Longines Introduces A Moonphase Dress Watch With A Vintage Twist, Seiko Brings Four New Gold Seiko 5s To The US, Sō Labs Layer 2 Is A Briliantly Designed Microbrand And New Watches From Minase And Hublot

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m totally in love with those Sō Labs Layer 2 watches. Just look at them.

Also, invite your friends or fill out the survey to enter the giveaway. We’re giving away four Seiko 5 Sports SKX ‘Midi’ in a color of your choice.

In this issue:

• Longines Introduces The 38.5mm Flagship Heritage Moonphase, The Dress Watch You Want

• Seiko Brings Four Gold Seiko 5 Sports Models Exclusively To The US Market

• Hublot Takes Inspiration From Sailors Uniforms For Their Latest Summer Limited Edition

• Beloved Japanese Indie Brand Minase Introduces New Uruga Collection

• The Sō Labs Layer 2 Is A Very Funky, Very Different Take On A Microbrand Watch

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 47 seconds

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👂What’s new

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Longines Introduces The 38.5mm Flagship Heritage Moonphase, The Dress Watch You Want

The Longines Flagship collection is a bit peculiar. It first appeared in 1957 when it represented, well, the flagship watches Longines made. But today, it is the collection that most draws inspiration from the brand’s huge catalogue and this is where they make their most vintage of pieces, but with modern performance. The modern Flagship collection, particularly the Heritage models, are super retro with a small seconds dial and date window. The new Flagship Heritage model, however, takes that elegant case and adds a featuring a moonphase and date indicator, packing it up into a most desirable dress watch.

As the name suggests, it’s a 38.5mm wide watch that’s a bit thick for a dress watch 12.4mm, but that’s understandable considering the moonphase complication. The case is made out of stainless steel and has chamfered straight shortened lugs. The screw down case and sapphire crystal offer some water resistance, but not much - 30 meters, about as much as you would expect from a dress watch. Speaking of the caseback, it has a yellow gold insert with an embossed image of a ship on waves on a blue background, the emblem of the Flagship collection. The caseback is engraved with the model’s name, reference number, material, water resistance, and other relevant details.

The case is great, but the dial is why we’re here for. It comes in three different finishes an opaline or sunrray silver and a sunray blue finish. All variants feature a straightforward layout with triangular gilt or silvered applied indices, gilt or silvered polished dauphine hands, with a moonphase display and date ring at 6 o’clock. The date is indicated by a small hand; the moonphase is executed traditionally, with the moon colour matching the indices depending on the reference.

Inside the watch is the self-winding calibre L899.5 that uses the ETA A31.L91 as a base. This silicon balance spring-equipped movement, anti-magnetic and also found in the Longines 1832 collection watches, beats 25,200 vibrations/hour and delivers up to 72 hours of power reserve. Depending on the dial color, the watch coms on either a brown, grey or blue alligator strap.

The Longines Flagship Heritage Moonpahase 38.5mm joins the permanent collection and can be bought right away for a price of EUR 3,250. Not an insignificant amount of money, but also, not that bad. See more on the Longines website.

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Seiko Brings Four Gold Seiko 5 Sports Models Exclusively To The US Market

There’s nothing better in the summer than lounging at the cocktail bar with too short shorts, chest hair poking out of your white v-neck and a gold watch flashing on your writs. Unfortunately, gold is expensive and if what I described your ideal look, you likely don’t want to spend that much money on a watch. Fortunately, Seiko has a solution - gold colored steel watches. Specifically for the US market, the Japanese watchmaker releases 4 new editions of its beloved Seiko 5 Sports watches - the SRPK18, SRPK20, SRPK22 and SRPK24 - all in a golden hue.

Yeah, a gold colored watch might be cheating. But it’s the best kind of cheating, especially if you can manage to not take yourself very seriously and will allow for a bit of ridiculousness on your writs. All four new models are inspired by the legendary Seiko SKX. This means it’s made out of stainless steel, with brushed and polished surfaces, with a shape that is reminiscent of classic 70s divers, a crown at 4 o’clock, a uni-directional bezel, a push-pull crown, a Hardlex crystal and a comfortable 100m water-resistance.

Unfortunately, these four gold models are not based on the new 38mm mid-size version (which I’m giving away in a giveaway if you’re subscribed to the newsletter or invite your friends), but rather the older case that is 42.5mm wide and 13.6mm thick with a lug to lug measurement of 46mm. All of them have a metallic insert with a 60-minute scale on the bezel.

These watches are all about the colors, with each reference getting it’s unique combination of golds. The SRPK18 features a fully gold-coloured case and bracelet, a brushed and gold-toned bezel insert and a matte black dial with gold-coloured markers and hands. The SRPK20 gets the same gold-toned case and bracelet, but has a brushed sapphire-blue dial, a black bezel insert and gold accents on markers, tracks and hands. The SRPK22 is a two-tone steel and gold case black bezel and a charcoal-toned brushed dial, while the SRPK24 is also two-tone but has a gold-coloured and brushed bezel insert, and a brushed brown dial.

All four versions are powered by Seiko’s calibre 4R36, an automatic entry-level movement with 3Hz frequency, 41h power reserve and day-date function. It is visible through the caseback. And all four come on a 3-link steel bracelet with a folding clasp.

These watches are available now, but only to US costomers and all four have a great price of $395. You can learn more on Seiko’s US website.

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Hublot Takes Inspiration From Sailors Uniforms For Their Latest Summer Limited Edition 

I’ve been going on and on for weeks now about brands putting out the perfect summer watch, each one upsetting the previous perfect watch. But, if I’m to be honest, here it is - this is the perfect summer watch. The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Azur. But before you click away, hear me out. Each of these perfect summer watches is perfect for it’s aplication. A diver, a GMT, a cheap plastic watch, they each have their own place. So does the Hublot Big Bang Unico Azur. It is the perfect watch to wear if you’re summering on the French Riviera on a yacht that your rich friend who can’t really stand your daytrading stories has chartered.

Hublot indirectly claims that their summer watch is inspired by the stereotypical sailor uniform, so that’s why they are using a blue ceramic case and white ceramic bezel. I mean… ok, I’ve heard worse. It does fit a summer look. That glaring white bezel also increases the impact of the watch on the wrist, visually expanding the 42mm diameter. It comes paired with either the blue rubber strap or the braided white fabric strap.

The one good thing about this Hublot Big Bang Unico Azur is that it’s really hard to tell the time due to the partially skeletonized dial, that still has subdials for the chronograph function. Behind the military stencil-like applied numerals and skeletonised hands, a mechanical cacophony of movement components can be seen mingling with pieces of a navy blue dial. The Unico movement which powers it is the HUB1280, complete with a flyback chronograph complication and a three-day power reserve.

The Hublot Big Bang Unico Azur is limited to 50 pieces, and will be exclusively sold at Hublot’s boutiques in Monaco and St Tropez. Because of course it will, prime Hublot market. It’s priced at EUR 26,900. You can see more on the Hublot website.

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Beloved Japanese Indie Brand Minase Introduces New Uruga Collection

Minase has largely been known for two things - their precision metalworking and watches that have highly complex cases like the Minase 7 Windows, a rectangular watch with seven sapphire glass apertures flooding the dial with light. However, it seems like Minase can go conservative as well. These days they presented their most normal looking watch collection, called the Minase Uruga.

Uruga is an acronym of the Japanese words “Uruwashii” and “Myabi” meaning respectively beauty and elegance. Despite it being a more regular looking round watch, Minase continues to focus on the case rather than the internals. And despite being a more regular round watch, it still retains a complex construction. It takes the shape of a technique used to securely set gemstones into place with 4 claws that are used to secure a stone on a ring.

The “clamps” are brushed to contrast with the multiple mirror-polished areas and facets of this case which, in classic Minase fashion, are made using the Sallaz or Zaratsu distortion-free technique. The watches in the collection come in two sizes - a rather large 42mm and a strangely small 31mm. I understand they were going for a more feminine look, but 31 sometimes tend to be comically too small.

The dials offered on the new Minase Uruga follow the same strategy; intricate, still using geometric shapes but once again less striking than before. Available in blue, grey or green, the dial uses a horizontal embossed pattern that is reminiscent of the waves of the Minase River – it consists of an “endless array of interlacing lines symbolizing infinity.” The markers are asymmetrically shaped with a diagonal cut. Polished and faceted, they will surely provide interesting reflections. The hands, also faceted, have a dual finishing (polished and brushed) and the metallic element around the date window is certainly catching the attention.

A lot of work is put into the case and dial, but a lot less into the internals. Inside is the ETA 2892. It’s not a horrible movement, by far. It’s a robust and familiar, used in or as a base for “in-house movements” from Longines, IWC, TAG, Omega and Breitling. Minase did spruce it up a bit, giving it hand-finished surfaces with perlage, bridges with diamond-polished bevels, blued screws and a rotor modified to showcase the brand’s drill-head logo. The specifications of this movement are otherwise classic – 4Hz frequency, 50-hour power reserve, and stop-seconds.

The new Minase Uruga 42mm watch comes on a leather strap or a complex stainless steel bracelet with geometrically-shaped links. It retails for EUR 4,850 on leather strap or EUR 6,150 on steel bracelet. You can see more on the Minase website.

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The Sō Labs Layer 2 Is A Very Funky, Very Different Take On A Microbrand Watch

One of the great benefits of writing this newsletter is learning about watch brands I’ve never heard about before. One of them is the Chicago-based brand Sō Labs. A brand so impressive, I’m including a watch they released last year in the news section because I only just found out about it (thanks to Revolution) and was so amused with. The watch is the Sō Labs Layer 2, their second collection of watches.

Sō Labs launched their brand with an incredibly cool Layer 1 collection that has very strong 80s Miami vibes. This visual inspiration is ramped up to the max thanks to the interesting design of the watch, which takes traditional dial design and flips the concept on its head. Instead of hands in the traditional sense, Sō Labs uses discs and apertures to create a gradient effect that, while initially unfamiliar, is surprisingly intuitive. It was powered by a quartz movement and came in five colorways of which three are now completely sold out.

For Layer 2 they took the concept of Layer 1 and made it better. Layer 2 gets a better case with short, Art Deco-inspired lugs and a 40mm diameter. Inside they ditched the quartz and installed the familiar Sellita SW200. It comes in five colors, once again, and all of them are just stunning. Obsidian Frost is the most vibrant, with a black DLC case and a pink and blue palette. Iron Flamingo pairs shades of grey with orangey pinks. Plum Punch sees deep purples blend with peach-like tones; Charcoal Fog is mostly monotone, except for green and pink tones in some of the shades. Finally, Iced Oatmeal offers a more muted take on color, with grey, green and pink shades at play.

Then there’s the use of hands. The minute hand is the most traditional and open-worked. The hour hand appears as a solid pyramid with an open semi-circular counterweight. The seconds indicator is hard to miss, consisting of a small disc over the central pinion, with a tiny marker that is most useful to check whether your watch is actually running rather than accurate timekeeping. Most interesting of all, though are the two polychromatic discs visible through the large aperture at the top of the dial. Instead of the functional but boring day-and-date displays these wheels are typically used for, Sō Labs has instead given us a slow but an ever-changing parade of gradient colors. The package is finished off with rotors that match the dials, retro bracelets and suede straps.

Everything about this watch is just absolutely delightful and different. Just look at, for example, their packaging. This is an area many microbrands stumble on. To provide as much value they can for the watch, they often skimp out on the packaging, giving you a cheap cardboard box with some foam inside. While you can carry a cheap cardboard box far with good design, but it will still be a cheap cardboard box. Sō Labs whittles their packaging down to a bare minimum and ships the watch to you in a transparent plastic case. It looks just stunning:

You can get them from the brand’s website and all five variants are priced at $1,295. I think that’s fair for such an original watch.

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⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The REC Watches TURBO PurpleNeon Is A Love Letter To 80s Sports Cars

The dial of the TURBO PurpleNeon mimics the window louvers employed on the Lotus and on almost every sporty car from that era. A layer of SuperLuminova is topped with hand-painted dark purple to bright orange gradient plastic for the “sunset” effect that found its way to almost every album cover or video game. The italicized ‘’Turbo’’ badge sits proudly at 4:30. A 6 o’clock date window finishes it off.

⏲️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

• Anyone who grew up with a Barbie (or Ken) doll (I was surrounded with my sister’s dolls) will be enthralled by this piece. It explores not just the new film - Great Gerwig’s dream job, but also Barbie’s history and complicated relationship with feminism. There has been a flood of Barbie content recently, but this reporting has far more depth than most.

• A couple of months ago, rumours started to spread online about a completely crazy fight between husband-wife owners of a L.A. restaurant. Why, you ask, would anybody care? Well, because there’s accusations of cat killings and much much more. I don’t do this story justice, so hop on over to read it.

• When Domenic Broccoli set out to expand his IHOP empire upstate, he didn’t expect to find a grave site — or start a war.

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ONE MILE OUT follows Chadd's journey running 250 miles through Northern Arizona in the 2023 Cocodona 250. This is a true ultrarunning experience and shows all the highs and lows that come along with covering 250 miles. It’s an inhuman journey.

💵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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