Orient Star Is A Skeleton At 1/5 Of The Price Of A Zenith, Bremont Releases Third Watch For The Williams F1 Team, Accutron Spaceview Gets First Major Update And The Vaer G5 Meridian Is A Flier GMT Watch Below The $1,000 Mark

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time where we try to be on time but we haven’t serviced our vintage watch so we’re sometimes off by a few minutes.

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In this issue:

• Orient Star Will Sell You A Skeleton Watch At 1/5 Of The Price Of A Zenith

• Saint Laurent Redesigns The Cult Girard-Perregaux Digital Quartz Watch

• Bremont Releases Their Third Limited Watch For The Williams F1 Team

• The Accutron Spaceview Gets First Major Update And Evolution

• The Vaer G5 Meridian Is A Flier GMT Watch Below The $1,000 Mark

• And… invite your friends to win a Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 27 seconds

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1/

Orient Star Will Sell You A Skeleton Watch At 1/5 Of The Price Of A Zenith

Just the other day I wrote about the Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton, a wonderful skeletonized watch. It’s modern, it shows off a legendary movement, but it will also set you back a bit over EUR 11,000, which is a lot of money, no matter what budget you are shopping in. What if there was an a more affordable option out there? Maybe it didn’t have the super high end finishing of the Zenith or a legendary movement, but it looked just as cool and cost less than a fifth of the Zenith? Well, say hello to the Orient Star Avant-Garde Skeleton.

Orient started out in the 50s and has been part of the Seiko Epson Corporation since 2009. Orient Star, however, is the higher-end of the brand, which in 2016 shocked the market with a skeletonised model. Orient Star was known for their classical watches, so this was a huge departure. They updated it once in 2022 and are now introducing two new Avant-Garde Skeleton models as part of its Sports Collection with an automatic movement and a 60-hour power reserve.

The two models differ in the case material - you can have them in stainless steel or black plated steel - but they share the case specs. 42.3mm wide and 12.4mm thick, with a water resistance of 100 meters and bezels with hexagonal screws. The steel model has a combination of brushed surfaces with Sallaz mirror finishings (comparable to Grand Seiko’s Zaratsu polishing), adding accents and emphasising the solid metallic feel of the watch and bracelet.

Composed of two layers, the upper and lower plates of the dial are distinguished by different colours and finishings. The upper plate holds the luminous indices that project over the movement, and the lower plate is designed to protect the upper plate from shocks and deformation. Like the earlier model, the dial features a power reserve indicator at noon, a small seconds counter at 6 o’clock and a view of the balance wheel with its silicon escapement. The hour and minute hands are wider, sportier, and treated with luminous material.

Powering the Orient Star Avant-Garde Skeleton is the automatic, in-house calibre F8F64. Decorated with Geneva stripes, the partially openworked base plate reveals the bright blue silicon escapement peeking out just to the left of the small seconds and it’s rated at +15/-5 seconds per day, with a 60-hour power reserve. The stainless steel model comes with a steel bracelet; the black-coated steel watch on a black Cordura Ballistic nylon strap.

The retail price is EUR 2,000. Looking at photos of the watch, I’m not sure it lives up to that price. I would love to handle one live. However, this looks close enough to the Zenith, which is EUR 11,000+.

2/

Saint Laurent Redesigns The Cult Girard-Perregaux Digital Quartz Watch, Gives It Black Ceramic And PVD Titanium

While Girard-Perregaux is most known for their higher end Swiss mechanical watches, at one time they were pioneers in the era of digital watch. Back in 1971, it made waves with the Caliber GP-350, a quartz movement that set the universal market standard for frequency. Following that was the Caliber 395 and that’s the movement that GP put in the Casquette, an unusual watch even at the time - it was a black geometric hunk on your wrist that displayed the time at the push of a button on a tiny screen on the front facing side of the watch.

The Casquete came in three materials, Makrolon (which was a black composite), stainless steel and gold plated. It was only made for two years - 1976 and 1978 - and during that time 8,200 pieces were made. The original is still a desired item among collectors, which GP recognized and did a recreation of the watch last year. While remaining fully retro, the reissue is powered by the vastly more efficient GP-03980 that displays hours, minutes, seconds, the day and the date, the month, the year, a chronograph, a second time zone, and a secret date.

Now, there’s a new version of the Casquete, one redesigned by Saint Laurent Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello for the Saint Laurent Rive Droite line. Vaccarello gives the watch a radical upgrade in materials, as the case is now made out of black ceramic and black PVD-treated grade 5 titanium. It’s sleek, it’s retro, chunky and dramatic, all the things Vaccarello is known for.

The watch is released under the Rive Droite imprint, a series of objects that are sold exclusively in two stores located in Paris and LA. This means that it will also be available exclusively at Saint Laurent Rive Droite stores in Paris and Los Angeles, as well as online via the official Saint Laurent Rive Droite store, in selected countries only. That, combined with the fact that this will be a limited edition of only 100 pieces, means you aren’t very likely to see one in the flesh. Which isn’t that much of a shame because I’m not sure it would be easy to justify the $6,700 price tag.

3/

Bremont Releases Their Third Limited Watch For The Williams F1 Team

Formula 1 racing is an incredibly expensive sport. It was, at least, until 2021 when the organization implemented a budget cap of about $135 million. It’s still expensive, yes, but before the cap teams were known to spend up to half a billion dollars per year to push as hard as possible to win championships. The money for this endeavour comes from Formula 1, the organization, but this is just a small amount distributed to every team. The rest has to be raised from sponsors, and raising $135 million from sponsors is not easy.

Because of the high costs of the sport, the sponsorships are equally as high. It is estimated that the cheapest sponsorship is $1 million per year, an ammount that doesn’t get you a lot - surely doesn’t get you a sticker on the car, and it’s rumoured that Rolex is paying up to $50 million to be the official timing partner of the organization. So, I was pretty shocked three years ago to see that Bremont, the independent British watchmaker, sponsored Williams, the legendary British racing team, to a tune high enough to get a prominent sticker on the car. I had no idea Bremont was doing that good. Good on them.

To mark this sponsorship, Bremont has already created two limited edition watches and is just now releasing the third. Since both companies are very British, it’s no surprise that they are doing so just a month before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It’s the Bremont WR-45, a limited-edition chronograph that is inspired by this year’s Williams Racing F1 car, the FW-45.

The watch has Bremont’s signature three-piece “Trip-Tick” construction, it’s made from stainless steel with a black DLC finish and measures 43mm in diameter by 16mm-thick, with 22mm lugs and an overall lug-to-lug profile of 50mm. Despite the fact that the crown and pushers that operate the chronograph don’t screw down, it has a 100 meter water resistance. Unlike previous Bremont Williams Racing watches, the dial fitted to the new WR-45 is black to match its case, and it has a tri-compax configuration and a date window within the 6 o’clock sub dial. The white register at 9 o’clock features a light blue hand and serves as a running seconds indicator for the time, while the other two sub-dials are fitted with white-finished hands. Additionally, the hours counter features a thin three-color ring in light blue, dark blue, and white surrounding its perimeter, and this serves as a subtle nod to the official colors of the Williams Racing F1 team.

Inside the watch is the brand’s Caliber BE-53AV automatic chronograph movement based on the proven ETA/Valjoux 7753. It has a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) while offering users a power reserve of approximately 56 hours, while the rotor has been skeletonized to look like the wheels of the Williams F1 car. The watch comes on a black two-piece alcantara strap.

This will be a limited edition of 244 pieces and every watch is accompanied with a genuine wheel nut taken from one of the Williams Racing cars. It’s priced at $6,595.

4/ 

The Accutron Spaceview Gets First Major Update With Spaceview Evolution, But Keeps The Very Cool Electrostatic Movement

Accutron is one of the most familiar names in watchmaking. This Bulova model participated in the space race and was, reportedly, narrowly pushed out by the Omega Speedmaster to be the official NASA watch that will be worn on the moon, but the Bulova Accutron remained a beloved watch by many astronauts and was used in space. That’s why it was a bit puzzling when Bulova in 2020 decided to spin of the Accutron into its own brand. But the puzzle was put aside when Accutron introduced the gorgeous Spaceview 2020 with an open-worked dial and inspired by the original 1960s Spaceview. Now Accutron is introducing two new models called Evolution that do exactly that - evolve the Spaceview.

Just like the 2020 model, the Spaceview Evolution watches are housed in a 43.5mm polished stainless steel case that is 15.9mm thick. Where it differs from the previous model is in the movement. Not the movement they use, but rather the orientation of the movement - the entire thing is shifter 30 degrees, moving the crown to 2 o’clock, giving the watch a completely new look.

Accutron currently offers two versions of the Spaceview Evolution timepiece. One with a smoke-gray open dial, darkened metal outer ring, silver-toned hands, and a matte-black alligator strap. The other also includes a smoke-gray open dial paired with a silver-toned outer ring, metallic blue hands, and a shiny blue alligator strap. Both straps are genuine American alligator and are finished with double-press deployant clasps.

Inside the Spaceview Evolution watches is Accutron’s proprietary electrostatic energy movement. Essentially, the movement is home to twin turbines that rotate at rapid speeds with the motion of your wrist. Those turbines are located between two electrodes, which serve to capture the electrostatic energy created by the turbines and send them to an accumulator. The stored energy in the accumulator then powers two motors: an electrostatic motor (a world’s first) that drives the gliding seconds hand and a step motor that drives the hour and minute hands. The duo of motors are synchronized via integrated circuits and provide an accuracy rating of +/- 5 seconds a month.

The movement also has a power-saving mode, which kicks into gear after five minutes of inactivity with the second hand automatically halting at 12 o’clock. Although the seconds hand stays in place, the watch will continue to keep time as the hour and minute hands continue to move. To stop the power-saving mode and reactivate the seconds hand, you simply have to swing your arm up and down for about five seconds.

The Accutron Spaceview Evolution watches are priced at $3,950 and are available immediately for purchase.

5/

The New Vaer G5 Meridian Is A Flier GMT Watch Well Below The $1,000 Mark

At the moment, my favorite GMT movement is a highly modified Miyota 9015 which the microbrand Arken calls the ARK-9015DT and uses in their Alterum. It’s a crazy movement that works unlike any other GMT movment. Rotating the hands clockwise moves the entire handset, including the GMT hand, as well as both AM/PM indicator discs. However, moving the handset in the opposite direction will lock the GMT hand and its corresponding AM/PM indicator (left of the dial) allowing you to set the time difference between your local and home times. This means you can set the minutes to any time and just rotate the hour hand.

Other than that movement and, obviously, in house ones, there seems to be a consensus that it’s hard to beat the recently introduced Miyota Cal. 9075 movement which is an affordable option for those who want a “flier” or “true” GMT, which allows for an independently adjustable local 12-hour hand. And this exactly has been a request from millions of collectors and watch enthusiasts. The movement also allows microbrands like the LA based Vaer to slap these movements into watches that look great and are really affordable.

Vaer’s most recent watch is the G5 Meridian GMT and it’s an intresting proposition. At first glance, the G5 looks identical to their G7. That could be because it comes in a 39mm stainless case without a crown guard and 200 meter water resistance or the fact that they come in pretty much the same four colors - two models with black dials and either red/blue or black/blue bezels, along with an all-black PVD variant, plus a third stainless steel option that is fitted with both a green dial and a green bezel. However, while Vaer’s G7 GMT is a Swiss-made timepiece powered by the Sellita SW330-2 and priced just above the thousand-dollar mark, the Vaer G5 Meridian GMT is an American-assembled version that runs on the Japanese Miyota 9075.

The watch comes on two different straps or bracelets that connect to the 20mm lugs with integrated quick-release springbars. Since the G5 GMT was designed to be used in the water, a black FKM rubber tropic strap is the standard included configuration, as it is the most water-friendly option available for the model. For the secondary strap/bracelet option, buyers have the option of either a simple NATO or a nylon single pass strap — or opting for one of the premium leather straps or stainless steel bracelets in Oyster and Jubillee designs.

The official price of the Vaer G5 Meridian GMT is $799 or $849 if you opt for one of the premium strap/bracelet options. That’s a fantastic price that gives you more functionality for a traveler.

🫳On hand

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Review Of The ProTek Series 1010, The Official Watch Of The United States Marine Corps

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Hands-on With The The Delma Shell Star Titanium That Sheds Both Size And Weight

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In-Depth Reveiw of The Horage Lensman 2 Exposure — A Watch With A Photographic Cheat Sheet

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The RZE Aspirare launches the brand into yet unexplored waters

Up until now, RZE have been quite conscious of their case sizes pleasing the majority of modern collectors who prefer conservative diameters. Their largest watch was the now-discontinued RZE Valour Chronograph at 42mm, with the sold-out Fortitude coming in second at 41mm. The new RZE Aspirare is bullish with its 44mm diameter, and untamed with a 53mm lug-to-lug that will absolutely demand some bravery to wear if you don’t have large wrists. Although the RZE philosophy has catered to the adventurous, the Aspirare is designed to be their most rugged project yet.

⏲️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

• This article has a witty title - The Enshittification of TikTok. But it’s not really about TikTok. It’s about how internet platforms shoot up in popularity and then inevitably fail. This is an article about how exactly this platform death happens.

• Even if you don’t listen to Ed Sheeran (I don’t), if you are reading this newsletter you know who he is, seeing as he has one of the best collections of watches in the world. I also find him interesting because of his recent court appearances where it seems that a couple of his songs will redefine copyright law and how we are able to resample and reuse other works of art.

• Mass hysteria events are fascinating. And many people believe it’s behind this case of 227 middle school students fainting last fall.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Even if you think this might not be a documentary for you, I would bet it is. The Verge makes amazing docs, and this one is timely as there’s a huge discussion on whether the newly announced Apple Vision Pro will be a flop or change the way we use computers. While pretty much everyone says it will be a flop, I tell people they forget this is Apple - the number of flops they had could be counted on the fingers of one hand. And just as I’m talking with people like this, the Verge comes out with this, the fate of the Lisa. It’s exceptionally well done.

💵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: 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

• FOR SALE: Longines Heritage Skin Diver, box and papers. €1400. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch

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