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  • Orient Updates Bambino 38 With New Dials; Frederique Constant's Surprising Quartz Moonphase; Panerai Continues Controversial Navy SEALs Collab; Xeric Goes To The Moon; And A Beautiful Montblanc

Orient Updates Bambino 38 With New Dials; Frederique Constant's Surprising Quartz Moonphase; Panerai Continues Controversial Navy SEALs Collab; Xeric Goes To The Moon; And A Beautiful Montblanc

Are the Panerai watches stolen valour or just harmless cosplaying? You decide

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. A pretty wild collection of watches today. I really do think that the Bambino is a candidate for an all time great. At the same time, I’m conflicted with the Frederique Constant. Would it have been better at four times the price, but with a mechanical movement?

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In this issue:

  • Orient Updates Their Candidate For The Best Watch In The World, The Bambino 38, With Three New Dials

  • Frederique Constant Releases Surprising Quartz, Coin-Inspired, Classics Moneta Moonphase Collection

  • Panerai Continues Collaboration With Navy SEALs With Four New Steel And Carbotech Models

  • Xeric Releases Limited Edition Collection Dedicated To The Artemis Program And Our Return To The Moon

  • Montblanc Tributes Greatest Italian Alpinist Reinhold Messner With 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 12 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Never ever will the watch world unite to pick one perfect watch. We will always have to account for personal taste, ideas on what functions a watch should have or in which size it should come. And yet, if we were forced to pick the best watch in the world, and every brand was allowed to enter just one model into the picking, Orient, with their Bambino 38, would be pretty damn close to winning the title. For a relatively low price, Orient will sell you an extremely classy watch powered by a rather decent movement. And while the 40.5mm size of the launch models disqualified it from the category, but soon Orient introduced the 38mm version which hit the nail on the head. Now, they are updating that model with three new colors which come with the bracelet.

The stainless steel case measures 38mm across and 12.5mm thick, almost fully round with relatively short lugs. On top is a super-thin unmarked and fixed bezel that surrounds a mineral glass crystal. 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. This is a fairly dressy watch, so don’t expect a lot of water resistance — 30 meters will be just enough to easily wash your hands.

As for the dials, they are just as elegant as the outside. They are slightly domed, with a simple seconds track and applied and polished markers, as well as polished silver Dauphine shaped hands. New for this model are three fresh colors, all very subtle and keeping in line with the dressy intention of the model. The new colors are grass green, light blue and copper, and I can’t really decide which one I like the most.

Remember when I said that the Orient gets a decent movement? It’s the in-house automatic calibre F6724. It’s not particularly beautiful to look at, but who cares, and with its stats it sits close to competitors. It hacks, has a 40 hour power reserve, and accuracy is rated at +25/-15 seconds per day. The watches come on a new steel bracelet, an upgrade from the color matched bracelets of the regular model, closed with a push button trifold deployant buckle. This is an interesting sporty take on an otherwise elegant watch.

The three new Orient Bambino 38 watches are available now as part of the regular collection. Price is a very attractive €330. See more on the Orient website.

2/

Despite being owned by Citizen, Frederique Constant almost seems to operate like an indie watch brand. They make a plethora of watches, many that pass under the radar, but also a few dozen that are truly spectacular, not just as watches but also for their incredible value for money. They also make a lot of their movements in house, which is rare for a mid-sized brand. So, when they come out with a new moonphase watch, you would expect that this epitome of a mechanical movement would also be an in house automatic. Perhaps a manual wind. Well, here’s a twist for you. The new Frederique Constant Classics Moneta Moonphase collection, one that has a pretty spectacular coin-edge inner bezel, is equipped with a quartz movement with a moonphase complication. Who saw that coming…

The Moneta collection is new for Frederique Constant and the stainless steel case measures 37mm wide, just 7.65mm thick (thank you, quartz) and has a compact 42mm lug-to-lug. It’s a fully round case with super short lugs, which contributes to the short lenght. It’s a simple thing with a tiny onion-style crown, and a fully polished finish, just as you would expect from a dress watch. On top is a very thin fixed bezel that holds down the sapphire crystal, but the really interesting bezel is underneath. Oh, and water resistance is decent at 50 meters.

The dial is a bit smaller than the diameter of the watch, thanks to a very pronounced silver internal bezel that has a fine coined edge, making it actually look like a flattened coin. Hence, the name. Moneta means coin in several languages, and it looks fantastic, especially in combination with one of three available dials. The first is a blue dial with a sunray finish, topped with applied steel indices, steel dauphine hands and a gold FC logo and moonphase apperture rim. The second is a black sunray dial, also with the combination of silver and gold hardware. And last, there’s the silver sunray dial. This version gets steel hands and indices and what is gold on the other two is black on this one.

Inside is a movement they call the FC206 caliber, based on the Ronda 706 quartz that is equipped with a moonphase indicator. It has a 60 month battery life, but otherwise isn’t very special when it comes to quartz movements. The watches come on blue, black or brown calf leather straps with embossed crocodile patterns, depending on the dial you choose.

The new Classics Moneta Moonphase is available now and priced… interestingly. You can have it for €1,095. That seems to be a steal for such a nice case and dial. But can you get over paying more than a grand for a basic quartz movement? I can imagine situations where this would happen. Also, take into account that their in-house mechanically powered moonphase date is priced at about €3,900, almost four times the price. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

3/

The cult Italian watch brand Panerai has a very strong military link. They made watches for the Royal Italian Navy, as well as the Italian Marina Militare and the Egyptian Navy. And since 2022 they have been making the Navy SEALs watch capsule collection in collaboration with, yeah, the Navy SEALs. There are a couple of issues with these watches. First, they weren’t made for the SEAL military units, but rather just carrying their logo. Second, the community has heavily criticised these watches as pieces that are on the verge of stolen valour and intended for Rambo-wannabe cosplayers. But the fact is, the SEAL Panerai’s have proven to be hugely successful. So, as long as they continue to sell out, Panerai will continue to make them. Now, they put out four new models: the Submersible QuarantaQuattro Navy SEALs PAM01518, the Submersible QuarantaQuattro GMT Navy SEALs Carbotech PAM01513, the Submersible Navy SEALs Titanio PAM01521 and the Submersible Chrono Navy SEALs Titanio PAM01521.

All four models share a couple of characteristic, like the color schemes. They all have the same grey gradient dials, lighter in the center and very dark on the edges. They all have unidirectional rotating bezels with a beige-lumed pearl at 12 o’clock. All of the watches, most controversially as the SEALs are very protective of their insignia, have an engraving of the SEAL Trident on the caseback. Also, there’s the shared target-style small seconds at 9 o’clock, also in beige. All of the watches come with two straps, a black rubber and an AOR-1 camouflage-patterned textile strap with a rubber lining.

Now, for the four models. The simplest is the Submersible QuarantaQuattro Navy SEALs PAM01518, which comes in a 44mm wide brushed stainless steel case. It’s a time-only watch with 300 meters of water resistance and equipped with the equally controversial Caliber P.900 that has a 72 hour power reserve. Next up is the Submersible QuarantaQuattro GMT Navy SEALs Carbotech PAM01513 which comes in a Carbotech case that’s water resistant to 500 meters. Inside is the Caliber P.900/GMT automatic movement and on the dial you get a date and a GMT hand.

Moving up, we have the Submersible Navy SEALs Titanio PAM01521, which comes in an absolutely massive 47mm wide case that’s made out of brushed titanium and with a Carbotech bezel on top. Water resistance is still good at 300 meters, and inside is the Caliber P.9010 which has the time and date. At the top of the line is the Submersible Chrono Navy SEALs Titanio PAM01521. Made out of black DLC coated titanium, the case measures 47mm wide and has a matte black ceramic bezel and ceramic pushers on the left side of the case. The two sub-dials are a running seconds on the left and a chronograph hours on the right. Powering the watch is the Caliber P.9100/R flyback vertical clutch chronograph with a 72 hour power reserve. The movement is used in Panerai’s regatta chronographs, but here it uses the countdown to the race start to indicate “time to target”, if you decide to wear your $35k 47mm Panerai on a military mission.

The PAM01518, PAM01513, and PAM01669 will be available from 24 September 2024 whereas the PAM01521, limited to 80 pieces, goes on sale in October. All four are exclusive to Panerai boutiques. Prices start at $10,200 for the PAM01518, going up to $13,700 for the PAM01669 and $19,700 for the PAM01513, topping out at $34,200 for the limited PAM01521. See more on the Panerai website.

4/

I’m genuinely disappointed at myself for not writing about Xeric more often. They’ve been on my radar for a while, as they cover two things I very much like — weird watches and space. You might have seen a Xeric watch before and noticed it, as they very often come up with new and unusual ways of displaying the time. And for great prices too. Creating futuristic watches made it a no brainer that they should spin off a collection of NASA branded watches. The latest in that collection are the exact opposite of futuristic watches — classical chronographs that are dedicated to the Artemis program which aims to explore the Moon and send people back to our sattelite.

The watches all come in a brushed stainless steel watch that measures 40mm wide, 12.6mm thick and with a comfortable 46mm lug-to-lug. Five come in an untreated steel case, one has a black coating and one has a very cool grey coating. There are interesting details all over this case, starting with the anodised aluminium pushers for the chronograph which match and contrast the dials. The coolest seem to be the red and blue anodised pushers, which look very much like the iconic red and blue anodised details of NASA space suits. On the back is a caseback that has a 3D image of the Orion space capsule. But on top is the cooles thing. The sapphire crystal is surrounded by a glass-topped bezel, which is absolutely the focal point of the collection. The inserts come in seven different colors, from a plain black to some pretty wild two-tone combinations and a tachymeter scale. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There are also seven different dial colors, so way to many to list here, but they all have the same finely textured sunray brushing, recessed chronograph subdials and bold lumed hands. The classic silver dial is wonderful, but the light orange and fiery orange dials are pretty wild. Trust me, go to the website and look at the entire lineup.

Inside is the very familiar Seiko VK63 MecaQuartz movement. This, of course, means that you get the reliability and practicality of a quartz movement to tell the time and the smooth engagement and sweep of a mechanical chronograph movement. The watches come on a brushed stainless steel bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp.

The Artemis Chrono collection is available for pre-order now, at a price of $425. However, during the pre-order window Xeric says you can knock $120 of the price. The only thing I can’t figure out is whether the $425 is with or without that discount. Either way, I like the watches. See more on the Xeric website.

5/

About a week ago, Reinhold Messner, one of the greatest high-altitude mountaineers to ever live, celebrated his 80th birthday. To honor the first person to summit all the 14 eight-thousand-meter peaks and the first person to climb Everest without suplemental oxygen, Montblanc released limited edition of the 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen with a pretty great looking red dial inspired by Antarctica’s red glaciers.

As a nod to Messner’s oxygen-less climb, Montblanc decided to use the 1858 Geosphere with the Zero Oxygen case. The Zero Oxygen removes all oxygen from the case to avoid the risk of fogging and oxidation, and the oils used to lubricate the movement are especially suited to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations up to -50C. Perfect for Everest. The case measures 44mm wide and a significant 17.1mm thick, but it’s made out of titanium to keep weight down. On top is a bi-directional fluted bezel with a black ceramic insert. On the caseback is a laser-engraved colour image of K2, which is actually a recreation of a photograph taken by Messner in 1979. Water resistance is 100 meters.

I’ve always loved these Geosphere dials, and this red one is no different. In fact, it’s spectacular. It’s not just red, it has a textured created with a gratté boisé technique. This means that the brass dial has been scratched with a wooden tool to create fine lines that resemble the texture of cracked ice. It has the cool world time complication that has two globes representing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, rotating in opposite directions, with time indicated with 24 hour scales in red and white. The sub-dials are a 30-minute elapsed time at 3 and a 12-hour totaliser at 9 o’clock, with the 3 o’clock onw holding a date window. The empty space at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o’clock are filled in with bold Arabic numerals. The hands are wonderfully quirky and cathedral-style.

Inside is the Montblanc calibre 29.27 automatic chronograph. The base of the movement is the rather ordinary Sellita SW500, onto which Montblanc adds an in-house module for the world time complication. The movement beats at 4Hz, but power reserve drops to 46 hours, as I’m sure those two rotating globes take up a lot of energy.

The new Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen Red Dial is limited to 290 pieces, referencing the 29,031 feet height of Everest, and priced at €9,800. See more on the Montblanc website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Ask any Tudor owner about their Black Bay, and the conversation will inevitably acknowledge the somewhat monotonous design while simultaneously singing its praises for being an attractive and versatile all-rounder. This recipe for tamed success isn’t exclusive to Tudor, and I would argue that Belhamel cracked the same code with the Contra A39. Rather than focusing on how recognizable it will be from across the room, it focuses on how it looks (and feels) on wrist—a surprisingly unique and refreshing approach.

⏲️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

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Heyo, another day, another Watches of Espionage video. These are cool.

💵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.

  • 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

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