Omega Launches Seamaster Diver 300M No-Date; Serica Has A Radically Different Dress Watch; Brellum Shrinks Down Duobox; Spacey Czapek Antarctique Purple Storm; Hublot Pays Homage To GOAT Djokovic

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Woah, Serica, are you OK? That new release is absolutely incredible. From both a technical and aesthetic point. I doubt I can pull off such a small watch, but I see a lot of wishes being fulfilled with this one.

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In this issue:

• Omega Launches Seamaster Diver 300M No-Date Long Teased By Daniel Craig

• Serica Introduces The 1174 Parade, A Dress Watch That Is Radically Different From Everything They Do

• Brellum Shrinks Down Their Duobox Chronometer And Gives It Three Nice Colors

• The Latest Czapek Antarctique Purple Storm Limited Edition Takes Its Inspiration From Space

• Hublot Pays Homage To The GOAT Novak Djokovic With A Watch Made Out Of His Used Racquets

👂What’s new

1/

Omega Launches Seamaster Diver 300M No-Date Long Teased By Daniel Craig

Despite no longer being James Bond, actor Daniel Craig has stayed on as an ambassador for Omega. And it’s perhaps the best partnership we see in watches today. Not only is Craig wearing exclusively Omega wherever he shows up — be it a movie or real life — he is, as a huge watch aficionado and collector, also contributing to their releases. But he also seems to have a problem — the man can’t keep a secret. Omega just officially announced their new Omega Seamaster Diver 300M No-Date collection. But the issue is, we knew it was coming because Craig was seen as early as the Summer Olympics wearing the mystery watch. Sure, it’s not much of a secret to keep and Omega is certainly riding the hype around guesses what new unreleased watch Craig is wearing, so it’s working out for both parties. Oh, and we’re in a new hype cycle just now, because Craig appeared at the Governors Awards wearing an unreleased gold Seamaster with a wonderful burgundy bezel that looks fantastic.

But back to the new collection. You know the Seamaster Diver 300M, it’s been around for more than 30 years, and on the outside changes are very subtle, but very appreciated. The watch is made out of stainless steel and measures 42mm wide and 13.8mm thick. On the right side is the protected crown, while the helium escape valve sits at 10. There are two options for a bezel — either a steel bezel with a black aluminium insert and a white diving scale, or a grade 5 titanium bezel with a grained insert that has the scale done in relief.

The dials are also very familiar, save for the one significant change — no date. The version with the black bezel insert gets a black aluminium dial with a laser-engraved wave-like pattern, while the titanium bezel version gets a vertically brushed steel PVD-coated dial, giving it a fully monochromatic look. The rest remains unchanged, with the applied markers, openworked hands and lollipop central seconds hand.

Inside, another familiar. It’s the Calibre 8806 which has been used in several previous versions of the Seamaster. It’s, of course, METAS Master Certified Chronometer, beats at 25,200vph and has a 55 hour power reserve. The rotor is finished with Arabesque Côtes de Genève and red varnished lettering. The watches can be had on either a steel mesh bracelet (very similar to the No Time To Die Seamaster that’s done in titanium) with a folding clasp, or a black or grey rubber strap, depending on the dial version.

The new Seamaster Diver 300M No-Date is part of the regular collection and available now. The pricetag gets a slight bump over the no-date version and is now €6,600 on rubber and €7,200 on the steel. See more on the Omega website.

2/

Serica Introduces The 1174 Parade, A Dress Watch That Is Radically Different From Everything They Do

For years now, the French independent brand Serica has been creating something pretty special. Like I wrote in the review of the 8315 Travel Chronometer, they somehow manage to create retro designed watches unlike anything you’ve seen before, almost if they exist in a parallel universe and are referencing historical watches on a slightly different timeline. And all of their watches so far have been rugged tool watches — divers, field watches and GMTs. Well, that’s not only changing today, it’s also completely upending everything we’ve known about Serica’s meticulous design language. Today they are introducing the 1174 Parade, a very familiar but certainly different dress watch that takes on a very unique shape.

It should be said that this elipse-shaped 1174 Parade comes just a few weeks after Echo/Neutra introduced the Rivanera. Just like Serica, Echo/Neutra has so far focused on rugged, retro-inspired, tool watches. And just like the 1174 Parade, the Rivanera is the brand’s first dress watch, also making a sharp departure from the retro-tool watch aesthetic and introduces a much more elegant and much smaller shape to the collection. I love when this happens, when multiple people come to the same conclusion at the same time from different approaches.

But back to the Serica, which is a seriously impressive watch. Starting on the outside, the designers at the french brand say they have been inspired by the shape of stadiums, an ellipse with straight sides, soft and resolutely modern. But to make it work, they had to keep the stainless steel case compact. It measures 35mm wide, with a pretty incredible thickness of just 8.6mm (with, spoiler, an automatic movement inside) and a great length of 41mm. The fact that there are no lugs just makes the whole package even more compact and wearable. But there’s more to this watch than just the size. For example, the finish. It has a broad flat bezel on top that has pretty pronounced vertical brushing, extending to the case underneath. But then you get these wonderfully polished bevels on both the bezel and the case that create incredible contrast. And sure, this is a dress watch, but that doesn’t mean it’s not capable — you get 100 meters of water resistance. Without a screw down crown. Think about that.

Moving on to the dial, and things get even more intriguing. This is pure minimalism. There are two dial versions, a black and a gold, both with incredible sunray finishing that give it a lot of texture. And there’s not much more to it. The indices are tiny applied spherical hour markers, there are no numerals and no logos. Only a tiny “Serica Swiss” at the bottom. Just leaving it barren like that would have, perhaps, been too much. That’s why Serica gives both dials a mesmerizing S-Curved guilloché pattern that’s cut in deep. The hands keep up with the minimalism, mirror-polished and domed that have a “leaf-sword” shape, silver on the black dial and black on the gold dial.

Inside, you’ll find the SoProd M100 automatic movement. I have no idea how they managed to fit this into the watch. The movement is 3.6mm thick and the entire package is just 8.6mm thick. You’ll have a tough time finding such a thin automatic watch at any price point, let alone one this low. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve and has Côtes de Genève finishing. The watch comes on a grained calf leather strap that tapers from 18mm to 14mm, which is closed with an incredible “stadium” pin-buckle which is shaped to reflect the bezel of the watch.

This was a bunch of good news. So, I assume you’re expecting some bad news now, right? And what could be characterized as bad news? Well, it could be a very limited edition and it could be extremely expensive, right? Don’t worry, there’s good news throughout. The new Serica 1174 Parade is not a limited edition and it’s priced at a pretty great price of €1,490. See more on the Serica website.

3/

Brellum Shrinks Down Their Duobox Chronometer And Gives It Three Nice Colors

Despite looking like they dropped right out of the 1960s, Brellum is actually a fairly new company, only about wight years old. So it makes perfect sense that they are still filling up their lineup. People fell in love with their Duobox, a very classic chronograph that was powered by a Valjoux 7750 COSC-certified movement. However, a few had issues with its case size of almost 42mm. This, of course, is a pretty standard size for chronographs, as sub 40mm ones are pretty rare. Well, Brellum decided to add another one to the lineup. They are remaking the Duobox Chronometer, but now in a 39mm case.

There’s a pretty good reason why so many chronographs are 40mm and larger, especially if they don’t use in-house chronograph movements. A chronograph, especially an off-the-shelf one, takes up a lot of vertical space. And if you go for a case smaller than 40mm, the ratios of proportions start feelign off. I haven’t seen this new Duobox live, but it could be the case here because it measures 39mm wide, with a fairly long 48mm lug-to-lug, but has a 15.3mm thickness to fit the movement. The stainless steel case has satin finished surfaces with polished pushers and bezel. Water resistance is great at 100 meters.

There are three dial colors — anthracite, silver and blue — and all three have the same tri-compax layout with a 30 minute totaliser at 3, 12 hour totaliser at 6 with date aperture and small seconds at 9 o’clock. All three dials get sunray brushing and a pulsometer scale on the periphery. The silver dial has a blue central chronograph seconds hand, the anthracite has a green-tipped one and the blue dial has a red-tipped central seconds hand. You also get applied diamond-cut hour markers.

Inside is a big change. Gone is the Valjoux cam-and-lever chronograph. Instead, you get the La Joux-Perret L110 automatic with a column wheel. It beats at 4Hz and has a 60 hour power reserve. It has a rose gold-coated rotor and the column wheel is blued. The watches come with both a black calfskin leather strap and a stainless steel bracelet.

The new Brellum Duobox 39 Chronometer is available now and limited to 46 pieces per colour. Price is set at €3,765. See more on the Brellum website.

4/

The Latest Czapek Antarctique Purple Storm Limited Edition Takes Its Inspiration From Space

Czapek, at least on their Antarctique integrated steel sports watch line, is perhaps best known for their incredibly textured dials. The patterns are intricate, the execution is crisp and they have a unique look. The latest release from Czapek, however, joins a different side of the Antarctique, one that is space inspired. Previously we got the Antarctique Orion Nebula and the Antarctique Celestial, and now we get the Antarctique Purple Storm with an incredible dial that looks like we are staring at the depths of space.

On the outside, not much — if anything — has changed. You still get the Antarctique stainless steel case that measures 40.5mm wide and 10.6mm thick with a sunray-brushed finish and a highly polished bezel. On top is a box style sapphire crystal and out back is a flat sapphire crystal to show off the movement. Water resistance is 120 meters.

But then, there’s the dial. Made by dialmaker Metalem from La Chaux-de-Fonds it features an incredible storm of violet shades that varies from bright purple to almost black. And the colors look so good, Czapek ditches any indices and the date window, keeping only the white printed Czapek logo. The hands are silver, polished and filled with lume.

Inside is Czapek’s in-house SXH5 self-winding micro-rotor movement which beats at 4Hz and has a 60 hour power reserve. The micro-rotor, which can be seen through the caseback, is made out of recycled platinum. The watch comes on the signature Antarctique integrated bracelet that has high-polished middle C-shaped links.

This will be a very limited watch. Only 18 pieces of the Czapek & Cie. Antarctique Purple Storm will be made and they are priced at CHF 25,000, without tax. Despite being introduced only yesterday, 15 watches already sold and there are only 3 left at the time of writing. See more on the Czapek website.

 5/

Hublot Pays Homage To The GOAT Novak Djokovic With A Watch Made Out Of His Used Racquets

It’s incredibly easy to make fun of Hublot. A lot of their watches are wildly overpriced, while others are questionably and over-the-top designed. But there’s no denying that when they put their mind to it, they can make some serious strides in material sciences and movement making. They are actually pretty good watchmakers when they’re not busy making abominations. Their latest watch, while certainly a controversial look, is a very advanced piece that is an homage to perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, Novak Djokovic. And this new blue Big Bang Unico uses parts of Djokovic’s kit to make the watch.

It might look like a 48mm behemoth, but the new Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic has decent proportions. The matte blue case is made out of a recycled composite and measures 42mm wide and 14.5mm thick. Still large, but not as large as one would imagine. Speaking of the recycled composite, it’s made out of an epoxy resin base that’s reinforced with quartz powder, which is infused with 25 Head rackets and 32 Lacoste shirts that Djokovic used during the 2023 season. Weird? Certainly. Cool? Yeah, if you dig tennis. On top you won’t find a sapphire crystal. Instead, Hublot is using Gorilla Glass, which is twice as light while being more resistant. The crown and pushers are made out of aluminum for lightness. And it is a light thing — only 49.5g when paired with an elastic strap, which is lighter than a tennis ball.

The dial is very much in line with other Big Bang Unico models, openworked, with skeletonized hands and a bi-compax setup. The majority of the dial and bridges is matte blue to match the case, while the indices are white lumed squares and there are plenty of neon yellow accents everywhere, mimicking the color of a tennis ball.

Inside is the self-winding Unico Manufacture chronograph movement. It beats at 4Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The movement has been reworked and brass sections have been rendered in dark blue anodized aluminum. The watch comes with four straps — the mentioned superlight elastic sweatband attached with Hublot’s One Click system, a Velcro strap with a blue aluminium sports buckle, a white rubber strap and a Lacoste strap.

The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic is limited to 100 pieces and priced at CHF 48,000. See more on the Hublot website.

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Compression Diver 18k Gold-Plated is a fun, beautiful watch to wear, without the solid gold premium

A gold watch can be positively ruined by the wrong dial, but I think Zodiac did it right. The dial on the Goldie (that’s the nickname we’re going with) is an impossibly dark blue. In most lights, it seems black, but every now and then, you get a rich, abyss blue that goes beautifully with the gold of the case and the dial markers. The dial’s layout is identical to most other Super Sea Wolves: blocky markers and hands afford perfect legibility, while ample Super-LumiNova all around ensures low-light conditions are no trouble. One nice touch I enjoyed, and which Zodiac has done on other models, is the coordination of the printed date frame with 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

• When he was 42, Cormac McCarthy fell in love with a 16-year-old girl he met by a motel pool. Augusta Britt would go on to become one of the most significant—and secret—inspirations in literary history, giving life to many of McCarthy’s most iconic characters across his celebrated novels and Hollywood films. For 47 years, Britt closely guarded her identity and her story. Until now.

• ​From Vegas to the black market to the apps in your pocket, Rolling Stone goes inside the sports betting boom that’s taken over America and they ask themselves if the $11 billion betting bubble is about to explode.

• Don’t let his sometimes abrasive public persona fool you. The man behind the Barkley Marathons and Big’s Backyard Ultra, otherwise known as Gary Cantrell, is as odd and sincere as anyone in ultrarunning.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Let me ask you something that’s been on my mind. What’s your take on this video? I like the host, as he’s been instrumental to propping up the Donut Media car media empire, but now he’s struck out on his own making these mid-length historical overviews of companies that are important in pop culture. Would such a video on watch history be interesting to you?

💵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

-Vuk