Oris Continues Reef Protection With Aquis Great Barrier Reef LE IV; Norqain Has Two New Glaciers; Monta Releases Noble GMT; Wimbledon-Themed MDM Rallymaster III; Louis Moinet's Metoerite Moonphase

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. We’ve officially entered summer, as releases are getting a bit sparse. Don’t be surprised if I have to skip a day because there just aren’t any new watches. I barely got this lot together. Oh, and as I’m test driving out the new Patreon setup, all the articles are free to read, so you can get early access to the review of the Sternglas Hamburg Chrono Regatta.

In this issue:

• Oris Continues Reef Protection Effort With The New Aquis Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition IV

• Norqain Takes Inspiration From High-Altitutde Glaciers For Their Neverest GMT and Glacier 40mm

• Monta Releases New Noble Voyager, Adding A GMT To The Popular Collection

• Maurice de Mauriac Bring Back Tennis Themed Rallymaster III, This One Inspired By Wimbledon

• Louis Moinet Introduces The Black Moon, A Central Moon Phase With Moon Meteorite Disks

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 11 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Oris Continues Reef Protection Effort With The New Aquis Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition IV

This is not the first Oris diver that’s dedicated to the protection of the Great Barrier Reef, as you might have guessed from the IV in the name. The IV would make ti the fourth, and I think this one might be my favorite. Oris has been dedicated to the nature preservation for years now, from using less packing material to recycling fishing nets. This watch, the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition IV is part of their support of the Australian non-profit Reef Restoration Foundation which helps boost coral-tree-planting efforts.

On the outside, nothing much has changed. You still get the same chunky case that the Aquis Date uses, which means it measures 43.5mm wide, 13.1mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of just under 50mm. Chunky, like I said. The case is made out of stainless steel and has a unidirectional rotating bezel with a grey tungsten insert with a 60 minute scale. That surrounds a double domed sapphire crystal. This limited edition gets a case back engraved with an image of coral and a starfish. Water resistance is 300 meters.

The dial is the truly special part of this limited editions. It features an incredible vertical gradient that goes from light turquoise on the top to a deep blue on the bottom, mimicking the sun fading into the abyss of the ocean. Like other Aquis models, you get applied, shield-shaped, and faceted hour indexes, and the hour and minute hands are Alpha-shaped. All of these are filled with lume. There’s a date window at the 6 o’clock position but it’s so well color matched you’ll hardly notice it.

Inside is the Oris in-house Calibre 400 automatic movement. Special not just for being made in house and featuring magnetic protection, but also a 5 day power reserve. The movement is not COSC certified, but Oris says it meets the criteria with an accuracy of –3/+5 seconds per day. The watch comes on a three-link bracelet with a quick adjustment systems.

The new Oris Aquis Barrier Reef Limited Edition IV is limited to 2,000 pieces and priced at CHF 3,900. Proceeds of each purchase go to the Reef Restoration Foundation, but Oris doesn’t specify which percentage. See more on the Oris website.

2/

Norqain Takes Inspiration From High-Altitutde Glaciers For Their Neverest GMT and Glacier 40mm

I have surely not been quiet about my feelings towards Norqain watches. I totally understand what they are going for, how they are getting there and what niche they are filling. But they are simply not for me. To be fair, I could be very wrong and I won’t know until I try one on. But in the meantime, Norqain is back with some new releases in their Neverest collection, a pretty nice looking time-only Glacier blue and a Glacier black GMT.

Both watches come in the same Neverest case which have some significant difference between the two models. They both measure 40mm wide, have chunky crown guards and a screw down crown. They also shade the same knurled unidirectional bezel which looks pretty nifty, as well as the signature Norqain plaque screwed into the left side of the case. The Glacier Blue has a 12.55mm thick case with no treatment on the case and inside the bezel is a dark blue ceramic insert has silver numerals. The Glacier Blue, on the other hand, has a much thicker case to accommodate the GMT movement and measures 14.94mm thick. It also has a black DLC coating, as well as a black ceramic insert on the bezel and rose numerals. Both watches are water resistant to 100 meters.

The two models share a lot of similarities on the dial, despite having very different functionalities. They both have a crackled texture to mimic the look of a glacier. Here, they represent the Khumbu Icefall located at the top of the highest glacier on Earth on the Nepali side of Mount Everest. The Glacier blue has diamond-cut and faceted dark blue indices which are filled with Super-LumiNova, just like the hands. The seconds hand is arrow tipped and outlined in red.

The Glacier black has a two-tone black and white internal flange with a 24-hour scale, while the colorway on the dial is mostly black and gold. The applied indices and hour and minute hands are plated in red gold. The triangular tip of the central seconds hand is smaller than the red triangular-tipped hand for the GMT. There’s also a date window at 3 o’clock.

Inside both are Kenissi movements that are COSC chronometer-certified. The three-hander gets the NN20/1 automatic, while the GMT is powered by the NN20/2 with a travel style of adjusting the local hour hand independently. Both have a 70 hour power reserve and a customised rotor with the Norqain logo. Both watches can be had on a matching stainless steel bracelet or a rubber strap.

The Neverest Glacier Ice Blue is limited to 300 pieces, while the black is a regular addition to the Norqain catalogue. The three hander is priced at CHF 3,680 on the bracelet and CHF 3,350 on the strap, while the GMT is priced at CHF 4,790 on the bracelet and CHF 4,190 on the strap. Additionally, 10% of all proceeds from these two models will go to support the Butterfly Help Project which provides schooling for the children of Nepalese Sherpas who have lost their lives in the Himalayas. See more on the Norqain website.

3/

Monta Releases New Noble Voyager, Adding A GMT To The Popular Collection

I don’t write about Monta a lot. Which is a shame, because I like a lot of their watches. But there’s a simple reason why I don’t feature them all that often, and that’s mostly because the folks at Monta keep their head down and just keep cranking out solid watches. Diver, field, slightly dressy, GMT, they do it all, and they do it well. Now, they’re adding a new GMT to the lineup, this time in the Noble line, which is their simple sports watch in the vein of the best of them from the 60s. This is the new Noble Voyager.

The Voyager uses, to no surprise, the Noble case. But like we saw in the example of the Norqain duo, they had to beef it up a bit to fit a GMT movement inside. But unlike Norqain, which just slapped on a whole 2.5mm to its thickness, Noble increases this measurement by just a milimeter. The case is 38.5mm wide, 10.7mm thick and has a 47mm lug-to.lug measurement. And just like all other Monta watches, there’s a lot of attention paid to the details here, with a nicely polished bezel and brushed case. I assume the execution is top notch, as all Monta watches are.

Monta chose a very interesting approach to integrating the GMT function. They didn’t go for the 24 hour scale on the bezel, or an internal flange. Instead, they hid the numerals between the local hour applied indexes. It’s an interesting look I like more and more as I look at it. Both dials have a slight texture to them and a dégradé colorway in either green or blue that fades to black on the edges. The 24 hour time is indicated with a skeletonized hand that’s a copy of the local hour hand, which is something keen eyes will recognise from a much more expensive watch. There’s also a date window at 6 o’clock.

Inside is a movement Monta calls the caliber M-23, but it is, in fact, the Sellita SW-330-2. It’s an interesting choice for Monta, as I would assume they would have opted for a traveler style GMT. The Sellita is a caller-style movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet with a quick-adjust clasp with three slots for micro adjustment.

The new Monta Noble Voyager is currently on pre-order and deliveries are expected in August. Price is set at $2,395. See more on the Monta website.

 4/

Maurice de Mauriac Bring Back Tennis Themed Rallymaster III, This One Inspired By Wimbledon

Last year I was very pleasantly surprised by the collaboration between brilliant tennis magazine Racquet, designed Carlton DeWoody and Zurich-based Maurice de Mauriac, the Rallymaster II, a great looking watch that paid homage to the U.S. Open. This year, the trio is back with the Rallymaster III which tips its hat to the tennis tournament that’s currently underway - Wimbledon.

There’s a lot to like about this watch, including its vintage charm and simple case. Made out of stainless steel, the case measures 39mm wide and 12mm thick. On top is a sapphire crystal with a magnified date window, as well as a stepped unmarked and fixed bezel. The watch gets a brushed finish with polished details like the bezel. The crown is made out of yellow gold and has an imprint of a tennis ball in it. Water resistance is 100 meters.

To match the lush lawn courts of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club where Wimbledon is played, the dial gets a deep green color. The centre of the dial is taken up by a printed tan tennis net, the sub-dial seconds hand (graduated in 20 second increments, to match the tennis serve time) is filled with bright green lume to look like a tennis ball, and the applied indices are surrounded in gold. You’ll find the same on the hands which have a lumed strip.

Inside the watch is the Swiss automatic Landeron 24 calibre, originally designed as an alternative to the workhorse ETA 2824. It is a reliable performer with 40 hours of power reserve and a 4Hz beat rate. You can get a glimpse of it through the transparent caseback which has a printing of tennis racket on it. The watch comes with both a calf leather strap and a tan “Textil flex” fabric strap.

The Maurice de Mauriac Rallymaster III is limited to 100 pieces and available for preorder now for a price of CHF 2,200. See more on the Maurice de Mauriac website. 

5/

Louis Moinet Introduces The Black Moon, A Central Moon Phase With Moon Meteorite Disks

The folks over at Louis Moinet really love meteorites. Like, a LOT! A couple of months back they showed off their pretty bonkers Cosmopolis model which featured 11 different meteorite inserts in the dial. Their latest release, the Black Moon, also features meteorites and a bit more - it shows the lunar cycle is shown with a domed central disc with the full moon and the new moon represented by two lunar meteorites.

The watch comes in a 40.7mm wide grade 5 polished and satin-finished titanium case. Head on it looks like a fairly traditional case with almost no bezel and slight bumps on the side to act as crown guards, but look at it from the side and you will see very technical lugs that have been cut out. The titanium and hollowed out lugs make for a very light watch and Louis Moinet claims it weighs in at an almost impossible 18 grams. Compare this to that crazy light Ming from last year at 8.8 for the manual wind version and 10.8 grams for the automatic and you’ll see how the 18 gram claim sounds fantastic. On top is a domed sapphire crystal.

Underneath the crystal is a dial made out of aventurine, above which you’ll find the hovering indexes held in place by a central ring and a flange. The large indexes are filled with lume and look very modern. The index at 3 o’clock is surrounded in red and singled out because that one points to the current phase of the moon. There’s a sub-dial at 9 o’clock for the running seconds with a compass pointer. An openworked zone between 8 and 10 o’clock reveals the balance wheel, escapement, and bridges.

But at the center is the focus point, a central disc that houses the two meteorites. One is marbled grey, while the other is deep black, with each representing its own phase. The two meteorites are Dhofar 457 and Gadamis 005, both of which are actually parts of the moon. Dhofar came from a lunar crater which gives it a black color and has been launched to earth millions of years ago, while Gadamis comes from a region explored by the crew of the Apollo 16 mission.

The watch is powered by an in-house automatic movement with a 4Hz beat rate and a 48 hour power reserve. Louis Moinet claims their approach to the central moonphase complication makes it more accurate and will have a deviation of one day every 122 years. The watch comes on a back alligator strap.

The Louis Moinet Black Moon is limited to 60 pieces and no price has been given. But seeing as how the Cosmopolis sold for CHF 225,000 without taxes, this one won’t be cheap at all. See more on the Louis Moinet website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Certina DS Super PH1000m STC

2/

Hands on with the Zelos Nova 37mm 

3/

A review of the Patek Philippe Annual Calendar 5396G-017

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

There’s a good case to be made that the Marathon SSNAV is a contender for the mythical one-watch collection

While there have been steel Navigators before, it has been decades since they were produced. For this newest iteration, Marathon kept the trim dimensions from the fiber-cased version (41mm x 48mm x 11mm) while upgrading the water resistance and case material. Working alongside those tidy dimensions, the case design, with its shallow, long-arcing midcase, keeps the watch close to your wrist, affording exceptional comfort. The asymmetrical arc of the crown-side of the midcase provides protection for the screw-in crown while maintaining a graceful case shape. The casework is a masterclass in industrial design.

Read the whole review on The Time Bum

⏲️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

• Social media and Netflix have contributed to a massive increase in the number of people attempting deadly hikes in the Himalayas, often with limited experience and a lack of respect for how dangerous the climbs can be. In particular, the goal of summiting all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks has become a target for influencers and the hiking-obsessed alike. The race to become the first American woman to accomplish that feat ended in horror, as Gloria Liu expertly recounts in a tragedy bordering on modern parable.

• Now 63 and disillusioned with Hollywood, Sean Penn has reinvented himself into something of a gonzo journalist documentarian. “I went 15 years miserable on sets,” he tells Maureen Dowd during a cigarette smoke-wreathed discussion inside his Malibu beach house. “Milk was the last time I had a good time.” Dowd is a master at getting people comfortable enough to open up for her must-read profiles; this is the finest Sean Penn portrait you’ll read.

• Conor Niland was once Ireland’s No 1 player. Life was good as he tried, for years, to climb the world tennis rankings. But at the bottom of the rankings, where Niland found himself, life is lonely and you often feel invisible. “The usual message of farewell among players is, ‘See you somewhere,’” Niland writes.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

A random assault on a TV news anchor, a horror comic, a top 40 rock single, and a mystery on the streets of Manhattan. This is the story of the infamous phrase 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?'

💵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

Want to let us know what you think about the newsletter? Go to our survey and fill it out.

-Vuk