Grand Seiko Pays Homage To The Art Of Washi Paper; IWC Is F1 Ready With Titanium Mark XX; Year Of The Snake Read Millesime; Fears' Edwardian Pocket Watch Inspired Jump Hour; And A Piaget Beauty

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. For quite a while I didn’t understand Fears watches. But the more I see them, the more I like them. This Jump Hour platform just might be what they needed. And who can say no to a sterling silver case.

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In this issue:

• Grand Seiko’s 44GS Asia-Pacific Limited Edition Pays Homage to Washi Paper Art

• IWC Is Ready For The New F1 Season With Petronas Colored Titanium Mark XX

• The Raymond Weil Millesime Looks Very Elegant In Burgundy For The Chinese Year of the Snake

• Fears Takes Inspiration From Edwardian-Era Pocket Watches For The New Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour

• Piaget’s Latest Altiplano Skeleton High Jewelry Is An Incredible Amalgamation Of Métiers d’Art

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1/

Grand Seiko’s 44GS Asia-Pacific Limited Edition Pays Homage to Washi Paper Art

Despite the overall infatuation people have with Grand Seiko, I still remain quite unmoved by them. It’s not that I don’t like them. I’m just not really interested, which is even worse. I find the cases kind of weirdly shaped and the apart from a few incredible ones, the dials are kind of boring. But hey, it’s all subjective, right? So, when I see a Grand Seiko I like, I give it a bit more attention. And this new SBGJ283, with its Washi Paper dial, is a GS I like. Of course, not only is it limited, it’s only available in the Asia-Pacific region.

The SBGJ283 is part of the 44GS collection. This means that it comes in a case made out of the brand’s propriety Ever-Brilliant Steel that measures 40mm across. And while it has a decent lug-to-lug of 46.2mm, its thickness is pretty atrocious at 14mm. Surrounding the double domed sapphire crystal is a fixed plain bezel and there’s a transparent caseback out back. Water resistance is 100 meters.

But like so many Grand Seiko watches, this is all about the dial. While a lot of them take inspiration from nature, usually nature surrounding one of the GS facilities, this one takes inspiration from the Japanese traditional art of making Washi paper. This special type of paper is integral to Japan’s cultural heritage and its porous texture has a beautiful look. The dial on the watch has a creamy off-white color with a texture that mimics that of the Washi paper with applied markers and a 24 hour scale on the periphery. The GMT function is indicated by a bright red hand.

Inside is the automatic 9386 caliber which has a 55 hour power reserve. The movement is quite accurate to +5 to -3 seconds per day. The watch comes with both a stainless steel bracelet and a brown crocodile leather strap.

The new Grand Seiko SBGJ283 is limited to just 150 pieces and will be sold only in the Asia-Pacific region. Such a shame. Price is set at SGD$11,000, which translates to about US$8,115. See more on the Grand Seiko website.

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IWC Is Ready For The New F1 Season With Petronas Colored Titanium Mark XX

Huge things are happening in Formula 1 this year. Tectonic shifts, one would say. First, Rolex is out as the iconic sponsor of the most well known racing series on the planet. In their place, we have Tag Heuer returning to their motorsports roots. And second, Lewis Hamilton is leaving the Mercedes F1 team with which he won six of his seven world titles and heading to Ferrari. For more than a decade, Hamilton has been synonymous with Mercedes and we’ve seen dozens upon dozens of IWC prototype watches on his wrists. Kinda sad we won’t see them any more. Like this new titanium Mark XX rendered in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team colors.

Based on the Mark XX — a watch that draws its roots from the WWII Dirty Dozen watches — the new F1 themed watch comes in a titanium case with a sandblasted finish measuring 40mm wide and 10.6mm thick. On top is a flat sapphire crystal with a slightly protruding bezel around it. On the back is a decorated closed caseback that depicts the AMG Petronas logo. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is where the majority of the change occurs. The matte black base is matched with blacked out hands, and black date disc, which serve as a perfect backdrop for the green/teal color taken from the Petronas logo. Everything is rendered in the electric color — the lume inserts on the hands, the numerals, tracks, logos, printings and date numerals. Everything.

Inside you’ll find the manufacture calibre 32111 which beats at 4Hz and has a pretty great 120 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a rubber strap in the same electric teal color of the Petronas logo, and closes with a titanium pin buckle.

From what I can tell, this doesn’t seem to be a limited edition and will be available to everyone. The new IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XX Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is priced at €6,600. See more on the IWC website.

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The Raymond Weil Millesime Looks Very Elegant In Burgundy For The Chinese Year of the Snake

I’ve liked Raymon Weil watches even before they introduced the spectacular Millesime collection last year. Since then, it’s easily become one of my favorite brands. What they managed to do in such an incredibly short amount of time with the Millesime collection is just perfection. Now, they’re using the collection to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which means red dials, snake imagery (on the promo materials, at least) and the number 88.

The special edition is based on the Millesime Central Seconds which comes in a 39.5mm wide and 9.25mm thick stainless steel case. It’s a three part case with vertically brushed and polished surfaces, a fluted crown and a large flat bezel on top, surrounding a box-shaped sapphire crystal. Water resistance is good enough at 50 meters for a watch that’s more on the dressy side of an everyday watch.

The dial is rendered in shades of dark red and burgundy, a color that means good luck in China. However, the difference in shades is likely not from differenc olors used, but rather differen finishes. There are three track to this sector dial, with markings for the seconds on the periphery, the minutes on the middle dial and hours on the centre dial. The hours-track are smooth, while the other two are snailed. The centre disk also features an engraved crosshair. The dagger-style hands are super sharp and appear to brushed to match the bezel and the rest of the case, with lume inserts.

Inside, you’ll find the movement that the brand calls the RW4200. But it’s in essence a Sellita SW200, one of the higher grades judging by the 41 hour power reserve, which has a custom openworked rotor attached to it. The watch comes on a red leather strap that matches the dial .

The new Raymond Weil Millesime Infinite Burgundy is limited to 88 pieces, which makes sense because 8 is a number that signifies luck, and priced at €1,695. See more on the Raymon Weil website.

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Fears Takes Inspiration From Edwardian-Era Pocket Watches For The New Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour

Last year, the British brand Fears introduce a very cool Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour, a watch that was very much an homage to the history of the company, as well as the history of British watchmaking. Fears has been one of the more important British watchmakers for over a century, before shutting down in 1976. It was recently revived and continues to not just make great watches but also be mindful of their and British history. Their latest watch, the ‘Edwardian Edition’ of the Jump Hour will be available exclusively at British Watchmakers’ Day 2025, with a lot of British influence.

The watch comes in the recognizable cushion-shaped case, but here it’s made out of 925 sterling silver. The case measures 40.5mm wide and 12.8mm thick, with stubby lugs and a polished finish. On the side is a large onion crown, also made out of silver and set with a diamond. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial takes a lot of inspiration from a 1924 model found in the Fears archive. Only that model was a pocket watch that still had a lot of influence from the just-ended Edwardian era. The base is white lacquer with thin, black indices printed on top. At noon is the large round aperture for the jumping hour display, with a circular track in the centre of the dial for the Arabic minute numerals which are indicated to a glossy black varnished hand.

Inside is a mix of interesting movements. The base is the trusty and well known Sellita SW200, beating at 4Hz and with a 38 hour power reserve. Onto that, they attach the JJ01 jumping-hour module from Christopher Ward. The watch comes on a beautiful red Alcantara strap with a sterling silver pin buckle.

Only 10 pieces will be made and the only place to buy them will be British Watchmakers’ Day. Price is set at £5,450 or about €6,466. See more on the Fears website.

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Piaget’s Latest Altiplano Skeleton High Jewelry Is An Incredible Amalgamation Of Métiers d’Art

People put emphasis on different things when buying watches. Some want their watches to be beautiful. Others value the movement above anything else. There’s a third group of people who are only interested in gem-setting. In fact, there are as many groups of buyers as you can imagine But when you want a watch that does it all, that has the looks, the movement, the gems and the centuries-old métiers d’art, there are few brands you can turn to. One of them is surely Piage. I mean, just look at this new Altiplano Skeleton High Jewellery Métiers d’Art which divides the watch into two, giving you expert gem setting on one side and meticulous cloisonné enamel on the other.

The new Altiplano comes in a wide white gold case that measures 40mm wide and just 7mm thick. Setting gems into such a thing watch is not easy. And yet, you have straight diamond-set lugs and a blue sapphire set in the crown. On top is a bezel with baguette-cut that form a gradient from blue to clear. There are also brilliant-cut diamonds set in the bezel of the caseback. And even cooler, through the caseback you can see backside of the enamel on the dial through the skeletonized movement. Can’t say I’ve seen that before.

The dial gives you two métiers d’art to look at. There’s a sort of closed part between 1 and 9 o’clock that features Grand Feu cloisonné enamel made by Anita Porchet, one of the world’s most respected enamel artists. Gold strips create a beautiful pattern which is then filled with blue, green and purple enamel. The rest of the dial is then left empty to see the skeletonized movement. Empty, but not bare. The movement bridges are meticulously decorated with diamonds and blue sapphires, matching the gradient of the bezel diamonds.

The movement you see, filled with diamonds even under the enamel, is Piaget’s ultra-thin automatic white gold calibre 1201D which beats at 3Hz and has a 44 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a navy blue leather strap.

The new Altiplano Skeleton High Jewellery Métiers d’Art is a limited to just eight pieces and priced at €303,000. See more on the Piaget website.

⏲️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

• Joshua Kaplan wrote one of the most compelling pieces of 2024—a deep dive on AP3, one of the largest U.S. militia organizations. Now Josh is back with the singular story of a man who infilitrated that paramilitary group (and others), operating without support from a government he distrusted in order to take down those he detested from the inside. Get ready to be brought to the edge of your seat.

• The world is drowning in plastic. Experts say we need to stop making so much. But the plastics industry is peddling a "solution" that works like magic. Don't be fooled. Turns out, pretty much the entire recycling industry is a giant scam.

• This article (from 1988) is not about the Los Angeles fires, but it is an article about LA’s fraught relationship with the hills above it. It’s a timely read right now.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

OK, this is fascinating. A dude accidentally managed to intercept the North Korean state television satellite signal and is now putting it up on YouTube. There’s hours on it on the channel, check it out. And it’s incredible. You expect the usual news and Kim propaganda pieces. What you don’t expect are the movies, soap operas and documentaries. Make sure to brows the channel a bit.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk