Orient Celebrates With A Trio Of Blue Mako Sports Watches; Awake's Jurassic Park Themed Sơn Mài Collection; Jules Bianchi's Perfect Summer Aquastrike; Salmon Duobox With Triple Calendar Moonphase

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. A short but sweet one today. Those Awake watches are just spectacular!

Oh, and do check out part one of a three part series on Indian watchmaking. I really enjoyed writing it, learned a lot, and can’t wait to put out more of these long form series.

In this issue:

• Orient Continues 75th Anniversary Celebration With A Trio Of Blue Mako Sports Watches

• Awake Takes Inspiration From Jurassic Park For New Sơn Mài Collection

• Jules Bianchi Releases The Aquastrike Collection, The Perfect Summer Diver

• Brelum Adds Salmon Dial To Duobox Triple Calendar Moonphase And Gives A Choice Of Case Materials

👂What’s new

1/

Orient Continues 75th Anniversary Celebration With A Trio Of Blue Mako Sports Watches

Over the past year or so, I’ve written about Orient and Orient Star watches at least a dozen times. And almost without an exception, it’s all been their dressier or field watches, with, I believe, zero sports watches. Which is a shame, because the Orient Mako is one of the better sports watches you can get for the money. And now, as Orient is celebrating 75 years of the company, they are introducing a trio of Mako watches, each with its own complication, but all of them sharing the same great looking blue dial with a sunray texture that’s been stamped into the dial and old-school logo.

Starting off with what will likely be the most popular of the three watches, it’s the Ref. RA-AC0Q12L which comes in a 39.9mm wide and 12.8mm thick stainless steel case. It features a metal bezel with a black 60 minute scale, the stamped blue logo and a time-and-date configuration. Water resistance is 200 meters. Inside, you’ll find the Calibre F6722 automatic that beats at 3Hz and has a 40 hour power reserve. The watch is limited to 6,000 pieces and priced at €400. See it here.

Stepping up in size and complication, we have the Ref. RA-AA0823L which comes in steel case that measures 41.8mm wide and the same 12.8mm thick. On top is a fully indexed aluminum bezel in a dark blue, that contrasts the light blue on the dial. In terms of complications, this one adds a day indicator to the date. Inside is the Calibre F6922 with the same 3Hz beat rate and 40 hour power reserve. It’s also limited to 6,000 pieces and it’s priced at €430. See it here.

Last, we have the RA-TX0210L, on which we don’t have a lot of info, in perfect Orient fashion. You see, Orient and Orient Star are world champions at not telling their customers details on the watches, where they can be purchased and for how much. This watch measures 42.8mm wide and is powered by a solar quartz movement, with a chronograph function and a date aperture at 4:30. It also has 200 meters of water resistance and is limited to 1,000 pieces. As for the price, I’m not sure… I believe it should be somewhere in the €350 range. Maybe. See more of the watch on the Orient website.

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Awake Takes Inspiration From Jurassic Park For New Sơn Mài Collection

The French brand Awake made a series of very interesting-space watches over the years. While they were great looking things, none of them were regular additions to the brand’s lineup. It wasn’t until last year that Awake introduced its first permanent collection, the Sơn Mài collection of time-only watches that used the ancient Vietnamese art of sanded lacquer to produce some pretty beautiful dials. For their latest release, another limited one, the Awake team takes inspiration from the unlikeliest of sources — Jurassic Park. The duo of Jurassic Watches transports us back to the 1990s blockbuster with ease and kicks of a new series for Awake, “A Tribute to the Seventh Art,” which celebrates iconic movies that “have enchanted our youth and fueled our imagination”.

The case remains familiar from the Sơn Mài collection. That means you get a polished and brushed stainless steel case that measures 39mm wide, 11.8mm thick with the crystal and with a 45.6mm lug-to-lug. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom, with a special engraving out back that has a jungle motif and two quotes — “Spare No Expense” and “Life Finds a Way”, depending on the version you get. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Speaking of versions, you can choose either the T-Rex or the Raptors. Both versions are lacquered with the Vietnamese Sơn Mài technique. Both have applied indices and hands coated in Super-LumiNova. But where they vary is in the color. The Raptors gets a deep green dial with three claw marks above 6 o’clock, an homage to the kitchen scene from the movie. The T-Rex, on the other hand, has a fiery orange dial with two claw marks. Both of them look spectacular in pictures, but must be even more impressive live.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement, an alternative to the ubiquitous but increasingly hard to source ETA 2824, and the Sellita SW200. However, it has a much better power reserve than those two at 68 hours, and the same beat rate of 4Hz. The watches come on incredibly cool leather straps made from scaled salmon skin and color matched to the respective dials.

The new Awake Jurassic Watches can be ordered now and are limited to 50 pieces of each. Price is set at €2,075 without taxes. See more on the Awake website.

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Jules Bianchi Releases The Aquastrike Collection, The Perfect Summer Diver

Jacques Bianchi might not be a household name, but people have been slowly falling in love with them. The company was started in Marseille back in the 1980s and launched with their JB200, which was a quartz dive watch at one time issued to combat divers of the French Navy. The brand struggled and went under, only to be revived recently. In 2021 the brand launched a Kickstarter campaign for the reissue JB200, a classic looking diver that raised almost €800,000. Since then they have put out a couple of very cool octopus-dialed watches, as well as more traditional dive watches. Now, they’re taking the JB200 format and giving it a very summery look. This is the new Aquastrike collection.

The watch comes in a case that you’ll find in pretty much every Jacques Bianchi release — a stainless steel chunky thing that measures 42mm wide, 13.3mm thick and has a 47mm lug-to-lug. JB has become somewhat notorious for their use of destro configurations where they place the crown and guards on the left side. Then they moved to offering customers an option to choose which side you put the crown on. The Aquastrike, however, gets a more traditional crown on the right side. On top is a flat sapphire crystal and 60-click unidirectional bezel with a light-grey aluminium insert that has a lumed 60 minute scale that glows blue. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The dial is the main attraction. They come in a choice of flat colors — Cerulean Blue, Orpiment Yellow, Coral Orange and Pure Green. They are all intense and bright, just like you would expect to wear during the summer. You get oversized markers made up of circles, rectangles and a triangle, all glowing blue at night. The markers are framed in black, the same color as the hands which have a pencil shape for the hour and an arrow tip for the minutes.

Inside is the Soprod P024 automatic movement. This is another clone of the ETA 2824, which means that you get a beat rate of 28,800vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watches come on jubilee-style metal bracelets and you get an additional Tropic-style rubber strap color matched to the dial.

The new Aquastrike collection is on sale now and Jacques Bianchi says the watches are limited. I just can’t seem to find to how many they are limited. Price is set at a very reasonable €825. See more on the Jacques Bianchi website.

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Brelum Adds Salmon Dial To Duobox Triple Calendar Moonphase And Gives A Choice Of Case Materials

Despite looking like they dropped right out of the 1960s, Brellum is actually a fairly new company, only about eight years old. So its founder, Sébastien Muller, is still filling out the lineup. While the Duobox chronograph recently got a number of new dials and a smaller case, it’s now time to update the very cool Duobox Triple Calendar Moonphase. While last year’s release of this special watch came in an all silver case and dial, Brellum is now releasing a salmon-dialed version, with a surprising choice of case materials.

The case of the Duobox is interesting on its own, with box-style crystals on top and bottom, which give the watch the substantial 15.9mm thickness. That sounds huge, but in real life it wears thinner, thanks to the fact that a lot of that thickness is crystal. Without the crystals, the thickness is 11.7mm. But Brellum makes the case even more interesting by giving you a choice of case materials — you can get either stainless steel that weighs 90 grams or a titanium case with a steel bezel that weighs 72 grams. Both cases have brushed and polished finishes and measure 41.8mm wide. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The salmon dial has a subtle sunburst finish, interrupted by a number of sub-dials. At 12 you’ll find the 30-minute chronograph counter which also has apertures for the day and month. At 6 o’clock is the 12-hour counter with a moon phase display. And at 9 o’clock you’ll find the running seconds that have the day-night indicator. Around the edge you’ll find the date track and minutes/seconds scale. The Roman numeral hour markers are applied and steel colored, while the hour and minute hands are diamond cut and treated with lume. The central chronograph hand and day-night pointer are blued for extra contrast.

Inside, you’ll find the Brellum Calibre BR-751, based on the Valjoux 7751, a full-calendar evolution of the classic 7750. It features a Glucydur balance, Anachron hairspring and beats at 4Hz, with a 46 hour power reserve. The movement is also COSC certified. Finishing touches include perlage, Geneva stripes, heat-blued screws, and Brellum’s signature 4N gold-coated rotor. The watch comes on a handmade black leather strap and comes with a stainless steel or titanium deployant clasp.

The new Duobox Triple Calendar Moonphase LE Chronometer is limited to 33 pieces and priced at CHF 3,890 in titanium and CHF 3,690 in steel. Those seem like great prices. See more on the Brellum website.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Watchmakers’ Raj — The Unknown History Of Watches In India

I’ve teamed up with the very fine folks over at Bangalore Watch Company to bring you a three-part series on Indian watchmaking, from the British occupation and the invention of the JLC Reverso, through homebrew mass production, the rise of the Mumbai special, all the way to the modern rise of Indian brands.

Today, I’m publishing part one, on the origins of Indian watchmaking and I’ve learned a lot writing it. Read it here.

⏲️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

• On September 4, 1990, the discovery of a girl hanging from a pine tree rocked the small Spanish Mediterranean town of Portbou. She was barefoot and wearing blue dungarees, and the look on her face was peaceful, almost angelic. “It looked very much like a suicide,” writes Giles Tremlett, “but there were many questions.” How did she climb the tree and physically do it? Who was she? “She carried no ID, no passport, no money, no wallet, no train ticket. Her pockets were empty. It was as though her identity had been deliberately erased.” Tremlett recounts this decades-long mystery for The Guardian, drawing details from all the people, including the girl’s sister, obsessed with finding answers.

• With just a few hundred people, the town of Galisteo is probably better known to art fans and film location scouts than it is to most New Mexicans. But that hasn’t stopped 88-year-old force of nature Lucy Lippard from publishing the weekly local paper El Puente de Galisteo for almost three decades. For CJR, Lucy Schiller visits Lippard to find out more about the long-running, nearly single-handed labor of love.

• Frank Vera III served in the Air Force. Frank Vera III has health problems. Frank Vera III claims that those health problems trace directly from his time at George Air Force Base, that the U.S. military refuses to take responsibility for any of it, and that the tribe of similarly afflicted veterans he has gathered constitutes proof. Maddy Crowell doesn’t know what to think. The ensuing feature is part investigation, part profile, and part a tour of the demoralizing quagmire that is weaponized bureaucracy. The end result is eminently unsatisfying—which is exactly the point.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I am deeply impressed with the stuff people at Goodwood will do with their priceless cars.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk