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- Omega Gets Three New Sexy Worldtimers, Ball Honours A Truly Legendary Pilot, O&W Draws Inspiration From A Groovy 70s TV-shaped Chrono And The Cult Kurono Calendrier Is Back One Last Time
Omega Gets Three New Sexy Worldtimers, Ball Honours A Truly Legendary Pilot, O&W Draws Inspiration From A Groovy 70s TV-shaped Chrono And The Cult Kurono Calendrier Is Back One Last Time
Tell me that green on the Omega does not make you want to spend some money irresponsibly
Vuk Radic
May 17, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m currently dealing with the mother of all middle ear infections, so do excuse if I missed anything major. Do let me know!
In this issue:
Three New Sexy Omega Aqua Terra Worldtimers
Ball Honours A Truly Legendary Pilot
O&W Draws Inspiration From Groovy 70s TV-shaped Chrono
The Kurono 2023 Anniversary Calendrier “Azuki” will be the last Calendrier I produced
And… invite your friends to win a Seiko Alpinist
Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 58 seconds
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the Alpinist, so we can get this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
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Omega does not release a lot of watches per year. Today marks only their third this year, with one (the colorful Aqua Terra line) actually being announced almost a year before being released a few weeks ago. But when they do, they firmly fall into two categories - ‘meh’ and ‘woah, that’s cool, I want to buy it at one point’.
Today’s release falls into the latter category - it’s three new Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer watches - one that comes in steel with a fantastic green dial/bezel with a steel bracelet, a steel with the same green dial/bezel but on a green rubber strap and a titanium with a strap.
The titanium Worldtimer differentiates itself from the other two because of the way it was made - lasers. Omega uses lasers ablation to create the black and grey aesthetic, with no other added elements other than the word London, which itself has a hand-applied red varnish. It features a brushed black ceramic bezel meant to play off of the matte dial texture and blackened hands to match that bezel. The lume on the hands glows in blue SuperLuminova. The black rubber strap affixed to the rather large 43mm case features a decorative link in titanium and a titanium clasp.
The green versions are basically the same watch, but, you know, green. Instead of all the black and grey, you get a green ceramic bezel that plays against the green dial. But the dial here is different, with curved vertical lines reminiscent of the cylindrical globe and is done in a sun-brushed PVD finish. The hands and markers on these variants are crafted from Omega's 18k Moonshine gold.
One element both travel watches share is the globe at the center of the dial. Omega has created a miniaturized model of the Earth as viewed from above the North Pole. According to the brand, this was done by "laser-ablating continents and colors on a grade 5 titanium surface." Around this map circles a 24-hour indicator beneath hesalite glass, split into night and day.
Inside the watches beats the METAS-certified Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8938. The steel model retails for $10,200 on strap and $10,400 on bracelet, while the titanium model retails for $11,800.
While it is a large watch, that green is just incredible.
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Brian Shul was serving as an American Foreign Air Advisor in the Vietnam War, when his plane was shot down in 1973. He couldn’t eject from the flailing aircraft, and crashed in the middle of the jungle. After surviving the impact and being engulfed in flames, he managed to crawl to safety as hallucinations set in. His rescue degenerated into a shootout, but he was treated and evacuated in a helicopter. When Shul reached the hospital in Okinawa, it was believed he would succumb to his burns, but somehow he survived. Two months later, he was flown to Texas and underwent a year of surgeries, totalling 15 major operations and months of physical therapy. Just two days after being released from hospital, Brian Shul was back in the pilot seat of an Air Force fighter jet. He enjoyed a long and fruitful career with the United States Air Force, rounding it out by flying the world’s fastest manned jet — the SR-71 Blackbird.
Brian Shul could then appropriately be described as a badass. And as such, it’s no wonder that Ball would love to name their latest special edition after him. So, here’s the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon AeroGMT Sled Driver, named after a book written by the now 75-year-old Shul. Since the book Sled Driver is about Shul’s expeirence with the SR-71, it’s no wonder that this legendary aircraft found it’s way to the dial of the new Ball. Of course, the watch remains incredibly legible with all this added detail, and the tritium gas tubes which glow 24/7 are even lined up with the Blackbird’s jet engines neatly. Between the watch hands, fourth GMT hand, and the 24-hour bi-colour bezel, three time zones are available for viewing at any given moment.
There are three colour options for the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon AeroGMT Sled Driver, with the blue and black version the most exclusive. It uses the 42mm case size with Ball’s unique crown protection system, and will only be available for 15 days. The other versions are fitted with green and black or red and blue bezel inserts, and each of these are available in either 42mm or 40mm sizes, as well as your choice of rubber strap or H-link steel bracelets.
You can preorder the watch now, and it’s supposed to be delivered between September and October 2023. Each colour is limited to 199 pieces. Yours for $3,349 on a rubber strap or $3,599 on a steel bracelet.
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Ollech & Wajs has been making watches since 1956 but after founder Joseph Ollech died in 1992, Albert Wajs renamed the brand to OW and eventually sold it in 2017. The new owners, however, did not start pumping out generic watches, but rather drew on the very rich of the brand to create some quite interesting watches. The newest of which is the OW 8001, a three-hand-and-date inspired by a 1973 TV-shaped chronograph with a brown fumé dial.
The watch the new OW 8001 is somewhat based on is the ref. 8000 of 1973, an angular TV-screen-style dial chronograph with a Havana fumé dial. Now… the odd thing is that the new 8001 is not a chronograph and does not have a TV-screen dial. What it does have is a sharp tonneau-shaped case, a solid three-link bracelet and a brown fumé dial.
Measuring 39.56mm across (standard size for all OW cases) and with a thickness of 12mm, the hyper-robust 300m water-resistant stainless steel case is equipped with a large 6.10mm screw-down crown and caseback, a fixed steel bezel and an extra-thick anti-reflective sapphire crystal. The non-rotating bezel combines numeric and round Super-LumiNova markers at 5-minute intervals. Perhaps the most obvious similarities with the 1973 chronograph are the colour of the dial and the blunt, baton-shaped hour and minute hands. Using a double-lacquering technique, the dial reveals an attractive fumé or gradient finish.
Inside is a chronometer-certified version of the Soprod Newton Precision P092, which the brand chose as a successor to the ETA 2824-2. While the movment is COSC-certified, there have been some controversies over the quality of the same movement used in other brands, so buyer beware.
A tradition at OW, the first 56 (year the brand was founded) OW 8001 models will come with numbered crowns. The retail price is CHF 1,856.
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Kurono watches, designed by japanese master watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, have for years gathered a following of hard core enthousiasts. And it’s understandable why. Asaoka’s watches under his own name sell for tens of thousands of dollars, but under the Kurono brand Asaoka has brought his high end finishing and incredible dials to a much lower price point - Kurono watches, depending on the tier of release, typically hover at less than US$1,500 for the entry models, with more complicated or “Grand” artisanal tier models with Urushi lacquer dials costing between US$3,000 – $4,000.
Now Asaoka is producing one final run of the Calendrier I watch, named the Anniversary Calendrier ‘Azuki’ : アズキ. It’s packaged in a 38mm, 316L stainless-steel case that is 11.5mm thick. The Calendrier I, from a case perspective, has the distinction of a coined bezel and a month-corrector pusher at the 2′ position. But, like all Kurono models, the case is fully distortion-free mirror-polished – a level found quite a bit of above its price point.
The dial layout remains the same as the previous Calendrier I’s green dial, with a railroad outer minutes track, gothic hour numerals, day register at 9′, month register at 3′, and black on white date window at 6′. The distinct, hand-bent, and mirror polished Kurono leaf handset is also once again used. But, for the first time, Kurono has used a phosphor-bronze dial plate in order to achieve its deep maroon colour. Asaoka claims that the incredible color is inspired by the the Datsun 240Z, which he believes to be the last in Japan to use such a deep maroon.
Beneath a solid caseback is the automatic Miyota 9122, the usage of which allows Kurono to keep pricing down. In line with previous Kurono releases, the watch is outfitted on a pebbled black leather strap, made in Japan of course, with a 20mm width where it meets the case and a tapered 16mm width as you reach the pin/buckle closure.
The main problem with Kurono watches is it’s insanely high demand. Therefore this final run will be limited in time - on Friday, May 26th, Kurono will open two order windows, each lasting 20 minutes, and whoever manages to place their order will get a watch. The Kurono Calendrier 'Azuki' is priced at US$1,830. For more details on the order windows, head on over to the Kurono website.
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There aren’t a lot of watch brands based in Hawaii. But that doesn’t make the Imperial Watch Co. any less cool. In fact, it might make it even more cool. In October 2022, the brand introduced their Royalguard 200 which sold out instantly. Now the brand is bringing back the Royalguard in three limited edition colors, with both date and no-date options. Imperial has also revived the original blue bezel variant, presenting it in a limited run of just 30 pieces with a date function.
The colors are very nice. First up is the Tropical, which captures the rusty brown and red tones reminiscent of a well-aged tropical bezel. Then there’s the Ghosted Green, a soft, muted shade of green that changes from light green to a deep emerald depending on the light. And of course, there’s the Classic Black, which has a vintage, almost gray faded aesthetic.
The case pays homage to classic skin-diver designs, boasting elegantly shaved down lugs that seamlessly merge into the bracelet. Mostly brushed, the 38mm steel case has a chamfered edge, and you get 200m of water resistance. The bracelet tapers from 20mm down to 16mm at the milled clasp, presenting a blend of brushed and polished three-link segments that is evocative of a vintage speedmaster flat link bracelet.
Inside is the reliable Seiko NH35 movement. Imperial has limited production to 50 pieces in Tropical, 50 pieces in Ghosted Green, 70 pieces in Classic Black, and a mere 30 pieces in the original blue variant with a date complication.
For a limited time, the Royalguard will be available at an exclusive launch price of $399, but this offer lasts only for the first 72 hours. Subsequently, it will return to its original price tag of $500. Imperial Watch Co.
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
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⚙️Watch Worthy
A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like
It’s hard to imagine how fine a more or less simple steel watch can be. You’ve likely encountered high-end steel watches from the typical luxury houses that come to mind. For example, Omega, Rolex, or Grand Seiko make stunning steel watches with excellent finishing. It’s fair to ask yourself, how much better or different can finishing get? And then, if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity, you get to see Naoya Hida’s watches, and you realize that a seemingly simple steel watch still has plenty of room for elevation.
⏲️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
A small-town auto mechanic tried to peddle a green-energy breakthrough. It ended up being a massive scam, a billion-dollar ponzi scheme that hooked Warren Buffett and the U.S. Treasury
The other day I stumpled upon another online discussion whether we have to stop watching every single movie made by a controversial director. Not only would that limit us to watching a handful of mediocre movies, here’s a thing from the Atlantic which argues that you can enjoy art from bad people.
A lot of watches today heavily rely on styling from the 1970s, a bygone era that has for years been shunned but is making a comeback. This essay argues that 1970s California created the modern world. Interesting read.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
This is a 9 month old video, so when Teddy introduces the new watches, it’s not really new. But why I love these videos of his is because he goes into some of the largest watchmakers in the world, and I just love their buildings.
💵Pre-loved precision
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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
Want to sell your watch to a community of passionate horologists? Reach out to us and we’ll put your ad up. $15 per listing without photos, $25 with photos. 10 available slots per day, discounts for multiple slots.
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
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