My Favorite Watches Of The Year; A Fantastic Year For It's About Time; And A Sneak Peak At What's Coming Next Year

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. This is the last newsletter of the year. I’m taking a two-week break — there’s no watch news and I need a break. I’m going to travel around a bit with the family, all the while coming up with more and exciting stuff for next year.

Today’s newsletter is an update to everything we’ve done together this year. It’s been a huge year and I want to thank every single one of you for being a part of the journey. While I am deeply appreciative of your support, a special thanks go out to a few people who have helped me immensely with their advice and encouragement. Thank you Nate, Alon, Mike and dad for being sounding boards for all of the dumb ideas. And thanks to my wife and daughter for their incredible patience with my constant obsession with watches.

Oh, and if you’re not sure what to get as a last second Christmas gift, maybe a subscription to It’s About Time is a good option. Just check the yellow box right underneath this.

Give The Gift Of Paid Subscription

If you ever liked an issue of this newsletter and you wanted to help me keep publishing it, you do so by subscribing to the paid side of the newsletter. But now, an update. You can buy a subscription as a gift for a fellow watch lover.

And not only that, I’m running a 20% off promotion. Do so by clicking here (or, on Patreon if you prefer, with the code IAT20 to get the discount)

As a paid subscriber for $6 per month or $60 per year you get about 260 additional posts per year, including exclusive watch overviews, early reviews, watch history insights, and more. If you’re not sure if it’s worth it, you can get a free trial, no credit card required. Just click here.

Thank you for being here. Your support means everything!

In this issue:

• Seiko’s Latest Astron Release Is Inspired By The Most Iconic Japanese Tree, The Cherry Blossom

• Orient Star Gives The Aurora-Inspired M34 Duo Mother Of Pearl Dials

• The Best “Money Is No Object” Watches Of 2024, As Chosen By Me

👂What’s new

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A Spectacular Year Is Behind It’s About Time

It’s a time to say thanks. To all of you. Because without you, there wouldn’t be an It’s About Time. So, let me tell you how this year panned out with a few numbers which don’t cease to amaze me:

• 252 news update posts were published this year

• I wrote about 880.000 words this year, just for this newsletter

• The posts were read a total of 9.435 million times. So close to that 10 million, but still an incredible number

• The newsletter is also posted on Reddit, where there’s been a lot of comments. A total of 7,766 comments, to be precise

• This one is for the newsletter nerds out there, who lose their mind every time I mention this number — the newsletter has a 66.5% open rate and a 16.7% open rate

In 2024., It’s About Time became much more of a real newsletter, and much less of a hobby. The newsletter has popped up on radars of major manufacturers, I’ve gotten a good deal of watches in for review and currently employees and owners of more than 25 brands subscribe to the newsletter.

The feedback from all of you has also been gut-wrenchingly positive, which really isn’t helping with my impostor syndrome! Thank you for that

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Give The Gift Of It’s About Time, Help This Newsletter Become Even Better

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve been playing this cat and mouse game of should I or shouldn’t I accept advertising in the newsletter. The costs have been ramping up the more subscribers there are, and current paid subscribers are helping with bearing them, a lot. But I think I found a very fair and impartial way to implement ads in the next year, without compromising any of the content I create.

If you want to avoid any ads, you can always become a paid subscriber. But in addition to no ads, you also get five(ish) additional posts per week. You can do so by clicking here (or here, if you prefer Patreon). And as a big thank you for all the support, I’m knocking off 20% off the price. The discount will be applied automatically if you subscribe through the newsletter, but you’ll have to use the code IAT20 if you go through Patreon. If you’re not sure the subscription is worth the price, you can always give it a free trial, no credit card required (there’s a free trial available for Patreon users as well)

But more importantly, a couple of you said you would love to give a subscription as a gift to other watch lovers. Well, I finally made it possible. If you ever wanted to give the gift of a It’s About Time subscription, you can do so by clicking here. And the 20% discount applies to that as well.

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What’s Next For It’s About Time

Oh boy, I can’t even begin to tell you about all the things I have planned for next year. This is going to be a good one. Let me break it down a bit, without giving away too much:

The newsletter

Not much is changing with the newsletter, but also, so much is. First of all, the format remains the same. It’s my goal to give you four to five pieces of watch news every day. And that’s it. In addition, I’ll continue writing my own reviews, giving you an overview of the best reviews from around the web, as well as the links to non-watch reads and videos to take your mind off of watches.

But like I said, the costs are climbing. That’s why you’ll start seeing ads in the newsletter soon. These will be clearly marked, with a very strict policy of not being able to influence editorial content, ever.

But for now, I’m going to enjoy the two-week break.

Social media

I’ve been really bad with social media. Sure, the newsletter has a very dedicated and very loved following on Reddit, but there’s so much more of this world to discover. I am currently working on an interesting photo and video format for Instagram, and am exploring what can be done on LinkedIn and Facebook. So, follow those to see what’s coming.

Video

Ah, yes… video… All I can say is: coming soon. Hopefully. I’m still writing and producing a first episode of what could be a very interesting series that you don’t see very often in the watch video world. If it works out, expect it soon. If it doesn’t, well… video is not for everyone!

Special projects

The one thing I can’t exactly talk about, but still want to address. There should be a huge announcement coming from me around Watches and Wonders time, but in the meantime, I’m propping up a smaller project — one that will help you service your watch without risking it with an unknown repair shop or spending a lot on OEM service centers. Keep your eye’s open for this very soon.

Products

T-Shirts, pins, patches and stickers are a pretty ubiquitous product that every media outlet has. And I’ll do them as well, because I have some pretty great ideas. However, I have a couple of outstanding ideas for straps and watch cases that are, hopefully, coming out this year. If you want to see them before regular subscribers to the newsletter, you’ll have to be a paid subscriber.

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The Completely Biased List Of My Favorite Watches Of 2024

Here we are, the end of the year. I love making these lists because I have to go through all the releases in the year. There’s been so much stuff. Another cool thing about best-of lists is that every single person on the planet could make their own. And every single list tells a story of the person who made it. And looking at the collage above with all the best releases of 2024, you can clearly see where my tastes lie. Just make it weird, and I’ll be happy. Here are my favorite watches of 2024:

• Singer Reimagined Introduces The Divetrack, A Very Serious Diving Chronograph

  • I never imagined Singer, the car modifier, would be able to make great watches. But this is the single most impressive dive watch I’ve ever seen. It takes everything we know about divers and chronographs, and turns it on its head. I love it deeply. Read more about it here.

• Omega Makes The Very Cool Speedmaster Pilot A Reality For The Rest Of Us

  • In a year full of pretty great releases, this Omega really scratches an itch for me. I love the Speedmaster, and this one might be my favorite new Speedy releases. Read more about it here.

• Nodus And Raven Watches, Two Microbrand Legends, Team Up For The Stealthy Trailtrekker

  • At under €1,000, this is one of the best deals you could find — spectacular design, great build quality, a traveler style GMT movement. No wonder this thing is constantly sold out. Read more about it here.

• Circula Releases Pretty Spectacular Guy Bove-Designed ProFlight Pilot’s Watch

  • Another great budget option, one that doesn’t draw as much attention as the Trailtrekker, the ProFlight is a very modern take on the pilot’s watch. It’s also a watch that I instantly fell deeply in love with. I reviewed it here.

• The Legendary 80s Icon Chronosport UDT Is Back, Built By Momentum And With A Pretty Interesting Story

  • But speaking of true bargains, a $369 price tag for a true icon is a steal. I am a true sucker for a ana-digi watch, and this one is exactly what I want from one. Read more about it here.

• It’s Midsummer And Ochs Und Junior Has A Delightful Celebration Of The Moon And Sun

  • The design of Ochs und Junior watches is a kind of love or hate situation. I certainly love them. But what you can’t hate are their movements, designed by Ludwig Oechslin, a truly revolutionary watchmaker. He is the master of simplification. Take these two as an example — he added a module with just six additional parts to get a 24 hour sun rotation and a 29.5 day moon rotation. Read more about it here.

• Ressence Updates The Best Watch In The World, The Oil-Filled Type 3 With Two New B&W Versions

  • Ah, yes. An update to the watch that started my love affair with Ressence (even though they don’t know about the affair yet). How could it not make the list? Read more about it here.

• Aquastar Revives The Benthos 500 With A Central Minutes Monopusher Chronograph

  • This is easily one of my favorite subtle changes to what one might expect from a movement. Not only is it a monopusher, it also has that incredibly beautiful central minutes hand. Read more about it here.

• MING Returns To The Diver With A Compact And Completely Different, But Also Very Ming-Like, Watch

  • MING is just a very cool brand. I want nearly every one of their releases, but my heart was captured this year with their diver. Read more about it here.

• Albishorn Has Spectacular Launch With Massena LAB Collaboration On A Regatta Chronograph

  • Albishorn is a new independent brand born to create “imaginary vintage” watches, ones that could have existed at a time in history, but never did. That is such an incredibly cool concept. Their launch watch was the Maxigraph, a hypothetical 1930s wrist chronograph that might have been commissioned by a competitor in the 1939 Bol d’Or regatta on Lake Geneva, made in collaboration with studio Massena LAB. Read more about it here.

• Panerai Releases Wild Self-Illuminating Submersible Elux PAM01800 With A Mechanically Powered LED Backlight

  • This really might be one of the wildest watches of the year. It uses mechanical power, the kind that powers all mechanical watches, but uses it to power a microgenerator that then powers a an electric lume. Freaking cool. Read more about it here. 

• Kurono Tokyo Says Goodbye To Their Beautiful Reiwa Line With The 2024 Anniversary Model, What Could Be Their Best Yet

  • One of two Japanese brands that blow a lot of other things out of the water. This thing is the subtlest watch on my list, so you know I like it a lot. Read more about it here.

• Arcanaut Launches New Experimental Line And It Really Is Something Special

  • Arcanaut is very well known for experimenting with materials, but the Bonehead and Tiger Sharc were two really nice releases. Read more about them here.

• Brand New Brand Gagà Laboratorio Takes A Brand New Approach To Watches While Creating A Unique Style

  • Another watch that knocked me off my feet the instant I saw it. There’s nothing like it on the market, truly. Read my review here.

• Cult Japanese Watchmaker Ōtsuka Lotēc Releases No.6 Watch In A New Size

  • Ōtsuka Lotēc has been the brand of the year for so many people this year. And it’s clear why. Japanese, cool, weird and incredibly difficult to obtain. Read about it here.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’m stealing this tradition from The Grey Nato, and I don’t care. Because listening listening to the Shepherd, a novella by Frederick Forsyth as read by Alan Maitland from CBC Radio around Christmas time is a good tradition.

It’s the story of a De Havilland Vampire pilot flying home from RAF Celle in northern Germany to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Christmas Eve 1957, when his aircraft suffers a complete electrical failure mid-flight. Lost in fog over the North Sea, he starts flying in small triangles, an odd flying pattern which would typically be detected on radar, with the intention of notifying an air traffic controller to send other aircraft to find him and shepherd him home. A plane appears, but something is off…

-Vuk