Citizen Introduces Promaster Geo Trekker, A Rugged World Timer; Junghans Expands Max Bill Bauhaus Collection; Bulgari Is Summer Ready With New Colors; And New From Depancel And Glashütte Original

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m getting very strong German vibes from today’s newsletter and I don’t really mind it at all.

In this issue:

• Citizen Continues 35 Year Celebration Of The Promaster With The New Promaster Geo Trekker, A Rugged Radio-Controlled World Timer

• Junghans Adds The Chronoscope, Regulator and Automatic Models To The Max Bill Bauhaus Collection

• Bulgari Is Summer Ready With Three New Colorways Of the Aluminium Sports Watch

• Depancel And Worn & Wound Team Up For A Very Minty Allure Powered By A Vintage Valjoux 92 Movement

• Glashütte Original’s New Platinum PanoMaticInverse Pays Homage To Dresden, Florence On The Elbe

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 19 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Citizen Continues 35 Year Celebration Of The Promaster With The New Promaster Geo Trekker, A Rugged Radio-Controlled World Timer

Very few watches will be as rugged and as feature packed as a Citizen Promaster. This beastly watch will handle just about anything, with Citizen dividing their collection into marine, land and sky collections, each with a tool that will help you traverse the most intense environments. 2024 has been the 35th anniversary of the Promaster line, with several new watches already released. Now, it’s time for some new sky releases in the form of a trio of Citizen Promaster Geo Trekker watches powered by a new movement.

The new Citizen Promaster Geo Trekker comes in a pretty hefty stainless steel case. It measures 46mm wide, but a surprisingly not huge 11.5mm in thickness. There are two case colors available - an untreated silver brushed one and a dark grey one. On top is a flat sapphire crystal surrounded by a bezel that protrudes outside the case and has an extremely complicated scale. It works with the scale printed on the inner rehaut to allow the user to do simple calculations, conversions between volume, weight and units of measurement, as well as rations. Like I said, incredibly complicated, but you can check out Citizen’s instruction on how to use one to see all the functions. On the back is a solid caseback with an engraving of the map of the Northern Hemisphere. Water resistance is 200 meters.

All three versions of the watch come with different dials. There’s the BY3006-53H which comes in the silver case with grey dial with lighter grey sub-dials, the silver cased BY3006-53E gets a black dial with lime green details on the sub hands and the depiction of the planet, while the dark grey finished BY3005-56G gets a black dial with red accents. The dials themselves are identical in functionality between the three and all subjected to function over form and giving you as much information as possible. There’s a date window at 4 o’clock, three subdials and a slew of scales. Sitting opposite the UTC disc at the top of the dial is a multi-function register that doubles as a day display, while a smaller sub-dial at 9 o’clock serves as an AM/PM indicator and tracks the time in a 24-hour format. A cool nod to it’s use is the fact that the font used for both the numerals on the UTC disc and the city names located around the periphery of the dial is inspired by the lettering found on world maps and navigation charts from the Age of Discovery.

Inside is the brand’s new Cal. H864 Eco-Drive movement. Being an Eco-Drive means it can be powered by any light source and there’s a lot of functionalities - a 2.5 years life span in power save mode, radio-controlled timekeeping, a perpetual calendar, world timer and a power reserve functionality, along with a chronograph function. The watches come on matching stainless steel bracelets that have brushed and polished surfaces to complement their cases.

All three watches are part of the regular collection. The two silver versions of the new Promaster Geo Trekker are priced at $795 while the dark grey cased will set you back $850, both fair prices for watches like these. See more on the Citizen website.

2/

Junghans Adds The Chronoscope, Regulator and Automatic Models To The Max Bill Bauhaus Collection

Over the past several months, Junghans has been cranking out watch after watch that wasn’t part of their iconic Max Bill collection. It almost seemed that they were trying to leave an impression that they can do more than minimalist watches. Well, now they’re back and embracing their Bauhaus roots completely with three new versions of the Max Bill. While it was always clear that the Max Bill was inspired by the German design school Bauhaus, last year they introduced a black version of the Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus which looked like it came directly out of the halls of the famed school. Now, they’re releasing a white Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus, alongside a Chronoscope Bauhaus and a Regulator Bauhaus.

While all three come in very similar looking stainless steel cases with tiny differences in sizes. The Automatic is the smallest at 38mm wide and 10mm thick, followed by the Regulator which comes in at 40mm and slightly thicker at 10.9mm and lastly, there’s the Chronoscope which measures 40mm wide and a significant 14.4mm thick to house the chronograph movement. All three have super short lugs, a domed sapphire crystal that stretches all the way to the edges of the case to show off that sweet, sweet dial. The caseback is closed and features an engraving of the building of the Bauhaus school.

The dial is silver-plated and rendered in a beautiful white, helping the modern and minimalist look derived from Bauhaus. Contrasting the white are the red hands and dates, a reference to the famous red door of the Bauhaus school. More Bauhaus influence is found in the thin, minimalist lines of the hour scales and subdued letterseting. The only differences between the three are the functionalities they have - the Automatic has three central hands, the Regulator presents the hours, minutes and seconds on separate subdials, while the Chronoscope has a vertical bicompax chronograph with 30-minute and 12-hour counters.

Naturally, all three have different movements inside. The Automatic is powered by the J800.5 automatic movement with a 42 hour power reserve, the Regulator is powered by the J800.5 automatic which has a 38 hour power reserve and the Chronoscope has the J880.2 automatic movement with 48-hour power reserve inside. Unfortunately, I’m not that familiar with the movements other than the fact that the J800.5 is based on the ETA 2824-2, while the J880.2 is based on the ETA 7750. All three come on simple black leather straps.

Price for all three Junghans Max Bill Bauhaus watches are as follows: €1,455 for the Automatic, €2,375 for the Regulator and €2,395 for the Chronoscope. You can see more about them on the Junghans website.

3/

Bulgari Is Summer Ready With Three New Colorways Of the Aluminium Sports Watch

The original Bulgari Aluminium watch was released in 1998 and caused quite a sensation. A hit-watch back in the days, it was cool, different and slightly provocative. In 2020, Italian brand Bulgari relaunched the watch in a design that remained faithful to the original one, but with major technical improvements. In 2023, they released three new colorways for the summer. And now, just as we’re expecting the summer of 2024 to start, it seems that Bulgari is turning this into a tradition with the release of three new colors in three complications - a three hand time-and-date, a GMT and a chronograph.

All three of the new cases share pretty much the same case, with slight differences in thickness to accommodate the various movements inside. Unfortunately, Bulgari doesn’t give us the thickness of each watch, only the diameter, which is 40mm. The watch is made out of Aluminium, as the name suggests, and paired with a rubber strap that attaches to the sweeping and flat lugs with articulated aluminium links. Surrounding the sapphire crystal is a prominent colored bezel with the Bulgari logo engraved into it. Being a summery sports watch, water resistance is 100 meters.

Starting with the three hander, it comes in an all white colorway. Sure, the aluminium case is silver, but the bezel, dial and strap are all white. The dial is matte with silver rhodium-plated markers, numerals at 12 and 6, and hour and minute hands. There’s a bit of color with the red seconds hand that has a circular counterweight, and a date window sits at 3 o’clock. The watch is powered by the calibre B77, an automatic with an ETA 2892 base which will give you a 42 hour power reserve.

Moving on to the Aluminium Black GMT which gets a black strap and bezel, with a cream dial in the center. Surrounding the bezel is a black-and-red 24-hour GMT scale, and indicating the second time zone is a central arrow-shaped hand with a red luminous tip. Matching the black bezel are the markers and hands, while the seconds hand is syringe shaped and with a red top and counterweight. The watch is powered by the B192 calibre, which is a slightly modified Sellita SW 330 which gets you 50 hours of power reserve.

And last, perhaps the most summer of the three, the Aluminium Chronograph Smeraldo. Last year we got the blue gradient dial on the chrono, this year we’re getting a gradient green dial with a green strap and a green bezel that looks pretty sweet. It’s a tri-compax setup with the horrible date window at 4:30 o’clock. Inside is the calibre B130, an automatic movement based on an ETA 2894 with a 42-hour power reserve.

Two of the three new Bulgari Aluminium watches are limited editions. The time-and-date version is limited to 1,000 pieces and priced at €3,450, the chronograph is limited to 800 pieces and priced at €5,500, while the GMT is not limited and priced at €4,100. See more on the Bulgari website.

 4/

Depancel And Worn & Wound Team Up For A Very Minty Allure Powered By A Vintage Valjoux 92 Movement

There are a few watch brands that are just so adept at using color that you just have to admire them. Farer is one that comes to mind instantly. Glashütte Original is another. But one can’t dismiss the work Worn & Wound - not a watch company but rather a watch publications - has done. In their collaborations they bring a lot of color to otherwise subdued watches, mostly with fantastic results. It’s no different with their latest collaboration, now with Depancel, the maker of fantastic automotive-inspired watches. Not only does the Depancel × Worn & Wound Allure get a fresh minty dial, but also a very special movement, actual vintage Valjoux 92 movements.

The watch comes in a 39mm wide stainless steel case which, surprisingly, isn’t all that thick for a chronograph - 13mm thick with the domed sapphire crystal. One would expect at least a millimetre or two of extra thickness, especially with the old movement inside. The case has a comfortable lug-to-lug of 46mm and an overall brushed finish with a couple of polished surfaces. You even get a decent water resistance of 50 meters.

The dial is beautiful. A central black ring is surrounded by a mint colored one and another black one on the very edges. The hour and minute hands feature red racing stripes and are filled with white luminous material and there are tiny red dots on the applied hours markers. Another pop of red is found on the central chrono hand, which can be used to track speeds on the tachymeter scale on the outskirts of the dial or a pulse on the pulsometer scale that’s in the internal black ring. The Valjoux 92 is kind of known for a bi-compax layout, one for a 30 minute totaliser and one for the running seconds. But this new Depancel goes a bit radical and ditches the running seconds, keeping only the totaliser at 3 o’clock.

Inside is the Valjoux 92, a vintage movement that was the go-to chronograph in the 1960s. It’s a hand-wound column-wheel chronograph that beats at 18,000vph and has a power reserve of 39 hours. However, since it’s a vintage movement, Depancel has recovered and restored only 20 of these movements, limiting production to just those 20. The watch comes on a perforated black leather strap with matching mint-green stitching.

The Depancel × Worn & Wound Allure Valjoux 92 is available now, until the 20 sell out. Price is set at $3,900. See more on the Worn & Wound website.

 5/

Glashütte Original’s New Platinum PanoMaticInverse Pays Homage To Dresden, Florence On The Elbe

Without a doubt, Glashütte is the most important town for German watchmaking. It’s an amazing place. With a population of just under 6,700, there are 10 active major watchmakers there, and the town has just celebrated 175 years of watchmaking there. But how did this happen, how did so many influential watchmakers congregate in this one town. Well, they can all thank the neighbouring city of Dresden. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Dresden - or Florence on the Elbe as it is often called - has been a leading city for sciences and art. This is where Ferdinand Adolf Lange attended the Technical School before heading to the small town of Glashütte to establish his watchmaking manufacture in 1845. There, he laid the foundation for Saxon watchmaking tradition that lives on with brands like Glashütte Original. Now, paying homage to the this Dresden heritage, Glashütte Original is releasing the PanoMaticInverse Limited Edition Florence on the Elbe.

The watch comes in an impressive case. Cut out of platinum, it measures 42mm wide and 12.3mm thick. A very classical case with shortish lugs, a barely existent bezel that surrounds a sapphire crystal on top and a simple crown on the right side of the case. But the case is really not what this watch is about.

Being based on the PanoMaticInverse watch, you see a rhodium-plated mainplate that no longer has its traditional stripes, but rather a number of engravings of Dresden landmarks, including the dome of the Academy of Fine Arts, the famous lantern crowning the Frauenkirche, and a hot air balloon, all done by hand. There’s a cutout in the mainplate between 3 and 6 o’clock that displays the hand-engraved balance bridge. It’s an overall asymmetric dial, with a sapphire crystal disc onto which anthracite Roman numerals are printed that’s used to tell the time positioned to the left of the dial and on the right, above the cutout in the mainplate, is the big date window.

Through the transparent caseback you can se the in-house calibre 91-03 which beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 45 hours. The backside is just as beautiful as the front, with hand-engraved depiction of Dresden’s promenade along the Elbe River with another perspective of historical buildings. The watch comes on a blue alligator leather strap with a platinum folding clasp.

The Glashütte Original PanoMaticInverse Limited Edition Florence on the Elbe is limited to 25 pieces and priced at €50,400. See more on the Glashütte Original website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Chopard Alpine Eagle XP TT

2/

Hands-On With The New Salmon-Dial Patek Philippe 5236P In-Line Perpetual Calendar

3/

A review of the Chanel J12 White Star Couture

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The SpaceOne Jumping Hour Destro Forged Carbon really is something else

The SpaceOne Jumping Hour comes in three case materials — steel, titanium, and forged carbon. I won’t list every version, but the options range from polished to brushed blued steel. At its “longest” point, the watch is 41.6mm; this would be the lug-tip-to-lug-tip length if it had visible lugs. It also measures 52.9mm wide, including the crown. The thickness is not too bad at 13mm, so, aside from the width, the watch does not have out-of-the-ordinary measurements. On a 19.5cm (7.5”) wrist like mine, the watch sits comfortably.

Read the whole review on Fratello

⏲️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

• In 2022, Penguin Random House wanted to buy Simon & Schuster. The two publishing houses made up 37 percent and 11 percent of the market share, and would have condensed the Big Five publishing houses into the Big Four. But the government intervened and brought an antitrust case against Penguin to determine whether that would create a monopoly. This led to us learning a whole lot about the publishing industry. The Big Five publishing houses spend most of their money on book advances for big celebrities like Britney Spears and franchise authors like James Patterson and this is the bulk of their business. They also sell a lot of Bibles, repeat best sellers like Lord of the Rings, and children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 96 percent of books sold less than 1,000 copies. Between 2020 and 2024, only 50 authors managed to sell more than 500,000 books in a single year. More incredible publishing industry can be found in the very pessimistically titled article from The Elysian: “No One Buys Books”.

• For a while, 15 years ago, I was seriously considering starting an online obituary business. I still think it’s a good idea, especially because it would work particularly well in a country like mine. However, others also think this is a great business, only they take it to the dark side, into the world of obituary piracy where weirdos use SEO dirty tricks to make money off of stolen obits. Journalist Deborah Vankin was surprised to discover one morning that the internet believed she was dead. That’s how she discovered this crazy and macabre world.

• At first, you might ask why the New Yorker would be reporting on a Los Angeles task force of detectives battling organized retail theft, in which boosted goods often end up for sale online. Then you read the thing and see it’s one of the best written pieces of reporting in a while.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Huckberry has established itself as a great online fashion store masked as a source of content. To be clear, they really do make great content. But they have really stepped it up with their new Dirt series which takes viewers around the world. This recent trip to Hokkaido is just a perfect example of how to do great travel videos on YouTube.

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

-Vuk