Seiko Brings Back The Legendary Compact And Affordable SNXS; Swatch Introduces The Black Snoopy Moonphase; M.A.D.1 Gets A Designer Treatment; And New From BA111OD And Moser

In this issue:

• Seiko Pays Homage To Their Legendary Entry Level Watch With The New And Compact Seiko 5 Sports SNXS Series

• Swatch Quickly Follows Up The White Snoopy Mission To The Moonphase With A Fully Black Version

• M.A.D. Teams Up With Legendary Designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac For The Most Colorful M.A.D.1 Yet

• BA111OD Gives Their Chapter 4.9 Tourbillon A Very Nice Meteorite Dial

• H. Moser & Cie. Unveil Two New Watches, The Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green and Cosmic Green

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 47 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Pays Homage To Their Legendary Entry Level Watch With The New And Compact Seiko 5 Sports SNXS Series 

It was the 1960s and the world was clamouring for a watch that would fit a more leisurely lifestyle. A watch that would have an automatic movement, durable construction, water resistance and an affordable price. The mases asked for their watch, and they got it. In the 1960s, Seiko introduced the Seiko 5 line, the SNXS series to be more exact, which was an instant hit. In fact, it was such a hit that it is said that exports of the Seiko 5 in 1966 reportedly exceeded the total number of automatic watches produced in Switzerland. Over the years the Seiko 5 morphed into a juggernaut for the brand, representing a fairly priced entry-level watch that works in every setting. Now, Seiko is releasing three new watches based on the original SNXS Seiko 5 watches, the SRPK87, SRPK89 and SRPK91.

The new Seiko 5 Sports SNXS Series maintains a vintage-like size with a width of 37.4mm and a lug-to-lug of 44.7mm. They are slightly chunky at 12.5mm, but that’s the bane of many modern Seiko models. The case has a rounded look, brushed finish and a polished fixed bezel on top. The bezel surrounds a Hardlex crystal, which will likely be the only significant complaint. Sure, you can get Chinese watches with a sapphire crystal for less, but then again, you can tell the time for virtually free on your phone. I don’t mind Hardlex, but that’s a matter of personal preference. Water resistance is a comfortable 100 meters.

The three references refer to the three dial colors - ivory, black and blue. All three have a sunburst finish, applied baton indices and multi-faceted hour and minute hands, both with beige Lumibrite for a bit of fauxtina, and a orange central seconds hand. On the flange is a minutes track rendered in a contrastign color and at 3 o’clock is the day-date window with a black background on all three watches.

While other Seiko 5 watches come with the 7S26 movement, the new SNXS trio comes with the 4R36 movement. It’s supposed to be an upgrade from the 7S26, but it’s still plagued by the known issue among Seiko movement - accuracy. The bad news is that the company claims accuracy of +45 / -35 seconds per day. The good news is that in reality, most movements get better accuracy. The 4R36 beats at 21,600vph and has a 40 hour power reserve.

Seiko did, however, address one of the other major criticisms levied against them - bracelet quality. The new SNXS watches come with a redesigned bracelet with a triple-folding clasp and a push-button release.

The three new SNXS watches go on sale in May of this year at a price of €400. Sure, more than Seiko 5 models of the past, but with the upgraded water resistance, movement and new bracelet, it could be an interesting package. See more on the Seiko website.

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Swatch Quickly Follows Up The White Snoopy Mission To The Moonphase With A Fully Black Version

Last year was likely financially good for the MoonSwatch, but a bit of a dud when it comes to creating hype around their watches. Which is weird, because the original launches of the MoonSwatch is arguably the biggest cultural event in the history of watches, drawing tens of thousands of people to queue up in front of Swatch stores around the world. However, in 2023, Swatch insisted on releasing weird pieces that were only made during full moons, sold during full moons and quite boring overall. Well, in 2024, they changed things up. Three weeks ago, Swatch introduced an all-white MoonSwatch Mission to the Moonphase, featuring the legendary NASA-adjacent Snoopy character and a moonphase function. Just as it was released, Swatch teased the existence of an all-black version, something that so many people requested immediately after the launch of the white version. Now, here it is, the new black Snoopy Mission to the Moonphase New Moon.

Except for the color, the case remains the same - 42mm wide, 13.75mm thick and made out of Bioceramic, a material that is made up of two-thirds zirconium oxide ceramic powder, with one-third biosourced material derived from castor oil. Sounds fancy, but feels a lot like plastic. On top is the domed plastic crystal and water resistance is 30 meters. Everything on the case is black, apart from the white tachymeter scale on the fixed bezel.

The dial is a matte black and matches the case. The markers and surrounds are all done in a stark white, which matches the hands, and the lume plots are done in a very cool black color that almost makes them look empty. The lume glows green on the hands and markers and blue on the crescent moons and the stars and the "I can't sleep without a night light!" secret message. The concept behind it is that the original white Full Moon edition represents the bright disk of the moon at its largest while the black New Moon edition is inspired by the other end of the phase cycle where the moon is completely hidden.

The launch date of the watch, April 8, aligns with the New Moon so it all makes very much sense. What doesn’t make particular sense is Swatch focusing on completely obscure and bizarre phases of the moon all of last year, and this year we have one of the largest cross overs between everyday life and celestial events - much of the Eastern United States will be able to see a full eclipse of the sun on April 8. This has been a huge deal in the U.S. with huge media coverage and tens of thousands of people making a pilgrimage and renting out houses and hotels to find themselves in the path of the eclipse. Kind of weird that Swatch did not do anything with this.

As with previous versions, Swatch doesn’t say what movement is inside, but it’s most likely to be a variation of the ETA Caliber G10.962 quartz chronograph moonphase movement. The watch comes on a black Velcro strap with black Bioceramic hardware, and the strap has traditionally been the weak point of this watch, so plan ahead accordingly if you want to get one.

Like I said, the watch goes on sale April 8th at selected Swatch stores globally, priced at €315. See more on the Swatch website.

 3/

M.A.D. Teams Up With Legendary Designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac For The Most Colorful M.A.D.1 Yet

In 2021 Max Büsser, the creative mind behind the out-there but still incredible MB&F watches, sent out an almost cryptic email to friends of MB&F. The email was addressed to suppliers of the company, and in it Büsser announced that they will be creating the M.A.D.1 watch and he would like to offer it to them first. The lowest price an MB&F watch sells for is CHF 50,000 and go way past half a million, so to expect suppliers of parts for the watches to be able to afford one would be very optimistic. But this one was different. It was still a highly complicated watch, but it was offered to these people at a price point of CHF 2,900. This proved to be such a great move that the M.A.D.1 was soon offered to MB&Fs loyal customers in a similar email, and a legend of a highly unattainable but affordable watch was born. Three of these watches have been released, a red, a blue and a green one. The red one was made in 1,500 pieces and 19,000 people entered the raffle to get the chance to buy one, while the green one saw 22,000 entries. Now, M.A.D.Editions is teaming up with legendary French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to release the limited-edition M.A.D.1 ‘Time to Love’, again released through a raffle.

On the outside, not much changes. You still get the same 42mm stainless steel case, fully round, with a crown at 12 o’clock and with very futuristic and swooping lugs that don’t take up much vertical space, but still measuring up to a 50mm lug-to-lug. Speaking of vertical space, this watch sticks up from the wrist quite a lot with a thickness of 18.8mm. But it does need every millimetre of that thickness for its very interesting time display.

I say very interesting, as it’s not quite unique. Looking at the face of the watch, you won’t be able to tell the time. Instead you see a titanium and tungsten triple-blade rotor that winds the movement. The time is shown on the lateral time display, right on the side of the watch and is made up of two rotating aluminium discs in green for the hours and in black for the minutes.

It’s the details where the collaboration with de Castelbajac shows. First, on the rotor, where the blades are colored in blue, yellow and red lacquer, with a slight swoop at one of the edges to give them a wing-shape. The numbers on the time display are engraved and rendered in Castelbajac’s handwriting. Underneath the rotor is a quote also in Castelbajac’s handwriting which reads “Ce trésor rare et précieux, c’est ta vie. Le temps vole de ses ailes blanches. Tu es le gardien de ton temps.”

Inside, and visible through the dial is, a upside-down modified Miyota 821A automatic movement. It’s an affordable automatic movement that beast at 21,600 bph and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes with a black and additional white strap embroidered with the words’ Time to Love’.

The M.A.D.1 Time to Love Edition x Castelbajac is limited to 999 pieces, half of which is allocated to suppliers and most loyal customers and the other half will be offered to the public through the same raffle system. The raffle opened on April 3 and will close on April 17, so there’s still time to put your name in the hat. The price is quite unbeatable at €3,300, without VAT. You can register for the raffle on the M.A.D. website.

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BA111OD Gives Their Chapter 4.9 Tourbillon A Very Nice Meteorite Dial

With every new release, BA111OD is proving that they really are conquering the market on expertly-made, Swiss-produced, highly-advanced watches that are sold at prices that really puzzle the market as they shouldn’t be possible. They have made waves by producing the least expensive Swiss made tourbillon – the Ba111od Chapter 4.1, as well as the Ba111od Chapter 4.5 GMT Tourbillon. Their CHPTR_Δ has one of the most interesting ways of moving hands and displaying time, for a crazy low price, especially compared to brands it competes with with such an avant-garde creation. Now, BA111OD is continuing with their 4.x series of sub 10k Swiss-made tourbillons, this time with the Chapter 4.9 Tourbillon Météorite with a, you guessed it, a meteorite dial.

The new Chapter 4.9 comes in a 40mm wide and 11mm thick stainless steel case. Although, to be fair, the brand states that the 11mm thickness is without the domed sapphire crystal on top. The crown sits at 4 o’clock, which is becoming a BA111OD staple and the overall shape is very elegant with relatively short lugs. On top there’s a highly polished finish, while the sides have a brushed finish. That’s pretty much the same setup as previous Chapter 4 watches.

What’s brand new is, of course, the dial, which once again gets a special material, following the onyx previously featured. This time it’s a very familiar material to watch enthusiasts - meteorite. Sliced paper thin, it retains all the imperfections of the space rock, making every dial completely unique. The other details remain the same as on other Chapter 4 watches, meaning there are no markers, instead you only get the brand logo printed on the crystal (giving it depth), an opening for the tourbillon at the 7 o’clock position and sharply faceted hands.

Inside is the mechanical hand-wound tourbillon caliber BA.01 with a variable inertia balance that beats at 21,600vph and has a very respectable 105 hour power reserve. The movement was developed by the brilliant watch designer Olivier Mory and the brilliance shows through the transparent caseback. The watch comes on a stainless steel three-link bracelet.

The new BA111OD is available for purchase now, with deliveries expected in July. Price is set at €7.100 which is, like with all BA111OD watches, just fantastic. See more on the BA111OD website.

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H. Moser & Cie. Unveil Two New Watches, The Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green and Cosmic Green

Technically, the two watches that H. Moser & Cie. just announced prior to Watches and Wonders 2024 are one watch with two colorways. But they are such radical approaches to the same watch that it’s easy to say that they introduced two completely different watches. These are the Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green and the Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green.

First up is the Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green. It comes in a 42.8mm wide and 14.2mm thick stainless steel case that is a sport affair with hollowed out lugs and 120 meters of water resistance. Being a Concept, this means it gets a dial of any markings or logos of any kind. Moser has done this many times before, but mostly with subdued hues. The Citrus Green gets an almost electric shade of green that starts off close to a lemon yellow in the center and transitions gradually to a lime green on the edges. The only other thing you can admire are the hands, which are leaf-shaped and skeletonized, and partially filled with Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the automatic HMC 201 movement whcih beats at 21,600vph and has a 62 hour power reserve. As you can see the movement you can also expect it to be beautiful with anthracite finish and gold engravings, along with Moser’s signature double stripes and a transparent rotor. The

Then there’s a more traditional addition to the smaller Pioneer range, the Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green. It comes in the 40mm case that measures 12mm thick, with the same scaloped sides and combiantion of brushed and polished finishes. The dial is much more of what you would expect, with a darker green finish, faceted hour markers and the same skeletonized leaf hands. More of the same can be found on the inside, where the watch is powered by the same HMC 201.

Both the Pioneer Centre Seconds Concept Citrus Green and the Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green come on a selection of straps which include hand stitched alligator leather, a rubber or textile strap, or you can have them on a stainless steel bracelet. The new Pioneers, in different green executions and case sizes, share the price of $15,900. See more on the Moser website.

🫳On hand

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⚙️Real Time Reviews

A new segment in which we feature reviews from real users reviewing their personal watches

The Seiko Chronostop brings a smile to your face

Years ago, I fell in love with this particular Seiko Chronograph, reference 5717. Before then, I wasn't a huge fan of Seiko because I honestly wasn't aware of the diversity of models that the brand produced in the 60s/70s. I had Omega's Chronostop in mind as THE reference for such a watch, but I wasn't ready to buy one.

Read the whole review, written by a fellow watch enthusiast, on Dialicious.

⏲️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

• Lachlan Cartwright worked in the crazies paper in the world, The National Enquirer, at the exact time as Donald Trump was rising in power before his presidency. It was a wild time and he has an inside look at the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial

• I saw this piece a few days ago but skipped over it as I didn’t have the time to read it. Then Taiwan got rocked by that horrific earthquake and suddenly it became quite relevant. Vice explores how earthquake conspiracy theorists are wreaking havoc during emergencies by sharing unfounded theories across social media, which have the potential to spread panic and confusion—and have even fooled legitimate government agencies.

• For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man—but the police knew his real name. Don’t be fooled by this simple description, you know that if it’s the Atavist publishing the piece it’s very well written and researched.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I wrote about the Singer watch yesterday and in that writeup I mentioned that Singer is by far the best restomodder of Porsches, among the hundreds of companies trying to sell you on the dream Porsche. Well, Harry Metcalfe thinks he may have found a worthy successor to Singer.

💵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 Ōtsuka 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