Omega Releases Jaw-Dropping Paris 2024 Speedmaster Chronostops Duo; Tissot's Seastar In Wilson And WNBA Colors; Zelos Gives Us A Complicated Spearfish; And New From Gerald Charles And HYT

In this issue:

• Omega Releases Jaw-Dropping Duo Of Speedmaster Chronostops In Advance Of Paris Olympic Games

• Tissot Customizes Their Seastar With The Colors Of The Legendary Wilson Basketball In Partnership With The WNBA

• Zelos Breaks Away From Their Usual Simple Watches With Great Dials For A Super Complicated Spearfish Dual Time

• Gerald Charles Releases Their Entrant Into The Luxury Sports Watch Game With The Masterlink Collection

• HYT Debuts Their Tamest Watch Yet, The Closed Dial T1 Series

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 19 seconds

👂What’s new

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Omega Releases Jaw-Dropping Duo Of Speedmaster Chronostops In Advance Of Paris Olympic Games

Olympic years are always good years for fans of Omega. The link between the watch brand and the most important athletic games in the world runs deep. Very deep. Omega has served as the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932. And every four years for quite a while now, Omega has released special editions to mark the start of the Olympics. Some of these watches are just fine. Some are absolutely legendary (yeah, I’m looking at you, Seamaster Chrono-Quartz Montreal 1976 and Seamaster Polaris Barcelona 1992). The releases for this year got off to a bit of a stumble, with the just-fine-but-nothing-special Moonshine Gold bezel-equipped Seamaster 300M they showed last year. Well, they’re making up for it with two new watches released exactly 100 days before the start of the games, two releases that take on a very interesting model. These are the new stainless steel and Moonshine gold Paris 2024 Olympics Omega Speedmaster Chronoscopes.

The choice of the Speedmaster Chronoscope is not revolutionary, but it is a great move on Omega’s part. The model was introduced in 2021 to rave reviews for its incredible vintage-inspired dial and bi-compax setup. But, since then, crickets. Not only are these rare to see outside of Omega stores, Omega hasn’t really brought anything exciting to the model in the last three years. Well, here we go, something new.

While the previous versions of the Chronoscope was avaialble in steel and bronze-gold, the Paris 2024 version comes in either steel or, for the first time, in the Omega Moonshine Gold yellow gold. The Chronoscope wears very much like the regular Speedmaster, coming in only a millimetre larger in width (43mm) and length (48.6mm) than the Speedmaster Pro and negliably thinner (13mm on the Paris, vs. 13.2mm on the Pro). The rest of the case is just as Speedmaster Pro-like, with the same asymmetrical case shape and a box sapphire crystal on top, with an aluminum insert on the steel or a very nice looking matte black ceramic on the gold. This versions, however, gets a special steel or gold caseback engraved with the logo of Paris 2024.

There are very few changes to the dial of the new Paris 2024 edition. Both version get a white opaline dial with black snailed sub-dials, Moonshine gold Arabic numerals and gold coated leaf-shaped hands and sub-dial hands. It’s a bi-compax setup with the 9 o’clock sub-dial keeping track of the running seconds, while the 3 o’clock is a full second time zone. At the center of the dial are 1940s inspired three dark grey grey timing scales in a “snail” design. These tracks feature a tachymeter scale (a bit weird as you have one on the bezel already), a pulsometer scale, and a telemeter scale.

Inside is the hand wound calibre 9908/9909 which has a column-wheel and vertical clutch architecture. It beats at 4Hz and has a 60 hour power reserve that’s powered by double barrels. The movement, of course, has a co-axial escapement, anti-magnetic parts and is Master Chronometer certified. Both watches can be had on perforated leather straps or the traditional Speedmaster bracelets with a toolless micro-adjustment system. This, of course, means that there is an option of a full gold Speedmaster Chronoscope with a gold bracelet.

The price for the new Paris 2024 Olympics Omega Speedmaster Chronoscopes is all over the place. The stainless steel version will set you back €10,500 on the leather strap or €10,900 on the stainless steel bracelet. On the other hand, the Moonshine Gold on strap is priced at €36,300 or an eye watering €57,000 on the full gold bracelet. See more on the Omega website.

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Tissot Customizes Their Seastar With The Colors Of The Legendary Wilson Basketball In Partnership With The WNBA

I don’t really follow basketball. Like, at all. So I reached out to a few friends whose religion has officially been changed to basketball to ask what’s up with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). I am aware that the WNBA exists and that it’s usually the but of some seriously unfunny jokes, but beyond that, I’m clueless. Well, from what I’m told, the WNBA is really coming into its own, with viewership and game attendance on the rise and the emergence of some true basketball stars in the league. To mark this trend and right ahead of the WNBA draft, Tissot released a version of their 40mm Seastar in partnership with Wilson, the maker of the iconic basketball, and the WNBA. It’s a great looking watch, I’m just not sure who it’s for.

The Seastar is Tissot’s dive watch, which is a bit of a weird start for a basketball-themed watch, but that’s easy to justify. What’s a bit more puzzling is the choice of the larger of the two models to base this collaboration on. Tissot makes the Seastar in two sizes - 36 and 40mm, and the WNBA collaboration is based on the 40mm one. Now, to be fair, this is a surprisingly compact 40mm watch with the much more important lug-to-lug measurement coming in at 46mm. It is a bit chunky at 12.5mm, but nothing egregious, especially for a watch that is 300 meter water resistant.

On the other hand, the 36mm version has a lug-to-lug of 41mm and is just 9.7mm thick. It seems that this size would work on both male wrists, but also would be more agreeable on smaller female wrists. Although, to be fair, I just looked at the stats, and it seems that the majority of WNBA fans are male, so that goes to show you how much I know. But overall, this is a great looking watch, with pronounced crown guards and a notched unidirectional rotating bezel with the countdown area highlighted in a different colour. There are two versions of the watch - a black automatic and white quartz. The black gets a black bezel insert with orange highlights, while the white version gets a white bezel with orange details. Speaking of the colored countdown sector, it’s calibrated to 24 minutes, to mark the 24-second shot clock time.

Both versions have circular-brushed finishes, one black and one white, and they all mimic details from the Wilson basketball. There are applied applied indices, the hands are treated with Super-LumiNova and the central seconds hand is orange with a T-shaped counterweight. At six o’clock you’ll find the date window.

Inside the automatic version is the very familiar Powermatic 80 which beats at 21,600vph and has the famed 80-hour power reserve. The quartz movement carries the designation F06.412 and there’s not much more to say about it. Both watches, however, get absolutely fantastic straps. Two of them. One white and one orange, they are made out of Evo-NXT Premium Composite, the material used to make Wilson’s basketballs and feature the Wilson “W” and the logo of the WNBA in a contrasting color. They really do look amazing!

While I have my doubts about the chosen size for the watch, there’s no denying that it looks good enough to attract even those who are not fans of the WNBA or basketball. The Powermatic 80 version is priced at €795, while the quartz versions is priced at €495. See more on the Tissot website.

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Zelos Breaks Away From Their Usual Simple Watches With Great Dials For A Super Complicated Spearfish Dual Time 

In just a couple of years, Zelos has grown from a brand that made niche-divers with interesting dial designs into a true powerhouse of microbrand watches, if you could even consider them micro any more. In addition to divers, they make pilot’s watches, field pieces and chronographs. And while this watch might seem like a huge move to the brand, it should not be forgotten that Zelos has put out some truly wild limited editions before that ran the price up to $12,000. Regardless, the new Zelos Spearfish Dual Time is a very impressive watch.

The new Spearfish Dual Time uses the regular Spearfish case, meaning it comes in a comfortable 40mm wide and 12.5mm thick case with a 47mm lug-to-lug. Being made out of titanium makes it even easier to wear. Well, not just titanium. Zelos will also offer the Spearfish Dual Time in a carbon case, which is really impressive. Especially since they decided to keep the price point the same on both materials. On top is a domed sapphire crystal.

The watch has no dial to speak of, instead you can see the perlage-decorated TT651 module on a Sellita SW300-1. The hands to tell the time are centrally mounted. At 12 o clock is a big date window which has a very unique look, mostly thanks to the fact that there is no dial so you can see the rotating date discs. At 6 o’clock is a circular map of the world, a base for the 24-hour GMT register which gives it the dual time functionality from the name. The lack of dial doesn’t allow for much inclusion of color, and yet, Zelos offers five colored versions of the watch - a black, dark blue and light blue on the titanium, and a bronze or orange versions on the carbon.

Inside, like I mentioned is the very familiar Sellita SW300-1. A robust and pretty solid movement that can be found in hundreds of small and large brands. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 56-hour power reserve. It, however, does not have a dual time functionality. The dual time comes from the TT651 module, which will likely be a popular mod moving forward. The titanium watches come on the recognisable Zelos watches bracelet with brushed and beveled links that also have a micro-adjust in the clasp. The carbon watches come on a canvas strap.

The Zelos Spearfish Dual Time is available now as a “launch special” and priced at $1,849, regardless of the material used. See more on the Zelos website.

 4/

Gerald Charles Releases Their Entrant Into The Luxury Sports Watch Game With The Masterlink Collection

Just when you think that the integrated bracelet luxury sports watch market can’t get more crowded, here comes Gerald Charles with their new watch. Well, at least it’s not another Gerald Genta lookalike. Oh, no, wait, Gerald Charles was founded by Genta and was the last brand he worked with. But you know what I mean - there are no octagonal bezels with exposed screws. What you get with the new Gerald Charles Masterling is a surprisingly elegant sports watch with a unique look.

The watch comes in a deceptively simple case that measures 38mm wide and 38mm long, with a thickness of 7.9mm. I say deceptively simple, as there’s much more to it than the square case. On top is a two-tiered flat bezel that’s rounded on top and protrudes like a chin at 6 o’clock. This is a carryover from the Maestro case, designed by Genta himself, and the chin was supposed to look like a smile. Being a sports watch, it has a screw down crown and 100 meters of water resistance.

There are two variants for the dial, either blue or silver, but both have deep vertical lines running through the entirety of the dial. Interestingly, the dials have dimension, as they are actually two layers of a dial, with the top one cut out. The numerals are Arabic and applied, the hands are baton shaped and everything is painted with Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the proprietary 2.7mm thing micro-rotor automatic movement designed by Gerald Charles and made by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. It beats at 3Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. It’s highly decorated with a sandblasted rotor and vertical Côtes de Genève stripes on the bridges. The watch gets an integrated bracelet that’s just beautiful and easily adjustable as you can remove half links.

The new Masterlink is available for purchase now at a price of €19,500. See more on the Gerald Charles website.

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HYT Debuts Their Tamest Watch Yet, The Closed Dial T1 Series

What a world we live in when we can call something like the HYT T1 watch a tame timepiece. It’s not that strange, as HYT has truly been known for their insane watches, with open dials and high-tech micro-fluidic module driven by a mechanical movement that they use to tell time inside glass capillary with two fluids that don’t mix. So, to see one of their watches looking so ordinary, with a closed dial (but still with the capillary time telling device), you see why it’s a bit surprising.

The new T1 series comes in a slightly smaller case than other HYT models. But it’s far from small. It measures 45mm wide, 17.2mm thick and has a 46,3mm lug-to-lug. The case has an octagonal shape and no lugs. The watches come in either a titanium and black DLC coated satin finished titanium or a 5N pink gold and titanium case. It’s even a bit water resistant at 50 meters.

For the first time in an HYT, we can also talk about its dial. underneath the sapphire crystal is a colour-coated brass dial with a satin finish and in one of four colors - silver, deep blue, slate or salmon. The titanium/DLC-titanium is paired with either the salmon, anthracite or silver dial, while the pink gold/DLC titanium is matched with the deep blue dial. The applied numerals are made out of black gold with Super-LumiNova. The minutes are told with a centrally mounted black gold polished hand while the hours are told with the black liquid inside a borosilicate capillary tube.

Inside is the hand-wound Calibre HYT 501-CM, developed by TEC Group and Eric Coudray in 2019. It’s an incredibly complicated movement that has to push liquid around the hour tube and does so using two bellows. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 65 hour power reserve. The watch comes with two rubber straps that allow for easy change - one is black and the other is blue, dark blue or anthracite, depending on the dial color you get.

The HYT T1 Series is priced at CHF 48,000 for the full titanium version and CHF 64,000 for the pink gold version. See more on the HYT website.

🫳On hand

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Hands on with the Rolex GMT-Master II 126710GRNR

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A review of the AP Royal Oak Chronograph 41mm in Yellow Gold

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Galvin Suvi plays on nostalgia for Finnish summertime

The word “suvi” is actually Finnish for summer, and Galvin is launching the Suvi in six colours which all tie back to Finland in some way. The Lake or light blue model is fairly self-explanatory, taking after the bright surfaces of Finnish lakes when the sun reflects off of them. The pink dial is named Strawberry Ice Cream, really hitting on that nostalgic imagery and indulging in sense memory. Midsummer Night is one of the references in a rose gold case, showing off a decadent navy blue. The second rose gold model is named Barley, for its light beige dial. Then, there’s Lupine showing the vibrant purple of wildflowers, and finally Birch with its pale tone of teal-adjacent green.

Read the whole review on Time+Tide

⏲️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

• Have you ever wondered how the golden age of TV which we had a couple of years ago came to be? What was the significant change that allowed for it to happen? It wasn’t just revolutionary approaches to storytelling on television. It was also vast amounts of cash injected into the industry from Wall Street, with investors and bankers seeing huge returns on the first couple of shows. With time, the money dried up and we are now faced with the possibility, especially taking into account the triple strike of last year, that Hollywood is over. Make up your own mind, it’s a great piece.

• American magazines were always best when they put the reader right in the middle of the action. They do it like no other publication around the world. This piece on Salman Rushdie, who is back to partying and celebrating new book releases following a monstrous attack from a deranged zealot, is just such a piece, accompanied by great photos.

• There are about 800,000 miles of internet cables that traverse the Earth’s ocean floors. These thin underwater cables carry the world’s data and are essential for governments, banks, corporations, and, well, the entire world to function. In this fantastic Verge feature, Josh Dzieza goes inside the subsea cable maintenance industry and highlights the crucial yet invisible work of highly specialized engineers on aging ships that keeps modern civilization from collapsing.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Rules are meant to be broken. When you break one, it’s a bit more meaningful than when you follow it. This is one of those videos that break my rules on not posting watch videos. But Analog Shift collection videos are just amazing.

💵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