• It's About Time
  • Posts
  • Seiko Adds New Divers To Marinemaster Line; Delma's Super Simple Classic; Bangalore Watch Company's Tribute To Himalayan Rescue Helicopters; Chronoswiss Is Psycho; New From Roger Dubuis And JLC

Seiko Adds New Divers To Marinemaster Line; Delma's Super Simple Classic; Bangalore Watch Company's Tribute To Himalayan Rescue Helicopters; Chronoswiss Is Psycho; New From Roger Dubuis And JLC

Seiko should really work on their naming conventions, as it's getting really confusin

Author

Vuk Radic
September 04, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 20 minutes

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It started on Friday when my kid got a slight fever. Over the next few days, it knocked her out completely. Then, yesterday, my wife couldn’t get out of bed. After years of successfully avoiding it, Covid got us. Yes, us, it’s catching me right now, so do excuse any hallucinations you might find in todays issue, I hope all is right.

For now, It’s About Time is a fully reader supported publication. If you like this, want to continue getting it and want even more of my writing, I would love if you could hop on over to Patreon and subscribe. You give me $6 a month, I give you 5 additional longform posts per week which include an overview of interesting watches for sale, early access to reviews (it’s the Seiko x Giugiaro SCED035 "Ripley"), a basic watch school, a look back at a forgotten watch, and a weekend read that looks at the history of horology.

In this issue:

  • Seiko Adds Two New Watches To Marinemaster Line, Ups Depth Rating To 300 Meters

  • Delma Continues 100 Anniversary Celebration With A Very Subdued New Classic Model

  • Bangalore Watch Company’s Latest Release Is Inspired By Himalayan Rescue Helicopters

  • Chronoswiss Fully Embraces Their Wild Side With Their Most Vibrant Watch Called The Psycho

  • Roger Dubuis Slaps On Cobalt Chrome Onto Their Very Limited Excalibur Double Tourbillon

  • Jaeger-LeCoultre Pays Tribute To Monet And Venice With New Reverso Tribute Enamel

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 34 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

There are so many things one could criticise Seiko for. They play fast and loose with their bracelets, their pricing is all over the place and some would argue that they are not evolving fast enough. I get all of those complaints, but there is one thing I think they need to fix first — their absolute wild naming convention. I understand that Seiko has a huge catalogue, but their completely nonsensical naming convention means you need to be a Seiko scholar to figure out what is what. And they’re not making things any easier by using their model line willy-nilly on completely different watches. That’s the case with the Marinemaster. The line was intended to represent a professional level dive watch, the best of what they can do and that was the 44mm wide SBDX001 from 2000. Then, in late 2023, Seiko slapped the Marinemaster name on a smaller 39.5mm wide divers that dropped water resistance, making it a bit weird why they’re called the Marinemaster, has this line lost its prestige meaning? Well, leave it to Seiko to make it even more complicated. They just introduced the Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver references SLA077 and SLA079, which site in the middle of the two when it comes to size, with an updated 300 meter water resistance and a price to match. So, what is a Marinemaster? A good diver, I guess?

The new Marinemasters come in a stainless steel case with a hardened coating that measures 42.6mm wide, 13.4mm thick and has a 49.3mm lug-to-lug. Large, sure, but about what you would expect from a robust diver. On top and on both models is a black steel unidirectional rotating bezel with a fully graduated 60-minute scale and a lumed pip at 12 o’clock. The bezel surrounds a double-domed sapphire crystal. The crown sits at the 4 o’clock position, screws down and gives you water resistance of 300 meters.

You can get two dial colors and both have a slight texture to them, adding to the matte look. The colors are not particularly inventive — white and black — but they do the job. You get large applied indices which are, along with the hands, filled with LumiBrite. Unfortunately, Seiko added a date window at the 4:30 position, also known as the worst possible position for a date window. But not only that, they ditched the somewhat palatable round aperture from the smaller Marinemasters for a really garish square opening that’s awkwardly angled.

Inside, is the 8L35. Seiko movements get a lot of flack for not being particularly accurate — at least not according to their rating; in real life they tend to preform better than rated — but this one has decent stats with an accuracy rating of +15/-10 seconds per day. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. The watch comes on the familiar five link steel bracelet that has a folding clasp and a couple of drilled holes for micro-adjustment, just not quick adjustment.

The new Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver SLA077 and SLA079 are priced the same at, wait for it, €3,000. Think of that whatever you think. See more on the Seiko website.

2/

While not a household name to the broadest public, Delma has a cult following among enthusiasts of rugged and capable tool watches. And they have been doing that for 100 years now. And that’s something special to celebrate, which Delma has been successfully doing. The launched the beautiful 1940s inspired Heritage Chronograph 100 Years Limited Edition, the very cool icy blue Montego Chronograph Automatic 100 Year Limited Edition and their latest move is the introduction of a brand new collection, their most basic one, called the Classic.

The Delma Classic, unsurprisingly, keeps things very simple but I assume that people would have loved to see a couple of mm shaved off the 40mm width. The watches come in either untreated stainless steel or with a yellow gold PVD treatment, and it measures 11.5mm thick and has a 48mm lug-to-lug. It’s a simple round case with sloping lugs and a polished finish. On top is a domed sapphire crystal and water resistance is 50 meters.

The dials are equally simple, with quite a lot of color choices. The stainless steel version comes with black, blue, salmon or silver, while the gold case gets black and blue dial, all of which have a sunray brushed finish. The hands and indices remain very simple and silver, but filled with lume. There’s also a date window at the 3 o’clock position.

Inside, nothing too surprising — it’s the Sellita SW200-1, a reliable and easily servicable automatic that beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. The watches can be had on a polished five-link stainless steel bracelet and genuine Italian leather straps for the steel versions and leather straps for the PVD covered models.

The Delma Classic is priced at €990 in steel with the leather strap, €1,050 for the yellow PVD version on the strap and €1,100 for the steel on the bracelet. See more on the Delma website.

3/

The Bangalore-based indie brand aptly named Bangalore Watch Company is carving a very interesting niche for themselves. They are focusing on celebrating notable achievements from India, with a very special focus on aviation. They paid homage to the INS Vikrant R11 aircraft carrier, one of the most important ships in the Indian military, the Indian Air Force MiG 21 and the Indian women in commercial aviation. With their latest release they’re moving away from fixed wing aircraft and moving to helicopters. The new MACH 1 Avalanche is made to pay due to high-altitude mountain rescue helicopters who work in the treacherous air of the Himalayas.

The MACH 1 Avalanche comes in a stainless steel case that has a matte PVD coat and measures 40mm wide, with a very decent 10.8mm thickness and a comfortable 46.5mm lug-to-lug, thanks to the relatively short lugs. On top is a flat sapphire crystal. On the solid caseback you’ll find an engraving of a rescue helicopter among the peaks of the Himalayas, surrounded with the text “legends of high altitude helicopter flying”. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial matches the environment the helicopters fly in and is fully white with double digit printed black Arabic numerals. The minutes hand has bright red stripes that mimic an airspeed indicator, while the seconds hand has a broad orange tip. The hands and the dots above the numerals are filled with C3 Grade-A Super-LumiNova and there’s a black date window at 6 o’clock.

Inside, it’s old faithful, the Sellita SW200-1. Beating at 4Hz, it has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black leather strap with quick release spring bars.

The Bangalore MACH 1 Avalanche is available for preorder right now and Bangalore says they will ship it on 17 September. From what I gather, this will not be a limited edition. The watch is priced at €1,111. See more on the Bangalore website.

4/

For decades now, the Swiss independent brand Chronoswiss has been making unconventional looking watches. They completely embraced the deconstructed setup of a regulator style watch and experimented with themes and colors. But slowly, over the years, they started moving the goalpost. They would use even wilder colors, crazier shapes, and it seemed that with each such release people loved them more. Well, to see if wilder designs lead to more fans, they decided to go all the way, with an incredible limited-edition version of its signature tourbillon-equipped regulator watch with a color-changing guilloché dial and a bright purple CVD-coated case. The theory that we will like them more the wilder they are sure works on me.

Based on the Open Gear Tourbillon model, the Psycho comes in a stainless steel case that’s made out of 17 pieces and measures 44mm wide and 13.1mm thick. The case gets a bright purple finish, achieved using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. On top and bottom you’ll find sapphire crystals, on the right side of the case you’ll find the signature onion crown. Water resistance is a surprising 100 meters.

Then, we have the dial, which is made out of 42 pieces and many, many, layers. Being a regulator, you have a centrally-mounted minute hand, a completely insane sloping orange dial for the hours at the 12 o’clock position, and at 6 o’clock is the flying tourbillon. Surrounding the tourbillon you can see the lowest part of the dial which is done in an electric blue with Geneva stripes, overlapped by another dial which is decorated with a hand-guilloché pattern and a color-changing Paraiba-hued finish that appears in different shades of green and turquoise. The hands are filled with lume.

Inside is the manufacture Caliber C.303 manual-wind flying tourbillon movement, which was developed in collaboration with La Joux-Perret. It beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 60 hours. Of course, it’s very well decorated with Geneva stripes, a circular satin finish on the skeletonized bridges and everything else being covered in a bright blue CVD coating. The watch comes on a an even wilder electric blue alligator hornback leather strap with a bright orange Alcantara lining that is hand-sewn with green contrast stitching. I mean, just look at it!

The Chronoswiss Open Gear Flying Tourbillon Psycho is limited to just 15 pieces and priced at €48,600. A bargain, I would say, to own a Psycho watch. See more on the Chronoswiss website.

5/

These days, a tourbillon is largely a useless complication, as it was invented and used on fixed clocks to counteract the effects of gravity. On a wristwatch, one that changes orientation all the time, it doesn’t serve a purpose other than exclusivity. You know what makes even less sense? Two tourbillons. And yet, here we are, with the new Roger Dubuis Excalibur Double Tourbillon Cobalt Chrome, which features two tourbillons for twice the flex, a skeletonized dial and chrome cobalt, a material known for its shine and robustness.

The case, which is very much as extravagant as you would expect from Roger Dubuis and it measures 45mm wide and 14.6mm thick, with a brushed finish with polished bevels. It’s made out of Cobalt Chrome, a unique alloy is mostly used in the automotive and aerospace industries. It’s supposed to have a silvery-grey shine like a white gold, but way more scratch-resistant than gold, while being non-magnetic. On top is a notched bezel, RD signature triple lugs and a domed sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There’s no dial to speak of, just a series of rings and bridges. On the perimeter is a blued ring for the hour and minute indicators, pointed to with centrally mounted white gold hands. Towards the top of the face is the recognisable double-pronged Roger Dubuis star that acts as a bridge for the movement, and towards the bottom you’ll find the double flying tourbillons which have a cages made out of Cobalt Chrome.

The movement is powered by the manually wound RD108 movement, which is on full display from the front and the bottom. And since it can be seen, it’s finished to Poinçon de Genève standards. It beast at 21,600vph and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue calfskin leather strap with a quick-release system.

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Double Tourbillon Cobalt Chrome is limited to just 28 pieces and priced at a pretty incredible €320,000. See more on the Roger Dubuis website.

6/

Just a few days ago, the Homo Faber Biennial exhibition in Venice opened to a lot of rave reviews. One of the exhibitors at the show is Jaeger-LeCoultre and for the show they created a trio of really special watches. They took their white gold Reverso and gave it to the Métiers Rares atelier who, in turn, have recreated, in meticulous detail and beautiful enamel, three Claude Monet paintings. Of course, these are not just any Monet paintings, but rather three of 37 very famous paintings the impressionist artist has painted of Venice.

The canvas used for the trio is the 18k white gold Reverso that measures 27.4mm wide, 9.73mm thick and with a 45.6mm lug-to-lug. Inside all three is the manually wound Jaeger-LeCoultre 822 and all three come on a black crocodile strap.

As for the paintings, they are incredible. The paintings chose are the San Giorgio Maggiore, which shows the island of San Giorgio Maggiore — the setting for the Homo Faber Biennial — at dusk; the Grand Canal which shows the church of Santa Maria della Salute as seen from Venice’s Grand Canal; and the Doge’s Palace, which is self explanitory. Each of these recreations are done by hand and require 70 hours each to finish. And it’s all about the layers with this — there are three base layers, four layers of pain and seven layers of translucent fondant, with 15 separate firings at up to 800° Celsius.

The dial sides of the watch are equally as impressive as the painted backs. Two get blue Grand Feu, while one gets a green Grand Feu dial, all of which have different guilloché motifs — herringbone, wavy and geometric hexagons. Not only do the dial require hours to finish, they’re also fired at 800° Celsius.

Each of the watches are limited to 10 pieces and a priced on request. This is something for the JLC or Monet nerds, both of which who will love it. See more on the JLC website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

2/

3/

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

This review sample has the Snowcap Classic White dial. Snowcap is a bright, silvery white accented with red blacks on the chapter index and a matching red lollipop second hand. That hint of shimmer in the dial works well with the applied and polished markers, polished hands, and the glossy sheen of the ceramic bezel insert. I have to award extra points for Zenea’s clever Z/hourglass logo. Add all that to the polished elements on the case, and you have a lively panoply of reflections that raises the Ula beyond mere tool status. I wouldn’t call it a dress diver, but it is a diver you can dress up.

⏲️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

Netflix is releasing a documentary on Apollo 13 and there is some spectacular new footage in it.

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

-Vuk

Reply

or to participate.