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- Seiko Revives The Legendary Rally Divers, Piaget Brings Back Flamboyant 80s Icon, The Polo 79, GS Continues Spring Drive Celebration With Red Sport GMT, New From Cuervo Y Sobrinos And Bulgari
Seiko Revives The Legendary Rally Divers, Piaget Brings Back Flamboyant 80s Icon, The Polo 79, GS Continues Spring Drive Celebration With Red Sport GMT, New From Cuervo Y Sobrinos And Bulgari
An issue full of recreations of old models might be boring, but these are just great
Vuk Radic
February 06, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I am completely and deathly in love with the Piaget Polo 79 and you will not be able to change my mind. You can try, but come on, look at it…
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In this issue:
The Legendary Seiko Rally Divers Get A Fantastic Modern Seiko 5 Sports Reinterpretation
Piaget Brings Back A Flamboyant All-Gold 80s Icon, The Piaget Polo 79
Grand Seiko Continues Spring Drive Celebration With ‘Morning Glow of Hotaka Peaks’ GMT Inspired by Japanese Sunrise
Cuervo y Sobrinos Continues To Pay Tribute To The First Formula One World Champion, Nino Farina
Bulgari Celebrates 10 Years Of The Lucea Line With Beautiful Green Malachite Marquetry And Sunbeam MOP Dials
Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 2 seconds
Number of dragon-themed watches this Year (so far, and including today): 19
👂What’s new
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Back in the 60s and 70s, Seiko ruled the world with their simple and affordable dive watches. They were easily accessible, not particularly capable of achieving depths (50-70 meters) and came in a huge array of colors and patterns. Among them the absolute coolest were the Rally Divers, a series of divers that featured bezel inserts that evoked a checkered racing flag, an interesting mix of racing and diving. There were dozens of these watches, but it wasn’t until last year that Seiko reissued a Rally Diver as part of the modern Seiko 5 Sports in the form of the SRPK09. While still having the checkered bezel, it was a bit more subdued. No more, Seiko is now introducing the SRPK65K1 and SRPK67K1, two full fledged modern Rally Divers that are just as cool as the old ones.
Both versions use the SKX-style case that the Seiko 5 Sports has become so very well known for. This means they come in stainless steel, measure 42.5mm wide, a bit chunky at 13.4mm thick and has a 46mm lug-to-lug. On top is Seiko’s Hardlex mineral crystal which a lot of problem have an issue with, but I tend to not smash my wrist into every door I see so it’s not much of a problem. Water resistance is upped from the original to 100 meters.
That’s where the similarities stop. First up is the SRPK65 which is based on 1969 Seiko 5 6119-7173 and its blue dial. The modern version gets a sunburst blue dial and an angled black and white rehaut with luminous dots at every hour. The checkered flag patter on the bezel matches the blue of the dial. The hour and minute hands look fantastic as they are recreations of the original hands, just like the orange seconds hand.
Then there’s the SRPK67, based on the very famous 6106-8227/9. It comes with a matte black dial that has an instantly recognisable white and light blue roulette style minute track along with a black checkered bezel and angled black rehaut. The hands are, once again, recreations of the original and look fantastic with their blocks of lume that don’t extend all the way to the tip.
Inside both watches is Seiko's caliber 4R36, a self-winding movement with its day-date complication displayed at three o'clock. The movement beats at 21,600vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. Don’t expect much from this movement, as accuracy is rated at +45 / -35 seconds per day. Both versions come on a stainless steel three-row bracelet with a three-fold clasp.
Both the SRPK65 and the SRPK67 are global releases and are not limited editions. Both versions are also priced the same - €350, which I just love. I’m getting one for sure and instantly throwing it on a vintage-looking rally-style leather strap. See more on the Seiko website.
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Looking back on Martin Scorsese’s career from today, you might find it surprising that not all of his movies were considered masterpieces. Even those we love today. Remember how everybody was shocked that his first Oscar win came off of The Daparted, arguably not his best crime movie, and not movies like The Goodfellas or Casino. That’s partially because critics weren’t exactly huge fans of those two movies when they came out. They panned Casino in particular, calling out its art direction and costumes, piling on accusations of it being kitsch. Of course, the exact opposite ended up being true, as Casino will go down as one of the best examples of mid-70s to mid-80s Las Vegas fashion represented on screen.
In the movie, Robert DeNiro wears some completely exquisite watches. Instantly recognisable was a watch from the now defunct Bueche Girod, a watch that is the 1970s in the form of a timepiece, also known for its link to Frank Sinatra. But as the movie moves to the 80s, DeNiro’s character starts wearing a gold Piaget Polo, a watch that best describes the 80s. Piaget has revived the Polo line in 2016 as a sports watch, but today they’re introducing a version of the original Polo first released in 1979 called the Piaget Polo 79. It’s an incredibly gaudy, incredibly cool and incredibly expensive exercise to see if Piaget can compete with the likes of the modern Vacheron 222.
The new Piaget Polo 79 comes in a 38mm wide and 7.35mm thick case made out of 18-karat yellow gold. It’s bigger and thicker than the original, and according to Piaget just the case weighs in at almost 200 grams, making it a hefty piece. It has an integrated bracelet that’s also made out of gold and blends in seamlessly with the case, forming one solid gold band around your arm. Helping with the seamlessness are two of Polo 79s signature details - a solid gold dial with almost no markings and polished gold horizontal lines called gadroons that cover the entire surface of the watch and bracelet, interrupting the brushed finish of the rest of the gold.
The dial is simple, an extension of the rest of the Polo: brushed gold and polished gadroons under a flat crystal. There’s nothing interupting the sea of gold other than the Piaget logo at 12 o’clock and tone-on-tone minute track with pearl-like dots of varying sizes, which looks amazing. Like the original, the Polo 79 has just two dauphine-style hands made of brushed gold and no seconds hand.
Inside is Piaget's ultra-thin caliber 1200P1, an automatic micro-rotor caliber measuring 2.35mm. It beats at a 28,800vph beat rate and has a 44 hour power reserve.
It being a solid hunk of gold, there’s not much surprise in the price. It’s €80,000. Yes, that’s a lot. But just look at this watch. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s also hinting that I might be right when I predicted that we might see more and more 80s watch revivals. I like that. See more on the Piaget website.
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Yesterday, I wrote about Grand Seiko celebrating 20 years of their revolutionary Spring Drive technology being available in automatic form and globally sold. They released a beautiful Pink Snowflake watch to celebrate this occasion, but they’re not stopping there. Another celebratory watch is the Grand Seiko Sport Spring Drive GMT SBGE305 with a great looking red dial.
Unlike the Pink Sowflake which mixed and matched the best of Spring Drive watches from history, this one is based on the familiar Sport GMT. This means you get a stainless steel case that’s 40.5mm wide, a hefty 14.7mm thick and a lug-to-lug of 48.5mm. This is a beefy case that has long lugs, a significant black ceramic bezel, brushed surfaces along with Zaratsu polished details. Water resistance is rated at 200 meters.
What’s new is the dial, which comes in a beautiful shade of red. It’s Grand Seiko, so you know it’s nature inspired. This one is reminiscent of the “vibrant sunrise that bathes the steep slopes of the Hotaka mountain range in summer.” The markers are applied and with polished edges, and on the outskirts of the dial is a chapter ring featuring a 24-hour index displaying odd numerals, divided into two sections – one in dark red with silver numbers and dots and the other in silver with black markings. The GMT hand has a large lume arrow and there’s a power reserve indicator between 8 and 9 o’clock.
Inside is the 9R66 Spring Drive movement which has a traveller’s GMT function which allows the adjustment of the local hour hand in one hour increments. The movement is rated to +/- 1 second per day and has a power reserve of 72 hours. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet closed with a three-fold clasp and push button release.
The new Grand Seiko Sport Spring Drive GMT SBGE305 is limited to 1,300 pieces and is priced at €6,600. See more on the Grand Seiko website.
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Imagine this. There’s a small repair shop in Havana, Cuba that fixes local watches and clocks. They’re growing slowly but steadily, and have become an importer of watches like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Rolex to Cuba, where customers include people like Caruso, Gary Cooper, Hemingway and Einstein. Pretty soon they start making their own watches but they didn’t survive the quartz crisis. In the 1990s, the brand was revived and it’s now based in Capolago, Switzerland and has carved a niche with models that lean heavily on vintage design cues and a touch of Cuban flamboyance. These are very interesting, very niche watches and I love them more and more. Now they’re introducing a new addition to their line of watches which pay tribute to the world’s first official Formula One World Champion, Emilio Giuseppe “Nino” Farina.
The first tribure to Farina came out last year and was universally adored. The new Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Nino Farina II builds on the same basis with new colors. It comes in a 40mm wide and 12.45mm thick stainless steel case tat has very pronounced angled lugs. It has rectangular pushers and a double-curved sapphire crystal.
The dial has a silver base with incredible colored details. The sloped flange is painted light blue with a tachymeter scale. The three subdials are recessed and snailed - the 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock and the 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and running seconds at 3 o’clock. The central chronograph seconds hand is baton shaped and painted green, like the quadrifoglio that Nino had painted on his Alfa Romeo race car. The running seconds hand is leaf-shaped, in harmony with the nickel leaf-shaped and Super-Luminova-treated hour and minutes hands.
Inside is the automatic winding CYS 8129 calibre which is based on the familiar ETA 2894. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 48 hour power reserve. You can see the movement through the transparent caseback, where you’ll notice a Cuervo y Sobrinos decorated rotor. The watch comes on a brown perforated calf strap with great looking light blue stitching.
The Historiador Nino Farina II comes as a limited edition of 158 pieces and comes in a humidor box, because Cuba, right? The price is set at CHF 4,000. See more on the Cuervo y Sobrinos website.
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OK, I was sure that I was done with releases from the LVMH Watch Week 2024, but it seems that I was wrong. Turns out Bulgari updated their Lucea collection, just as the 10th anniversary of the introduction of this very nice line is coming around. The two versions of these round, highly decorated, watches come with two new incredible dials.
The case has been slightly redesigned and it measures 33mm wide with a thickness of 9.16m. The watches come in a two-tone steel and rose gold finish, with a softer and more rounded bracelet than previous versions that has a satin-finished rose gold center link. The bezel on both watches comes with a polished rose gold finish and it’s set with brilliant-cut diamonds.
So, the two dials are the mother-of-pearl, which is here made using the intarsia technique. This means that the MOP is cut into elongated triangles to simulate the sun’s rays and they are then arranged on the dial to create a sunburst pattern. It looks really amazing. But even more amazing is the green malachite dial which is constructed using stone marquetry where small pieces are cut by hand and assembled like a Roman mosaic on the dial. Round brilliant-cut diamonds represent the hour markers and are claw-set in gold square appliques.
Inside both watches is Bulgari’s movement that’s based on an ETA 2892 which beats at 28,800vph and has a 42 hour power reserve.
The mother-of-pearl Bulgari Lucea is priced at €17,200, and the green malachite version at €19,200. See more on the Bulgari website.
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
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⚙️Watch Worthy
A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually likewatches
The Okami’s dial also comes with many angles and flat surfaces. Just like the rehaut and fixed bezel, it has an octagonal shape where the top and bottom sides are longer than the other ones, giving the impression that the watch stretches sideways. The applied hour markers, complete with black surrounds, are slightly recessed within the rehaut and because of the width of the dial, those found on the right and left side of the dial are further away from the hands. The hour and minute hands have an almost skyscraper-like profile thanks to their imposing width and narrower tip, while the seconds hand has a more classic appearance with a hexagonal counterweight.
As mentioned earlier, the Okami comes in three dial colours, all three of which we’ve included in this review. First, we have the Neo Tokyo, which is characterized by a rich purple colour and a dramatic dégradé effect, as well as vertical brushing. The second version, the Kurayami, comes with a black dial, blacked-out hands, as well as a vertical brushing. (Namica mixed C3 SuperLuminova with black paint for this version, while the other two come with BGW9 or C3.) The third version, called Turbo Blue, showcases a matte, neon blue colour that really pops, especially when paired with the DLC case. The latter is, at least to me, the most visually striking of all three dials.
⏲️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
Jennifer Pan’s Revenge: The inside story of a golden child, the killers she hired, and the parents she wanted dead
Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice were teenage Ren & Stimpy fans who wanted to make cartoons. They say they were preyed upon by the creator of the show, John Kricfalusi, who admitted to having had a 16-year-old girlfriend when approached by BuzzFeed News. A deeply creepy story.
Rod McKuen was the best-selling poet in American history. He sold 60 million books and 100 million records. How is it possible that practically nobody today knows his name?
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
I’m not particularly into Teddy Baldassarre videos, even though I deeply respect what he has done with his YouTube channel. However, his visits to watchmakers are exquisitely done and I love sharing them here. This most recent one is his visit to Nomos.
💵Pre-loved precision
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-Vuk
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