Longines Releases Titanium Spirit Zulu Time And Bi-Metal Flyback Duo; Glashütte Original Bids Adieu To The Summer With Funky Dials; Delma's Icy Blue Montego; And A Super Complicated Chaykin

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. We’re still limping a bit with new releases, so don’t be surprised if there’s an edition missing on Monday. In the meantime, enjoy this pretty nice release from Longines.

You guys are awesome, you know that, right? We have crossed the halfway point to make this newsletter stop losing money! If you would like to help with that, you can read what I’m talking about in the red box below, and if you want to see a preview of what’s in the Patreon, read this pretty incredible and mostly true story of the ruthless and revered Pasha of Marrakech and how the modern Pasha de Cartier was inspired by his life. Or maybe it wasn’t.

In this issue:

• Longines Updates The Spirit Collection With A New Zulu Time Titanium and Two Flyback Bi-Metal

• The New Glashütte Original Seventies Swimming Pool And Watermelon Are Self Explanatory

• Delma Celebrates Centenary With Ice-Blue Dial On A Limited Edition Montego Chronograph

• Konstantin Chaykin Outdoes Himself With The Stargazer, His Most Complicated Watch

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 6 seconds

👂What’s new

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Longines Updates The Spirit Collection With A New Zulu Time Titanium and Two Flyback Bi-Metal

Hey, it’s been quite a few months since we saw a new Longines. Especially ones that will be as popular as the watches they released just now. Sure, there was a slight update to the Conquest line some five months ago, and a titanium version of the funky Majetek, but this 2024 update to the Spirit line will be significant for the brand. The Spirit is Longines’ major pilot’s watch collection, inspired by 1920s tool watches that pilots used for navigation. Now, they are adding two Longines Spirit Flybacks with bi-metal cases and, more importantly, their first non-limited Spirit Zulu Time in titanium.

Starting off with what will certainly be a hit for Longines this fall, the Spirit Zulu Time Titanium which will be going up head to head with the likes of Tudor, Sinn, Oris, Breitling and the occasional Zenith. This is a broad price range, sure, but all of these brands offer a titanium sports watch, some with the GMT complication. So Longines has some shoes to fill. The Spirit Zulu Time Titanium comes in a 39mm wide and 13.5mm thick titanium case with a lug-to-lug of 47mm. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded by a serrated bezel that has a grey and black ceramic 24-hour bezel.

The dial remains largely unchanged, with a matte black base and gilt accents on the numeral surrounds, hands and Longines logo. There’s also a black GMT hand with a red tip. At the 6 o’clock position you’ll find the date window, above which are the controversial Longines five starts. Inside is the COSC certified L844.4 automatic movement with a 72-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a titanium bracelet with doube push-button deployant. Prices is set at €4,500 and you can see more on the Longines website.

The other releases from Longines are the two new bi-metal Spirit Flyback. They come in a stainless steel case that measures 42mm wide and 17mm thick, one with 18k yellow gold details — pushers, crown and bezel — while the other gets the same details in 18k rose gold. Each gets its own colorway. The yellow gold is paired with a green bezel and dial, while the pink gold is paired with brown.

Both watches get a gradient dial, with lighter shades in the center and darker on the outside, with a bi-compax chronograph layout that has a small seconds and a 30-minute timer subdial, along with the traditional central chrono seconds. Inside is the COSC certified L791, which beats at 4Hz and has a 68 hour power reserve. The watches come on leather straps that match the dial color and due to the gold are priced a bit higher at €6,870. See more on the Longines website.

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The New Glashütte Original Seventies Swimming Pool And Watermelon Are Self Explanatory

Watches hailing from Glashütte, including those made by Glashütte Original, have always put the utmost importance on functionality and precision. Watches made in this legendary German town are the pinnacle of watchmaking, a serious affair, with movements that rival and in cases surpass their Swiss counterparts. It’s all very teutonic. And here comes Glashütte Original saying hold my beer, I’ve got a fantastic mechanical watch, but stuffed in a funky, retro, colorful, textured and fun package. That’s what the Glashütte Original Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date is all about — textures, wild colors and something that’s very much not expected from a serious German brand. And their slightly belated summer releases for 2024 are more of the same, with names that are incredibly self explanatory — Swimming Pool and Watermelon.

This is, as the name of the collection suggests, a 70s inspired design, with a very retro square shape that was very popular in that decade. Made out of stainless steel, the watch measures 40×40mm, with a thickness of 14.1mm. The case is brushed, with a polished bezel on top, and integrated lugs. Water resistance is 100 meters and you get square pushers surrounding the pointy crown guards.

The dials share the same architecture — a bi-compax setup with a small seconds subdial, a 30-minute timer, along with the iconic panorama date at 6 o’clock and a very nicely integrated 12-hour timer at 12 o’clock. The markers are applied, polished and filled with lume, as are the hands. Then there are the colors. Swimming Pool is a turquoise blue, while Watermelon looks a bit more orange than red. Both have sub-dial rings in black.

Inside both watches is the Calibre 37-02. It’s an in-house designed movement that is a column wheel automatic flyback chronograph, which you can see through the caseback and see the traditional Glashütte stripe finishing. You get a beat rate of 4Hz and a 70 hour power reserve. The watches can be had on either a stainless steel bracelet or a rubber strap.

Both new Glashütte Original Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date models are limited to 100 pieces each and are available now. Also, there’s no two ways around this… pricing is rough. On rubber one will set you back €16,400, while the steel version is priced at €17,600. See more on the Glashütte Original website.

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Delma Celebrates Centeniary With Ice-Blue Dial On A Limited Edition Montego Chronograph

While not a household name to the broadest public, Delma has a cult following among enthusiasts of rugged and capable tool watches. And they have been doing that for 100 years now. Just a few weeks ago they started their 100 year celebration with the introduction of the 1940s inspired Heritage Chronograph 100 Years Limited Edition. Now, they&re moving up in the decades and take clear inspiration from racing chronographs of the 1960s for the new Delma Montego Chronograph Automatic 100 Year Limited Edition with an icy blue dial that looks very much like the icy blue dial on that other famous racing chronographs of the 1960s.

The Montego is Delma’s very traditional chronograph, and it shows in the measurements and construction. Made out of stainless steel, it measures 42mm wide and 16.2mm thick. On top is a fixed stainless steel bezel with an engraved tachymeter scale in black and red. The lugs of the watch are super interesting, straight but super short, almost like a C-shaped case would have. You’ll find sapphire crystals on top and bottom, and water resistance is very good for a chronograph — 200 meters.

All of that is familiar from regular Montego models, and the LE gets a brand new dial with a sunray brushing and an icy blue colorway. You get a tri-compax setup, with sub-dials at 6, 9 and 12 o’clock, while at 3 o’clock you’ll find the day and date indicator underneath the Delma logo. It’s all very retro-inspired, including the black outlines for the sub-dials and the applied and polished markers.

Inside, not much of a surprise. It’s the Sellita SW500 automatic chronograph, a clone of the legendary Valjoux 7750. This means it beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet.

The new Montego Chronograph Automatic 100 Year Limited Edition is limited to just 100 pieces. Interestingly, this limited edition watch is priced some €20 LOWER than the non-limited editions, which is not exactly something you see every day. But still, it’s quite a price at €2.714,95. See more on the Delma website.

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Konstantin Chaykin Outdoes Himself With The Stargazer, His Most Complicated Watch

You know Konstantin Chaykin for his numerous whimsical watches in the Joker and Wristmon collection which feature faces of imaginary characters, either clowns of figures from Russian lore. And while these watches are very cute, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Chaykin is a master watchmaker that makes horological art. And his latest release, the Stargazer — an unlimited version of what was supposed to be a piece-unique for the Only Watch 2023 auction — is his most complicated release to date, with 17 complications, 4 of which are world firsts.

While Chaykin put together a mean movement, it’s not like he forgot a bout the case. 42mm wide and 15.3mm thick (shocking thin, actually, considering all of the complications inside), it’s made out of a stainless steel alloy called “bulat” steel which gives the watch a very tumbled finish, like something out of a well lived-in science fiction movie. Chaykin says that this material is almost impervious to scratches. It also features a very angular bezel that’s held down with screws and Chaykin’s signature two crowns, one on each side of the case, acting as ears for the face you see on the dial.

And despite the complication, you still get a face. And not just one face, two of them. To have room to display all of the complications, Chayking uses both sides of the watch to show information, essentially giving you two different watches, one called the dark and the other the light side. On the top you’ll find the dark side, made out of ruthenium-coated, partially skeletonised dial plates which shoe times and minutes, the length of the day, the length of the night, the equation of time, a retrograde day of the week, a zodiac indicator, a Northern Hemisphere celestial map, a 24-hour mean solar time indicator, and a 24-hour sidereal time indicator.

On the back, or the light side, you’ll find some even crazier stuff. There’s the astronomic precision moon phase and moon age display, which has a separate differential mechanism for driving and setting and has a deviation of one day in 122 years, along with a tourbillon. Interestingly, the back hides the four unique complications, three of which are Chaykin’s patents. There is a four-stage discrete moon phase indicator, a solar activity cycle and current cycle duration indicator, and finally, sunrise and sunset azimuth indicators. If you, like me, have no idea what this means, it’s a complication that allows you to accurately predict the location on the horizon where the sun will rise and set.

All of this is driven by the Caliber K.22-1 manually wound movement from Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture. Its 644 component consist of a 45-hour power reserve, a Swiss lever escapement, and 82 jewels. The watch comes on a double-sided black calfskin leather strap. This is connected to the case with a pair of end-links in stainless ‘bulat‘ steel and a matching pin buckle that has a mechanism that allows it to flip 180 degrees so you can wear the watch on both sides.

Very few details are given on this watch. We don’t know how many will be made, how long making one will take and, most importantly, we have no idea how expensive one will be. Because you know it will be expensive. If, however, you do want one, you can contact Chaykin through the website and ask.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Tissot PRX Mint Green

2/

Hands-On with the Omega BG859 And The Aqua Terra 150 'Ultra Light' 'Duplantis'

3/

A review of the Hublot Classic Fusion Essential Grey 42mm

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The ultra capable Certina DS Super PH1000M STC is bold, impressively well-appointed, and sporting a charismatic, summery new colorway

Although the dial of the Certina DS Super PH1000M STC shares its design with the rest of the series, the brand gives this piece a distinctive character through its color palette. The overall look here is classic ‘70s dive watch — polished square dive indices, a combination of Roman and straight sword handset, and a chunky square-tipped central seconds hand – but the more modern color palette removes this colorway from the disco era visually. There’s been a wave of turquoise-hued designs across the watch industry in recent years, but the darker gloss teal shade Certina uses here is still something of an outlier. Coupled with the orange minutes hand and the matching orange accents on the minutes track, it’s a vibrant, summery look.

Read the whole review on A Blog To Watch

⏲️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

• As has been reported ad nauseam, Oakland has been hemorrhaging its major-league sports franchises. The Warriors moved across the bay to San Francisco; the Raiders relocated to Las Vegas; the A’s, after this season, to Sacramento, and then ultimately to join the Raiders in Vegas. Yet, city residents have responded by embracing community-minded teams like soccer outfit Roots FC—and two Oakland natives had a dream to do the same with baseball. This is the very long, very charming story of how the Oakland Ballers went from idea to Opening Day in less than a year.

• Have you watched enough Naked and Afraid and Survivor to think you have what it takes to survive on a remote island? Do you actively seek out and thrive in isolation? If your answers to both these questions are yes, Docastaway’s custom, curated desert-island adventures might be for you. For AFAR, Jen Rose Smith describes what to expect if you book a trip from the company, which has sent more than 1,000 people to uninhabited islands across Asia, the Caribbean, and Oceania.

• Frustrated by the wait time for her order and the “disgusting” burrito bowl she eventually received, Rosemary Hayne, a customer at a Chipotle in Cleveland, ended up throwing the bowl at the restaurant’s 25-year-old assistant manager. Sensing that jail time would not be effective for Hayne, the judge on the case decided on an unusual sentence: 90 days in prison, but with a chance to reduce the duration if Hayne spent two months working part time at a fast-food restaurant. For Grub Street, Reeves Wiedeman looks into whether this empathy experiment was successful.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I haven’t watched a Cinema Sins video in a while. I missed them. And the best movie to get back into their videos was Civil War. If there was ever a movie full of plot holes and complete banal mistakes, here was one. I forgot how bad that was

💵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