Omega Ends Year With Quiet Release Of Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamasters; De Rijke Releases Two Miffy Moonphases; Romain Gauthier Adds Black Dials To The C; The Best Affordable Watches Of 2023

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Here’s the first of the lists of best watches of the year, one that people like the most — the affordable watches. I know you will disagree with me on at least half, and have another three dozen to add, but I would love to hear what your personal favorites were in the affordable segment.

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In this issue:

• Omega Closes Out The Year With Two New Quiet Releases Of Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamasters

• De Rijke Releases Two More Miffy Moonphases With Great Looking Green Dials

• Romain Gauthier Adds Black Dials To The C by Romain Gauthier Titanium Edition Bracelet

• The Best Affordable Watches Of 2023, As Chosen By Me

👂What’s new

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Omega Closes Out The Year With Two New Quiet Releases Of Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamasters

So, it’s pretty obvious that Omega had a pretty great year. Which was expected, since this was a year of the Olympics, which Omega heavily sponsors. Not only did we get a bunch of great Olympic-themed releases and a couple of non-Olympic thrown about through the entire year, but they also doubled down in December. They had the great renditions of the steel monochrome no-date versions of the Seamaster Diver 300, followed almost instantly by a titanium and gold version of the same watch and a quiet introduction of a new colorway of the Aqua Terra. I decided to check the Omega website to see if I missed anything, thinking there’s no way I did. Well, I did, and it’s two pretty heavy hitting releases — a Moonshine gold and a Sedna gold version each of the Seamaster Diver 300, and these come with dates.

Both of these watches share a lot of the basics. They come in the same case that measures 42mm wide, 13.7mm thick and with a 49.9mm lug-to-lug. They both have the same crown guards and iconic helium escape valve at 10 o’clock. Water resistance is the same for both, 300 meters. But where they differ is their material and color. One is made out of Moonshine gold — their proprietary 18K alloy consists of 75% gold, 14% silver, 1% palladium, and less than 9% copper, giving the gold a paler shade, but also enhancing the longevity of its color — while the other comes in Sedna gold — their rose gold variant which again has 75% gold, an unspecified amount (but greater than 20%) of copper and, again, palladium to solidify the color and make sure it glows red instead of yellow in certain lights. Both watches come with unidirectional rotating bezels with inserts that have Ceragold 60 minute scales, but one is made out of Moonshine gold with a green ceramic insert, and the other out of Sedna with a black insert.

The dials remain very familiar from the Seamaster Diver 300 collections. The Moonshine version comes with a green dial, and the Sedna has a black dial. They both feature a wave pattern on the dial, with lumed hour markers that have surrounds made out of the same material as the case. The same matching material is used for the skeletonized hands that have lumed tips. At 6 o’clock is a date aperture.

Inside is the Calibre 8801, Omega’s Master Chronometer certified movement that has a co-axial escapement and 55h power reserve on a single barrel. You can see the movement through the transparent caseback and it’s pretty much the same view you’ll get from other models in the same family, with a gold rotating weight. The watches come on rubber straps that match the color of the dial.

The new Seamaster Diver 300 models in gold are available now and priced at €32,000 for either the gold variants. See more on the Omega website, the Moonshine here and the Sedna here.

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De Rijke Releases Two More Miffy Moonphases With Great Looking Green Dials

If you are by chance, like me, a parent to a little girl, you know all about Miffy. If you are not, all you need to know is that Miffy is cult Dutch cartoon bunny created by Dick Bruna, whose books have sold more than 100 million copies since 1955. Miffy being Dutch is appropriate, since this watch is made by De Rijke & Co, a relatively young Dutch watch brand that was started after it’s owner Laurens de Rijke in 2013 took his fifty year old Vespa scooter for a trip on the Silk Road, covering a distance of 11.000 kilometer, he past countries like Azerbaijan. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. For their latest release, De Rijke & Co is doing another Miffy watch, this time in a great shade of green, with both a double and single moonphase. Pretty cool.

That story of the roadtrip is actually important for the case of this watch. It’s a driving watch — on that’s shifted on its axis to be easier to view while driving — but with a twist. An actual twist. The 38mm wide and 11mm thick case is made out of two outside parts and one internal that holds the dial, crystal and movement. It also allows you to rotate that internal part by 90 degrees. The case has a polished finish, with a heavily domed sapphire crystal that extends all the way to the edge so there’s virtually no bezel to speak off. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dials are similar, but different. They both share the same green base, with droplet shaped hour markers framed in black and filled with lume. The hour and minute hands are also black with a lumed insert, while the seconds hand is red. But while one is the regular Miffy Moonphase, which has a huge aperture in the upper half revealing Miffy sitting on a crescent moon and a couple of yellow stars, the other is a Double Moonphase, which has a frosted sapphire centre on the dial, letting you see the moonphase on both hemispheres.

Inside, you’ll find a Sellita SW288. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 41 hour power reserve. It’s also modified to remove the date function and enlarge the moonphase indicator. The watches come on black leather straps with a quick release.

The new De Rijke Miffy Moonphases are both limited, with 50 pieces made of each. And the clock is ticking. The regular Moonphase is already sold out, but there are still versions of the Double Moonphase available. Price is set at €3,195 for the Single and €3,395 for the Double Moonphase, both without VAT. See more on the De Rijke & Co. website.

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Romain Gauthier Adds Black Dials To The C by Romain Gauthier Titanium Edition Bracelet

For the most part, completely independent small watchmakers stick to making extremely complex dress-oriented watches. That’s because where the expected market is. But not so with Romain Gauthier, who in 2021 introduced the Continuum, aka the ‘C’, his first luxury sports watch. A year later, he redesigned the watch to add an integrated titanium bracelet. Now, we get the watch in titanium with two black dial options — one closed and the other semi-openworked.

The case, made out of grade 5 titanium, measures 41mm wide, 9.95mm thick and with a 49.5mm lug-to-lug. On top is the instantly recognizable bezel with its six scalloped sections and strong bevels. The crown sits way up high at the 2 o’clock position, another iconic move for the C. The case is fully brushed, with those few flashes of polish on the bezel. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Like I said, there are two dial options. First up is the semi-openworked dial, which has horizontal grooves on the base of the dial, with a dark grey PVD coating on top. The Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are crafted from blocks of Super-LumiNova. The openworked part is at 7 o’clock, where the small seconds counter sits. The counter has ten light blue lines and two longer lines in the center expanding out of it in a sunray pattern. Underneath that is a scalloped titanium bridge with a grainy boucharder texture. On the other hand, the closed dial is exactly the same, but without the open part and with no color.

Inside is the in-house manual wound movement which beats at 4Hz and has a 60-hour power reserve. It also features a very cool way of hacking the seconds. It uses a snail cam which stops the balance wheel when the crown is extracted. But, when the crown is pushed back in, the snail cam turns and gives the balance an impulse to start beating again. The watch comes on the integrated bracelet that have satin ginished outside links and a polished centre links.

The new C by Romain Gauthier titanium with black dials are available now and part of the regular collection. The closed dial is priced at CHF 42,000, while the open one is priced at CHF 52,000, both without tax. See more on the Romain Gauthier website.

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The Best Affordable Watches Of 2023, As Chosen By Me

We’re closing out the second year of It’s About Time being in existence. And what a year it was. I will send out one last post this year where I update you on everything that’s happened behind the scenes, but for now, let’s stick to the tradition I started last year — choosing the best watches of the year. We’re starting off with a list of affordable watches. What does that mean? Who knows… Everybody has their own definition of what affordable is. I tried keeping them under €1,500, maybe a few went over. I know this is a ridiculous amount for most people, but it’s more about value for your money. So, here we go, in no particular order:

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

  • This is an incredible watch. One of the best implementations of the flyer-style Miyota Cal. 9075, with an incredible color and even better fit and finish. It easily stands up to way, way pricier offerings. And at $875, no wonder it’s sold out constantly. Read up on it here.

• Timex Might Have Built The Best All-Around Tough And Affordable GMT Watch Of The Year

  • Keeping it in a similar vein, Timex put out a really great titanium GMT. It should be noted that Timex had one of the best watch years on record, with many, many, spectacular watches released. I had a tough time cutting it down to just two. At €549, this is a great buy. Read about it here.

• Spinnaker Teams Up With seconde/seconde/ Again For Another Phantom-Themed Fleuss 40 Automatic

  • Speaking of brands that had a good year, here comes Spinnaker. Not only did they have a couple of great SpongeBob collaborations (more on that later), their continuation of the Halloween-special with seconde/seconde/ was just as good as the one last year. Read about it here.

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

  • This one is getting on my top-10 personal list. It’s one of the best modern interpretations of a classic pilot’s watch I’ve seen to date. The design is equally as expressive as it is conservative. Love this piece! Read about it here.

• Cincinnati Watch Company Releases True Desk Diver In A New Old Stock Vintage Case And Modern Movement

  • A lot of brands will joke around that they make “desk divers”, dive watches that will never see a swim, let alone a dive. But Cincinnati Watch Company went a step further with the joke and made an actual diver with 0 meters of water resistance, using a vintage NOS case. It’s a very cool package at a bizarrely low price. Read more here.

• The First Baltic Hermétique Limited Edition Is a Beautiful Black And White Homage To Glaciers

  • This is one of the best dial executions of the year. And I’m not just talking about sub-€700 watches. I’m talking about all price points. The texture and depth of the dial is just incredible. Read about it here.

• Benjamin James Introduces The Automatic Version Of The Scarifour With Almost Perfect Timing

  • The Patek Cubitus was the talk of the industry this year. It was certainly the most controversial release, with people questioning why it exists and the company CEO doubling down on his choice. But if you wanted a better proportioned, bargain priced Cubitus of your own, the Scarifour was exactly that. Read about it here.

• Swatch Breaks MoonSwatch Boring Streak With Three New Mission On Earth Editions — Lava, Polar Lights, And Desert

  • The MoonSwatch is certainly one of the most influential watches of the past 5 years and Swatch seemed to be loosing the plot with the watch last year. Things turned around for them with these three Mission On Earth watches, so they deserve a place on here. Read more here.

• echo/neutra Gives Their Already Impressive Averau Big Moon Moonphase A Fully Lumed White Dial

  • The more impactful watch release for echo/neutra this year was the square and tiny Rivanera. But for a sucker for lumed dials like me, this is the clear winner. Read about it here.

• Nodus Releases Third Iteration Of The Contrail GMT Line Dedicated To International Travel

  • Just like echo/neutra had a better release, so did Nodus. But this diverse collection of GMT travelers has a piece of my heart and I can’t exactly tell you why. I just love them. Read about it here.

• RZE Is Ready To Launch Their New Urbanist Collection, An Incredibly Priced Small Titanium Solar Movement Watch

  • Titanium, small case, quartz movement and an incredibly low price of $259 make this a sleeper hit of the year. Read about it here.

• Spinnaker Lands Wildest Release Of The Year Marking 25 Years Of SpongeBob SquarePants

  • We’re back with Spinnaker and their incredible SpongeBob collaboration. They had three releases with the iconic cartoon, but the first one was the best. Read about it here.

• The Farr + Swit Retro Digital - Mix Tape Vol. 1 Gives You 80s Nostalgia At An Unbeatable Price

  • Last year, I said this will be the year of the 1980s, and this Farr + Swit Retro Digital - Mix Tape Vol. 1 is exactly that. A super cheap, retro-designed, fun watch — what more would you want. And at $59 for the pair, these are the cheapest watches on the list. Read about it here. 

• Jacques Bianchi Adds A Maxi Dial To Their Very Classic Diver, The JB200

  • I’m pretty sure that Jacques Bianchi might be the most overlooked watch of the year. At under €1,000, these watches are the perfect diver. Read about it here.

• Baltic Brings Three Very Special Stone Dials To Their Retro-Futuristic Prismic Line

  • The Red Agate dial on the limited edition Baltic Prismic just might be my favorite look of any stone dial I’ve ever seen. Simply incredible.

• ADPT Reveals An Update To The Series 1, Now With More Time Zones And More Colors

  • I’m a sucker for any collaboration that Worn & Wound is part of, as I’ve long said that they are incredibly adept at using color. And this release is no different. Read about it here.

• Frederique Constant Releases Surprising Quartz, Coin-Inspired, Classics Moneta Moonphase Collection

  • Sure, slightly expensive for a relatively basic quartz movement, but these Moneta Moonphases are just some of the most elegant watches you can buy. Read about them here.

• Mido Fully Embraces The TV Format For A Watch Unlike Any You Have Seen Before

  • TV-shaped watches are becoming increasingly more popular, and leading the charge was the Mido Multifort. For this special edition, they turned the dial into an actual TV and it was very cool. Read about it here.

• Vero Teams Up With The U.S. Forrest Service For A Quartet Of Colorfuly Cerakoated Watches

  • An incredibly original design, great colors and a pretty cool message behind it, this Vero release shouldn’t be overlooked. Read about it here.

• Timex Expands The Marlin Line With An Incredibly Cool 60s Retro-Futuristic Piece

  • While most of the best Timex releases were either inspired by the 70s or rugged modern watches, this Marlin was perhaps my favorite. Capturing a mid-century charm, it is drop dead gorgeous. Read about it here.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Bulova Lunar Pilot “Blood Moon”

2/

Hands on with the 38.5mm Yema Navygraf Super Compressor

3/

A review of the yellow gold Rolex Sky-Dweller

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Zeitwinkel 240° NOIR, The Stealthiest Of The Brand’s Sports Watch

The standout element on the outside of the watch is without a doubt the bezel. Where normally this is brushed or polished, here it’s coated in black (obviously) but engraved with a scale from zero to 60 and then infilled in white Super-LumiNova. The result is a bezel that literally ties in the exterior with the dial, as it matches in theme and colour. Speaking of which, the dial is also quite interesting. To me, a sports watch should be legible first and foremost, which the 240° NOIR certainly is. The hands have a strong contrast against the black background thanks to a generous amount of Super-LumiNova. The numerals, in a font exclusive to Zeitwinkel, are big and bold, and again filled with luminous material.

Read the whole review on Monochrome

⏲️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

• Cluttered houses bursting at the seams with non-essential stuff may have started with the Victorians, but they’ve reached their apotheosis in late capitalism—and with them, the professional organizer. How’d we get to a point where a third of us have garages we can’t use because they’re so full of things that are not cars and we need to hire people to help us cope with our own possessions? Jennifer Wilson guides us through the history of clutter and its management empathetically, but not uncritically.

• In this essay for The Paris Review, Simon Wu recounts his experiences pining after, and eventually buying, six designer handbags: some real, some real but used, and one fake. This is a sharp, funny, and entertaining read—even if obsessing over a luxury Musubi or Miu Miu bag isn’t your thing. But, you know, we all obsess over watches. So that’s pretty much the same thing…

• A great collection of the most read stories from Vanity Fair. There’s enough stuff here to have you reading until the new year.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I did not expect this video to be this fascinating. I was never that impressed with the way US houses were made, but the fact that one small steel plate changed architecture so much blew my mind. Very cool.

-Vuk