Seiko Keeps It Classy With New Presage Craftsmanship; Zenith And Revolution Complete Cover Girl Trilogy; Alpina And Fratello Team Up; Momentum Gives The UDT A Raw Steel Case; A Stunning ArtyA

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m going to ask for forgiveness outright for any mistakes I made in this issue. I’ve been fighting a horrible case of food poisoning (at least I hope it is, because I don’t want to see actual food poisoning if it can get any worse), and I barely put this together. Still, a couple of great watches.

In this issue:

• Seiko Keeps It Classic With Roman Numerals And White Enamel Dial On The Presage Craftsmanship SPB495

• Zenith Teams Up With Revolution To Complete Trilogy of ‘Cover Girls’ With Carbon Chronomaster Revival A3818

• Alpina Teams Up With Fratello For A Very Nice Alpiner Extreme Regulator

• Momentum Gives The Iconic UDT A Raw Stainless Steel Case, Still With A Great Price

• ArtyA Has A Stunning Purity Stairway to Heaven HMS Wavy Ruby For A Very Special Valentine’s Day

👂What’s new

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Seiko Keeps It Classic With Roman Numerals And White Enamel Dial On The Presage Craftsmanship SPB495

The cool thing about being a watch brand the size of Seiko is that you can have as many collections and series as you want. In fact, you can even segment deeper and introduce sub-collections for varying needs. Such is the case with Presage. They have the Pressage Classic for the most classic of watches, Cocktail Time for the more quirky ones, Sharp Edge for the angular cases, Style 60 for the retro inspired watches… Within the Presage line, they also have the Craftsmanship Series which are all very elegant and simple watches, but ones that show off the best of Japanese crafts. The latest addition to the collection is the Seiko Presage SPB495 with a white enamel dial and made to be an homage to Seiko’s first-ever watch, the Timekeeper from 1895.

While the Presage Craftsmanship Series keeps things classy looking, the dimensions are more… sporty? The steel case measures 40.2mm wide, 12.1mm thick and with a 48mm lug-to-lug. It has a brushed and polished surface, with an additional hard coat on top. The plain bezel holds down a sapphire crystal and water resistance is good at 100 meters.

The dial is a callback of the Timekeeper. They do so with a glossy white enamel base that are contrasted with a black classic railway minute track on the periphery and very elongated Roman numerals. At 6 o’clock is what looks like to be a small seconds display, but actually isn’t. It’s the very strange 24-hour indicator. It doesn’t give you a second time zone. It just shows the local time but in a 24-hour format. But at least the leaf hands are nicely blued.

Inside is the not-often-used 6R5H which beats at 21,600vph and has a 72 hour power reserve. Seiko claims accuracy of -15/+25 seconds per day. The watch comes on a black leather strap, closed by a three-fold clasp.

The Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series Enamel SPB495 is not a limited edition and is priced at €1,500. See more on the Seiko website.

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Zenith Teams Up With Revolution To Complete Trilogy of ‘Cover Girls’ With Carbon Chronomaster Revival A3818

There’s a pretty famous blue Zenith El Primero A3818 that’s been known among collectors as the Cover Girl. The name comes from the fact that this watch, a very desirable vintage Zenith, was on the cover of Manfred Rössler’s iconic book Zenith: Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865. Apart from being a desirable vintage watch, the Cover Girl has also been the subject of a collaboration between Zenith and the watch publication Revolution. In 2020, Revolution and Zenith released the Chronomaster Revival in steel with a look very much like the A3818. In 2022, they followed it up with the much lighter Chronomaster Revival A3818 “Airweight Cover Girl” in titanium. And now, we’re getting the Zenith x Revolution Chronomaster Revival A3818 Cover Girl in the lightest of forged carbon.

As far as the case of this watch, it remains very much the same. Only in a different material. The core is made out of titanium, with a forged carbon case on the outside, measuring 37mm wide, 12.5mm thick and with a 47mm lug-to-lug. It keeps a very retro shape, just like the original, with flat surfaces and facets. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal. Out back you’ll find a PVD coated grade 5 titanium caseback, which helps keep things super light — 55 grams on the velcro and just 59 grams on the bracelet. Water resistance is not that great at 50 meters.

There’s more carbon on the dial, which gives the watch a fully monochrome look, while sacrificing a bit of legibility along the way. Around the edge of the dial is a spectacularly cool seconds track that I’ve seen called a shark tooth track for its undulating marker size. Otherwise is a standard tri-compax layout with two-toned sub-dials, a date aperture at 4:30 and lume all over. There’s an additional cool thing — there are three versions of the watch. Two feature Arabic numerals and a choice of two straps, while one comes on a velcro strap with Hindu Arabic numerals to celebrate the launch of Revolution Arabia.

Inside, you’ll find the El Primero Calibre 400 that beats at 5Hz and can measure down to 1/10th of a second. Power reserve is a decent 50 hours. And then we have the bracelet options. The velcro strap is cool, with carbon fibre hardware. But the show stopper is a Gay Frères-like ladder-style bracelet that’s also made out of forged carbon fiber. It looks incredible.

The Zenith x Revolution Chronomaster Revival A3818 Cover Girl Carbon is, of course, very limited. 150 pieces will be made of the version on the velcro strap and with Arabic numerals, 50 pieces will be made of the Hindu Arabic numerals version and only 10 pieces will be made with the ladder-style bracelet. Pricing for the two velcro-strap versions is €12,870. The ladder bracelet one, however, is priced at a pretty outstanding €28,400. Zenith and Revolution note that this is a very difficult bracelet to manufacture, which explains the low volume and high price. Sure, it looks difficult to make. But €16,000 per bracelet? See more of the watches on the Revolution website.

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Alpina Teams Up With Fratello For A Very Nice Alpiner Extreme Regulator

Of all possible collaborations a watch brand can do, I appreciate the ones done with watch media the most. And there’s a pretty simple reason why — the editors and owners of watch media are all watch nerds so they usually nail it. Take, for example, this latest collaboration between Alpina and the online watch magazine Fratello, the Alpiner Extreme Regulator. It’s a super interesting mashup of an extremely sporty go anywhere, do anything watch and one of the most storied of complications, the regulator.

On the outside, it’s a super rugged watch. Made out of stainless steel, the watch measures 41mm wide, 12mm thick and has a 49.5mm lug-to-lug. The case has a slightly square cushion-shape with a round bezel on top with exposed screws. The bezel surrounds a flat sapphire crystal. The satin-brushed finish is contrasted by highly polished facets and details. Water resistance is a very solid 200 meters.

The dial is where the majority of collaboration is visible and where you get the iconic regulator setup. Way back, when watchmakers used to set the time on clocks on a regular basis, they were known to use the regulator layout of their own personal watches. This layout splits up the time telling hands into three separate segments, making it super easy to glance at the right time. This is hardly ever seen on sports watches, making this Alpina collab all the cooler. You still get all the elements of the Alpiner Extreme, including the heavily patterned dial with a bunch of small triangles, the applied and faceted hour markers and a sporty handset. Only now, the hours are displayed in the sub-dial at 10, the seconds in the sub-dial at 6, while the minutes are shown by the central hand which gets a bright orange paint hob which pays homage to Fratello’s home country of the Netherlands.

Inside is the calibre AL-650, which is a modified Sellita SW461. Beating at 4Hz, it has a 38 hour power reserve. The movement features a black rotor, giving it a nice look. The watch comes on a really nice three-link stainless steel bracelet that has the same finish as the case.

The new Alpina × Fratello Alpiner Extreme Regulator is a limited edition of 99 pieces and is available only at Fratello for the next two weeks. Price is set at €2,062, without VAT. See more on the Fratello website.

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Momentum Gives The Iconic UDT A Raw Stainless Steel Case, Still With A Great Price

Read this newsletter long enough, and you’ll know how much I appreciate an ana-digi watch. The Omega x33, Breitling Aerospace and the Seiko SNJ025 "Arnie" are just some of these darlings that I completely adore. But the more you dig into the world of ana-digi watches, the more you fall in love with the original couple of ana-digi models. Watches like the Chronosport UDT, built with movements sourced from the Aerospace predecessor, the Breitling Pluton. Last year, Canada based Momentum (run by Simon Pennell, whose family used to own Chronosport) revived the UDT, which found its place on my best-of-the-year list. Now, they’re updating the UDT with an untreated steel case.

Last year, the UDT came out in a black ion-plated stainless steel case, which is now swapped out for an untreated stainless steel case. It still measures the same, 42mm wide, 11.7mm thick and has a 47mm lug-to-lug. The case is Monnin shaped, vertically brushed, with a sapphire crystal on top surrounded by a unidirectional bezel with a matte ceramic insert with a 60-minute timer. While vintage ana-digi watches are known to be a bit fragile, this thing is bulletproof, with a screw down crown and pushers and 200 meters of water resistance.

Not many changes to the dial, which has been close to the original even last year. You get a black base, simple printed markings, simple hands and a horizontal display at the bottom of the dial. Only everything is a little bit updated. The hands are now thicker and filled with lume, the analog seconds hand is gone and the display has been made larger. One new thing is you get a choice of markers — you can either opt for Arabic numerals or for stick markers.

Inside, you’ll find the same movement as the previous version, the Epson/Seiko AB12A. It has solar charging, a second time zone, a chronograph, an alarm and, perhaps, most importantly, the ability to have the analog hands sync with the digital time display which was an incredible chore on the older ana/digi watches to get right. You also get a choice of straps — either a black or green FKM rubber strap or a stainless steel bracelet which has polished center links.

The price remains the same as the black release, $369 if you get it on rubber or you can opt for the steel for $399. See more on the Momentum website.

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ArtyA Has A Stunning Purity Stairway to Heaven HMS Wavy Ruby For A Very Special Valentine’s Day

Over the past year or so, I’ve written about ArtyA many, many times. And most of those were watches set in incredible cases completely made out of sapphire crystal - an incredibly laborious and complex manufacturing process - some of which are so advanced they change color depending on the surrounding temperature. But then last year they introduced the Purity Stairway To Heaven HMS Wavy which indicated they were going for a much simpler take on sapphire cases. Well, I was wrong. Because there’s nothing simple about this incredible ArtyA Purity Stairway to Heaven HMS Wavy Ruby they just announced. I hope you have a very, very special Valentine’s in your life.

Technically, this watch is made out of a single piece of ruby. Only, not a natural ruby. This is a lab-grown crystal, with the same makeup as the natural ruby, including the addition of chromium for that deep red color. Only, there are no inclusions here, making it absolutely perfect. The case measures 40mm wide and 13mm thick, with short lugs that. It should be noted that the watch comes in a special box that has a UV light in it, pulsing in the rhythm of a heartbeat, making the entire red watch look like a beating heart. Very cool. But what I always found fascinating with ArtyA sapphire watches is the fact that they are water resistant. You won’t go diving with them, but they can stand 30 meters. Incredible.

Since this is a fully transparent sapphire watch, there’s no dial to speak of, so the hour and minute track is engraved into the top crystal. The sharp hands are quite obviously made out of yellow gold and are a perfect contrast to the stark movement inside. Speaking of that movement, it’s made with the help of Télôs Watch. The titular stairway is formed by a series of ascending bridges that support the balance wheel at 3 o’clock, itself a beating heart of the watch. The other side of the dial contains an asymmetrical time display with hours and minutes, including offset markers to compensate for the hand positions. It may not be the easiest watch on which to read the time, but that’s not really the point. The twin mainspring barrels provide the movement with 72 hours of power reserve at a 4 Hz beat rate, and they’re arranged in parallel for even power delivery.

While most ArtyA models are heavily limited, this Purity Stairway to Heaven HMS Wavy Ruby is a unique piece and will be on sale starting Valentine’s Day. And if you do want to gift it to a Valentine, it will set you back CHF 74,900. See more on the ArtyA 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

• Joseph Firmage helped create today’s digital economy. But his life kind of took a turn. These days, he’s being sued by antigravity-machine investors, convincing people he has been visited by aliens and claiming to be hounded by a Jamaican wire-fraud gang, with a guy pretending to be Steven Mnuchin along for the ride. A wild story.

• What should you do with a family heirloom that does not belong to your own family? Kevin Chroust decides that the answer is to give it back. Determined to reunite a Japanese sword his grandfather took home after World War II with its original owner, Chroust begins a quest to track down the Japanese family it came from. Starting with internet searches during the pandemic and ending with a momentous trip to Japan it’s a fascinating journey.

• Parabon NanoLabs, a company that focuses on making “breakthrough products” using DNA, sells a phenotyping service to law enforcement agencies to aid in criminal investigations. The program, called Snapshot, creates a single composite image, which is marketed as “a tool to generate investigative leads.” (According to Parabon, this system “‘accurately’ predicts not only eye, hair, and skin color, but also face shape.”) Susan Walsh, a top expert in the field of forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP), says that Parabon’s product was rushed to market and is fundamentally flawed.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Have you ever wanted to know the basics of flying the MiG-23. Well, thankfully, YouTube has a basic introductory guide to that. So you might as well start learning.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk