Hamilton Releases New Air-Glaciers Helicopter Rescue Collaboration Khaki Aviation Pilot; MeisterSinger Leans Very Vintage; Awake Has A Cartoon Dial; And Piaget Gives The Polo Chrono A Green DIal

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. We have a short one today, but I’m not angry with any of the releases. Except for the price of that Piaget, that seems to be a bit high.

In this issue:

• Hamilton Releases New Air-Glaciers Helicopter Rescue Pilots Collaboration, In Titanium And A Red/Blue Colorway

• MeisterSinger’s Latest Release Is A Very Limited Edition With A Hand-Made Enamel Dial And A Pocket Watch Movement

• Awake Teams Up With Artist Nicolas Barrome Forgues On The Limited-Edition 01 Titane Dare & Dream

• Piaget Adds An Emerald Green Dial With Silver Panda Sub-Dials To Their Polo Chronograph

Today’s reading time: 5 minutes and 54 seconds

👂What’s new

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Hamilton Releases New Air-Glaciers Helicopter Rescue Pilots Collaboration, In Titanium And A Red/Blue Colorway

Back in 1963, Bruno Bagnoud was participating in a mountain guide training course when one of the other students suffered an injury that wouldn’t allow him to make his way down the mountain on his own. And Bagnoud was shocked when he learned that the rescue helicopter from the neighboring town of Sion couldn’t land near them because it wasn’t nimble enough. This set Bagnoud and Hermann Geiger on a mission to start their own air rescue operation. Air-Glacier was born and with time it turned into the premier helicopter rescue operation in Switzerland, performing 2,500 annual search and rescue missions; or 73,000 since their inception. Then in 2022 Hamilton, the Swiss brand that has a strong connection to pilot’s watches, partnered up with Air-Glaciers. As a sponsor, Hamilton released several Air-Glacier special editions and now it’s time for their latest model. This is the titanium Khaki Aviation Pilot that carries the Air-Glacier colors.

Based on the Khaki Aviation Pilot Day Date which has been updated not too long ago, the watch measures 42mm wide, 12.1mm thick and has a rather long lug-to-lug measurement of 50mm. Like I said, it’s made out of titanium which, along with the curved lugs, helps the watch to be wearable. It’s supposed to be a rugged watch worn by rescue helicopter pilots, which explains the fully brushed finish. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is almost completely inspired by the red and blue livery of Air-Glacier. The base of the dial is colored blue, with white Arabic numerals for the minutes and luminous rectangular markers at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock and a triangle at noon. At the 3 o’clock marker you’ll find the day/date window with a white background. Going further with the Air-Glacier connection, the central seconds hand has a series of white and red stripes, almost like a helicopter’s rotor blade. The hour and minute sword hands are the same as on the regular Khaki Aviation Pilot Day Date, including the supremely cool open tip on the hour hand that frames the hour markers on the internal ring.

Inside, and visible through a small semi-circular window on the caseback, is the H-30 calibre, which is a rebranded Swatch Group Powermatic 80. This means you get a Nivachron balance spring, a revised kinematic chain and the 80 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue nylon Velcro strap with a leather lining and the Air-Glacier logo on the fastener and an additional brown suede nubuck leather strap.

The Hamilton Khaki Pilot Air Glaciers Titanium is not limited and can be purchased for €1,495. See more on the Hamilton website.

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MeisterSinger’s Latest Release Is A Very Limited Edition With A Hand-Made Enamel Dial And A Pocket Watch Movement 

There is something incredibly charming about the vintage feel of a MeisterSinger. While they do have models in bright colors and more sporty looks, just the fact that they have only one hand transports it to a more romantic time of time telling. Add to that their very classical styling, and it looks like something that a watch hacker would put together in the 19th century. Now, they’re embracing this vintage feel completely with the new MeisterSinger Enamel Edition 1Z which features a modified Unitas 6497 manual-winding pocket watch movement and a handmade enamel dial.

Housing a pocket watch movement means you need a large case. And this one is. Made out of fully polished stainless steel, it measures 43mm wide and 12.6mm thick. On top is a domed sapphire crystal and you also get an exhibition caseback. Water resistance, despite the vintage nature of the watch, is an acceptable 50 meters.

This is not the first Enamel 1Z. They’ve been doing hand made enamel dials since 2004, so it can be said they perfected the process in which a copper blank gets several coatings of enamel powder, fired at different times and temperatures. The result is the creamiest of cream dials that give it a wonderful vintage look. Helping the vintage look is the creation of a custom typeface that very much looks like the numerals on a pocekt watch. The double-digit Arabic numerals for the hours are painted black and the 24-hour track gets a blue color. The time is told with the extra long heat-blued arrow-tipped hand with circular counterweights.

Inside is the 6498-1 pocket watch movement made by ETA/Unitas. Of course, it’s been modified to show time with just one hand. It’s a huge movement - 36.6mm wide - that’s decorated with clean-cut bridges with ribbed finishings, blued screws, ruby bearings and a large balance. It beats at 18,800vph and has a 46 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a cognac calfskin leather strap with a crocodile imprint and a double-folding clasp.

The MeisterSinger Edition Enamel 1Z is limited to just 24 pieces and priced at €4,990. See more on the MeisterSinger website.

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Awake Teams Up With Artist Nicolas Barrome Forgues On The Limited-Edition 01 Titane Dare & Dream

The French microbrand Awake is known for its very ambitious and fantastic looking collaborations. Previously they have worked with renowned designer Alain Silberstain as well as NASA on a series of space-themed watches. They so often push their design forward you could easily call them very adventurous. And they seem to be continuing with both funky collaborations and space-themed watches. They have teamed up with French illustrator Nicolas Barrome Furgues for a limited release the Awake Dare & Dream edition.

The watch comes in a familiar case for awake, fully round with a stepped plain bezel, with a matte blasted finish and made fully out of recycled Grade 2 titanium. It measutes 40mm wide, 11.3mm thick and has a lug-to-lug measurement of 47.5mm. On top is what looks like a box-style sapphire crystal and the crown, which is nut shaped, screws down to give you 100 meters of water resistance. The inner flange features an inscription that reads “Dare & Dream”.

The case is not important. What is very nice is the dial. It features a white textured base that makes it look like a piece of paper on which Barrome Furgues rendered his doodles which include aliens, planets and spaceships. There’s a lot to explore on the dial, from major things like the aliens taking apart the Awake logo to missing applied indices. In the dark the white parts of the dial remain dark, while the illustrations which are grey actually glow a green-blue color. There are more illustrations to be found on the caseback.

Inside the watch is the automatic Miyota 9039 movement, the Japanese alternative to the Sellita SW200. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a white textured strap made out of a bio-based polymer or a black Zulu strap, both secured with a pin buckle.

This is also a very limited edition, with only 50 pieces going on sale. You can pick one up now, but I doubt they will be available for very long. The price is set at €890, but keep in mind that Awake gives their price without tax. See more on the Awake website.

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Piaget Adds An Emerald Green Dial With Silver Panda Sub-Dials To Their Polo Chronograph

Now that Piaget has shown that they are serious about reviving the best models from their past, exemplified by the very flamboyant Polo 79, they’re doubling down the idea. The Polo was a huge model for the brand in the 1980s, evolving over the years, and was completely redesigned in 2016 to give it a completely new look. Now, they’re giving the chronograph version a new green dial.

It comes in the same case as the regular Polo Chronograph, meaning it’s made out of steel, cushion shaped and measures 42mm wide and 11.2mm thick, which is refreshingly thin for a chronograph. It has a very high contrast in finishes between high polish and deeply grooved brushing. Being a sports watch, it has sapphire crystals on top and bottom, along with a 100 meter water resistance.

The dial gets the recognisable Piaget Polo grooves, now painted in a deep green. Interestingly, despite having the grooves, the dial also has a sunray brushed finish. The two sub-dials are silver and oversized, serving as 30-minute and 12-hour counters, while a date window is located at the 6 o’clock position. The hands and applied markers are polished steel and filled with Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the calibre 1160P, an automatic integrated column-wheel chronograph movement based on the Cartier 1904-CH MC. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. Look through the back crystal and you’ll see that the movement is decorated with bevelled bridges, blued screws, circular Geneva stripes and a circular-grained plate. The watch comes on a steel bracelet closed by a triple-folding clasp.

The Piaget Polo Chronograph Emerald Green Panda is priced at €21,200. See more on the Piaget website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph

2/

Hands-On With A Trio Of 2024 Panerai Luna Rossa Releases

3/

A review of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Honeygold Lumen

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Ocean To Orbit sends their new Lhotse to the top of the Himalayas

For a 1950s explorer’s watch, you might expect the dial to be a fully printed, monochromatic affair. Dewitt and Kazami had different ideas, fitting the Lhotse with a rich, vertically brushed dial. There’s a choice of three base colours – green, blue, or black – with the latter executed with silver or gilt printing. All of the models have applied indices, combining with the applied brand logo below the triangle at 12 o’clock. Just like the dial colours, there’s no overly blingy finishing, just legible shapes with enough lume to keep the visibility decent at night. The hands at first appear quite simplistic too, though they hide what Ocean To Orbit is hoping will become somewhat of a brand signature. Look closely at the hours hand, and you’ll notice a flared base that supposedly emulates a rocket, tying into the brand name.

Read the whole review on Time + Tide

⏲️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

• Colleagues reportedly called Lucy Letby an “angel of death,” and the prime minister condemned her. But in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence against her were ignored. Rachel Aviv on a case that shocked the United Kingdom—but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

• Chess has enjoyed skyrocketing popularity in recent years, in part due to the hit Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit. Rob Price says the sport of kings is rife with cheating and sexism. For Business Insider he wanted to find out how and why.

• Timothy Reif is one the legal heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian cabaret performer and art collector who died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. Since the 1990s, Reif and his family have been searching for Grünbaum’s collection—more than 400 pieces of art, including Egon Schiele’s Russian War Prisoner, a drawing worth $1.25 million. For Chicago Magazine, Kelley Engelbrecht writes an important story about contested ownership and the restitution of Nazi-stolen art.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I can’t get over how beautiful the Citizen Tsuyosa small seconds is. Also, check out the WatchCrunch YouTube channel. I enjoy the stuff they do.

💵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: Here’s a crazy request. One of you is looking to buy the Ōtsuka Lotēc No. 7.5. Sure, it’s a big ask, but if any of you have one and want to sell, reach out to and I’ll put you in touch

• SOLD: Well, not really new. It’s a great looking mid-90s Tudor Submariner 75090, offered for sale by a member of the It’s About Time reader crew. I love the way it looks and seems to be in great condition. Check it out over on Chrono24.

• 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

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-Vuk