IWC Releases White Ceramic Big Pilot’s, Farer’s Two New Chrono-Sport Chronos In Titanium, Chopard's Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph And The Archiwatch Two-Tone Is A Homage To Calatrava 96

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. A lot of things to get through in this issue, but my winners for this Friday are the two Farers and the Archiwatch.

Also, you can fill out the survey or invite your friends (one invite, one giveaway ticket) to enter the giveaway.

In this issue:

• IWC Releases White Ceramic Big Pilot’s First Teased By Lewis Hamilton

• Farer’s Two New Chrono-Sport Chronos, This Time In Titanium

• Chopard Traditionally Launches The Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph

• Hublot Celebrates 18 Years Of Big Bang With Unico Full Magic Gold

• Archiwatch Classic Two-Tone Is A Homage To Classic Calatrava 96

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 56 seconds

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👂What’s new

1/

IWC Releases Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Lake Tahoe First Teased By Lewis Hamilton In May Miami F1 Race

The watch world went a bit crazy back in May when Lewis Hamilton showed up at the Miami Formula 1 race wearing a fully white IWC Big Pilot’s. Everybody was trying to guess what the watch was, why Hamilton was wearing it and whether IWC would ever release it, or was it a one off for Hamilton. I couldn’t really understand all the excitement, as it was very obvious at the time that there was no way that IWC would not make it. They are, in fact, in the watchmaking business. And here’s that day - IWC just released the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Lake Tahoe.

The ‘Colours of TOP GUN‘ sub-genre of IWC watches comprises a few colours so far, all made in ceramic or a combination of ceramic and titanium. You can get a plain black version, but also very interesting colors like Mojave Desert beige, Oceana Blue or Woodland Green. The Lake Tahoe white might seem just as plain as the black version, but slapped on a 46.5mm wide and fully ceramic watch it looks very striking. The all-white look is bold and daring, and definitely won’t go unnoticed when on the wrist.

While the white of the case is strikingly new, everything else remains pretty much the same. The matte black dial retains all the characteristics of the dials of the other Big Pilot’s Watches. The indications include the time, obviously, paired with the date, day of the week, month, year, power reserve and perpetual moon phase.

Inside is the Calibre 52615, which we know quite well from all the previous Big Pilot watches. Developed by Kurt Klaus in the 1980s, this large automatic movement fills the entire case and gets its energy from the large openworked central rotor. It can store a massive 168 hours, or 7 days of power reserve. The finishing includes Côtes de Genève and perlage. The watch comes on a white rubber strap with a textile inlay and the signature deployant clasp.

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Lake Tahoe goes on sale in July and will retail for EUR 43.700, a slight bump over th Mojave Desert Edition of last year.

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Farer Has Two New Versions Of Chrono-Sport Chronographs, This Time In Titanium

Farer easily ranks among my favorite microbrands. Their use of bold colors, unexpected case shapes and overall good vibe just make me smile. Now they’re launching their latest additions to the Chrono-Sport lineup with their new Chronograph Sport Titanium collection. While I usually don’t drool over titanium watches and often find them weird looking, with a few notable exceptions, these two have may heart pumping. As the name suggests, these two models ditch the standard steel cases in favor of titanium.

The watches come in two colorways - the Carnegie and the Bernina. Both inspired by the legendary motor races held in St. Moritz, each relies on a common design language that is somehow completely retro and totally modern all at once.

The Chrono-Sport Titanium Carnegie gets a whole new look that sets it apart from its steel predecessor. What was previously a blue and green watch with some pops of color in the hands is now a much different design. A sky blue ceramic tachymeter bezel pairs with a chocolaty sunburst main dial and silver subdials. The silver seconds ring has markings to match the bezel, while the subdial markings and hands coordinate with the main dial. The hour and minute hands are polished with a stronger silhouette than the previous Chrono-Sport. The hands and applied markers all have Super-LumiNova.

Contrasting the cool Carnegie is the more vibrant Bernina, which puts the pedal to the metal. It omits sunken subdials for a flat, more racing-inspired appearance. It has a creamy white main dial, with contrasting white circles for the subdials. I particularly like the 12-hour totalizer at 6 o’clock, which isn’t set apart by a different color. Instead of applied markers, the Bernina has arcs of lume along the periphery of the dial. The dial features an added telemeter scale, as well, further differentiating it from the Carnegie. Pops of blue give the dial some added oomph.

Both models in the Chronograph Sport Titanium line-up feature a 41mm case made of Grade 2 Titanium. A ceramic bezel surrounds the dial with an engraved tachymeter scale in a complementary colorway. The Chrono-Sports run on a Sellita SW510M b movement, making this a manual-wind watch that has approximately 63 hours of reserve when fully wound.

Both the Carnegie and Bernina will ship June 6th and you can order them directly form Farer. The retail price is $1,995.

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Chopard Traditionally Launches 2023 Edition Of The Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph And First Time Limited Edition, GTS Chronograph

In the world of motor racing-horology partnerships, 36 years is an extremely long time. And yet, this is exactly how long Chopard has been collaborating with one of the greatest races of all time, the Mille Miglia. The link between the watch brand and the race is so close that Chopard has named it’s racing inspired line after the race. And this year, just like every year, Chopard is showing off their new iteration of watches for the 2023 Mille Miglia, four in total with new sizes and colors. Only, this year, they have another addition - a limited edition of the GTS Chronograph with a charity incentive as parts of the proceeds are donated to the victims of the recent Emilia Romagna floods.

First up is the Mille Miglia GTS Chronograph Limited Edition. It uses the same case as the regular Mille Miglia watch from 2022 and that’s a pretty large 44mm wide and 13.79mm steel case. The case is fitted with a fixed tachymeter bezel with an olive green insert, and topped by a box-shaped sapphire crystal. The earthy tones continue on the dial with a grained textured beige dial. The silver-coloured applied indices and hands are finished with Super-LumiNova inserts. Around the outer perimeter, there’s a sloped minute track in olive green to match the bezel.

Inside is an automatic chronograph movement based on the Valjoux 7750 calibre. This runs at a rate of 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 48 hours, provided by the central winding rotor and it has COSC-chronometer certification. The limited edition comes on a saddle-brown perforated leather strap.

The watch is exclusively available in Italy, limited to 100 pieces and will cost you EUR 8.610, with parts of the proceeds donated to victims of the recent Emilia Romagna floods.

Then there’s the regular Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph. For this year the watch has been sized down from 44mm to 40.5mm, making it much more attractive. In addition to the traditional engine-turned dial, the most classic of the Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph, there are three additional models available in a variety of case colors and materials. You can get a full steel model or a two-tone steel-fold.

The new colors are Verde Chiaro, Rosso Amarena and Grigio Blue. Where the black dial has an engine-turned pattern on it, mimicking the finishing of instrument clusters in vintage cars, the light green, cherry red and grey blue dials have a circular satin-brushed finish. The two-tone model also comes with gold hands, crown, pushers and bezel, to distinguish itself from the others. All dials are finished with the classic Mille Miglia road sign logo in red.

Inside the watch is an ETA A322-11 which comes with COSC Chronometer certification, runs at a rate of 28,800vph and provides 54 hours of running time. The watches come on either a black rubber strap with a vintage tire tread pattern for the black dial, or vintage brown perforated leather straps for the other three versions.

The prices range from EUR 9.580 in steel with a black dial, EUR 9.800 in steel with the cherry red or light green dial, to EUR 11.600 for the two-tone model.

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Hublot Celebrates 18 Years Of The Big Bang With The Unico Full Magic Gold

The Big Bang range is perhaps single handedly responsible for turning Hublot into a punchline of the watch world. For the past 18 years, the Big Bang has been everything people dislike about Hublot - huge, gaudy, not particularly attractive and even less well made, sold at an outrageous price. So, this, the Unico Full Magic Gold is the model they chose to celebrate coming of age. And it’s a bit confusing. Yes, it’s still large and not very great looking, but it’s not the flamboyant watch one would expect from Hublot for this occasion.

The case is pretty much what you would expect from a Unico chronograph - 44mm in diameter by 14.5mm-thick with the Big Bang’s signature multi-component “sandwich” style construction and 100 meters of water resistance. There’s a big update in the materials used, as Hublot used their proprietary Magic Gold alloy, a fusion of ceramic and pure gold that results in an incredibly hard structure that is true 18k gold by weight, but rather than being soft like traditional gold alloys, it offers the same highly scratch-resistant properties of ceramic.

Much like the case, the dial fitted to the new Hublot Big Bang Unico Full Magic Gold is essentially a black and gold version of what you will find on similar models from the current-production Unico chronograph series. Featuring a largely skeletonized design with a two-register layout, the running seconds are displayed by a sub-dial at 9 o’clock, while a date display is set within a 60-minute counter that sits on the opposite side of the dial at the 3 o’clock location.

Inside the watch is the same self-winding Caliber HUB1280 Unico 2 flyback chronograph movement that can be found inside other models from the current-production series. Running at a frequency of 28,800 (4 Hz) and offering users a power reserve of 72 hours, the 43-jewel Hublot Cal. HUB1280 Unico 2 is a 354-component column wheel-controlled flyback chronograph that places its column wheel on the dial side of its structure to allow users to view its operation through the skeletonized surface that forms the face of the watch. It comes on a black rubber strap, which is completed by a signed deployant clasp that is made from black-finished titanium and ceramic and the straps can be removed with a press of a button.

This is a limited edition of 200 pieces and carries a retail price of EUR 40,600.

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Benjamin Chee Teams Up With Andersen Genève For Enamel and Guilloché Editions Of The Celestial Voyager World Timer

Singaporean entrepreneur and watch collector Benjamin Chee is an interesting guy. He's behind the Chinese brands Celadon and Milléchron, both of which are modern and have a clearly Chinese historical influence. These watches sell in the $5,000-$12,000 range. But Chee wanted to do something bigger, more refined, more high horology. That’s why he launched Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie (BCHH) in 2019, teaming up with some of the top names in watchmaking like Svend Andersen of Andersen Genève. One of the most remarkable models to issue from BCHH in Switzerland is the Celestial Voyager, a refined high-end world timer. Now they’re launching two new Celestial Voyagers in pink gold with cloisonné enamel dials – “Aurora” and “Arctic Sunrise”.

For the first time, the Celestial Voyagers are housed in 18k pink gold cases measuring 37.7mm wide and 10.1mm thick, with scalloped polished lugs and a fine satin-brushed finish on the caseband. Andersen’s world timer, emulating Cottiers, relies on two crowns: the left crown bearing the BCHH seal adjusts the city ring, while the right crown engraved with the Andersen Genève logo adjusts the time. In line with the elegant dress watch mood of the watch, the crowns are recessed into the casebands and are almost invisible.

Like past Celestial Voyagers, these two also have stunning handcrafted guilloché and cloisonné enamel dial. The layout of the dial is identical to the former editions and displays a two-tiered city ring with 24 cities inscribed in rose gold powder on an iridescent mother-of-pearl base. Surrounding the dial is a rotating dark blue 24-hour ring with pink gold numerals set against a darker background.

The two names of the watches - Aurora and Arctic Sunrise - refer to the scenery depicted on the central 18mm disc. Aurora recreates the surreal glow of the northern lights produced in the Arctic with purple and claret tones, while Arctic Sunrise portrays the dawn with a vista of snow-capped mountains and a clear blue sea.

The BCHH Celestial Voyager has a vintage movement sourced from A. Schild S.A. and is entirely restored and decorated by Andersen Genève. The base movement – calibre AS 1876 – is fitted with a proprietary Andersen Genève world time module and runs at 3Hz. As you would expect, the decoration is sublime, with a 21k BlueGold rotor decorated with a guilloché pattern composed of overlapping waves. The Geneva stripes and anglage are done by hand, as are the chamfered and mirror-polished ratchet and crown wheels, while all the visible surfaces of the wheels are decorated with circular graining ad snailing. A mother-of-pearl ring bearing the inscription Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie and Andersen Genève completes the picture.

Only 15 pieces of each model will be produced, with a maximum of five pieces produced each year over a period of three years. “Aurora” and “Arctic Sunrise” Celestial Voyagers retail for CHF 58,800 and are available exclusively from BCHH and Andersen Genève. For an additional CHF 4,800 you can personalize the city ring.

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The Archiwatch Classic Two-Tone Is A Very Nice Homage To The Classic Calatrava 96

Richard Ménasé, a French dealer, has previously designed only one watch, called the Anonymous. His whole schtick with that watch was the complete lack of any brand markings on the watch. It wasn’t a revolutionary idea, but it easily sold out all 25 pieces. In the meantime, his company changed names. Ménasé's passion for watches comes from his dad, an Italian architect who had named his company Archigraph – after his dad passed away in 2019, Ménasé renamed his company in honor of his father - Archiwatch. Now Archiwatch reveals their latest creation, the Classic Two-Tone, a homage to the Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 96, but rendered in a modern package.

The steel case measures 36mm, with a 20mm lug width (45mm lug-to-lug). The brushed bezel is large and flat, one of the Patek 96's defining features. The dial design is thoughtfully executed: it's vertically brushed, with radial brushing around the applied Breguet numerals to provide contrast. The dauphine hands are sharp and polished.

The Archiwatch is powered by a manual-wind Sellita SW210-1, which has a 42-hour power reserve. Using a manually-wound movement is another choice that stays true to the original Calatrava and allows the watch to stay relatively thin, measuring just 8.5mm thick. It's delivered on a pair of leather straps from Molequin – one in a grained taupe and the other in anthracite – along with a slim travel case from Molequin.

Like the Anonymous, the Archiwatch is limited to 25 pieces and sells for EUR 2,000.

There are still some available on the website, which confused me a bit. I was sure it would sell out in the same day. However, the price point might be a bit problematic. You can buy watches from the like Baltic and Furlan Marri for much less than half the price, and get the same vintage feel. Yes, the Archiwatch has a proven Swiss movement inside and perhaps a bit better build quality, but it’s up to you to decide what you value more.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the ultra-thin Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Automatic

2/

Hands on with the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Christiaan van der Klaauw Ariadne are the first watches released by the Dutch brand since Master watchmaker Pim Koeslag took over

You need to be looking at the movement (handily, CVDK has provided a sapphire display back for just this purpose) to see one of the other significant differences. The automatic rotor has been engraved by German engraver Jochen Benzinger, the god of guilloché, engraving and skeletonizing watches. He makes his own to order, too. It’s fair to point out that there’s engraving and there’s engraving when it comes to watches. Even the ‘easy’ way – programming a laser engraver or a CNC tool – takes skill. Engraving by hand, using 100-year-old machines as Benzinger does, takes grand-master levels of the stuff. And, because it’s an entirely manual process, each piece is very slightly different and has its own character.

⏲️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 Denver Nuggets just won the NBA Championship. In no small part this was the result of a guy people are starting to call the best European player in the NBA ever, Nikola Jokic. And his stats are just monstrous - he’s breaking decades old records with every new game. Jokic is also the quietest guy in the NBA, giving only two or three word answers. This profile of him from ESPN acknowledges the fact that he doesn’t speak to the press so they went to everybody he knows to reconstruct the story of this great player.

• The Rim Fire in Tuolumne County, Florida, ate over 250,000 acres and cost nearly $130 million to put out. One man confessed to starting it—accidentally—but the case against him fell through. What really happened back in 2013?

• Lara Logan was once a respected 60 Minutes correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. Here’s how fast a life can spiral down the drain when you detach from reality.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

You may or may not like cooking videos. But like it or not, please do check out the videos of Brad Leone. He’s the reason why the famed Bon Appetit magazine got huge on YouTube and he has an infectious character. Also, you’ll learn a ton about the science of cooking from him. Leone has just now started his own channel and I love it. Speaking of food, I would appreciate it if you could respond to this email and tell me if you’re interested in an intersection of food, cooking videos and watches 😄 I might have a project coming up and I’m gauging interest.

💵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

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