Citizen Surprises With Smaller 37mm Promaster Diver Collection, Zodiac Unveils Two New Incredible Colors To the Super Sea Wolf Diver, And Nomos Teams Up With Wempe For An Icy Blue Dialed Tangente

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In this issue:

• Citizen Surprises With New, Smaller, 37mm Promaster Diver Collection

• Zodiac Unveils Two New Incredible Colors To the Super Sea Wolf Diver

• Zenith Blings Up The New Defy Skyline Skeleton With Just Enough Gold

• Nomos Teams Up With Wempe For An Icy Blue Dialed Tangente

• The New Credor Goldfeather Is An Uncommon, Pricey And Gorgeous Option For A Dress Watch That Will Be Hard To Get

• And… invite your friends to win a Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic

Today’s reading time: 6 minutes and 4 seconds

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👂What’s new

1/

Citizen Surprises With New, Smaller, 37mm Promaster Diver Collection

If I were a betting man, I would put the Citizen Promaster line at the very top of divers when it comes to popularity. It is not an expansive collection of watches like Seiko tends to do, and it is an absolute bargain if you are looking for a tough sports watch that will take a beating. However, the line of people who could never wear one is just as long, if not even longer, due to the size of the watch - 44mm is just a huge watch. Well, no longer. Citizen just announced a new Promaster Diver line in 37mm in three colors - black, blue and pink.

Despite shrinking down the watch below 37mm (and 11.6mm thick), the Citizen Promaster remains a capable diver with 200m water resistance. Actually, it retains most of the functionality and looks of the bigger watch. It still has the very recognizable hands, a 4:30 date window, dive time bezel and the legendary rubber strap. Inside the watch is the Eco-Drive E168 movement which is solar powered and gets you six months of power without the need for light exposure.

All three variations – black, blue, and pink (with a rose gold-toned steel case) – will set you back $375.

This watch comes at a perfect time where a lot of watchmakers are skewing smaller to keep up with changing tastes from consumers. To have such a popular watch in such an appealing package and at such a price, this will have to be a huge hit for Citizen.

2/

Zodiac Unveils Two New Incredible Colors To the Super Sea Wolf Compression Diver

Most divers are a sea of blues and blacks, with the occasional silver and a splash of color. Zodiac has a different philosophy. They are on a mission to create the most colorful and out-there diver. And boy, are they good at it. Now they’re introducing two new core colorways into its Super Sea Wolf Compression collection - the Seafoam, obviously a seafoam green with black, white, and a touch of orange, and the Gulf, which takes on the classic light blue, orange, and silver colorway of the Gulf oil company which served as one of the most iconic racing car livery ever.

Both models feature the same 41mm × 13.4mm steel case with a water resistance rating of 200m, and both have the STP 1-11 movement inside. The Gulf model comes on a five-row stainless steel bracelet with a butterfly clasp and a spring-loaded extension while the Seafoam has a color matching tropic-style rubber strap with a pin buckle.

The Gulf has a light blue bezel with an orange minute track that frames a bright silver dial. If the photo’s of this watch look familiar, it’s because this is a callback to the vintage Zodiac Sea Wolf 1781W, one of the most desirable Zodiac models. While this watch is up from the original’s 35mm, it’s still a close-enough recreation that it makes for a good alternative.

The Seafoam also leans vintage, not so much into the Zodiac back catalogue, but rather into popular culture of the late 50’s and the guitars, fridges and cars that came in an almost identical color. The watch has a seafoam green dial, matching strap, a black bezel, and a pop of orange on the minute hand.

Both models are available for purchase now and the new ZO9304 “Gulf” on steel costs US$1,595, while the ZO9305 “Seafoam” on rubber will set you back US$1,295.

3/ 

Zenith Blings Up The New Defy Skyline Skeleton With Just Enough Gold

The Zenith El Primero movements really are iconic and Zenith knows this. I guess that’s the reason why they are making some of the best skeleton watches today. Following the earlier Defy Skyline Skeleton model which featured symmetrical black and blue open dials with a four-pointed star formed by the cut-out and the Defy Skyline Boutique Edition with silvery-grey finishes, zenith is now releasing a new Defy Skyline Boutique Edition, this one with subtle touches of gold that make the watch even better.

Just like the previous models, this new skeletonized Defy comes in an angular-shaped 41 mm case with a 12-sided, faceted bezel inspired by the Defy models from past times and a screw-down crown. The colorway, as mentioned, is similar to the previous model with silver-grey finishes, but it also has a slightly darker chapter ring and applied gold-plated baton hour markers filled with Super-LumiNova, and matching hour and minute hands, only now there’s less dial and more movement.

Inside the watch, visible through the dial, is the El Primero 3620 SK, with the 3620 as a base, reworked, featuring the 1/10th of a second sub-dial at 6 o’clock, right on top of the watch’s 5Hz escapement, and it comes without the date indication. It has a stop-second feature for accurate time setting and a power reserve of 55 hours. The watch comes on either a steel bracelet or a rubber strap with a starry sky pattern.

The watch costs CHF 10,900, which, all things considering, looks like a very fair price.

4/

Nomos Teams Up With Wempe For An Icy Blue Dialed Tangente For Hot Summer Days

There seem to be two trends this summer in watches. One is something that Zodiac is embracing fully - going all out on color; while the other is one specific color that we have now seen on several watches - ice blue, a color that seems to be the color of the summer. Nomos has teamed up with famous retailer Wempe to create a special edition Tangente Neomatik Update 41 for Wempe Signature Collection in this exact color.

It’s still a Tangente Neomatik. This means a 41mm stainless steel case that’s only 7.9mm thick with straight and angled lugs. The narrow bezel that holds the sapphire crystal serves as a visual trick to make the watch look much larger than it is. The main difference comes from the dial and it’s ice-blue dial, whose light tones are offset by blued hands and black indices and numerals. The darker blue colour is also found on the date complication, which shows each date through cutout sections in between the date digits on the outer rim of the dial.

The reason for the date being displayed in this unique fashion is the Calibre DUW 6101 inside the watch. To keep it as thin as possible and not have to stack the date disc on the movement, Nomos moved the date disc outside of the outer edge of the movement. The date can also be adjusted in both directions through the crown, while the movement itself stores 42 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a very nice blue-black textile strap with a stainless steel pin buckle

This is a limited edition of 200 pieces, all of which are exclusively sold through Wempe’s showrooms for a price of EUR 3,400.

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The New Credor Goldfeather Is An Uncommon, Pricey And Gorgeous Option For A Dress Watch That Will Be Hard To Get

From 1960 to 1969, Grand Seiko was Seiko’s top brand, both in quality and price. However, with the advent of quartz watches, Grand Seiko was dethroned as the most expensive watches. In 1974, Seiko separated their most high-end quartz watches into a line called Crêts d’Or, which literally means Golden Crests, but «Crêts» is a french word that applies more specifically to the summits of the Jura Mountains, a chain of mountains spreading between France and Switzerland, known to be the birthplace of watchmaking.

After alternating the name between Crêts d’Or and Credor a few times, Seiko finally settled on Credor (Credor and Crêts d’or have the exact same pronunciation in French) in 1978 but it still was just a separate line of watches within Seiko’s catalog and was branded with a simple SEIKO logo below the 12 o’clock position. In 1978, Credor became its own brand, with the dial that said Credor Seiko. Since then Grand Seiko and Credor have been the pinnacle of Seiko watchmaking.

It’s not often that you get to se a Credor watch, and they are even more rare outside of Japan. However, the folks over at Fratello have dug up a new, very interesting, release from Credor - the new Credor Goldfeather. The Gold Feather, as Seiko spelled it at launch, is a watch from 1960 which focused on absolute thinness. With the hand-wound caliber 60M it was just 2.95mm thick and was all the more impressive because it had a central seconds hand.

The reissue, named the Credor Goldfeather is thin, but not that thin. The 18k gold case measures 37.1mm wide and 7.7 thick. The watches are powered by the hand-winding 6890 caliber. The 6890 is just 1.98mm thick, and in this watch, the movement is attached directly to the case to keep the thickness to a minimum. However, the new Credor does not have a seconds hand.

The Credor Goldfeather will come in two variants. The first model, reference GBBY982, is in 18K yellow gold limited edition of just 30 pieces. The second model, reference GBBY980, is in 18K rose gold and will be a regular-production piece. The limited yellow gold model has a sunburst brushed dial with engraved hour indices, minute track, and Credor name. On the rose gold variant, Credor chose to use applied indices and a painted logo.

Reference GBBY982 will be released on July 8th in Japan as a pre-sale with availability in April 2024 at the Credor shop. Pricing is not for the faint of heart at approximately €22,700. For the reference GBBY980 pre-orders start on August 11th in Japan and also available in April 2024 in the Credor shop. Pricing is slightly less at roughly €22,000.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A Review of Bulgari's New Aluminium Summer-Ready Limited Editions

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Is The Patek Philippe Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar 5261R Really A Women’s Watch?

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Stella Breslin revives the linen dial for the here and now

All of those features would be nothing if it didn’t have a good base, and the Stella Breslin’s linen dial is breathtaking. Linen dials are a little bit of a lost art in watchmaking, although there’s nothing in theory which makes them more difficult than any other highly textured pattern. The Classic Blue is richer than the Felix’s Dress Blue, and is paired with crisp white lume instead of the cream colour. There’s a Silver dial which almost looks made of polished meteorite, and would be best suited to more formal situations. The most fun option however is the Raspberry dial, hovering somewhere between a hot pink and a crimson red. It’s a truly great colour that you don’t see very often in other watches which boast pink or red dials, making it a unique display of personality.

⏲️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 the New York Times sets out to create an interactive online story, there are very few outlets that can compete. Just look at this wonderful story about the mystery of the disappearing van Gogh. It’s beautifully done, but also super exciting. After a painting by the Dutch artist sold at auction, a movie producer claimed to be the owner. It later vanished from sight, with a trail leading to Caribbean tax havens and a jailed Chinese billionaire.

• In a post-9/11 world it is almost completely unimaginable that someone would be able to highjack a plane. But things were very different in the not so distant past. In the Vietnam war era, highjackers managed to steal 130 planes. In just five years. This is how they did it. 

• It’s a running gag that the Simpsons haven’t been good in at leat 20 years, overtaken by the sharp social commentary of South Park and the absurdism of Family Guy. However, it looks like things have changed as the 34th season has adopted a completely new approach. I hope they are right.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Hagerty used to be a pretty boring company that offered classic car insurance. But in recent years, under the leadership of CEO McKeel Hagerty, the company has become an automotive content powerhouse. One of the things they make are YouTube documentaries. But these are not your usual YouTube documentaries. This is an incredible documentary on Porsche racing at Le Mans, narrated by Patrick Dempsey,

💵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: 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

• FOR SALE: Longines Heritage Skin Diver, box and papers. €1400. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch

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