Omega Sneakily Updates 41 and 38mm Seamaster Aqua Terras With Moonshine Gold; Certina Has An Old-School DS Action Diver Chrono; Hanhart's Modern Navy-Themed Watch; And A New Wild Chaykin Joker

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Omega really thought they were being sneaky when they tried to not tell anyone they were doing new gold Aqua Terras? Yeah, good luck with that, eagle eyed people are everywhere. But that’s not for me, I’ll take the Hanhart.

BTW, I’m incredibly humbled by your response to my message yesterday. A BUNCH of you subscribed to the Pateron and if we can keep this up for just a bit longer, we could cover the entire hosting cost just through that. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please read on through to the red part in the newsletter.

In this issue:

• Omega Very Quietly Updates the 41 and 38mm Seamaster Aqua Terras With Moonshine Gold

• Certina Introduces An Old-School Chronograph With The DS Action Diver Chrono

• Hanhart Takes Inspiration From Germany’s Naval Aviation Squadrons For The New Fly Navy Aerosphere

• Konstantin Chaykin Releases New Joker Watch And It’s Just As Wild As You Would Expect

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 5 seconds

👂What’s new

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Omega Very Quietly Updates the 41 and 38mm Seamaster Aqua Terras With Moonshine Gold

All eyes in the watch world have been on Omega these few weeks. They are one of the main sponsors of the Olympic Games and to celebrate this one-in-four-years event they released three special watches. First was the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Paris 2024 with a gold bezel, then we got the stunning Paris 2024 Speedmaster Chronoscope and they rounded out the Olympics trilogy with the beautiful Bronze Gold CK 859 which featured gold, silver and bronze materials to pay homage to the three medals that will be won at the Games. And while everybody has their eyes on the Olympics, Omega super stealthily introduced five new gold and steel-gold versions of the 38mm and 41mm Seamaster Aqua Terra models. There’s no way I would have noticed that if it weren’t for the eagle-eyed folks at Monochrome Watches.

Omega is currently working with three proprietary gold materials, all of which have a particular mix of alloys to not just give a unique color, but also offer more resilience to the environment. There’s the pink gold they call Sedna Gold, the Canopus white gold and the yellow Moonshine Gold. The first trio of new watches using Moonshine Gold are three 41mm versions of the Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m. These watches come in at 41mm wide, 13.4mm thick and have a 48mm lug-to-lug. You still get the familiar twisted lugs, sapphire crystals on top and bottom, as well as the 150 meter water resistance.

There are two versions you can get the watch in — a fully Moonshine Gold version or a two-tone steel and Moonshine Gold. The fully gold version gets the characteristic “teak” style dial in a pretty green, with gold hardware, and they come with either a rubber green strap or a matching fully gold bracelet. The two-tone, however, gets a lacquered black varnish dial — same as the last few Aqua Terra releases — and gold markers and hands. The two-tone has a gold bezel and gold central links on the otherwise steel bracelet. The two sold gold Aqua Terra models are powered by the Calibre 8901, while the two-tone gets the 8900. They are automatic Master-Chronometer Co-Axial movements with a double barrel and 60h power reserve. The two-tone sells for €14,800, the full gold on rubber retails for €24,200 and the all-gold version with gold bracelet is priced at €42,500.

Then there’s the smaller, 38mm version, which seems to be the most popular in the lineup. It measures 38mm wide, 12.3mm thick and has a 45.1mm lug-to-lug. Despite the smaller size, it still has 150 meters of water resistance. There are two versions, a fully gold and a two-tone. The fully gold version gets a gold bracelet and a blue brushed dial with gold hardware. The two-tone gets a steel base with a gold bezel, crown and mid-links on the steel bracelet, along with a burgundy brushed dial. The watches are powered by the Calibre 8800 and 8801, with Master Chronometer certification, co-axial escapement and 55h power reserve on a single barrel. The two-tone is priced at €14,100, while the all-gold is priced at €38,600. See more on the Omega website.

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Certina Introduces An Old-School Chronograph With The DS Action Diver Chrono

There’s something very special about diving chronographs. There are not a lot of them around, and when they do pop up as a new model, they are usually a chunky brute that’s ready to take on anything that might come its way. It might be that my formative years were the 90s and 00s, but I particularly remember that this era was marked with diving chronos. This was a time when people wore huge watches loudly and proudly, and Omega, AP, Breitling and even JLC banked on that. I loved that era. And it seems that Certina, which has had a lot of luck lately with some pretty awesome divers, wants to keep that era of huge chrono divers alive with the new Certina DS Action Diver Chrono.

When I say huge, I mean huge. You truly haven’t seen something like this since the 90s. It’s 44.5mm wide and 16.17mm thick, which seems to perfectly fit only Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wrists. But it sure as hell wouldn’t stop me from wearing one. And yet, despite the fact that it’s the size of a small car, it has a rather traditional looking case — a brushed finish, short and sloping lugs, tiny crown guards and a screw-down chronograph pushers. You’ll want to keep those screwed down, as the rated water resistance is 300 meters. Just what you would expect from a diver, but also way more than you would expect from a chronograph.

While the bezel on top tells you this is a diver, the dial is very much a chronograph with just a few dive-like details. It’s a bi-compax setup with a date aperture at 6 o’clock. You get circular hour markers coated with lume, a prominent arrow hour-hand and a lollipop tip on the central chronograph seconds hand. There are three colour combinations available: sand with black accents, black with silver or blue.

Inside, the Valjoux A05.231. Equipped with a silicon balance spring providing good anti-magnetic resistance and reducing friction, the movement has a 68 hour power reserve. You can get the watch on either a textile strap or a stainless steel bracelet. To be fair, what Certina calls a textile strap, looks to be a regular nylon NATO-style strap, which comes only on the sand colored version. But still looks cool.

The new Certina DS Action Diver Chrono is available now and not limited. The textile strap version will set you back CHF 1,695, while the stainless steel bracelet is marginally more expensive at CHF 1,795. See more on the Certina website.

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Hanhart Takes Inspiration From Germany’s Naval Aviation Squadrons For The New Fly Navy Aerosphere

The German watch brand Hanhart has a super long history with the German Military. They started their business in 1902 as a producer of stopwatches, but have since then found their place on many wrists of German pilots and naval officers for decades. Their pilot’s watches have always been known as incredible tool watches with some nifty features, like the recognizable red pusher that hopefully prevents pilots from accidentally zeroing the timing. And while they do make a couple of modern looking watches, this is not exactly their forte. Look through their website and you’ll notice that they offer a whole slew of retro-styled pilot’s watches that have a truly unique look. However, their latest release, the Fly Navy Aerosphere, takes on a hyper-modern, robust, and tool-like look that’s made for, and features the insignia of, Germany’s Naval Aviation Command – Marinefliegergeschwader.

You don’t expect pilots of military planes and helicopters to strap dainty watches to their wrist, and the Fly Navy Aerosphere sure isn’t small. It measures 42mm wide and 12.95mm thick, with a brushed finish and hollowed flaks. There are small guards for the screw-down crown and on top is a 60-click heavily fluted bezel that has a navy blue ceramic insert with a 60 minute scale. This is a tool watch, so you know that the numerals on the bezel are lumed in green. You get to choose your caseback, as it can be engraved with the coat of arms of one of the two naval aviation squadrons — Marinefliegergeschwader 3 ‘Graf Zeppelin’ or the Marinefliegergeschwader 5. Water resistance is 300 meters.

The dial continues on with the naval theme. The color is matte navy blue, with a really cool sloping minutes flange that has cutouts for the chunky hour markers that are bright white with lume. You also get the legendary triangle with two dots at noon. The hands are very much the star of the show, huge, openworked and with a stylised syringe look. The nautical theme can also be found on the counterweight of the yellow seconds hand which has the tip of Poseidon’s trident. Then there’s the most obvious link to the Navy, the yellow symbol of a eagle and anchor rendered in yellow.

Inside, a very familiar and reliable movement, the automatic Sellita SW200. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue textile strap or a stainless steel bracelet. The bracelet gets a folding clasp and diving extension.

The new Hanhart Fly Navy Aerosphere will be limited to 150 pieces of each of the casebacks, for a total of 300 watches. Pricing is set at €1,490 on the strap and €1,690 on the bracelet. See more on the Hanhart website.

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Konstantin Chaykin Releases New Joker Watch And It’s Just As Wild As You Would Expect

There is just nothing that can be said about the watches that Konstantin Chaykin makes that would make much sense. He is, of course, known for his incredible Joker and Wristmon releases which pushed the meaning of a wristwatch as far as it can go, while still offering an incredible level of craftsmanship. His latest release is the Joker Fiat Lux by Konstantin Chaykin which updates the well known Joker face with a partially skeletonised dial.

Chaykin watches are rarely about the case, but they can be quite interesting. This one measures 42mm wide, is made out of stainless steel and will instantly stand out with the poker-themed decorated bezel, featuring the five suits in a deck of cards, surrounded by screws. There are two crowns, symmetrically distributed to 3 and 9 o’clock. The former sets the time, the latter the moon phase. Now for a Joker is the inclusion of an exhibition caseback.

But the main show is the dial. The name, Fiat Lux which means let there be light in Latin, is a reference to the openworked design which shines light on the movement underneath. Even the eyes are skeletonized so the time is indicated by the two pupils of the eye just floating in midair. The dial features Clous de Paris guilloche motif decorations, silver plating, intricate coating, and multi-layered varnish application.

Interestingly, the base movement of the Joker is a pretty basic one, the ETA 2824-2, which means you get a beat rate of 4Hz and a 38 hour power reserve. However, Chayking adds to that movement his own proprietary 84-part module known as the automatic K.07-0 calibre to not just add the moonphase, but also completely redesign how the watch displays time. The watch comes on a black alligator leather strap with a green calfskin lining and green stitching.

The Joker Fiat Lux is limited to 38 pieces and is available exclusively through West Wood Time in the Chaoyang District, Beijing. Price is on request. See more on the Konstantin Chaykin website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Squale 1521 Marina Militare

2/

Hands on with the Victorinox Dive Pro

3/

A review of the Casio G-Shock MRG-B2100B-1A

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Delma Midland is a solid step above entry-level while still being more attainable than the top-of-the-line integrated bracelet watches

In terms of their dimensions, the automatic Delma Midland models measure 40.5mm in diameter by 10.8mm thick, with an overall lug-to-lug distance of 47mm. However, the quartz versions are a bit thinner than their automatic siblings due to their smaller movements and solid casebacks, and they have a total height of 9.5mm. Just like other integrated bracelet watches, the first center links of the bracelet do not articulate at the point where they meet the case, and this brings the total lug-to-lug profile of the Midland up to approximately 54mm. With that in mind, since this additional 7mm actually consists of the first links of the bracelet, this 54mm measurement should be taken with a grain of salt, although it still makes the Midland wear a bit larger than its official on-paper dimensions.

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

• Have you ever fallen victim to a Nigerian scam? No, most likely not. You see the emails, you see the communications and you likely ask yourself why do they try? There’s no way that a scam so evident will every work, right? Well, it works. And a writer for Atavist is on a quest to find the con artist in Nigeria who duped his mother.

• Twenty years after its debut, Yelp has changed how we think about reviewing everything and anything. Is it a good thing or bad?

• It’s been a couple of weeks since the assassination attempt on Trump and I noticed a complete lack of longform articles on the subject. I did find this article interesting, that shows how ideology is not what motivates assassins.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Singer is just cemented up there as the best non-Porsche Porsche.

💵Pre-loved precision

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• 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.

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