Grand Seiko Releases Two New GMTs To Celebrate 25 Years Of 9S Movement, Christopher Ward Shrinks The Twelve To 36mm, Raymond Weil Has some Great Affordable Divers, New Watches From Bulgari and Ballouard

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Nothing for weeks and then everybody releases their watches on the same day? Thanks a lot watch brands, you are allowed to spread it out a bit, you know that? I had to rewrite this thing three times because of all the new watches coming out by the hour, that’s why it’s late.

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In this issue:

• Grand Seiko Celebrates 25 Years Of 9S With Two New Light Blue GMT Releases

• Christopher Ward Shrinks Down The Integrated Bracelet Twelve To 36mm

• Raymond Weil Launch Freelancer Diver 2775 Collection Celebrating Wing Foil Surfing

• Bulgari Goes All Out On An Impossibly Thin Gold Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Chronograph, A Watch They Don’t Make Any More

• The Latest From Grail Watch Is A Ludovic Ballouard Upside Down With Art By the Watchmaker’s Young Son

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 9 seconds

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1/

Grand Seiko Celebrates 25 Years Of 9S With Two New Light Blue GMT Releases

While the Spring Drive is Grand Seiko’s groundbreaking innovation in the world of watches, it’s pride in the fully mechanical world has to be the Caliber 9s. And GS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of it’s creation in 1998. This movement has been the backbone of most mechanical collections of the brand and recently it has seen the arrival of the Dual-Impulse Escapement and the brand’s first mechanical chronograph, the Tentagraph. But it’s perhaps most iconic for the GMT function, so to celebrate the anniversary, Grand Seiko will be releasing two new MT. Iwate-inspired light blue-toned traveller’s watches, the Sports SBGJ275 and Elegance SBGM253

The new SBGJ275 is a part of the Sport Collection. The case measures 44.2mm wide and 14.8mm thick, made out of stainless steel – as is the bracelet – with 200m of water resistance. The blue dial is inspired by the sky over Mt. Iwate, the peak visible from the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi. It takes things a step further as it’s also inspired by the clouds that surround the mountain, making this one of the nicest looking dials GS has done. A bit suprisingly, this dial would perhaps find a better place in a more elegant watch. This one is parhaps a bit crowded by the GMT inner rehaut as well as a blue and white rotating sapphire crystal GMT bezel, but these functions do allow you to track three time zones at once. Oh, and there’s a date window at 4 o’clock, one of the worst positions to have one.

Through the back sapphire crystal you can see the titanium oscillating weight, which has been made a light shade of blue through an anodic oxidation, powering the 9S86 high-beat GMT movement. It’s also a flyer GMT, meaning that the hour hand moves independently for setting.

The opposite of the SBGJ275 is the new SBGM253 with a 39.5mm wide and 13.7mm thick stainless steel case and bracelet, but only 30m water resistance. This is part of the Elegance Collection, meaning that there is no lume, no bezel, but also no clouds on the dial. All you get is a ray-brushed light blue dial with a 24-hour track printed on it, as well as a date window and crown at 3 o’clock. Looks like missed opportunity - the switched dials would have, perhaps, worked wonders. Inside the watch is a 9S66 GMT movement, outfitted with a titanium oscillating weight, also oxidized. This also has an independent hour hand but beats at a lower 28,800 vph.

Both watches will be limited editions, but like so many Grand Seikos, the questions is whether they are truly limited. The SBGJ275 will be limited to 2,000 pieces, while the SBGM253 will be limited to 1,700. That would be a large run for much cheaper watches than the $7,600 SBGJ275 and the $5,600 SBGM253. But we’re kind of used to that from GS, aren’t we? Also, the SBGJ275 will be available starting in September only at the Grand Seiko online boutique before moving to Grand Seiko brick-and-mortar boutiques and select online retailers in October, while the SBGM253 will be available in October. Keep an eye out on the Grand Seiko website to see more details when they release them.

2/

Christopher Ward Shrinks Down The Integrated Bracelet Twelve To 36mm

Despite being released only a bit earlier in this year, The Twelve has become, according to Christopher Ward, one of their most popular watches. And it’s not that much of a surprise. It came at the hight of integrated bracelet sports watches, right before the summer and carried with it a great design and excellent value for money. And there’s no reason to doubt these popularity claims from Cristopher Ward as they are already updating their steel or titanium 40mm piece. They took the highly popular integrated bracelet design and scales it down into a watch with a more compact 36mm case diameter, hitting a home run on another trend in modern watches - downsizing.

In essence, it’s still the same watch on the outside. It features a stainless steel case that measures 36mm in diameter by 9.95mm thick with an overall lug-to-lug profile of 40.8mm. Just like the larger model it has flat sapphire crystals on both sides, and the case still has the same signature 12-sided bezel with brushed, sandblasted, and high-polished surfaces.

Where it does differ from the larger model is the dial. Same overall design, but slight changes. To not cramp the smaller size it does not have a date window at all, and it looks so much better without it. But you still get a 3D textured surface, luminous arrow-shaped indexes, and the brand’s twin-flags logo appearing as an applied element below the 12 o’clock hour marker. The colors are fantastic, with two coming from the larger model and two being exclusive to the smaller one. The Nordic Blue and Glacier Blue are shared with the 40mm version, while the a pale mint green called Frosted Lichen and Alta White are exclusives. That green looks incredible.

Inside the watch is an Elaboré-grade Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement, the same as the larger watch in steel, while the titanium version of the 40mm gets a COSC-rated SW300-1. The SW200-1 gets a custom rotor, 38 hours of power reserve and a a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz). While The Twelve is made famous by it’s steel integrated bracelet, it can also be purchased on rubber straps that match the color of the dial.

These are, of course, regular editions to the collection and will not be limited. Interestingly, the new 36mm version is priced exactly same as the 40mm version, meaning that the version with the rubber strap will set you back €1,095, while the version on the steel bracelet costs €1,350.00. See more on the CW website.

3/

Raymond Weil Launch Freelancer Diver 2775 Collection Celebrating Wing Foil Surfing

I’m still not sure what to think of Raymon Weil as a company that makes so many diverse lines of watches, but what I do think is the new Freelancer Diver 2775 collection is a nice looking dive watch if you don’t want to spend Omega money, but just want a decent steel sports watch.

The new line is in essence a regular production model of the Geneva Limited Edition from last year, but what’s best about them is that they are not a steel-case, black/blue dial affair, but rather something more interesting with gradient dials and bi-colour cases. Honestly, the best looking RW divers you can get. They come in a 42.5mm wide case with 300 meters of water resistance that can be full steel, steel and rose gold or steel and yellow gold. Of course, don’t expect solid 18k gold here, it’s just a PVD plating, but enough to make it look different.

Your choice of material will also determine the colorway you have available to chose from. The full steel model and the steel and rose gold has a black gradient dial with black ceramic diving bezel, as does the rose gold edition. The yellow gold reference then has a blue gradient dial with matching blue bezel.

Alongside the launch of the Freelancer Diver 2775 Raymond Weil have announced that their newest ambassador, Titouan Galea, three-time Wing Foil world champion, and it seems that they are serious about getting involved in the sport which uses hydrofoil board and a handheld sail called a wing. The sport is also referenced on the solid steel caseback of the watch, which features an engraving of a bird flying over the sea at sunset.

Inside the watch is the calibre RW4200 based on the familiar Sellita SW200 which has a 38-hour power reserve. It’s equipped with hours, minutes, seconds and a date function at 6 o’clock. The date aperture is water droplet shaped, which sounds like a better idea than it actually is. Bracelets and straps vary depending on the material of the case. The yellow gold/steel with blue dial comes on a five link bracelet with matching yellow gold mid-links and it’s the same story for the black dial-rose gold combo, just with rose gold instead. The full steel model can be had on either a full steel five link bracelet or perforated rubber strap.

Unfortunately, Raymond Weil is very difficult with revealing their pricing, so I had to dig around a lot and I came up with this - the steel on rubber model is priced at CHF 2,325, the steel on bracelet is CHF 2,395 and the two bi-color versions are priced at CHF 2,495

4/

Bulgari Goes All Out On An Impossibly Thin Gold Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Chronograph, A Watch They Don’t Make Any More

Right before the summer started, back in April or May, after years of incredible success and wonderful colaborations, Bulgari announced they will stop working on their Octo Finissimo line and will focus on developing the new Octo Roma family of watches that haven’t received that much love over the years. Since that announcement, Bulgari has released at least three new Octo Finissimo watches. So much for that. However, with the Octo Finissimo watches, Bulgari has created a completely new genre for themselves - ultra-complicated, super-thin watches including the thinnest tourbillon and the thinnest perpetual calendar. This new watch is the mind-bendingly thin Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Chronograph, released in titanium in 2020, which now gets an incredible yellow gold case.

Let’s just put into perspective how incredible this thin movement is, before we get to the rest of the watch. Bulgari set it’s 6th record for thinness, and it comes as no surprise since the movement measures only 3.5mm thick and includes a one-minute tourbillon, a mono-pusher chronograph with a column wheel and oscillating pinion, a mode-selector (to switch between winding and time-setting) and a self-winding capacity, thanks to a peripheral rotor. When placed into the Octo Finissimo, the watch is only 7.4mm thick, an even impressive feat when you see the entire thing is skeletonized.

The rest of the case is pretty much the same as the one from 2020, except for being made out of 18k yellow fold. There are some major differences between the titanium and this gold version, most of which consist of satin-brushed surfaces with polished accents – in the same vein as the Finissimo S model. All elements of the case are crafted in yellow gold, including the crown with a black ceramic insert. Even the integrated bracelet is solid gold. And considering the fact that this is a 43mm wide watch, it should be pretty heavy.

Subtle canges can be found on the dial, as well, where a yellow gold-coloured module that integrates the inner flange and chronograph sub-counters has been added. Time is told with black openworked hands, and you still get the barrel at 12 and tourbillon at 6 o’clock.

The movement inside this watch, the calibre BVL 388, is pretty complex. Regulated by a one-minute tourbillon running at 3Hz, it’s also a chronograph with column-wheel and automatic winding, thanks to a peripheral rotor. In addition, it’s a monopusher chronograph, since the second pusher at 4 is used as a mode selector to switch between winding and time-setting positions.

This will be limited to only 50 pieces and the new yellow gold Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Chronograph is priced at EUR 260,000. I don’t even know what to say to that number… What surprises me most, though, is that Bulgari knows they can sell 50 of them. At 260k. That’s 13 million in revenue. For more details, visit bulgari.com.

5/

The Latest From Grail Watch Is A Ludovic Ballouard Upside Down With Art By the Watchmaker’s Young Son

Every so often a watch comes along that just blows you away with it’s inventiveness. It doesn’t have to be a revolutionary movement or an never before seen material. It can be something simple. I vividly remember two such occasions. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw the oil-filled Ressence Type 3. It broke my mind trying to figure out why it looks like it looks and how it works. I felt a similar feeling in 2010 or so, when I first saw Ludovic Ballouard’s Upside Down. The gimmick was simple, but incredible, and unlike anything before it.

The conceit is that it displays each hour upside down except the current hour, which is flipped right side up when the minute hand crosses 12:00. It’s an incredibly complicated design, the purpose of which, according to Ballouard, is to “treasure the time we are in.” It’s also just a very cool party trick, and the platform for the latest release from Grail Watch, Wei Koh’s ongoing series of dream collaborations.

It’s no surprise that Ballouard was able to create such an incredible watch, since he has worked with with big names like Franck Muller and F.P. Journe , and Journe handpicked him to work on his most complex movement, the Sonnerie Souveraine. The new Upside Down isn’t a brand to brand collaboration like previous Grail Watch releases, but a heartfelt partnership between Ballouard and his young son, Gabriel.

Koh maintains that the scrawled lines and shapes that cover the watch’s dial represent a freedom of expression that is perhaps only available to us as children, and constantly searched for by mature artists. Ballouard transposed Gabriel’s crayon drawing via contact printing onto an aventurine dial. It will be available in three variants, one with Breguet numerals, one with Chinese characters, and the last with eastern Arabic, and only 8 watches will be made in total (Ballouard’s production is about 20 watches per year). The 41mm case is made of platinum, and measures 11mm in height.

Inside is a manually wound movement caliber B01 which features 228 components and runs in 51 jewels. It accomplishes the unique effect of flipping individual hour discs throughout the day by using a minute wheel to build up a reserve of energy in much the same way a minute repeater stores power. Once an hour, that energy is released, flipping the new hour disc right side up, and turning the old one upside down. You won’t see a movement like this again, so go ahead and click here to read Wei Koh’s writeup on the watch. Not only are there great photos of the backside of the watch, you will also read a pretty emotional story on why Gabriel was included in the making of the watch.

The Ludovic Ballouard Upside Down “Series Gaga” has a retail price of CHF 108,000, and goes on sale today, August 24th. See more on the Grail Watch website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands-on with the Baltic Bicompax 003 Salmon 

2/

A review of the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 39.5mm In Brown Ceramic

3/

A look at the Casio Oceanus Manta with curved sapphire bezel

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Briston Streamliner Urban and its retro-modern inspiration

The Briston Streamliner Urban sets out to make an impression, and it does so through many avenues. Firstly, the silhouette of the case lies somewhere between tonneau and rectangular, with an inverse set of lugs for an integrated strap effect. It strays towards a sporty chic, grabbing attention without seeming overly garish. The finishing backs this up with largely brushed surfaces, allowing the small section of polish along the bezel’s edge to really shine. Briston’s defining feature as a brand is their use of acetate in cases, often opting for tortoiseshell colourings to evoke a nice pair of glasses. Its use isn’t as extensive here on the Streamliner Urban, but the acetate wings on either side of the case do add a distinctive charm.

⏲️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

• There are many things wrong with the U.S. these days. But every now and again you come across an article that reminds you why it is one of the greatest countries in the world. The New Yorker, the straightest of straight outlets, sent a journalist to discover the religious experience of a Monster Truck Jam.

• At this point, nothing more needs to be said to describe Elon Musk’s seeming personality shift over the past two decades—but particularly over the past five years. Why that’s happened is a more interesting topic, and one that Ronan Farrow delves into deeply in this well-sourced, well-reported exploration of the entrepreneur’s increasingly influential role on the global geopolitical stage.

• Those looking for unbiased, trustworthy product reviews once had an easy first step: Check Wirecutter. But as Charlie Warzel points out, it’s not so simple anymore. Between its parent company growth expectations, the increasing influence of product discussions on Reddit and other social platforms, and SEO chicanery, Wirecutter is being left behind. Where are we, then, supposed to get our reviews from?

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Two things about this video. I adore these mountain huts, sometimes known as wilderness huts or bivouac shelters. The evolved over the years from classic huts to modern architecture marvels and they look fantastic. Like this one in the Italian Alps. Second thing - just look at this video. Amateurs have become state of the art cinematographers and visual storytellers.

💵Pre-loved precision

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• 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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