Seiko Brings Back Marinemaster With Smaller, Design, Oris Releases ProPilot X "Laser" With Unique Dial, Longines Shrinks Down Legend Diver, Ming Is On a Rampage, New From Timex And MB&F

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Dubai Watch Week has started and there is a bucketload of releases. I fit in everything I could for today, so expect another packed edition tomorrow.

If you like this newsletter, you might consider supporting it directly through Patreon. If you were subscribed, you could have already read my lengthy piece on Only Watch and it potentially being the biggest scam of the watch world. Other subscriber-only articles include the Completely Sterile Secret Watches Of MACV-SOG and my choice of 11 vintage Heuer watches that would make the perfect basis for new TAG Heuer recreations, including a possible MoonSwatch type watch that could actually break the internet.

In this issue:

• Seiko Brings Back The Marinemaster With Three Brand New, Much Smaller, Designs

• The Oris ProPilot X Caliber 400 'Laser' Uses Actual Lasers To Create A Very Unique Dial

• Longines Shrinks Down The Legend Diver To 39mm And Introduces New Dial Colors

• Ming Blows Dubai Watch Week Away With Two Beautiful Special Editions

• Timex Introduces a Trio of Watches Inspired by the Art of Keith Haring

• MB&F HM11 Architect Is The Latest Unbelievable Time Machine From The House That Max Büsser and Friends Built

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 15 seconds

👂What’s new

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Seiko Brings Back The Marinemaster With Three Brand New, Much Smaller, Designs

Just yesterday Seiko released the Presage Kintaro Hattori SPB441, a reimagining of the first watch that said Seiko on the dial and a quirky watch that looks like an old pocket watch with lugs welded to it. This release, which will go on sale in 2024, kicks off the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Seiko name, a celebration that will be marked with nine watches. Just a day later, Seiko is introducing the second part of the celebration, along with two extras - they are brining back the Marinemaster as a trio of modern divers with inspiration that comes from 1965.

The Marinemaster might not be as legendary as the 62MAS or the SKX007, but in the few years that it has been around it, like so many Seiko models, developed a cult following. Introduced in 2000 with the SBDX001, the Marinemaster was an oversized modern diver that Seiko positioned at the top of its range. It had a 44mm steel case, 300 meters of water resistance, and a helium-proof construction. It was followed up with several more references under the Marinemaster name only for it to be retired and, with time, replaced with the modern Prospex line.

While the SPB441 released yesterday tried to be as close to the original from a hundred years ago, the three new Marinemaster references, the SJE099, SJE101 and the SJE097 take on a completely new inspiration, mixing together a modern approach to construction with vintage elements very reminiscent of the 1965 62MAS - it’s smaller, slimmer and more subdued, pretty much everything that online communities wanted from a Ceiko diver.

The new Marinemasters come in a 39.5mm wide stainless steel case with a thickness of 12.3mm. That might sound like a lot, but only if you haven’t had much experience with modern Seiko divers. The case has brushed surfaces and polished bevels, along with chamfering on the sides and bezel. There’s a box-shaped sapphire crystal on top (the older Marinemasters had Hardlex), a transparent caseback, a screw down crown and 200 meters of water resistance.

The dial comes with a very deeply grooved horizontal stripe pattern in three colors. The SJE099 comes with a light blue dial and a blue bezel insert, a very refreshing pop of color, while the SJE101 is very classic with a black dial and a black bezel. Then there’s the SJE097, a limited edition that is officially part of the 100 year celebration. It comes with a silver dial and a brushed steel bezel insert. All three versions have a circular date window at 4:30 but it’s small and (somewhat) color matched so it can be easy to overlook.

The new Marinemasters come with Seiko’s slim calibre 6L37, basically a diving version of the 6L35. Why they needed to differentiate it as a diving movement, not sure, but you do get a movement that beats at 28,800 vph and has a 45 hour power reserve. Seiko claims it’s regulated to +15 to -10 seconds per day. All three versions come on a new stainless steel bracelet with ellipse-shaped links with mirror-finished, dual-curved surfaces.

The new Seiko Prospex Marinemaster SJE097, SJE099 and SJE101 will be be exclusive to Seiko Boutiques, starting in December 2023, and then will be available at select retail partners worldwide in January 2024. The 100 year nniversary SJE097 is limited to 1,000 pieces, the other two are part of the permanent collection. All three are priced at €3,400. See more on the Seiko website.

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The Oris ProPilot X Caliber 400 'Laser' Uses Actual Lasers To Create A Very Unique Dial

If you religiously follow online forums, it might seem to you that the Oris ProPilot X collection, which was introduced in 2022, has caused quite a stir and has not been accepted as a darling of the brand. Especially earlier this year, when Oris introduced the Kermit version of the watch which has a bright green dial with Kermit that shows up in the date window once a month. I’ll just say I love the ProPilot X line. And I might like the watch that they just introduced at Dubai Watch Week even more than the Kermit. This is the ProPilot X ‘Laser’, a fully titanium watch that uses lasers to get impossible colors on the dial.

You get the familiar ProPilot X watch here, a 39mm titanium case, fitted with dome-shaped sapphire crystals on both the front and caseback, and a matching titanium bracelet. Inside the watch is the Oris in-house Calibre 400 which keeps the watch running for up to 120 hours continuously. This movement was heavily criticised when it was first introduced for a number of quality issues, but it seems that they have all been straightened out by now. A novelty for the movement is the lack of a a date window that’s usually at 6 o’clock.

Then there’s a dial. Oris has teamed up with a Zurich research lab to give color to their titanium dial without actually applying any color. The titanium is hit with lasers at different wavelengths that then manipulates the surface to split up light into its component parts to create a rainbow effect depending on where you view the watch from. It looks absolutely incredible. Another laser treatment is used to form the indices, minute track, and dial text, giving it a 3D effect.

Pricing for the new ProPilot X ‘Laser’ might be questionable for some, acceptable to others. While the regular dial version comes in at $4,300, this one is priced at $5,200. Sure, it’s cool tech, but is the new cool dial worth almost $1,000? You decide. See more on the Oris website.

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Longines Shrinks Down The Legend Diver To 39mm And Introduces New Dial Colors

There hasn’t been much update to the Longines Legend Diver line over the past couple of months/years, which is a bit of the shame as it seems now that Longines was one of the first major watchmakers to start making heavily vintage-inspired divers way back in what, 2007, a trend that many have jumped on since. Sure, there were some majorly cool color updates, but nothing major. Now, Longines is rectifying that, makings sure that they stay current with the trends and are shrinking down the Legend Diver to 39mm and giving it a black or blue lacquer dial.

Based on a design from 1959, the Legend Diver was originally a Super-Compressor-style diver that measured 42mm wide, while the new case comes in at 39mm wide, 12.7mm thick and with a 47mm lug-to-lug. You still have a closed case back, 300 meters of water resistance and two crowns, one to set the time and one to manipulate the bidirectional rotating internal bezel. On the dial pretty much everything remains the same, just with no date and the addition of lacquer dials. I can’t wait to see a green lacquer one, because you know that’s coming.

Inside the watch is Longines’ ETA-based L888.6. It’s an automatic movement with 72 hours of power reserve and a silicon balance spring. It comes with COSC certification and it’s an ISO 6425-compliant dive watch. The choice of bracelets and straps is amazing. You can get either dial with a really nice full steel tapered bracelet or you can pair the blue dial with a beautiful nylon NATO-style strap while the black can come on a vintage-style brown leather.

The watches are joining the regular Longines collection and a priced at $3,000 on a strap or $3,200 on the steel bracelet. See more on the Longines website.

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Ming Blows Dubai Watch Week Away With Two Beautiful Special Editions

My, my, what a month the indie watch brand Ming has been having. First they introduced a watch that smashed all records for being the lightest wristwatch out there, then just the other day they introduced a stunningly beautiful fully gold watch, a first precious metal for them. Now, at Dubai Watch Week, they are unveiling two more stunning creations, the Ming 29.01 Dubai Edition and 37.08 Sand.

The 29.01 Dubai Edition is based on the Ming 29 series, which started in early 2023, with a worldtimer movement made for them by Schwarz-Etienne. It came in a 40mm grade 5 titanium case with those stunning twisted lugs. The Dubai Edition takes that base and plays with the dial. Well, crystal, as the majority of the dial is printed on it. This version gets the world cities printed in HyCeram ceramic Super-LumiNova in Arabic script and you get sapphire hands, which appear suspended in the air over the 24-hour disc, also filled with Super-LumiNova. Ming incorporated a third ring to differentiate cities accommodating daylight savings time.

This version is also powered by the Schwarz-Etienne for Ming calibre ASE 222 tungsten micro-rotor movement. The movement’s bridges are coated with rose gold to distinguish this special Dubai edition. The watch comes on an Elastogator strap which has an upper made of 100% rubber-based material mimicking the look of alligator, and an Alcantara linig.

Limited to 25 pieces, the Ming 29.01 Dubai Edition is priced at CHF 22,000. Orders open at 1 PM GMT on November 16, 2023, requiring a 50% deposit And deliveries starting in Q3-2024. See it on the Ming website.

If one is good, two is better. The new Ming 37.08 Sand comes in the 37 series stainless steel case which measures 38mm wide, 10.9mm thick and with a 44.5mm lug-to-lug. The case features a domed sapphire crystal on both sides, coated with double-sided anti-reflective coating, and is water-resistant up to 100m.

Ming takes inspiration for the dial from “seabed ripples in the shallow, calm water just before the tide line and golden sun on windblown powder, flying over the desert”. While that sounds dreamy, it looks even better. The pattern is stamped into a brass dial which gets coarse-blasted, galvanized and treated with a coloured lacquer to achieve the desired sandy hue.

To keep price much lower than the 29.01, Ming uses the manually-wound Sellita SW210.M1 in this watch, but decorates it with anthracite skeletonized bridges with contrast rhodium circular brushing. The watch comes on a grey calf strap from Jean Rousseau.

500 pieces of the Ming 37.08 Sand will be made and it’s priced at CHF 3,950. Orders open at 1 PM GMT on November 16, 2023, requiring a 50% deposit at the time of order and deliveries are expected in January 2024. See more of it on the Ming website.

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Timex Introduces a Trio of Watches Inspired by the Art of Keith Haring

While it seems that Basquiat’s work is reaching it’s pop cultural peak just about now, his 80’s New York colleague Keith Haring saw his peak in the late 90s and early 2000s when his simplified figures were essential decoration in mid-tier sitcoms and dorm rooms across America. While maybe not as recognizable at this moment in time, Haring is still one of the greatest American artists. Now Timex is honoring the artist with three new watches.

Inspired by Haring’s early work of white graffiti on dark subway tiles, these three watches have a striking contrast of black-and-white. First up is the Timex x Keith Haring Easy Reader which measures 38mm wide and features an INDIGLO backlight, quartz movement, mineral glass crystal, and a 30 meter water-resistant design. It has a strap that features Haring’s work.

Next up is the Timex x Keith Haring T80, digital watch that’s equipped with a chronograph, daily alarm, and month, day, and date display for practicality. There’s an acrylic crystal and a resin case, again with a custom strap. Last is the Timex x Keith Haring Q Timex which comes in the Q case that measures 38mm wide. Timex used the dial of this watch as blank slate for Keith Haring’s work to shine through. The Q Timex is equipped with a quartz movement and an acrylic crystal.

All three references are available now via the Timex website and other authorized Timex channels with the T80 coming in at $89, the Easy Reader at $99, and the Q retailing for $199. See more on the Timex website.

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MB&F HM11 Architect Is The Latest Unbelievable Time Machine From The House That Max Büsser and Friends Built

Very few watchmakers show of concept watches. Most just release a watch into the public. Even rarer are those who show off a concept almost 6 years before they actually release the watch. And yet, that’s exactly what the quirky people at MB&F did. Back in 2018 they showed of a wild concept that featured architectural inspirations and one of the strangest displays of time for the brand. Which says a lot for MB&F. Now the concept is becoming reality with the MB&F HM11 Architect.

The HM11 is obviously inspired by bubble houses, a mid-century trend of building spherical houses with organic shapes that particularly took hold in Switzerland as a rebellion to utilitarian and brutalist architecture before it. It comes in a 42mm wide titanium case, split into five areas - a central hub houses the flying tourbillon and four parabolic chambers around the edges that represent the rooms of a house.

Each of those four has a distinct function. One features a knurled edge with a sapphire glass window and the MB&F battle axe logo in centre. This is the crown of the watch. 90 degrees to the left of the crown is the main time display. It consists of red hour and minute hands with a 12-hour display represented by a series of orbs. Next up from that is the power reserve dial which features a single red hand and five orbs of increasing size that give an approximation of how much power reserve is left. The movement itself has a 96-hour power reserve and can be wound via two methods. It has an automatic rotor but is also wound by rotating the entire body of the watch while you’re wearing it. How freaking amazing is that?

The rotation of the entire assembly is also necessary to allow you to orientate the display you want to see towards you. It clicks into place in interval of 45 degrees, so you can have a single display facing you or stop it at a mid-point to see two displays at angles. The final display is, for some bizarre reason, a mechanical thermometer which uses a bimetallic strip mechanism attached to a hand to display the current temperature.

The watch comes in two colorways - a blue PVD coating on the skeletonised bridges that are visible through the sapphire glass while or the same thing, but rendered in 5N rose gold. Each variant will be made in 25 pieces.

The price is set at CHF 198,000. See more on the MB&F website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands on with the Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Primera Dama

2/

A review of the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Estrowerk’s Estro One is a combination of elements that shouldn’t work together, but merge to make something interesting

There are two key elements that make the Estro One an oddity: the dial layout, and the case design. I keep a list of watches — both models and types — to help focus my purchases and avoid impulsiveness. I assure you that nowhere on this list did I make a note for a futuristic, sci-fi-styled regulator. Taking an esoteric display format as the basis for forward-looking timepieces is a bold move, and I can’t help but think that the team at Estrowerk knows this, as they’ve leaned heavily into the anachronism, and to great effect. Read more on the Time Bum website.

⏲️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

• Just the other day I caught Capote, the movie on TV. It reminded me how incredible Philip Seymour Hoffman was. In this beautiful essay at The Paris Review, Richard Deming looks at addiction as a “disease of the lonely.” Is loneliness a precondition of addiction, a byproduct, or both?

• One woman died on an Alaska mayor’s property. Then another. No one has ever been charged. You’ve got to love when true crime runs right into a story of local political corruption. Alleged, of course.

• Have you played the game or seen the TV show Last of Us? If you have, you might want to skip this piece on flesh eating fungus that is spreading across the United States. Even if you haven’t seen them, this story is so horrific you might want to skip it all together.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

The most remote classic of The FIFTY, The Polar Star is an iconic ski line. Set on the Arctic island of Baffin, the Polar Star Couloir is aesthetic, breath-taking couloir set among an island of ice, Polar Bears and towering granite walls. Joining up with Cody Townsend on his attempt to ski "The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America" is one of the world's best ski mountaineers and steep skiers, Vivian Bruchez. Though the goal of the journey is to ski The Polar Star, a plethora of steep, challenging and beautiful ski lines await in Baffin...and a lesson in just what makes Vivian one of the world's best, comes to light.

💵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 

• NEW WATCH FOR SALE: 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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