aimed to the Asian market. Price is upon request, which is no surprise. See more on the Vacheron Constantin website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Gerald Genta Designed Credor Locomotive

2/

Hands-On with the Grand Seiko SLGW003 “Birch Bark” Titanium

3/

A review of the Bremont Terra Nova Dual-Time Tourbillon

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Even though the Furlan Marri Disco Volante is inspired by the past, it is very much a modern watch

The case itself is quite intricate and anything but a simple lugless circle, with multiple steps that play up the Art Deco themes and separate this watch a bit from vintage Discos, which were often flatter without the case definition you see here. I wouldn’t say that the multi-step design adds any real heft or presence with the watch on the wrist, but it works well visually in my opinion, and seems to be in line with the subtly complex casework Furlan Marri does so well on their three-hand sector dials.

Read the whole review on Worn & Wound

⏲️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

• When death came for Frank Miller: The comic book icon behind The Dark Knight Returns, 300, and Sin City reveals the addiction that nearly ended his life—and how his loved ones (and a determined documentary maker) pulled him back.

• When Putin invaded, Leonid Marushchak, a historian in Kyiv, saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger. So he set out to save as much of it as he could. He’s done much of his work in secret, traveling thousands of miles to and from the war’s front lines to extract paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and more. He’s had help, in part because he cannot drive. When asked why he’s never learned, Maruschak said that if he had a license, “he’d have long ago driven to Russia to try to bring back Ukrainian artworks that have, over the centuries, been taken from his country”

• The Voynich Manuscript has long baffled scholars—and attracted cranks and conspiracy theorists. Now a prominent medievalist is taking a new approach to unlocking its secrets.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Have you ever looked at the background actors in the various Star Trek franchise movies and TV shows randomly pressing colored sections of screens. Have you ever wondered if any of this makes sense? Well, wonder no more.

💵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 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

Want to let us know what you think about the newsletter? Go to our survey and fill it out.

-Vuk