Orient Adds New Bambino 38 Colors, Their Best Yet; Raymond Weil Releases Largo Winch-Themed Watch; Tissot Brings Back Stylish And Affordable Watch; A New Brew; And A Carbotech Quaranta Panerai

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. The new Tissot didn’t blow me away, but I think it will quickly find a huge audience of people looking for a small and afordable dress watch — that was a really good move. Unlike Panerai. How do you make it so easy to both love and hate you, Panerai?

Oh, and if you could do me a favor, read the short call for help right below. It would really mean a lot.

In this issue:

• Orient Releases Great Looking Small Seconds Bambino Watches in 38mm, But Good Luck Getting One

• Raymond Weil Introduces A Millesime Chronograph Limited Edition Inspired By Largo Winch Comic Book

• Tissot Brings Back The Stylist Line With Two Vintage-Inspired Tonneau-Shaped Budget-Friendly Watches

• Brew Updates The Metric With Some Very 70s Inspired Colors

• Panerai’s New Luminor Quaranta Carbotech PAM01526 Is Tacticool In The Best Possible Way

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 56 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Orient Releases Great Looking Small Seconds Bambino Watches in 38mm, But Good Luck Getting One

Hey look, here comes Orient with another super complicated release. If you’re not up to date, Orient (and their more upscale brand Orient Star) makes some pretty spectacular watches. But behind the great watch which are sold at a fantastic price, we have one of the most infuriating marketing departments the world has ever seen. They rarely announce watches, fail to mention that some models are location exclusive models and overall seem like they don’t want you to have a watch. Which leaves me trying to piece together a story from partial information. But whatever the status of these two watches, the RA-AP0102E and RA-AP0103L Bambinos in 38mm, one thing is certain — they look awesome.

On the outside, this keeps the same Bambino 38mm case. That means that you get a simple stainless steel watch with a width of 38.4mm, thickness of 12mm and very comfortable lug-to-lug of 44mm. There are no weird lug widths here either, it’s the very standard 20mm width. And like other Bambinos, on top is a domed mineral crystal, surrounded by a very simple and thin bezel. A lot of people have issues with mineral glass, which is not as strong as sapphire, and I tend to agree with them, but at this price point and for this watch, it could be forgivable. I would, however, argue that plexiglass might be a better option, as it’s easily polished if any scratches show up. And it would suit the retro look even better. 30 meters of water resistance is all you get.

But the two new watches are special for their dials. The RA-AP0102E comes with a deep forrest green base, while the RA-AP0103L gets a denim blue color. Both have a small minutes track on the periphery, a small seconds indicator at 6 o’clock, a date aperture at 3, dauphine-style hands and applier Roman numerals all around. On the green all the hardware is rose gold colored, while on the blue it’s silver.

Inside is the in-house Orient automatic calibre F6222 which beats at 21,600vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. Orient points out that the accuracy ranges between +25 seconds and -15 seconds per day. The watches can be had on brown or black leather strap with a crocodile imprint.

Now, the availability. From what I can gather, this watch should be available only in the UK and Japan. At least that’s what Orient says. But then, I found the same watch on a couple of other Orient website, so who knows, you might be able to find them somewhere else. The price is set at £288, which is converted to €345 today. You can find the blue one on the Orient UK website, while the green one is released through the TUS Watches retailer in the UK.

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Raymond Weil Introduces A Millesime Chronograph Limited Edition Inspired By Largo Winch Comic Book

Watch collaborations come from all walks of life. You’ll find automotive themed watches, watches made to help humanitarian causes, ones that have been inspired by movies or done in partnership with musicians. And while technically comic-book themed watches are not a rarity — Snoopy, a whole bunch of Marvel and DC characters as well as Manga themes have all shown up on watches — not a lot have features Belgian and French comics. Which, if you think of where the watch industry is heavily concentrated, is a bit strange. Well, Raymond Weil is fixing that with their new limited edition, a chronograph version of their award winning Millesime which features Largo Winch, a famous character from the eponymous comic created by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme.

Largo Winch has a cult audience and follows main character and general everyman Winch in his efforts to keep control over the Group W business empire headed by his recently murdered billionaire father. The overall arch of the 24 graphic novels follow deal with variations of someone trying to harm Largo's company or to take control of it from him, and he has to fight that someone to ensure the survival of his holdings, fighting off corrupt authority figures he couldn’t even imagine exist.

The watch comes in the Millesime Tri-Compax Chronograph format that Raymond Weil introduced a few months ago. This means that you get the same stainless steel case that measures 39.5mm wide, 12.9mm thick and with a 46mm lug-to-lug. Those are pretty great measurements to fit the vast majority of wrists. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal and out back is a bubble case back that features an illustration, drawn by Francq of Largo Winch standing on a bridge. Above his shoulder fly Swiss and Geneva flags.

The dial is a variation on the existing Tri-Compax Chronograph, but it now gets a white base with green details. But not just any green. The green used, Pantone 4214C, is the exact same green used on the dollar bill. The color shows up on the tri-copax sub-dials and as details on the tachymeter scale. The running seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock features the logo of the Group W corporation from the comic book in a slightly different shade of green.What remains the same is the sector-style dial, peripheral tracks, and central crosshairs, as well as the lumed obelisk-shaped hour and minute hands.

Inside is the RW5030 automatic chronograph, which is a rebranded Sellita SW510. This is a great cam-operated chronograph that has the same architecture of the Valjoux 7753. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watches come on a grey calfskin leather strap.

The new Raymond Weil Millesime Limited Edition Largo Winch is limited to 300 pieces and is priced at €3.895, a slight increase over the regular, non limited edition. See more on the Raymond Weil website.

3/

Tissot Brings Back The Stylist Line With Two Vintage-Inspired Tonneau-Shaped Budget-Friendly Watches

Back in the 60s, Tissot introduced a line called the Stylist that was all about making super affordable watches that had some style, as the name suggests. They made the watch for decades before phasing it out. It wasn’t until now that they brought the line back, with two references, but keeping with the principles of the original — simple to make, simple to run, cheap to own, while being stylish.

The stainless steel case of the new Stylist is a play on the original, with a tonneau shape, vertical brushing and a strong bevel on the side. The opening for the dial, covered by a flat sapphire crystal, is more of a square than a circle and the whole thing exudes 1970s inspiration. If you need more vintage inspiration, you’ll find it in the size — the watch is just 32mm wide and 7mm thick. But despite the small size, lack of screw down crown and caseback, you get 50 meters of water resistance which is decent for what is most certainly a dress watch.

There are two dials to choose from. First is the blue gradient dial which gets Roman numerals for the hours and silver colored super-thin baton hands, and the other gets a very vintage-inspired silver sunburst dial with yellow gold PVD baton indices and hands. There is no lume to be found on this dial and it completely makes sense.

To keep things simple and affordable, inside you’ll find the ETA Caliber F03 quartz movement. It’s a no frills thing with an end-of-life indicator and three to four years of battery life. The blue watch comes on a blue strap, while the silver gets a light brown strap, both of which have quick release springbars.

The Tissot Stylist is available now and priced at $275. I didn’t really have time to go through their entire catalogue, but I think this might be their cheapest watch on sale. So, if you’re in search of a very small, very vintage-inspired and very affordable dress watch, Tissot has your back. See more on their website.

4/

Brew Updates The Metric With Some Very 70s Inspired Colors

Windup fair in New York is coming up this weekend which saw a few United States-based brands put out a few new watches to show to their fans. Among them, Brew, which has a new approach to their runaway hit, the Metric. And the inspiration for this update can be instantly seen — it’s the sports watches of the 1970s, reflected in the chosen colors — gold, red and blue. Yeah, you know which watch we are all thinking of.

The familiar case of the Metric is also very 1970s, both in its shape and size — 36mm wide, 10.75mm thick and with a 41.5mm lug-to-lug. On top is a sapphire crystal and water resistance remains same at 50 meters. The stainless steel case and matching integrated bracelet get a brushed finish and polished details.

The dial is, of course all new. The base is a brushed, sunray finish gold plate on which you’ll find red and blue details. Around the perimeter is a seconds scale in red, with a blue segment between 25 and 35 seconds, which correspond with the exact time needed for the perfect espresso shot. The hour and minute hands are half painted blue, while the central chronograph seconds hand is all red.

Inside the watch is the very familiar Seiko made VK68 Meca-Quartz chronograph which uses a quartz movement for regular time telling, with a mechanical addition to operate the chronograph portion.

The new Brew Metric Star is available to order now with a retail price of $450. See more on the Brew website.

5/

Panerai’s New Luminor Quaranta Carbotech PAM01526 Is Tacticool In The Best Possible Way

Ah, my love-hate relationship with Panerai continues. Sure, they have had their share of controversies, whether it is the absurd pricing or straight-up lying about their movements, but I can’t help by adore the watch. Sure, If I were to get another Panerai, I would go second-hand, vintage and maybe even pre-Richemont, but this latest release from them is really tempting. This is the new Luminor Quaranta Carbotech PAM01526.

Being the Quaranta, it comes in a 40mm wide case. I’m really getting annoyed at brands for not giving us any other measurements except for the width. I would have loved to see the thickness on this one. But also, having Carbotech in the name means that its made out of that proprietary carbon composite material. Panerai claims that it’s 80% lighter than steel, 73% lighter than ceramic and 64% lighter than titanium, while being incredibly tough. The lightness should make the watch pretty easy to wear. And thankfully, no cuts in water resistance here — it’s rated at 300 meters.

Perfectly matching the matte black case is the matte olive green sandwich dial. Yeah, it’s playing pretty close to being tacticool — in fact it is tacticool — but I still very much like it. I especially like the fact that they didn’t go for a faxtina on the lume that’s showing through the top plate of the dial. Instead, the numerals are filled with stark white lume which really works. At 3 o’clock is a date window and at 9 is a running seconds sub-dial.

Inside is, perhaps, the most controversial part of the watch, the automatic P.900 movement. There’s nothing horribly wrong with this movement, it will tell you the time and do so for three days, but it is a movement based on an ancient ValFleurier movement. This is a five figure watch released in 2024 and a lot has been said for Panerai inexplicably removing hacking from the movement. And then bringing it back for some watches. So who knows if this one hacks or not.

The last controversy will be the price. The Panerai Luminor Quaranta Carbotech PAM01526 is available now at a price of $13,300, without tax. That’s almost double what the steel version costs. See more on the Panerai website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Longines Spirit Zulu Time Titanium

2/

Hands-On With The New Black And Multicolor Yema × Alain Silberstein Marine Limited Edition

3/

A review of the white-gold Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Gagà Laboratorio watches are just the right combination of fresh and familiar

The manner in which time is displayed on the dial of the Labormatic is unconventional. Rather than use hands, the movement has been adapted to use turning discs along with a minutes hand that looks more like a moving window on the Cinquanta version (and more like a traditional hand on the Bauhaus version). On the outer periphery of the dial is a window for the hours disc indicator, then a “window” or red point hander for the minutes, followed by a turning seconds disc which doubles as the brand logo.

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

• Four daughters in the royal family were kept drugged and imprisoned for almost two decades. A physician who tried to free them speaks out for the first time.

• Colin Cook lost his leg to a shark while surfing off Oahu. Sydney Corcoran was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Both were traumatized; both were struggling to return to normalcy. Then they found each other. Not just a viscerally moving story or a triumph of descriptive writing, this also happens to be a feel-good romance. A great way to remind yourself that bad things can happen to good people—and that those good people can still have beautiful things.

• This is an older one, but I missed it when it came out. There were so many opportunities for the accident not to happen—the collision between a Legacy 600 private jet and a Boeing 737 carrying 154 people. But on September 29, 2006, high above the Amazon, a long, thin thread of acts and omissions brought the two airplanes together. From the vantage point of the pilots, the Brazilian air-traffic controllers, and the Caiapó Indians, whose rain forest became a charnel house, the author reconstructs a fatal intersection between high-performance technology and human fallibility.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

So, the other day I showed you a video about the Yugoslav nuclear program and the YouTube algorithm served me a video you’ll want to watch. The entire country was covered in these incredible monuments to WWII soldiers which were an expression of avant-garde art in a communist regime. A lot of them are still around and I visit them from time to time. They truly are a sight to behold.

💵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