Rado Brings Back Legendary Anatom In High-Tech Ceramic, Alpina Introduces Sporty Panda-Dialed Alpiner Extreme Chrono Duo, Luminox Has An Interesting Bronze Watch And New Watches From FC and GP

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. As we’re bringing the year to a close, the releases slow down a bit as well. There’s some interesting and really nice stuff going on today, just nothing that will blow your mind.

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In this issue:

• Rado Brings Back Their Legendary Anatom In High-Tech Ceramic And Sapphire Crystal

• Alpina Introduces The Very Sporty Panda Duo Of Alpiner Extreme Chronographs

• Luminox Releases Update To Their Classic Automatic Sport Timer, Adds Limited Bronze Edition

• Frederique Constant Continues (Somewhat) Accessible Luxury Watch Trend With New Steel Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar

• Girard-Perregaux Uses Pebbles From The Legendary Latour Vineyard For The 1966 Château Latour Edition

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 8 seconds

👂What’s new

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Rado Brings Back Their Legendary Anatom In High-Tech Ceramic And Sapphire Crystal

In 1962, the watch world was a different place than today. The first dive watches were introduced less than a decade ago and companies were experimenting with new shapes, purposes and materials. But one company, even back then, was way ahead of everyone else - 1962 was the year that Rado introduced the first scratchproof material in their DiaStar, which set them on a course of creating a line of high-tech ceramic cases. The DiaStar family grew as the years went on and int he 1980s, Rado introduced the Anatom, a square watch made out of a tungsten-carbide alloy known as Hardmetal and with a more modern and anatomical (hence the name) design. Now, 40 years after its release, Rado is bringing the Anatom back and it’s just as funky as its predecessor.

The new Anatom comes in a case that’s a bit bigger than the original which measured 28mm wide, but it’s not huge. The case is just 32.5mm wide, with a thickness of 11.3mm and a lug-to-lug (if you can call it that with a seemingly seamless integrated bracelet) of 46.3mm. And just like the size has slightly changed from the original, so have the case material and dials, with the new Anatom made in high-tech ceramic, with an edge-to-edge sapphire crystal.

The watches have a three part construction - a black PVD sandblasted steel middle case, a steel caseback with a sapphire crystal and a black matte ceramic bezel on top with a ceramic crown. The cylindrical sapphire crystal over the dial is bevelled, metallised in black and glued. The dial features rhodium-coloured applied indices with white Super-LumiNova, Rado’s signature moving anchor symbol at noon and a date opening at 6 o’clock. There will be three dial options, all with a heavy gradient that fades to black towards the edge and blending with the bezel, and the colors will be green, blue and cognac.

Actually, there will also be a fourth version of the Anatom, a Limited Edition that will be made in just 40 pieces, with a brightly polished ceramic bezel, a polished black lacquered dial and eleven baguette-cut diamonds used as indices.

Inside the watch is the automatic Rado calibre R766. While Rado is owned by the Swatch Group, it would come as no surprise to see the R766 be based on the Powermatic 80, as several other Rado calibers have been. But no, this one is based on the slimmer and a bit more higher end ETA 2892 with an extended power reserve of 72 hours and an anti-magnetic Nivachron hairspring.. The watches come on sporty rubber straps that have an embossed texture that mes them look like they’re made out of steel links.

The Rado Anatom are on sale right now and can be purchased for €3,750. The Limited Edition, the one limited to 40 pieces, is priced at €11,300. See more on the Rado website.

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Alpina Introduces The Very Sporty Panda Duo Of Alpiner Extreme Chronographs

When I started writing this newsletter I featured Alpine watches several times. In an effort to poke a bit of fun at them and not sure what to think about their pieces, I said that I do not want my watch and my skis to share a name. While I still believe the Alpina will forever be weirdly named for me, their watches really are becoming more and more interesting to me. Now they’re launching new additions to their Alpiner Extreme collection, relaunched last year as a cushion shaped sports integrated bracelet watch, a duo of panda-dialed Chronographs.

The new Chronograph watches come in the beefy 41mm stainless steel case the Alpiner Extreme is known for, the same one the regular three hander and the Regulator came in, but much, much thicker. It’s 14.3mm thick. Which is really curious, since the hero photo on the Alpine website is the two Alpiner Extreme Chronos shown from a semi-profile and they actually look thin for chronographs. Weird. This is still a capable sports watch, meaning you get brushed surfaces on the round fixed bezel secured by six screws, with polished bevels, as well as 100 meters of water resistance.

There are two dial options, both inspired by classic panda layouts. One is dark blue, while the other is silver, and both have very the dramatic triangular Alpina embossed pattern on them. The silver dial gets black subdials, while the navy gets white ones, all with a snailed finish. There’s a small seconds at 9 o’clock, the 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and the 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock. The applied hour indices and the hour and minute hands are treated with Super-LumiNova, and the central chronograph seconds hand is white with an openworked red triangular counterweight. And the near perfection is ruined by the horrible date window placement at 4:30.

Inside the watch is the AL-730 automatic calibre, which is just a rebranded Sellita SW510. This gets you a cam-actuated chronograph mechanism with an Incabloc shock absorber and a Glucydur balance wheel. The movement beast at 28,800vph and has a 62h power reserve. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet.

The Alpina Alpiner Extreme Chronograph Automatic retails for CHF 2,995 and can be purchased now. See more on the Alpina website.

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Luminox Releases Update To Their Classic Automatic Sport Timer, Adds Limited Bronze Edition

Nine times out of ten, when someone asks you for a reccomendation for a rugged sports watch that won’t break the bank, you are most likely to say - just get a G-Shock. Because why not. With it’s shock-resistant construction and reliable quartz movement for great money, look nowhere else. However, if you still need something rugged and sporty and want something different, especially if you want to get a Swiss movement and a more traditional design, why not look at Luminox? Their Automatic Sport Timer is one of its most traditional models - in fact, it’s been around in one shape or another since 1990 - and now Luminox introduced two new models. One is part of the regular collection and is the recognisable stainless steel case and green dial, while the other is a super-limited edition that comes in a very attractive bronze case with a blue dial.

The Luminox Automatic Sport Timer comes in a 42mm wide and 13mm thick case with large crown guards and a signed crown. Being a sports watch, you get 200 meters of water resistance, a flat anti-reflective sapphire crystal on top and a mineral glass crystal on the caseback. The stainless steel case is rugged enough, but I wouldn’t trust the bronze to be able to stand up to the same abuse.

The two case materials have two different dials. The stainless steel comes with a green ceramic insert in the bezel and a green dial. You get large printed Arabic numerals, glowing tritium gas-filled tubes and a day-date display at 3 o’clock. The hands are bright white and also feature tritium tubes, with the minute-hand tube glowing yellow, while the rest are green. The bronze version gets a blue dial and blue ceramic insert in the bezel, but remains largely the same.

While Luminox might be often associated with quartz movements, these two watches are equipped with a very familiar Swiss movement. It’s the Sellita SW220-1, a robust and easily servicable automatic movement that’s a favorite among microbrands. The 220 is part of the SW200, but with a day/date addition. It runs at 28,800vph and has a 41 hour power reserve. It also has a custom black-finished rotor that is engraved with Luminox’s logo, seen through the caseback. The green version comes on a three-link stainless steel bracelet that tapers from 24mm to 22mm, while the bronze version is delivered as a collector’s set with a brown leather strap as well as a secondary navy blue rubber strap with a bronze IP folding clasp and a custom Luminox-branded Wolf winder box.

The green version is part of the regular collection and can be purchased online and in stores, while the bronze version is limited to just 688 pieces and will sell only in authorized brick-and-mortar locations that sell Luminox’s watches. The green version is priced at $1,495 while the bronze is getting really up there in price - $2,195. The bronze does come with a Wolf box that’s priced at $380, but still… See more on the Luminox website.

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Frederique Constant Continues (Somewhat) Accessible Luxury Watch Trend With New Steel Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar

If there is one thing you will likely take with you for the rest of the day, it will be the fact that Frederique Constant, the relatively young watchmaker that prides itself on making accessible luxury watches, is owned by the Citizen Group. I had absolutely no idea and it’s kind of mind blowing. Anyway, the only reason I did find out it because FC is celebrating the opening of a new Citizen multi-brand store on Fifth Avenue in New York with a new limited edition, the Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Manufacture in steel with a closed dial.

The watch comes in the beaturiful tonneau-shaped steel case with brushed and polished finishes and strong facets on the transition from the case to the integrated bracelet. It measures 41mm wide and has a thickness of 12.65mm. This, of course, is the same case that has been used in the rose gold model and you get the same 100 meter water resistance.

The same as the rose gold model is also the closed dial, unlike previous versions that featured skeletonized dials. Also the same from the rose gold model is the matte dark blue colour, with a polished outer minute track. The dial features the embossed latitude and longitude lines of the Highlife collection in the centre and there are three snailed counters for the calendar functions - month and leap year at 12, date at 3 and day of the week at 9 o’clock. At 6 o’clock you’ll find the one-minute tourbillon.

Inside the watch is the in-house FC-975 movement which has 33 jewels, runs at a frequency of 28,800vph and has 38 hours of power reserve. Seeing as how this is a perpetual calendar movement, 38 hours is really cutting it close to being way too short to be practical. The movement is nicely decorated, with a vertically brushed openworked gold rotor, bridges decorated with Côtes de Geneve, blued screws and circular graining on the base plate. The watch comes with an integrated steel bracelet, along with one calfskin and one rubber band.

When the Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar premiered in 2018, it broke the industry because it introduced a tourbillon and perpetual calendar complication in the sub €20k price range. Well, all prices have increased, so this limited edition of 88 pieces is priced at €26,995. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

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Girard-Perregaux Uses Pebbles From The Legendary Latour Vineyard For The 1966 Château Latour Edition

When you are one of the leading manufacturers of luxury watches in the world, it’s kind of hard to find a good brand to collaborate with. While putting out Peanuts watch would be amazing, very few of these high end brands have that much of a sense of humor. Girard-Perregaux, for example, takes things very seriously. So, it only make sense for them to partner with an equally serious brand - Château Latour, the mythical Bordeaux vineyard. The result is the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour a hyper limited edition watch that brings together watches and wine with a very special dial.

This new Girard-Perregaux comes in the classic 1966 case that GP uses for their dress watches, measuring 40mm wide and 9.4mm thick. The case is made out of 18k pink gold and is fully polished, with a sapphire crystal on top. The caseback also has a sapphire crystal, which features the Château Latour logo. It’s a dress watch, so don’t expect much water resistance, but 30 meters will be just enough if you get a splash of wine on it.

But this is all regular for the GP 1966 collection. What’s new and impressive is the stone dial that this watch has. It’s not a regular stone dial, which are not that uncommon - this one is made out of pebbles, the pale-yellow pebbles taken from the Latour vineyard. To create the dial, an artisan must patiently cut and whittle each pebble down to a thickness of 0.45mm. The disc is then mounted on a brass base. Since no two pebbles are the same, so are no to dials fo this limited edition. Thin baton gold indices show up at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, while the GP logo sits at 12. The hands are elegant leaf-shaped and also rendered in pink gold.

Inside is the GP in-house automatic calibre GP03300. It beats at 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 46 hours. The plates and bridges are bevelled, engraved, circular-grained and decorated with Côtes de Genève. The large oscillating weight in 18k yellow gold is also finished with Côtes de Genève. The watch comes on a brown alligator strap and matching pink gold pin buckle.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition is a limited edition of 18 numbered pieces. The only way to buy one is if you visit the Château Latour estate or Villa Girard-Perregaux. The price is set at CHF 36,000, which is a lot in general, but somehow doesn’t seem so egregious. See more on the Girard-Perregaux website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 6000m Ultra Deep

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A review of the redesigned Bell & Ross BR 03

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The New Traska Commuter 34 and 38, when good becomes great and even better

Besides the new diameters, I was also taken aback by the gorgeous new dial colors and how nicely finished they are. The Commuter 34 comes in four colors — Sandstone Yellow, Mint Green, Faded Copper, and Aegean Blue. The first two have received a semi-matte finish, while the latter two have a sunburst effect. The Commuter 38 also comes in four colors — Arctic White, Mint Green, Carbon Black, and Woodland Green. The white dial has a glossy finish, and the green one has a sunburst effect. The mint and black ones, however, show a semi-matte finish. Not only is it hard to convey how good the dials look in photos, but I also didn’t get my hands on all versions.

Read the whole review on Fratello.

⏲️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

• Jamie Dimon’s made JPMorgan Chase the biggest bank in the world and a $4 trillion money making machine. But what is it, exactly?

• They barged into homes in the middle of the night, then held people down while they beat and choked them, witnesses said. This is how a ‘Goon Squad’ of deputies got away with years of brutality

• Jason Diamond’s younger years were culinarily magical: a neighborhood full of first- and second-generation immigrants meant that going to his friends’ houses exposed him to food from all over the globe. One food in particular, a Bukharan dish whose actual name he didn’t even know, turned him into a garlic lover. Years later, living in New York he went on a quest to find it—and ended finding out more about garlic than you thought possible.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Every few months I check y local classifieds to see if there’s a nice example of one of the greatest cars of all time - the Mercedes CL55 AMG. I used to drive a E50 AMG and it’s pretty close to automotive perfection. So I wouldn’t mind owning a similar engine in a better looking car. And the CL55 would be that (actually, the R129 SL55 would be perfection).

Anyways, here’s a video from Regular Car Reviews, probably the best car review channel in the universe. There really aren’t any words to describe their review style. Just believe me when I say, they’re unique. Check them out.

💵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 

• 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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