Seiko's New Sports GMT Lineup For The U.S. Looks Great, Timex Works With seconde/seconde/, Louis Vuitton's Collaboration With Rexhepi Is Groundbreaking, New Watches From Raymond Weil and Maen

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Another day, another Seiko. Once again 😄 But besides the Seikos, two to keep your eye on - the Timex is a cheap way to get a seconde/seconde/ watch and the Louis Vouitton x Rexhep Rexhepi might be the most important collaboration in watches ever.

Also, I recently published the inaugural sixth edition of the newsletter. It was all about the sterile secret watches of MACV-SOG. If you want to tell me what to write about next, subscribe to the Pateron and let me know.

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In this issue:

• Seiko Expands U.S. Exclusive Seiko 5 Sports GMT Lineup With A Subtle Pepsi Reference And Great Yellow Dial

• Timex and seconde/ seconde/ Team Up For Two Tongue-In-Cheek Watches

• Raymond Weil Gives It’s Freelancer Line A Funky 70s Inspired Square Shape And Openwork Dial

• Louis Vuitton Watches Works With Rexhep Rexhepi For The Stunning LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie

• MAEN Launches An Update To Their Skymaster 38 With A New Movement And A Watchfinder Collaboration

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 39 seconds

👂What’s new

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Seiko Expands U.S. Exclusive Seiko 5 Sports GMT Lineup With A Subtle Pepsi Reference And Great Yellow Dial

One wants to ignore Seiko and their never-ending train of incremental releases. But that’s just so impossible to do, as there is no other watch brand out that that consistently puts out great looking, highly functional and mostly affordable pieces. And at the forefront of these three qualities - looks, functionality and low prices - is the Seiko 5 Sports GMT line introduced just over a year ago to great fanfare as the modern version of a SKX GMT. Despite being a year old, this line is expanding probably faster than any other line in Seiko’s catalogue and Seiko introduced a U.S. exclusive trio of watches that each have their own style at great prices.

Right off the bat, all the changes happened on the dial (and one bezel), meaning that the rest of the watch is the same as you've seen before. It’s a polished and brushed stainless steel case that measures 42.5mm wide and 13.6mm thick with a lug-to-lug of 46mm, contributing to the almost square look of the watch. You also get a two-tone black and grey bezel insert and Seiko is still sticking to the Hardlex crystal on top and bottom. A lot of people criticise them for this choice, but at this price point and with everything else you get, I don’t mind it. Lastly, the watch is 100 meter water resistant.

On to the new and exclusive colors. There are three versions of the watch. The SSK021 comes with gold painted ridges on the outside of the bezel and the 24-hour hand, along with a dark grey dial. Then there’s the SSK019 which pays tribute to Pepsi-style GMT watches, but in a much more subdued style. The bezel insert remains black and grey, but you get a thin red and blue chapter ring surrounding the dial, as well as a red GMT hand. While these two versions are relatively discreet, the third release, the SSK017 is the flashiest with a bright yellow dial and a red 24-hour hand.

Inside is the familiar Seiko 4R34 automatic movement that beats at 21,600vph and has a 41-hour power reserve. Don’t expect much accuracy from the movement as Seiko rates it at +45/-35 seconds per day, but do expect it to be robust and easy to service. It’s a caller GMT, meaning that you set the 24-hour hand instead of the 12 hour hand, making ti practical when tracking a second time zone without traveling. All three watches come on a stainless steel brushed and polished Jubilee-style bracelet.

All three versions can be purchased now, only in the U.S., at a recommended price of $475. It’s a shame that these three are U.S. exclusives as there nothing really special about them and all three would sure sell well around the world. For more information, check out the Seiko website. Unfortunately, it’s kind of hard to track them down, so click here for the SSK017, here for the SSK019 and here for the SSK021.

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Timex and seconde/ seconde/ Team Up For Two Tongue-In-Cheek Watches

Watch nicknames are a bit of a silly thing. Like most real nicknames they are, mostly, not given to watches by the manufacturer. That would be considered crude. It’s the (online) watch communities that usually come together to name a particular style of watch. This was cute at first, allowing those in the known to speak a language that people outside of the watch world didn’t really understand and made it easier to talk about watches without rattling of long and illogical reference numbers. But now it seems that more and more watches are given nicknames and it’s becoming a bit overused. The Tuna, Sumo, Pepsi and Rootbeer? Sure. But Kermit, Hulk, Starbucks, Coke, Batman AND Batgirl? I guess… Go for it.

One of the reasons why seconde/seconde/, a brand run by Romaric André, a former financial auditor who has in recent year profiled himself as one of the leading vintage watch customizers, known especially for replacing hands with those of his own design. He is also known for his sense of humor as he regularly takes very serious watches like vintage Pateks and messes with the purists.

Now, seconde/seconde/ has reamed up with Timex to create a limited edition series called “iykyk” standing for “if you know, you know”, as his take on these watches makes a lot of sense if you know what the colloquial nickname of this style of watch is. And it pokes a bit of fun at the names as well.

The “iykyk Episode 1” Timex features a bendy straw graphic acting as a seconds hand because it is mated to the Q Timex which features a Pepsi dial. The barrel-shaped stainless steel case has a diameter of 38mm and a thickness of 11.3mm. It’s powered by a Japanese quartz movement, and there's a battery hatch on the back to accommodate for easy changing.

Episode 2, however, features a comic book-style “SLAP” graphic at the center in place of a second’s hand but is still functional as it spins and has an “s” at one of the protruding points to act as an indicator. The slap, of course, is onomatopoeia for a punch Batman might throw in his classic books, since this piece is styled after the Batman watch. This watch follows the M79 line, sporting a barrel-shaped case with a slightly larger diameter of 40mm, domed acrylic crystal and lume-filled rounded indices. It’s powered by a Miyota M79 movement with 40 hours of power reserve.

Both of these versions are limited to just 500 pieces and I expect them to sell out fast for two reasons - everybody wants to have a seconde/seconde/ watch and everybody wants to have a seconde/seconde/ watch at this price. Episode 1 is priced at just $200, while Episode 2 sells for $300. See both of them on the Timex website. Hopefully there are some left by the time you get there.

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Raymond Weil Gives It’s Freelancer Line A Funky 70s Inspired Square Shape And Openwork Dial

The latest release from Raymond Weil, the Freelancer Calibre RW1212, is an odd watch. Here, try it for yourself - google the name of the watch and see what pops up. Nine times out of ten you will see the exact same watch that is picture here, but it won’t be square. It will be round. It took a bit of digging, as the RW world is a bit difficult to navigate, but this is, in fact, a new watch from Raymond Weil - they have taken their regular, relatively mundane Freelancer Calibre RW1212, and just by playing with the case a bit made it a great homage to 70s watches.

Raymond Weil is mostly known as a legacy name in mass-market luxury timepieces and have only recently started putting out more interesting watches. The Freelancer was one such watch and for years they sold a version of this new watch that came in a case that measured 42.5mm wide with a lug-to-lug height of about 50.5mm. It was an OK watch with an open-worked dial with a bridge right over the opening, mimicking the look of a much more expensive tourbillon. You make up your mind if this is a great feature or something tack to you. I’m leaning a bit towards the latter.

Now, RW is modernizing their Freelancer line which, ironically, means making it retro with a cushion-shaped design. It comes in a 40×40mm stainless steel case with two dial color options - blue and green. Both dials have four distinct areas - a sloped flange ring, a dark green or blue square perimeter that surrounds a lighter green or blue ring with applied markers for the hours and painted for the minutes and finally an internal ring with a asphalt-like texture.

Inside the watch is the RW1212 movement which was developed by Sellita for Raymond Weil. The fact that they worked with Sellita allowed RW to customize the movement to their maximum benefit. It allowed them to place a bridge over the regulation system, allude to the design of many tourbillon watches. It also allows for the escapement to be placed close to the dial of the watch, as opposed to the rear of the watch. That means the viewer does not need to look deep into the window to see the escapement. The movement beats at 4Hz with about 38 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on either a steel bracelet or a green or black leather strap for the green or blue dial version, respectively.

Both colors of the Freelancer Calibre RW1212 are priced at CHF2,495 on the steel bracelet or CHF2,450 on the leather strap. This is quite a price, but just like the bridge over the open work portion, it’s a matter of personal preference. See more on the Raymond Weil website.

4/

Louis Vuitton Watches Works With Rexhep Rexhepi For The Stunning LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie

When Jean Arnault took over the Louis Vuitton watchmaking outfit with the promise of a though revamping, many believed good things were coming. After all, both Arnault and the new LV creative director Pharrell have exceptional taste in watches. However, I doubt anybody predicted that a watch like the one they just released was in the work. LV Watches has teamed up with Akrivia, spearheaded by one of the most important independent watchmakers alive to create the truly stunning LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie.

This is Louis Vuitton’s first ever collaboration, and boy did they come out swinging. Featuring double dials, the Chronographe à Sonnerie comes in a 39.5mm platinum Tambour case with a thickness of just under 12mm. While the front has a tinted sapphire dial that gives a peek into the hand-finished components featuring anglage and black polishing, the back dial presents a traditional white grand feu face reminiscent of first ever Louis Vuitton Watch, the Monterey I, launched in 1988.

The translucent front dial features six gold cubes filled with translucent fired enamel, while the back dial displays elapsed seconds and minutes on two tracks indicated by a central pair of hands and is signed by both the brands – “Louis Vuitton” and “Rexhep Rexhepi”. Interestingly, the front has a very prominent Akrivia sign, with the “v” modified to look like the LV logo.

According to Louis Vuittion, this is the first wristwatch chrono equipped with a sonnerie mechanism for elapsed time. All chronograph functions are controlled by the pusher at two o'clock and each passing minute is marked with a chime from a black-polished steel hammer striking a tempered steel gong. The movement has twin barrels, where one powers the timekeeping and the chronograph, while the second powers the chime – sort of. Rexhepi made it so that the second barrel is also linked to the gear train

This might go down as one of the most important collaborations in history, with the most prominent indie watchmaker pushing one of the largest luxury houses in history to create a watch that is truly special. LV knows it’s special. That’s why it comes in a special LV trunk box painted by hand with a motif inspired by the chronograph scales on the enamel dial. Only 10 of these watches will be made and they will sell for approximately CHF 450,000, without tax. Make sure to click over to the Akrivia website to see all the incredible details of this watch.

5/

MAEN Launches An Update To Their Skymaster 38 With A New Movement And A Watchfinder Collaboration

Kelly Johnson, lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works, supposedly came up with a saying that helped millions of people since them - “keep it simple, stupid”. This principle, often shortened to KISS, means exactly what you think it does: don’t overcomplicate things just for the sake of complication. And it seems to me that Maen watches is playing by this exact playbook - they make simple watches, inspired by the past, very well made and at a very fair price. Now, their sports chronograph line called the Skymaster is getting a third version with some slight updates, some major ones and a collaboration with Watchfinder, a pre-owned watch retailer with an incredibly popular YouTube channel.

All of the Skymasters have the same specs, including a 38mm case that measures 47mm lug-to-lug and a little over 13mm thick. Water resistance is 100 meters, and all references include the same domed sapphire crystal. There are a number of distinct versions of the new update, with a number textures and combinations white and black on the dial, and a “Thunder Gray ” option with a 12 hour bezel that includes subdials divided into red and black sectors. Among the updates that the watch sees is the optional choice of a tachymeter bezel instead of a 12 hour bezel.

But the biggest change comes on the inside. While the Skymaster has been powered by automatic movements, this new version gets a new Sellita SW510Mb manually wound movement which is proven to be an excellent option for microbrand chronographs. The Sellita SW510 is an evolution of the Valjoux 7753 architecture and has a power reserve of over 60 hours.

In addition to the new watches that make up the permanent MKIII collection, Maen has also unveiled a limited edition made in collaboration with Watchfinder. This version is the most vintage-inspired of the bunch with a very nice brownish-red sunray dial that mimics the look of tropical dials.

The Watchfinder version of the watch will be sold only during a limited time, until October 16, after which it won’t be available any more. Pre oreders are open now and the regular offering of the Skymaster MKIII can be purchased at a discounted price of $1,748. Full retail will be $1,840 while the Watchfinder version is priced simply at $1,972. Delivery is expected at the end of June of next year. Btw, that’s an awful long time… I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen such a long time difference between preorder and delivery. See more on the Maen website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands-On with the 40mm Two-Tone TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Watches

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The Zodiac Sea-Chron Gets Put Through Its Paces In The Mediterranean

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Bōken Nomad combines grade 2 titanium and a Swiss-made movement

Like many new microbrands, Bōken was created from a desire to do good in an industry that has only recently become interested in conservation efforts, alongside making great watches, of course. Built with a brushed titanium case and housed in a contemporary cushion shape, the Bōken Nomad takes a premium position within the microbrand realm by being Swiss-made. What is even more commendable, Bōken is pledging to donate £50 for each Nomad sold to the Just One Ocean foundation, an organisation supporting a variety of ocean conservation projects. Read the whole review on Time + Tide.

⏲️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

• One of the better books ever written is Hunter Thompson’s Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail. While no other writer was able to come close to the genius of Thompson’s reporting, I still enjoy the genre of campaign trail coverage. Like this fantastic piece from New York Magazine, following the candidates who are trying to outmanoeuvre Trump for a chance to go against Biden for the presidency.

• You might have seen over the past few days that an arrest has been made in the killing of Tupac Shakur and it is believed that this case might be closed. Take a moment for this article which details the 10 days of hell that came to Compton after Tupac was killed and how this bloodshed helped crack the case

• So you’ve hired a contractor to install a pool in your backyard. Congrats! Unfortunately the contractor’s a little busy. Not the best communicator. So when he emails you and asks you to wire payment to a weird-sounding user name, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you’d do it, simply for the sheer relief of getting one step closer to Pool. Hopefully things don’t go as colossally wrong for you as they did for Devin Friedman and his wife. And if they do, hopefully you can write a piece as hilarious and insightful as this one.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’m running the risk of being annoying with MACV-SOG stories around here, but having done a deep dive into the Seiko watches used by this covert unit in Vietnam and why they were chose, it brought me to this video in which MACV-SOG legend John ‘Tilt’ Stryker Meyer breaks down all the gear they use. This video is for very few people, but those who watch it will love it.

💵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: 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

• FOR SALE: Longines Heritage Skin Diver, box and papers. €1400. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch

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