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- Franck Muller Stuffs A Complex Movement Into A Very Sporty Watch, New Limited Edition Halios Is Gorgeous And You Can Get A Stunning Limited Bovet Watch Absolutely Free
Franck Muller Stuffs A Complex Movement Into A Very Sporty Watch, New Limited Edition Halios Is Gorgeous And You Can Get A Stunning Limited Bovet Watch Absolutely Free
This is a bizarre edition, full of watches we want but can't afford and those we can afford but can't get
Vuk Radic
May 31, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to perhaps the most bizarre edition It’s About Time, with no major releases but rather: a watch you can’t buy because it’s too expensive, a watch you can buy but would you want to?, a watch you can’t buy without first buying an apartment, a watch that’s just ridiculous but also very affordable and a watch that sold out in a minute. Cool!
Also, today is the last day to enter the giveaway. You have until midnight CET.
In this issue:
Franck Muller Stuffs A Complex Movement Into A Very Sporty Watch
Luminox Goes Full Military Spec With Their New Watch
You Can Get A Stunning Limited Bovet Watch Absolutely Free
BA111OD Sizes Down To 40mm Making It An Even More Attractive
New Limited Edition Halios Is Gorgeous But Also Sold Out
And… invite your friends to win a Tiffany PRX
Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 4 seconds
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the Alpinist, so we can get this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
1/
I’ll go first: I’m not a Franck Muller fan. It’s the case shape that bugs me. That, and the eye watering prices. However, as I learned just a few days ago, there are a lot of people out there who don’t like Franck Muller because they believe the brand is too young, too laid back and too whimsical to be taken as a serious watchmaker. I guess the people at Franck Muller have heard these criticisms and took a super high-end and complex movement and stuffed it into a super sporty, super whimsical case, calling it the Franck Muller Grand Central Tourbillon Flash. Take that, haters.
Just like pretty much every other Franck Muller, the Grand Central Tourbillon Flash has a tonneau case shape. With the Curvex CX architecture which debuted in 2021, this vaguely ovate silhouette captures that slightly eccentric spirit of the tonneau with ease. It’s both dressy and sporty, especially sporty when made from carbon fibre, as is the case with the Grand Central Tourbillon Flash.
The grey and black stripes of the carbon case make for a subtle texture in comparison to the black PVD-coated hardware such as the crown and strap clasp, and dark cases help to reduce the impact of a larger size on the wrist too. Yeah, it’s a pretty big watch, despite being only 36.5mm wide. The issue is with the tonneau case, as it makes the watch 52.65mm long. It also comes up to 12.3mm thick.
Instead of the traditional position at 6 o’clock, the Franck Muller Grand Central Tourbillon has been built from the ground up to show off this feat. Many of the components have been given a black PVD coating which draws extra attention to the brightly-coloured seconds hand mounted to it. The arrow tip and blocky indices are made from intensely coloured PMMA that almost look luminous when provided with light. It’s available in orange, green, or blue, each looking absolutely electric. The watches also come in matching colored straps made with a sporty nylon weave and a calf leather backing, making the watch scream in neon colors.
This is an expensive watch. Like, really expensive. The new Franck Muller Curvex CX Flash Grand Central Tourbillon watches start out at $123,900 USD and increase from there for the models with carbon fiber cases.
2/
Strap a Luminox to your hand and it won’t be mistaken for a Tudor. They have cut a very sharp line of what kind of watches they like doing and they do them perfectly, with military units being some of their biggest customers. Now Luminox is leaning heavily into their military heritage with a new timepiece that compliant with the military performance specification standards of MIL-PRF-46374G, which outlines the requirements for a wristwatch by the U.S. Department of Defense. Known as the Luminox Mil-Spec 3350 Series, the new timepiece expands upon the core design of its fan-favorite Navy SEAL collection with ultra-durable case materials and an upgraded Swiss quartz movement that offers additional protection against both impacts and extreme temperatures.
The overall case shape of the new Luminox Mil-Spec 3350 Series is more-or-less the same as what can be found throughout the brand’s greater Navy SEAL collection, and it offers an angular profile that measures 46mm in diameter by 14mm thick. At launch, this model will be available in only one color - black, with a matte black dial with large white Arabic numeral hour markers and a date window at the 3 o’clock location.
Similar to other Luminox watches, the various luminous elements on the new Luminox Mil-Spec 3350 Series glow different colors in the dark. The tritium tubes that appear on the hour hand, 12 o’clock index, and zero-marker of the bezel all glow yellow; the tip of the seconds hand (which seems to be a traditional painted luminous element rather than a tritium gas-filled tube) glows green, and all of the other tritium tubes that appear on the minute hand and remaining hour markers emit a blue glow to help provide a better orientation of the time when viewed in dark settings.
To further add to its durability and performance, it is powered by the ETA F06.412 quartz movement, which offers a 7-year battery life. Fitted to the 24mm lugs of the Luminox Mil-Spec 3350 Series is a two-piece black rubber strap with a pin buckle, and the watch also comes as a set with an additional fabric NATO strap in a gray and black camo pattern with matching black-finished hardware.
Despite its premium materials and movement, the new Luminox Mil-Spec 3350 Series isn’t all that much more expensive than many of the brand’s entry-level Navy SEAL dive watches. It will set you back $695 USD.
3/
Bovet, the coveted independent watch brand, just announced they will be creating 10 special editions of their classic 19Thirty wristwatch for their partnership with the historic Old War Office (OWO) in London and will be decorating the special watches with motifs from the stunning building in which Churchill waged World War II. And you can’t get one. Technically, you can, you will even get it for free, but you have to buy one of the ten apartments in the OWO, and they start at $5 million.
The OWO is a building with incredible looks and even more incredible history, having served as the war strategising place for some of the most important moments in history. It was recently leased for 250 years to a private investor and has been renovate by Raffles as a luxurious hotel with private residences. To mark the occasion, OWO Residences has commissioned Bovet to create ten gold 19Thirty timepieces to gift the ten owners of the ten most luxurious homes.
The model selected for the new owners is the 19Thirty, one of Bovet’s time-only watches in 18k red gold. Introduced in 2015, the style of the Fleurier case, with its crown at noon and small seconds at 6 o’clock, give the 19Thirty its strong pocket watch personality. It’s 42mm wide and just 9mm thick. Borrowing decorative motifs from the OWO, the outer flanks of the red gold case are decorated with a hand-engraved ‘egg and dart’ motif, and the bow at noon is engraved with a marble shell motif found on the fireplaces and mouldings of the OWO.
Like other 19Thirty models, the time indications are presented in an off-centred hours and minutes counter that intersects a smaller seconds counter with Arabic numbers. Forming an upside-down figure eight, the larger counter features a pattern taken from the Rose Ceiling above the grand staircase of the OWO. Using a blue background, the petals of the rose are recreated in gold lacquer. At 3 and 9 o’clock, two circular depressions add relief to the scenery: the one at 3 o’clock houses the power-reserve indicator, and to underscore the symmetry, the one on the left is opened on the barrel.
The Bovet 19Thirty OWO Special Edition is a limited edition of ten watches produced exclusively for owners of the OWO residences. The apartments range in price from $5 million up to $37 million.
4/
Despite it’s silly name, Ba111od is becoming one of my favorite watchmakers. They’re Swiss made, completely insane looking, with interesting complications and priced at about a tenth of what you would expect from a watch that looks like a Ba111od. Following the big success of its first tourbillon, Chapter 4.1, The Veblen Dilemma*, which has sold more than 600 pieces to date, Ba111od decided to answer popular requests and release a 40mm version of the otherwise 44mm watch, and they’re calling it the 4.5.
This is not the first watch in the Chapter 4 collection to be encased in a 40mm size. Chapter 4.2 Lily had a 40mm titanium coated with 4N rose gold and pitched as a ladies watch. The next two had black DLC and was released in 40mm as Chapter 4.3 and in 44mm as Chapter 4.4. These two black DLC models were also available as a twin set.
However, to date it seems that the 4.1 has been their greatest hit, so it’s no surprise that they shrunk it down, but making it the exact same watch, with the same materials and colors. This means you get a grade 5 titanium case with a tantalum grey DLC treatment, a hand-wound movement and a 105-hour power reserve.
While Ba111od say they have done this to make the watch more unisex, I would say it’s more likely that there were many people that wanted one, but could not do with the 44mm case. The one other major thing that has changed is the price. While the Chapter 4.1 was limited to 202 pieces and had a retail price of CHF 4,920, the Ba111od Chapter 4.5 The Velben Dilemma Tourbillon, which is on sale right now, will be limited to 111 pieces and has a retail price of CHF 5,540. Deliveries expected from December 2023.
5/
There are many microbrands in this world, but very few have as intense a following as Halios. Every single watch they put out sells out very fast and if you take a peek at their website you’ll see that they had to pause allocations in order to catch up with production. Their releases are slowing and demand is growing. So, whenever they announce a new watch, even if it is a 100 piece limited edition made in collaboration with Topper Jewelers out of Burlingame, CA, people look to see what will happen. And what happens is it sells out in lest than a minute.
It’s a new Universa, but it incorporates dial elements typically found in the Seaforth. The Universa has a 38mm stainless steel case that is mostly brushed, but has a classic polished chamfer along the lugs. The bezel-less design gives the watch an old-school, no nonsense sports watch vibe. It’s the dial, though, that makes this Universa special. It’s a crisp white with hands and hour markers that have been accented in black for maximum contrast. The layout is taken directly from the Seaforth, and includes the same thick, applied hour markers that give the dial an increased sense of depth. Hash marks on the minute scale alternate between blue, yellow, and green, representing natural elements found near Topper’s headquarters in Burlingame - the ocean, northern California sunshine, and giant redwood trees.
The fans want a new Halios so bad and the supply is so low, the watch, priced at an even $1,000, sold out in one minute.
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
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⚙️Watch Worthy
A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like
Any Holthinrichs piece is deceptively light for a mechanical watch due to the slim case and 3D-printed technique. The sides are seriously scalloped, while the sweeping lugs are cut away, skeletonized with the raw, unfinished steel visible on the inside. With the DECONSTRUCTED, we see Grade 5 titanium for the first time, which will make this a feather-light watch. The dial itself is intense in its layered appearance, displaying a focus on contrasts between frosted dark flat surfaces and hand-polished anglage. This is done in black rhodium, echoing the darker tone of titanium and creating an amphitheater with the Decon movement at center stage.
⏲️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
You know I love a good blurb that draws you into an article, just like this one on how an Atlanta strip club runs the music industry: “To call it a mere strip club means you don't get it. It's more like hip-hop's ultimate proving ground—a legendary hive of hustlers and dreamers. Magic City is a place where fortunes rain from the rafters, where women with impossible bodies call the shots, and where a DJ who spins your track can make you a star.”
You remember how a couple of years ago pretty much everyone told you that art is over and it is moving to Web3 and we will all have galleries in our homes for all the cool NFTs that will make us billionaires? Yeah, that didn’t happen. But Vanity Fair argues that we were so very close.
Speaking of art, this is an interesting piece on Vermeer and how if you know where to look you can find extreme violence of the era hidden in his masterpieces.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
Despite filing for bankruptcy just a week or two ago, Vice is still putting out some great content. Well, that’s mostly because they have an amazing backlog of videos, as this is a recut of a video they first put out in 2016. Like this short video on the Lazy Lizard School of Hedonism, situated in a drug lab set up inside a volcano. It was part-counterculture commune, part-psychedelics research facility.
💵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
Want to sell your watch to a community of passionate horologists? Reach out to us and we’ll put your ad up. $15 per listing without photos, $25 with photos. 10 available slots per day, discounts for multiple slots.
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
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