Omega Adds Speedmaster Professional Two-Tone Duo; Delma Takes On 80s Style Sports Watch; Praesidus Honors 80th D-Day Anniversary; Chopard Opens Hotel; And Voutilainen Celebrates 20th Birthday

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I know that the Omega will get a lot of flack, but it can’t be denied that they are one of the best brands at model line diversification, so this was to be expected. But the hit for me today are the two Praesidus models.

In this issue:

• The Omega Speedmaster Professional Line Expands With A New Two-Tone Duo

• Delma Has A Slightly Different, Slightly Funky Take On The 80s Integrated Bracelet Steel Watch Trend With The Midland Automatic

• Praesidus Honors 80th D-Day Anniversary With C-47 A-11 D-Day Made Out Of Bomber Doors And Special A-11 Made With Actual Utah Beach Sand

• Chopard Creates A Very Limited Edition L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Vendome One To Celebrate Their Opening Of A Very Exclusive Hotel

• Kari Voutilainen Pays Tribute To His First Watch With The Tourbillon 20th Anniversary

Today’s reading time: 11 minutes and 24 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

The Omega Speedmaster Professional Line Expands With A New Two-Tone Duo

2024 is shaping up to be a good year for Omega. But then again, they usually do well in Olympic years, as they tend to flex all of their muscles, be they design chops or material advancements while banking on their sponsorship of the Olympic games. So far this year they had a major update to the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M, changed up colors on the 38mm Aqua Terra, gave the Speedmaster 38 a couple of new dials. And then there were the two major releases - the jaw-dropping Paris 2024 Olympics Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope duo in steel or gold, and the long-awaited white-dialed Speedmaster Professional. Well, there’s still a couple of months to the Olympics, so we can expect these releases to continue. For their latest release, they’re remixing the traditional steel (and to a lesser extent gold) format of the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch with a duo of bicolor Speedmaster Moonwatch models, one in steel and Sedna (pink) gold and the other in steel and Moonshine (yellow) gold.

Other than the materials, not much has changed with the case. It’s still asymmetric in shape, measuring 42mm wide, 13.2mm thick and with a 47.5mm lug-to-lug. This version is the sapphire sandwich, meaning you get sapphire crystals on top and bottom. And the implementation of the gold elements is not only the same on both models, but also based on bi-color Speedies from the past. This mens you get gold chrono pushers, crown, bezel - with a ceramic insert that has a ceragold tachymeter scale - and central links on the bracelets. With that you also get a two-tone dial with gold accents.

The Moonshine yellow gold version gets a silver base dial with a sunray-brushed surface, while the sub-dials are painted a very light Moonshine gold shade. All applied markers, the Ω logo and the hands are all done in Moonshine gold too, with black printed surrounds. The Sedna gold case, on the other hand, gets a brushed dial with a Sedna gold PVD coat and black sub-dials. All the hardware on this is Sedna gold.

Inside both watches is the very well known co-axial-equipped calibre 3861 in-house movement. It’s a hand wound cam-operated chronograph with horizontal clutch that beats at 21,600vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. It’s also Master Chronometer certified. Both watches come on steel bracelets with central links in their respective gold materials with a micro-adjustable folding clasp.

The bi-metal Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatches are part of the regular collection and carry the same price tag of €19,900. See more on the Omega website.

2/

Delma Has A Slightly Different, Slightly Funky Take On The 80s Integrated Bracelet Steel Watch Trend With The Midland Automatic

While not a household name to the broadest public, Delma has a cult following among enthusiasts of rugged and capable tool watches. They are chunky, they can go to incredible depths and are often built with very specific tasks in mind - like the Delma Quattro Decompression Diver which you can easily pop out of it’s housing and attach to a decompression plate. Delma is one of the hidden gems of the watch world that people need to be introduced to just once, as it’s really easy to fall in love with their watches. Their latest release, however, takes a bit of a departure from the rugged and super-capable tool watches that put Delma on the map. It’s their take on the 1980s integrated bracelet steel sports watch and it’s called the Midland.

If, by chance, you know your Delma history, you will certainly know that the Midland name has been around since the brand was established and was the name used for their first chronograph, released in 1946. In the 80s the Midland was their sporty watch with a lot of character and the same principle is used in 2024 to revive the name. The steel case of the new Midland has a classic barrel shape and measures 40.5mm wide, 10.8mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 47mm, thanks to the lack of lugs. The case has a satin-brushed with pronounced and polished bevels. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded by a fluted bezel. Note how dense the fluting is, making it look more like a coined edge than the fluted bezels we are used to. Water resistance is 100 meters.

A bit surprisingly, Delma went all out on the dials. Not only do they have an interesting texture, you can get them in six colors - the more subdued ones like white, black and dark blue, but also much more adventurous ones like dark green, ice blue and pink/salmon. The texture you see on the dial is the result of a pyramid-stamped guilloché type pattern, and you also get applied markers and simple silver baton hands. A date window sits at 3 o’clock.

Inside the watch is nothing spectacular, just the reliable and easily servicable Sellita SW200-1. It beats at 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 41 hours. The Delma Midland comes on a pretty great looking three-link stainless steel bracelet with an interesting hexagonal end-link

The Delma Midland Automatic is available now for a price of €1,250. It’s not the cheapest watch on the market, but I think it’s very much worth it. See more on the Delma website.

3/

Praesidus Honors 80th D-Day Anniversary With C-47 A-11 D-Day Made Out Of Bomber Doors And Special A-11 Made With Actual Utah Beach Sand

It’s pretty much guaranteed that nobody who is reading this knows what D-Day was like. But, while none of us were there, on the boats heading towards what could only be described as certain death, or on the planes ready to jump over enemy invested territory, we can get a slight glimpse into this horror thanks to Steven Spielberg. His film Saving Private Ryan put viewers right into the Higgins boats as bullets are wizzing by the soldiers ears, cutting their friends down the instant the ramp opened. Same with the series Band of Brothers, which put us right among the members of Easy company as they make their way through Europe. Thankfully, we will never have to know what this actually felt like, but we can remember what those men did. And helping with the memory is the marking of the 80th anniversary of D-Day which happens tomorrow.

And joining that commemoration, to no surprise is the watch brand Praesidus. I’ve written at length about their watches before, especially their fantastic recreation of the Seiko that MACV-SOG wore in Vietnam. They have specialised in making military themed watches and this niche has been very kind to them. They have won the hearts of both veterans and military enthusiasts, but their D-Day watches will certainly be some of the best ones they have made. There’s the C-47 A-11 D-Day, whose dial is made from the steel of “Hamburger” doors of the C-47 airplanes that were part of D-Day, and the Utah Beach A-11 which has a dial made out of sand collected at Utah beach.

Starting off with the C-47 A-11 D-Day, let’s get the details of the case out of the way first. It comes in a 38mm wide and 12.5mm thick stainless steel case that has a sandblasted finish. On top is a double-domed sapphire crystal, surrounded by a very minimal bezel. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Now, on to the much more interesting dial. This is not the first time that Praesidus is using pieces of military machinery to fashion their dials. Previously they used the Marston Mat, a temporary and modular metal landing strip, that was found near Utah beach. For this one, they got their hands on two “Hamburger” doors that came from two D-Day flown C-47 Skytrains. The dials are cut out of the actual doors, while retaining the imperfections in the metal to remind you forever of where it came from. There are three dial versions - Aluminum Patina which keeps the bare metal base and gets orange-colored lume for the printed markers and indexes, as well as on the sword-style hands; the Aluminum Gray which gets a dark gray lume for the numerals and a vintage-inspired lume for the hands and hour markers; and lastly the Olive Green, which gets a paint job of olive green on the bare aluminium and white indexes and markings. But don’t worry, you can still see the imperfections of the metal through the paint.

Inside, Praesidus uses the Miyota caliber 9039, a reliable movement which beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watches come with a brown leather strap and the first 250 will get what Praesidus calls an “Invasion Strap” NATO. 500 pieces of each version will be made and while this might seem like a lot, Praesidus has a delightful habit of selling out super early. The watches will go on sale on June 6th for $550.

If the C-47 A-11 D-Day wasn’t awesome enough, Praesidus also has three versions of the Utah Beach A-11, made with actual sand from Utah Beach and a very interesting looking dial. The case of the watch is slightly different from the C-47 A-11 D-Day. It still measures 38mm wide, but it has stubbier lugs and a knurled bezel. But just like the C-47 A-11 D-Day, the Utah Beach A-11 is all about the dial.

And that dial is made out of two parts - on the bottom is a layer of actual sand brought from Utah beach, overlaid by a colored layer that’s cut in an irregular shape. That colored layer represents the sea, while the sand the Normandy coast, and the cutout follows the exact topographical shape. The top part also has cutout numerals and markings for all five - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword - beaches onto which the Allied soldiers descended on June 6th 1944. Again, there are three versions of the dials - Khaki has the upper part painted green; Ocean Blue has it painted blue; and Midnight has the upper part in black.

Like the C-47 A-11 D-Day, the Utah Beach A-11 is powered by the Miyota 9039. The watches come either a blue or black tropic rubber strap or a green two piece NATO strap, depending on the coloway you get. The watches go on sale also on June 6th and are priced at $495. You can see more of the two new D-Day models on the Praesidus website.

 4/

Chopard Creates A Very Limited Edition L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Vendome One To Celebrate Their Opening Of A Very Exclusive Hotel

The Place Vendôme in Paris is one of the few places on earth where you can physically feel opulence and wealth radiating all around you. It’s a rather open square and if you stand in the centre and look around you, this is just a selection of things you’ll see: the Ritz hotel, Cartier, Chanel, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, Gucci, Piaget, Dior, Breguet, Rolex and, a bit surprisingly, Grand Seiko. So you see the calibre of establishments here. Place Vendôme has also been a significant location for Chopard, which has had a store there for years. However, now they are opening the Chopard Hotel at Place Vendôme 1, a hyper-luxurious boutique hotel with five rooms and ten suites, each uniquely decorated. And to celebrate the opening of the hotel, Chopard is releasing a very limited edition of the L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer called Vendôme One.

Being based on the L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer model, the watch measures in at 40mm wide and 7.7mm thick. It’s made out of 18-carat yellow gold and has a mostly brushed appearance with polished sides. The crown houses a pusher that opens up the polished caseback, just like it did on old officer pocket watches. The cover hides a sapphire crystal and has a hand-guilloché honeycomb motif on the outside and a hand-engraving of the Sun on the inside, a nod to the Sun king, Louis XIV who commissioned the construction of Place Vendôme.

The dial is equally as pretty as the case. The central disc of the Bering blue colored dial has the same hand-guilloché honeycomb pattern as the caseback, while the small seconds dial has a snailed finished. The blue color of the dial is very significant, as it is the color used on every door on the Place Vendôme. The arrowhead-shaped indices and Dauphine-style hands are gilded to match the case metal.

Inside is the thin L.U.C 96.01-L movement which beats at 4Hz and has a 65 hour power reserve. It’s powered by a yellow gold micro-rotor and the movement has the prestigious Poinçon de Genève mark. This means it’s also exceptionally decorated with Geneva stripes on the chamfered bridges, polished angles, and circular graining on the mainplate. The watch comes on a brown calfskin strap with a blue leather lining.

The Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Vendôme One will be limited to just eight pieces and available exclusively from the Chopard Boutique on Place Vendôme. The price is €39,000. Such a limited edition isn’t available on Chopard website, but you can surely browse the rest of the L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer collection.

 5/

Kari Voutilainen Pays Tribute To His First Watch With The Tourbillon 20th Anniversary

Most watch brands go all out when they have a round anniversary to celebrate. But the Finnish watchmaking legend Kari Voutilainen doesn’t run most watch brands. His eponymous brand that combines some of the best watchmaking expertises of dozens of artisans has been around for 20 years and to celebrate this, they very quietly released the Voutilainen Tourbillon 22, a direct homage to the first watch he has ever made in 1994, while working in the restoration workshop of Michel Parmigiani.

The case of the Kari Voutilainen, while extremely classical, is a huge departure for the watchmaker. Gone are the teardrop-shaped lugs of his other watches and instead you get much more traditional straight angled lugs. The case measures 40mm wide and 13mm thick and can be had in one of four materials - 950 platinum, 18k white gold, 18k rose gold or stainless steel. The stainless steel version will be produced as a piece unique. Another tribute to the 1994 watch he made are the deep knurls cut into the side of the case.

Even without the logo, the dial could easily be recognised as a Voutilainen. The base is made out of solid silver and a lot is left up to the client. You can choose the color of the dial, as well as the hand-guilloché pattern. What you do always get is Breguet numerals, partially blued steel open-tipped hands, as well as the display of small seconds at the 5 o’clock position, power reserve at the 9:30 position and the hour and minute hands on a smaller dial that is slightly off centre.

Inside is new calibre Tourbillon 22, a shrunken version of the movement that was in the pocket watch that Voutilainen built thirty years ago. It’s hand wound, has the same twin-barrel architecture and utilises a portion of the available power reserve to maximize torque stability. Equipped with a hairspring with a Phillips terminal curve and a Grossman internal curve, it runs at a slow 2.5Hz frequency and has a 72 hour power reserve. Decorations include grained and gilded bridges, hand-polished bevels, black polished steel parts and a hand-engraved Voutilainen signature.

The Kari Voutilainen Tourbillon 20th Anniversary will be made in 61 pieces, 20 in each of the precious metals and one in steel. Price is, to no surprise, on request. The watch was introduced so quietly it isn’t even on the Voutilainen website, but you can see it on their Instagram.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Casio G-Shock GMWB5000D-2

2/

Hands on with the Byrne Gyro Dial Golf Edition

3/

A review of the Frederique Constant Classics Premiere

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Davosa Argonautic 39 delivers a straightforward design, no-nonsense specs, and an enjoyable experience on the wrist

Of particular note is the ceramic bezel. I was immediately impressed with it, not for the deep blue ceramic and its perfect match with the dial, nor because of the brightness of the lume pip. Rather, it was down to the most important part of any bezel: operability. The bezel here is easy to grip and turn, doing so with a satisfyingly audible and tactile click and almost no wiggle. I’ve reviewed plenty of divers, and this bezel is among the best. A bit less stellar is the bracelet, which has a generic feeling from the end links all the way around to the clasp (where you’ll find the only polishing on the watch). It does have a fold-out extension, plus a few holes to fine-tune, but it was just a notch below what I’d expect given the build of the rest of the watch.

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

• After the Berlin Wall fell, agents of East Germany’s secret police frantically tore apart their records. Archivists have spent the past thirty years trying to restore them. This is an incredible look at the hard work that went into piecing together the secrets of the Stasi.

• For months I was sure that the story that breakdancing will be an official sport at the upcoming Olympic games was just a joke. Oh, was I wrong. But it seems that I’m not the only one that’s confused. Phil Wizard, the current favorite for Olympic Gold, also thinks that the sport isn’t really an Olympic sport.

• As an idea Starlink really does seem like a pretty amazing thing. Why wouldn’t you want every corner of the globe covered in affordable high-speed internet? Well, as one isolated tribe in the Amazon discovered, the same internet that connected them to the world also divided them from the inside.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

For a company that’s supposed to be failing, Vice is still putting out some pretty amazing documentaries. Like this very recent ones on the Hells Angels.

💵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 Ōtsuka 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

Want to let us know what you think about the newsletter? Go to our survey and fill it out.

-Vuk