Omega Releases America's Cup Seamaster Diver 300M; Stowa Updates Their Retro-Futuristic Verus GMT Chrono; The New Farr + Swit Is Peak 80s Nostalgia; Union Glashütte Simplifes Their Square Averin

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. My kid has the chickenpox. As you can imagine, my house has turned into a battleground of keeping a three-year-old entertained for 18 hours per day, so do excuse any tardiness, mistakes or just plain breakdowns. Those subscribed to the Patreon might have noticed that I was late on the latest articles, but I’m catching up!!

If you wonder what people who are subscribed to the Patreon get, you can read this pretty incredible and mostly true story of the ruthless and revered Pasha of Marrakech and how the modern Pasha de Cartier was inspired by his life. And do read the red box below as it explains everything:

In this issue:

• Omega Releases New Seamaster Diver 300M America’s Cup Just Ahead Of The Cult Race

• Stowa Updates Their Retro-Futuristic Verus GMT Chrono, With A Very Appropriate Black Case

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

• Union Glashütte Simplifes Their Square Averin With A New Dial And Bi-Compax Chronograph

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 18 seconds

👂What’s new

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Omega Releases New Seamaster Diver 300M America’s Cup Just Ahead Of The Cult Race

When it comes to partnerships between sports events and watch brands, there is no doubt that Omega has already won 2024 with the Olympics that just ended. Not only did they introduce a couple of really attractive limited editions before the Olympics even started, they also had a huge presence at the games. They were featured on a number of medal-winning, record breaking, champions with both new and old models. Their tech, a camera that takes 4,000 images per second, was used to determine the closest win in 100m sprint history. And of course, they planted Daniel Craig in the audience with a yet-unreleased Seamaster. Even if you didn’t follow watch news, you saw at least a few Omega-featuring articles. A brand would take the rest of the year off, right? Well, wrong. Sure, this latest release is not a hugely revolutionary one, but it is significant, as Omega is the sponsor of perhaps the most important sailing race in the world, the America’s Cup. And this is the new Omega Seamaster Diver 300M America’s Cup edition.

The America’s Cup is such an important race it deserves a few words on it for those not in the know. It’s actually the oldest international competition still operating in any sport, which might come as a bit of a surprise when you learn that this is only the 37th race. That’s because the America’s Cup doesn’t have a fixed schedule, and races taking place every three to four years. It has, however, been in operation since 1851. The race is held between just two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known as the defender) and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup (the challenger). The race is all about prestige, and has since brought in not just huge sponsors, but also billionaires who hire some of the best yacht designers in the world to give them an edge and win the Auld Mug trophy. And where there’s prestige, there are high end watches. Panerai, Tudor and Omega all sponsor teams. But guess who’s not just sponsoring the defending champions, the Emirates Team New Zealand, for the past almost 30 years, but also the official timekeeper for the fourth time. That’s right, Omega.

And to mark the start of the Cup, which happens in three days, Omega has released the new watch. There’s not much new to it on the outside. It’s the same 42mm wide and 13.8mm thick stainless steel case of the regular Seamaster Diver 300m, which also means you get 300 meters of water resistance. Things are different on the bezel, which gets a dark blue insert and ditches the diving 60 minute graduation in favor of a 10-minute countdown which can be used to time the start of a race.

The dial is made out of ceramic and laser engraved with a wave pattern. There are blue details everywhere — on the printed minute scale on the perimeter, surrounding the white applied markers and hour, second and part of the minute hand. I say part of the minute hand as it has a really cool gradient from blue to red. The seconds hand also has a counterweight in the shape of the very complicated America’s Cup trophy.

Inside is the very familiar Omega 8806. You can see it through the exhibition caseback, which has the America’s Cup logo printed on it. The movement is master chronometer certified co-axial calibre with a 55-hour power reserve. The watch can be had on the well known steel bracelet or on a blue rubber strap.

In a world of rising prices, the new Seamaster Diver 300M America’s Cup edition seems almost a bargain at $6,200 on rubber and $6,500 on steel. I say almost because that’s without tax and when you add VAT in Europe, you’re looking at €6,700 on rubber and €7,100 on steel which is actually on the lower end of the Seamaster Diver 300M collection. It’s something at least. You can see more on the Omega website. See more on the Omega website.

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Stowa Updates Their Retro-Futuristic Verus GMT Chrono, With A Very Appropriate Black Case

The German manufacturer Stowa is particularly well known for their fligers, pilot’s watches — especially those with a B-Uhr configuration, and if you look at their website you will be awash in a sea of retro-looking watches. Stowa is among the best to do it. However, Stowa also dabbles in more modern designs. In 2021, they launched the Verus GMT Chrono, a pretty wild looking watch that takes the staples of the pilot’s watch and firmly moves them to the future. The watch was so well received it won a Red Dot Design Award. And now Stowa is updating it with a matte black DLC-coated case.

I’m not a huge fan of black cases. I know I’m in the minority here as pretty much every single brand I asked tells me they sell way more of black cases than steel cases of the same model. However, a black DLC case works absolutely perfectly on the pretty radical case/bezel. The case measures 41mm wide, a chunky 14.7mm thick and has 50.2mm lug-to-lug. But it needs all of those dimensions to accommodate the unique bezel this thing has. It’s super narrow, but extends deeply down into the case, fixed, engraved with a 24-hour scale and DLC coated, just like the case. This gives a super interesting look when looking at the watch head-on, as you can see only a super-thin bezel. Glance at it from the side, and it seems to double in size. Very cool. The oversized crown and twin pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock are also DLC-coated. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals and water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial is super simple, but very effective. A matte black base gets oversized white Arabic numerals and a very chunky minute track. The hour and minute hands are also white and are, along with the numerals and track, coated with Super-LumiNova BGW9. There’s a central red chrono seconds hand, along with a black hand with a red tip filled with lume for the GMT function. At 12 o’clock you’ll see a very unusual 30-minute totaliser for the chronograph that integrates the iconic triangle with two dots marker. Also very cool. At 6 o’clock is an almost invisible, but also very prominent date aperture for a black date wheel that integrates very well.

Inside is the Valjoux 7754, a cam-operated chronograph which beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. There aren’t a lot of GMT chronographs out there, so it’s nice to see one added to the lineup. Also, this is a caller-style GMT, meaning you independently adjust the GMT hand. The watch comes on a 22mm wide black leather strap with a black DLC-coated pin buckle.

Now, for some maddening news. The new Verus GMT Chrono is a limited edition, which isn’t that unusual. What is unusual is the fact that it’s limited to 10 pieces. That’s just horrific! Why?! The price is set at €2,900 with the German VAT included. See more on the Stowa website.

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

I’ve been talking to anyone who will listen for a while now that the next big trend in watches will be a revival of the 80s and 90s design. We’ve seen this somewhat last year with all the collaborations that Worn and Wound has been doing, brining forward the pastel and neon palettes of the two decades. For a second, I thought I might have been wrong, as we haven’t seen as many of these design revival attempts this year. I could be wrong, or I could be early and the trend is yet to take on. And all of us here in the watch world fantasize all the time of a watch brand that we could start. I had an idea for quite a few months that it would be a great move to start cranking out nostalgia-themed digital watches that would remind millennials of our childhood. I even went so far to see what kind of digital watches I could get made in China and I was delighted to see that there were some pretty affordable options.

Well, I have some pretty good news for my wife — I will not be sinking more of our money into a new venture, as it seems that the folks over at Farr + Swit have had the exact same idea as I did. Farr + Swit is a Chicago-based brand that’s very into the 80s, which was obvious with their Solar Chrono release which looked like it fell right out of Tron. Their new release, the Retro Digital - Mix Tape Vol. 1 ditches the futurism of the Solar Chrono and just embraces our childhood and the look of mix tapes.

This watch will surely remind you of some of the first Casio models that you wore as a kid, both in look and in dimensions. The plastic case measures 35mm wide (37mm with buttons), 8.5mm thick and has a 38mm lug-to-lug. The Mix Tape is available in two variants: clear with a clear strap, and translucent blue with a black strap. There are three buttons, which seem to be unmarked and I can’t really figure out what the functions are, other than the teal LCD backlight. But who cares what it can do, with such good looks. The watch has a rectangular positive display, surrounded by a graphic that evokes the look of a blank cassette tape with a hand-written label. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Oh, and another cool thing is that the 18mm wide lugs seem to fit Timex Q straps quite perfectly, meaning there’s a huge aftermarket if you want to switch out a strap. As to what’s inside the watch… It’s a quartz movement. Made in China, batter operated. That’s it. But you won’t need more once you hear the price.

And the price is the best thing about the watch. You can get this 80s groovy piece for $34.99, making it the definition of an impulse buy. Eve better, get both variants, and they’ll knock $10 off the price, meaning they will run you $59.99. See more on the Farr + Swit website.

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Union Glashütte Simplifes Their Square Averin With A New Dial And Bi-Compax Chronograph

There are certain watch shapes that are so iconic they are instantly recognised as just one specific model. The Cartier Crash, the JLC Reverso and the Gerald Charles’ Maestro are just some of the cases that are instantly recognisable, and even if some other brand tries to do the same thing, it will not sit well with people as it is just too close to the original. The TAG Heuer Monaco is one such watch. So, when Union Glashütte introduced the square-cased Averin way back in 2008, they decided to differentiate themselves from the icon, despite a very similar case, with a novel dial, that used a very unique date indicator which made it instantly clear that this was no TAG Heuer. Well, things are getting a bit complicated on that front, but I dig it. Union Glashütte just introduced two new Averin variants, both with really nice dials, both with bi-compax chronographs and both very similar to the Heuer.

Being a square watch means that the case measures 41×41mm, but add the lugs and you stretch the length of the watch to a bit over 49mm. That, and a thickness of 15.35mm might make the Averin seem very large, but square watches often wear much different. You can get the case with either a brushed case with polished accents or a full black DLC coated case. On top is a domed square sapphire crystal that seems in pictures to sit within the bezel, and without the box-style effect of the better known model. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dials of the two Averin models have a texture to them, one that looks like a couple of other very famous watches, but there’s no need to name them. It’s a square pattern that’s deeply cut into the dial and looks very cool. The steel version comes with a blue dial, while the DLC version gets a black dial. Both have two sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, the 30 minutes counter and running seconds, respectively. At 6 o’clock is a date window, you get applied hour indices, and sword-shaped hour and minute hands and a red seconds hand.

Inside is the UNG-27.S2. This cam-operated automatic chronograph is based on the Valjoux 7750, which means you get a 4Hz beat rate and 65 hours of power reserve. The rotor is signed with the word Union and the movement is decorated with perlage, Côtes de Genève and blued screws. The steel version comes on a fantastic looking blue perforated leather strap with an orange lining, while the DLC version comes on a black textile strap with a red lining.

The new Union Glashütte Averin Chronograph is available now, not limited and priced at €3,300 for the steel version and €3,500 for the black version. See more on the Union Glashütte website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Date and the Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT

2/

Hands-On with the Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition

3/

A review of the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold 'Lumen'

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The matte-black ceramic Bell & Ross BR 03 Diver is one of its best-looking square dive watches ever

In a lot of ways, a watch like the BR 03 Diver is what Bell & Ross does best. That is, to take a tool watch archetype and render it in an attractive, sexy way. That is really how I define Bell & Ross in my mind – the company is set up like a Parisian fashion company more so than a traditional watchmaker. Accordingly, this entirely non-shiny watch is meant to evoke the serious sobriety of purpose-built tools for extreme conditions.

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

• We in the watch world are quite familiar with stuff that’s described in this article. We rely on single-use plastics for every aspect of our daily lives. Thin white bags for groceries, thicker containers for takeout, bottles for sodas and water—the list goes on. Around the world, we generate more than 500 million tons of plastic waste a year, and only 9 percent of it is actually recycled. Is it time to break this addiction? Clive Thompson talks with people experimenting with viable solutions, like a bioplastic made of seaweed or a company that allows customers to return reusable products. The question is: are we ready to make these changes?

• Disease crossover from humans to animals—or vice versa—has become a growing concern, as Rivka Galchen explains for The New Yorker. Being able to predict which diseases will become a significant threat to humans and wildlife is one part science, one part intuition; humans, conservationists, and the farming community all depend on these educated guesses to help prevent devastating outbreaks.

• Yosemite National Park has been considered one of the most pristine and photographic national parks in the US. But under Aramark—a private contractor that provides food and other services across schools, hospitals, and even prisons—the park’s facilities, like the once-majestic Ahwahnee Hotel, are falling apart. In this shocking piece, Laura Bliss reports on how the hospitality company fails to maintain the park and keep its employees safe.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I think I already told you that Rimac makes cars just a few minutes away from where this newsletter is written. Which is pretty cool. But their new car? That’s just crazy.

💵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

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-Vuk