Citizen Unveils Charming Retro-Futuristic Trio, A Couple Of New Grand Seikos, Zenith Goes All Blue And Steel, The Integrated Bracelet Sports Watch From BA111OD Is Crazy Cheap, New Watches From Serica And Ming

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. This is a big one. You want major brands? Here’s a couple of new Citizens, Grand Seikos and a Zenith. Want something more independent? How about an incredibly priced sports watch from BA111OD, three very cool Sericas and a moody Ming?

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In this issue:

• Citizen Puts Their New Year-Long Power Reserve Movement Into A Delightfully Retro-Futuristic Trio Of Watches

• Grand Seiko Releases Two New Heritage 44GS Models Inspired By Traditional Japanese Fans

• Zenith Introduces The Chronomaster Sport In Blue With A Stainless Steel Bezel

• BA111OD Unveils The Chapter 7, An Integrated-Bracelet Sports Watch With A Price So Incredible You Won’t Believe It

• Serica Introduces A Trio Of Watches That Represent Their New Take On The Classic Field Watch

• The New Ming 37.07 Monolith Is A Very Subtle Update of Last Year’s Mosaic

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 26 seconds

👂What’s new

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Citizen Puts Their New Year-Long Power Reserve Movement Into A Delightfully Retro-Futuristic Trio Of Watches

Back in 1973 the quartz crisis was heating up and the future was incredibly bright for this electronic movement that was slowly pushing out the more expensive, more complicated and less precise mechanical movements out of watches. And the one of the pioneers of the technology was Citizen, with their leaps and bounds in quartz development that led them to this point, when they are introducing a new Eco-Drive movement they call the 365. AS the name suggests, when charged it provides enough power reserve to last a full year and Citizen is placing it in a delightfully retro-futuristic trio of watches.

The new Citizen Eco-Drive 365 is based off of one of the brands earliest quartz models, a 1973 Citizen Quartz E.F.A. (Extra Fine Adjustment). The vintage model was a futuristic look forward at the supremacy of the quartz era. And this vintage futuristic look is brought into today’s models. The lugless case measures 42.5mm in diameter and is 11.1mm thick, with a recessed crown.

Two of the models are offered in full steel cases with matching bracelets and foldover clasps, one of which features black ion-plating throughout, and the other of which features just a black plated bezel. Both of those models feature radial brushing on the bezel and sunburst brushing on the case, with brushed bracelet links. The third model is a near copy of the original 1973, with a fully polished case and a brown leather strap. This will also be a limited edition of 1200 pieces. Water resistance is reported at 100m.

The dials are very interesting - they have a glittery black finish. Citizen says it reminds them of a moonless night sky. And you know what? Despite it being corny and often heard marketing speak, it actually does look a bit like a starry sky. The limited edition Seiko’s dial features lab-grown rubies cap the markers at 12-3-6-9. Interestingly, none of the three models feature lume.

The new movement is called the E365. The Citizen Eco-Drive 365 can run on one full year on a single charge. It’s accurate to -/+15 seconds per month and a full charge takes about 11 hours in direct sunlight and 40 hours on a cloudy day.

The price is $495 for the steel model, $550 for the black model, and $895 for the limited edition. See more on the Citizen website.

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Grand Seiko Releases Two New Heritage 44GS Models Inspired By Traditional Japanese Fans

At least once in your life you have come across a traditional Japanese folding fan. You know the type I mean - a piece of fabric or paper that is supported by. wooden slats with a pivot point that allows you to either keep it folded in or out in the shape of a halfmoon. In Japan, these traditional fans are called sensu. And with Grand Seiko running the risk of running out of Japanese culture references to use as inspiration, they have settled on these fans as the inspiration of their latest duo of watches based on the 44GS shape - the SBGW297 and SBGW299.

Just like the overwhelming majority of GS releases, this one is basically a new dial in a familiar package. The 44GS from the Heritage line means you get a compact 36.5mm wide and 11.6mm thick case (with a 42.7mm lug-to-lug) and a hand wound movement. The 44GS case follows the GS “Grammar of Design” and it’s three principles: “The design should have flat surfaces and two-dimensional curves. Three-dimensional curves are generally not utilized;” “The flat surfaces of the case, dial and hands should be as wide as possible;” and “Every surface should be distortion-free and have a mirror surface.”

The fan inspiration is seen in the pattern on the dial which features deep sunray ridges eminating from the center. It comes in a white and blue version, with the white version having a blued seconds hand and entirely polished hardware, while the blue version has all polished silver indices and hands. I have to say, this is a weird dial from Grand Seiko. While I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that these two Grand Seikos are extremely high quality watches, they are priced at about €5,500. A couple of years ago I bought this blue and this white for about €400 each. Again, the GS duo are surely much better watches, but those two dials look a bit too similar to each other for my comfort… I actually might prefer the dials on the Presages.

Inside the watch the in-house calibre 9S64. This hand-wound movement stores up to 3 days of power reserve and is adjusted in 6 positions to an accuracy of -3 to +5 seconds per day. Both come on a 3-link steel bracelet with a folding clasp.

The Grand Seiko Heritage 44GS 36.5mm SBGW297 and SBGW299 will be released as part of the permanent collection on 1 November 2023 and they will not be limited. They will only be available from Grand Seiko Mastershops, Salons and Boutiques. Both will be priced at €5,700. See more on the Grand Seiko website.

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Zenith Introduces The Chronomaster Sport In Blue With A Stainless Steel Bezel

A week ago, Zenith introduced the Chronomaster Sport Pink, a limited edition of 500 pieces whose portion of the sales went to Susan G. Komen, the world’s leading breast cancer organisation. It was a fantastic looking piece and pretty much everyone on the internet said the same thing when they first saw it: hey, why can’t we get that fantastic steel bezel on the regular Chronomaster? This was the first time that a Chronomaster came with a steel instead of ceramic bezel, and it was extremely limited. Turns out, Zenith played the ultimate tease game here as just a week later they are now introducing a blue-dial version of the Chronomaster Sport and it gets the beautiful stainless steel bezel.

This Chronomaster Sport, like those before it, features a 41mm stainless steel case that is 13.6mm thick with just under a 47mm lug-to-lug. While previous versions came in white or black, the collection now gets a really fantastic blue metallic dial with a sunburst finish. The three registers that the Chronomaster Sport is known for get a light grey, a dark grey and metallic blue colors that look great against the blue dial.

Then there’s the bezel. Instead of a black ceramic one you get a polished steel one with black-filled engraved markers. Considering the fact that Chronomaster Sport constantly gets compared to the Rolex Daytona, and the steel bezel is a classic Daytona look, it’s worth mentioning that the Daytona no longer offers the stainless steel bezel.

Inside the watch is what you expect, the El Primero 3600 caliber which beats at 36,000vph (5Hz) and gets 60 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on the familiar Oyster-style bracelet.

The blue-dialed Zenith Chronomaster Sport is now part of the permanent collection and can be bought for €11,300. See more on the Zenith website.

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BA111OD Unveils The Chapter 7, An Integrated-Bracelet Sports Watch With A Price So Incredible You Won’t Believe It

Right there on the homepage of BA111OD is this promise: “Unleashing Swiss watchmaking at groundbreaking prices”. This “democratisation of an industry” is a promise seen so many times, especially in modern startups that it has become an empty phrase. And more often than not, they mean the exact opposite as no democratisation is even being attempted. With BA111OD, this is definitely not the case. They have introduced the cheapest Swiss-made tourbillon, their CHPTR_Δ gives you a watch the level of multi dozen thousands of € for under €3,000 and is still one of my favorite avant-garde watches you can buy, at any price. They have done all this in under four years.

Now, the brand ran by Tomas Baillod is celebrating their 4th birthday and to celebrate they have introduced a brand new line of watches they call Chapter 7. It is an incredible integrated bracelet steel sports watch, one that looks to rival many watches that other Swiss watchmakers sell for an incredible 10x of the price of this. But let’s get into the watch first.

It comes in a 42mm wide stainless steel case in a number of finishes. There’s the fully brushed exposed stainless steel or an anthracite PVD treatment. You can get it on a matching and great looking steel bracelet or an even better looking textile strap (seriously, look at the blue dialed version with the blue textile strap and tell me that isn’t one of the best looking integrated bracelet sports watches on this side of €20k). On top of the watch is a brushed ten sided faceted geometric bezel that gives hints of Gerald Genta inspiration without being an outright copy.

The Chapter 7 is in essence a simple watch, as pointed out by Liliane Murenzi, the brand's Senior Designer who says that the idea was “to create a timepiece like a basic: easy to wear, affordable, that takes up the color codes dear to the brand, as well as the iconic crown, positioned at 4 o'clock”. And she managed to create exactly that - a very simple watch. This is their first non-skeletonized version and features a simple hour-minutes-seconds time display.

You can get the watch in three color combinations. The first is a blue dial with a yellow seconds hand, second is a white dial with all silver hands and the third is paired with the PVD coated case and gets a sporty anthracite color and a red outer chapter ring. All three versions get the same incredibly textured dial, polished indices and a date window at 3 o’clock.

Inside the watch is the Sporod P024 based on the very familiar ETA 2824-2. It operates at 28,800vph, features a quick-set date, and has a 38-hour power reserve. This movement is often seen in microbrand watches because it’s well made and easily servicable. It is also found in watches that are priced way higher than this.

Now, for the price. The steel models on textile strap will cost you CHF495 including taxes. I will say that again so you can be sure it’s not a typo: CHF495. While I haven’t handled these watches in the flesh, I can only assume they live up to the quality of other BA111OD watches, meaning that this is perhaps the best bang for your buck in watches in this decade. If you want the steel watch on a bracelet, that will cost you CHF 595, while the anthracite pvd treatment are CHF 525 on textile and CHF 625 on steel.

The first 100 watches are available for delivery right now, with the next, much larger, batch coming later in November. See more on the BA111OD website.

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Serica Introduces A Trio Of Watches That Represent Their New Take On The Classic Field Watch

It’s incredibly hard to come to grips with the fact that Serica has only been around for some four years. Founded in 2019 by Jérôme Burgert, Serica became a cult hit overnight. They can do no wrong - their divers are incredible, the GMT is great and the field watches are stuffs of legends. Now, Serica is updating the field watch category with a new 6190 collection of three incredible watches with new self-winding movements, a thinner case and three new dials.

The Serica 6190 gets a brand new case that measures 37.7mm wide, has a lug-to-lug of 46.5mm and a thickness of 10.4mm, which is almost a millimetre down from the previous 4512 version. You also get a significant 200 meter water resistance. The new case also gets new chamfered lugs that previously appeared on the 5303 diver and the 8315 GMT.

As for the dials, all three have a black enamel finish, with no logo but rather the text “Chronomètre” and “200m = 660ft.” Each of the three dial versions gets their own name. The Commando features large luminescent rectangular markers at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock and combines them with luminescent hour numerals and an open minute track. The Denali, my absolute favorite, has luminescent numerals at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, with Serica’s signature luminescent dot indices placed further toward the center of the dial at all the other hour markers. The California is, well, that, a California dial with Roman numerals in the upper half and Arabic in the bottom half. All three feature the same characteristic hands as the 4512, which are white and filled with lume.

Inside all three versions is the Soprod M100 which beats at 28,800vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. These movements are COSC certified. In addition to that, Serica has their own Grand Chronomètre certification which claims the movement is further tested for accuracy and shock resistance. This movement is certified to ±6 seconds a day. All three versions come on the familiar Bonklip bracelet, also known as a ladder bracelet.

The new 6190 Field Chronometer will be available for €990 (including VAT). This is a huge bump in price from the previous 4512 version which was priced at €690, but there are many upgrades to the watch. And at €990, they are still by far the cheapest offering from Serica.

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The New Ming 37.07 Monolith Is A Very Subtle Update of Last Year’s Mosaic

Despite people online telling you Ming has issues when it comes to delivering their watches and some complaints of sub-par customer service, I would still argue it’s one of the best microbrand watches you can buy. I am completely in love with their design, which I do understand can be polarizing, and some of their watches are really fairly priced. Now, they’re releasing an update to their Mosaic watch with the 37.07 Monolith.

The new limited-edition watch shares the same 38mm black DLC coated case size as MING’s 37.07 Mosaic model from 2022, which was introduced to celebrate the brand’s fifth anniversary. But this is where the connection between the Mosaic and the Monolith stop, as the Mosaic had a very colorful and bright feel and the Monolith is all about dark aesthetics, a matte black palette and a subtle, barely subtle texture that seems to fade away as it gets nearer to the edges of the dial. Thanks to a thinner inner bezel, the 37.07 Monolith also gives off the impression of a larger watch face than the Mosaic.

Inside is the Sellita for MING SW210.M1 movement, a manual-winding caliber outfitted with anthracite skeletonized bridged, finished with contrasting rhodium circular brushing, and a power reserve of up to 40 hours. The watch comes on a new Jean Rousseau strap, made from textured calf leather, and comes with a black and burnt orange Alcantara lining.

The MING 37.07 Monolith will be released as a limited edition of 250 pieces and will be available for pre-order via the brand’s online shop from October 12, 1 p.m. GMT. The price is set at CHF3,500 and a 50% deposit will be required on order. See more on the MING website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands-On With The Surprisingly Introverted Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monobalancier Titanium

2/

A review of the limited-edition Raymond Weil Freelancer Pilot Flyback Chronograph

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Automatic in Rose Gold is super crisp

The Tonda PF Sport Auto is part of a class of watches I think of as “leisure sport,” with a heavy emphasis on the leisure. These watches have become more popular in certain circles over the last several years, and it’s worth defining our terms here. First, the leisure sport watch is usually (but not always) in a precious metal. The A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus in gold on a strap is a leisure sport watch, but its counterpart in steel (or titanium) is not, at least in my estimation. Second, these watches are specced like sports watches, and look like sports watches, but if they had a consciousness of their own, they’d be thrilled to know that they would never be used in a sporting context for real. Imagine the Odysseus high-fiving a Vacheron Constantin 222 from across the watch box, for a fun mental image of what I’m talking about here. Read the truly fantastic piece from 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

• If you’re not THAT into movies, you might overlook the importance of a good set. When the set is bad, you notice it and it breaks the illusion. A good set is an invisible set, one that makes you think they actually filmed something in the 19th century. One of the true masters of this craft is Jack Fisk, an absolute legend who has worked with Terrence Malick a lot, worked on Carrie, on Mulholland Drive, on The Master and won Oscars for his work on There Will Be Blood and The Revenant. Now he’s working on Killers of the Flower Moon, which is great as the NYT has done a huge feature on him. You really should read it.

• What is a monster? Why has a fictional character like Dracula stayed in our minds through the centuries? In this piece for Guernica, Alexander Chee asks us to revisit and sit long and hard with Bram Stoker’s Gothic classic while also considering the modern real-life evils of our world. Chee also makes connections between the story and Stoker’s potentially queer love triangle with Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, the latter a possible inspiration for the Count himself.

• A weird thing happened yesterday. I saw a tweet in which I learned for the first time there are people out there who can’t picture things in their mind. Being able to imagine experiences and things, as it turns out, is a spectrum, with some being able to completely vividly reproduce something in their mind and others, on the other end, having nothing up there. What’s wild is that the same day I opened Reddit to see if there are any new long form articles worth mentioning here and, I couldn’t believe it, there was a piece from Marco Giancotti who’s brain can’t imagine even the simplest experiences. He is one of those people I just found out existed just the same day. Crazy coincidence, so here’s that article, it’s actually really good.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

You know I always say these videos are usually watch-free to broaden your interests. But this is too good not to post - ever wondered what a professional stuntman wears? Well, Teddy will help you find out.

💵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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