Hamilton's 39mm Khaki Aviation Pilot Auto; Zodiac Recreates Their First Diver With Craft And Tailored; Stowa Releases Blacked Out Flieger Verus; Lorier Teams Up With Worn & Wound; And New Mr Jones

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. A solid lineup of releases today, and yet, I don’t think I would buy a single one. Except for the Mr Jones, of course. Weird.

In this issue:

• Hamilton Splits The Size Difference With Four Variants Of The Mid Sized 39mm Khaki Aviation Pilot Auto

• Zodiac Teams Up With Craft And Tailored For A Revival Of Their Legendary Sea Wolf 691

• Stowa Releases A Completely Blacked Out Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon With Bright Blue Details

• Lorier Teams Up With Worn & Wound For The Astronomically Inspired Astra Stargazer

• Mr Jones Has ‘Unplugged’ Join The Perfectly Useless Afternoon For Our Ideal Take On Relaxation

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes

👂What’s new

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Hamilton Splits The Size Difference With Four Variants Of The Mid Sized 39mm Khaki Aviation Pilot Auto

Inevitably, when a brand puts out a watch in the 40-42mm range, the internet will be outraged why such a large monstrosity would even exist, disregarding the fact that most watchmakers sell the largest number of watches in this range. Then the brand will listen to the outrage and release a 36mm version. Well, this brings out the people who give a backhanded compliment that it’s great that there’s a 36mm version and they would instantly buy it, if only there was some middle ground. Well, Hamilton knows how these cycles work and they have you covered. Following a 42mm and a 36mm, Hamilton just released a 39mm version of their Khaki Aviation Pilot Auto in four configurations.

The new Hamilton Khaki Aviation Pilot comes in a stainless steel case that keeps the same shape as the other two sizes, but now measures 39mm wide and 11.6mm thick. It’s a brushed case with polished details. On top is a flat sapphire crystal surrounded by a fixed bezel. Water resistance remains 100 meters.

The dials are also very much familiar. They come in three matte colors: midnight blue, military green, or black. They all have a thin minutes track on a sloping flange, with a faux-sector dial as you move inside. The first ring holds double digit minute numerals, and single hour numerals on the recessed innermost disc. At the cardinal positions you get rectangular markers and a triangle at 12. The sword-shaped hands are skeletonized and have opposing parts filled in with Super-LumiNova X1, along with the indices on the dial. It also loses the date window, which I like, but some might find controversial.

You already know what movement is inside. It’s the H-10 automatic, which is just a slight variation of the Powermatic 80. It has a Nivachron balance spring, is based on the ETA 2824 and has the venerable 80 hour power reserve. The watches come on either a brown leather strap or a stainless steel bracelet.

The new Khaki Aviation Pilot Auto 39mm is available now and priced at €1,075 for the green and black dial versions with a leather strap and €1,155 for the blue and black that come on a stainless steel bracelet. See more on the Hamilton website.

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Zodiac Teams Up With Craft And Tailored For A Revival Of Their Legendary Sea Wolf 691

Rolex and Blancpain are still trying to figure out who came out with the first dive watch in 1953. Both claim it was them, and there is more evidence for one than the other, but this is not about Rolex or Blancpain. It’s about Zodiac, which was right there behind the two legends, as they came out with their skin diver the same year, called the Sea Wolf. But the interesting thing, one that throws a bit of a wrench in the Rolex and Blancpain story, is the fact that the Sea Wolf was proceeded by the Zodiac ref. 691 diver with a steel rotating bezel, steel case, and Arabic numerals on the even numbers. And it’s this exact watch that Zodiac is now bringing back in collaboration with vintage dealers Craft + Tailored.

The watch tries to be as close to the original as possible. And it pulls it off. The stainless steel case measures 36mm wide, with a stainless steel bezel that overhangs a bit pushing the measurement to 37mm, 12mm thick and has a 44mm lug-to-lug. On top is a stainless steel bezel with an engraved 60 minute count down scale. It’s slightly unusual for a dive watch, but true to the original ref. 691. You get 200 meters of water resistance.

The dial also remains very faithful to the original. You get the Arabic numerals at the even spots and double lines for the rest of the markers. The dial comes in two colors — black and cream, with white markers on the black dial and gold on the cream dial. Both dials feature Super-LumiNova on the numerals, dots above the markers, as well as hands and seconds arrow tip.

Inside, a big surprise. First of all, it’s a completely newly developed movement. Made by Fossil Group’s in-house Swiss movement developer and manufacturer Swiss Technology Production, it’s the STP 1-21M. But bizarrely, it’s a manually wound movement, which is incredibly strange for a dive watch that has a screw down crown. I don’t have a lot of details on the watch, except that it’s an evolution of the STP 1-11 movement, which is itself an STP clone of the ETA 2824, and has a 40 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a three-link rivet-style stainless steel bracelet.

The Zodiac Super Sea-Wolf Ref. 691 is available today for $1,695, with the black-dialed ZO0001 available through Zodiac’s website, and the cream-dialed ZO0002 exclusively available through Craft + Tailored.

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Stowa Releases A Completely Blacked Out Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon With Bright Blue Details

The whole point of a flieger-style watch is to be laser focused on readability. These watches draw their origin from World War II German pilot watches which needed to be large and readable at a glance to keep track of time for easier navigation. But the time of needing a wristwatch for navigation are way behind us, so brands are free to experiment as much as they want. And yet, we rarely see radical changes to the flieger. Stowa, one of the original flieger brands, seems to have new ideas. This is their new Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon that is completely blacked out, thereby getting rid of the whole point of a flieger.

The Verus Black Forest Lagoon comes in a 40mm wide, 10.2mm thick stainless steel case with a 48.6mm lug-to-lug. The watch gets a black coating, starting the descent into darkness. On top is a flat sapphire crystal held down with the tiniest of bezels. Despite this being a pilot’s watch that won’t find its way to much water, you still get 50 meters of water resistance.

The matte black dial gets applied minute indices and Arabic numerals for the hours, but they are all painted gloss black. The black on black really works. But they work even better when paired with the turquoise triangle at 12, hour, minute and seconds hands, as well as the (optional) text on the date disc in the circular date aperture at 6 o’clock. The color is supposedly inspired by the Blautopf, a spring in Baden-Württemberg. To make things even cooler, the numerals and indices are filled with black Superluminova. Come on!

You get a choice of movements inside. You can get it with either the basic or top versions of the Sellita SW200, or the top version of the hand wound Sellita SW210. All of these movements beat at 4Hz and have about a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black leather strap.

Hey, you want to know something else? Stowa made a cool watch and didn’t make it limited. So good on them! You can get the basic Sellita version for €1,090, the top grade one for €1,220 or the hand wound for €1,240. See more on the Stowa website.

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Lorier Teams Up With Worn & Wound For The Astronomically Inspired Astra Stargazer

I’ve been saying for a while that the folks over at Worn & Wound have an eye for colors. I loved when they worked with Zodiac and perfectly captured the palettes of the 1990s. But it seems that their eye doesn’t stop just at design, they have some other ideas as well. Now they teamed up with Lorier, the makers of incredible retro-inspired watches, to create the Astra Stargazer which isn’t just an update of a colorway, it’s very much a reworking of the basics.

The Astra Stargazer, as the name suggests, comes in Lorier’s Astra case. This means that it’s made out of stainless steel and measures 36mm wide, 11mm thick and has a 44mm lug-to-lug measurement. On top is a domed acrylic crystal that really gives not only a retro vibe but also an out-of-this world feeling with that much distortion. The crystal is surrounded by a thin polished bezel. Water resistance is standard at 100 meters.

Then, there’s the dial. Since Worn & Wound and Lorier talk a lot about space and stars as the inspiration, you can really see it on the base of the dial, as it looks like a base of a planetary model. They’re good at color, and you can see it in the combination of grey, green and white, with a ridged luminous ring on the edge. At the center is a rotating gray disc with 12 sectors and a luminous arrow for the hours. The minute hand is a large circle with a luminous triangle that points toward the minute’s track. A central three-spoke seconds hand contains a lume pip at the end of each spoke. Two glow blue, and the other lights up green. All of the lume on the watch is C3 and C9 Super-LumiNova, used to create contrast.

Inside, a simple movement. The familiar Miyota 90S5 automatic. It beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a gray suede strap.

Only 200 pieces will be made of the Astra Stargazer and it’s available for preorder now. The watch will ship in December. With a price set at $499, it should be an easy buy. See more on the Worn & Wound website.

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Mr Jones Has ‘Unplugged’ Join The Perfectly Useless Afternoon For Our Ideal Take On Relaxation

While Mr Jones makes some pretty incredible watches, it’s safe to say that one of their models is etched into the collective watch world memory, and beyond. The model is called “A Perfectly Useless Afternoon” and it exemplified everything that Mr Jones stands for — a simple case and a stunning dial that forgoes the need for telling the time in a conventional way, instead opting to let us imagine ourselves lounging on an oversized donut in a pool. And it’s this illustration that tells the time. It’s an incredible watch, so beloved that they recently released a 31mm version of it. But now, the same Belgian illustrator Kristof Devos is releasing a new watch with Mr Jones that gives us yet another take on relaxation. And with a name like “Unplugged, you kind of know what to expect.

You already know the case. It’s that instantly recognisable Mr Jones case with a round body and spindly lugs. It measures 37mm wide with a 46mm lug to lug and has a 50 meter water resistance. Inside is a single jewel quartz movement. The watch is mounted on a 18mm wide strap, in this case it’s a silver stainless steel milanese-like bracelet.

But it’s all about the dial, and you know it. The new Devos illustration acts almost like a sequel to the Perfectly Useless Afternoon. While that was a pool in bright sunlight, you can see the sun setting, casting a shadow of the window on the floor. It’s as it the same person from the pool retired inside, but instead of doomscrolling on their phone, the watch hints at spending time away from emails, phone screens and laptops to enjoy the simpler pleasures in life like books, music and spending time with pets. I’m all for it!

To read the time, the wearer should check the figure’s outstretched leg, which points to the hours, and the centre line of the window frame seen reflected in the sunlight marks the minutes. I just adore how wild they can get with these time indications.

Like so many Mr Jones watches, this one will be limited. However, it’s not limited in number, it just has a limited sale window. And that window starts tomorrow, Wednesday, October 2nd. It’s open only for 12 hours, from 8am to 8pm, British Standard Time. You won’t see anything on the Mr Jones website yet, but check it out tomorrow to see the watch.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Sinn 903 St II

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Hands-On with the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer

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A review of the Gerald Charles Maestro 4.0 Ducati 30° Anniversario 916

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

One of the first reviews I’ve read of the Momentum UDT Solar, my top 10 release of the year

Though the new UDT has advanced technology within, the overall package is unassuming. The case is the familiar Monnin style that Momentum also used for their popular Sea Quartz reissue. Though it is 42mm in diameter, the fairly short 47mm lug-to-lug and 11.7mm thickness help the UDT wear very comfortably, as is common for this case design. The curves of the case, and the ion-plated matte finish, combine for a softer aesthetic – even the transitions that define the chamfer on the outer surface of the lugs are subtle. The case finishing is fit for purpose, and plenty good for a sub-$400 watch.

Read the whole review on The Time Bum

⏲️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

• The richest man in Germany is worth $44 billion. Klaus-Michael Kuehne, born in 1937, has more money than Ken Griffin, MacKenzie Scott, or François Pinault. The source of his family fortune? The Nazis know.

• Mohamed Al Fayed has been in the media lately, as a lifetime of sex abuse, racism and spying on staff has been uncovered. And here’s an article by UK editor of Vanity Fair who compiled all the testimonies about the late owner of Harrods.

• ‘I’ve never worn trousers up a mountain and I never will’: a Bolivian cholita climber on sexism and her next summit. One of Bolivia’s first female Indigenous mountain climbers, Cecilia Llusco has scaled its highest peaks, changed the tourism landscape – and now has her eye on Everest

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

People love making fun of the McMurty Speirling for being a vacuum cleaner on wheels. But just look at it doing laps on a track. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen.

💵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 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