Swatch Quietly Adds A Blue Lagoon Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms; Hamilton Continues Air Zermatt Collaboration; Bulova Teams Up For Three Stone Dial Releases; And Another Fantastic Simon Brette

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Things are slowing down ahead of Christmas, so let me just give you a heads up that this will be the last week of the newsletter this year. I’ll be taking a two week break, so look out for the traditional lists of best watches of the year starting from tomorrow.

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In this issue:

• Swatch Quietly Adds A Blue Lagoon Version Of The Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms

• Hamilton Continues Air Zermatt Mountain Rescue Service Collaboration With Hard Core X-Wind

• Bulova Teams Up With Complecto For A Trio Of Stone-Dialed Super Seville Models

• Simon Brette Introduces The Chronomètre Artisans Rose Gold Edition with ‘Battle’ Dial

👂What’s new

1/

Swatch Quietly Adds A Blue Lagoon Version Of The Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms

The Swatch collaborations with Omega and Blancpain are a rollercoaster of emotions. The first MoonSwatch watches were welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm, which died down once people realized the quality of the pieces wasn’t really all that high. Interest died down once Swatch decided to go down a crazy pathway all of last year releasing virtually identical MoonSwatches dedicated to each of the harvest moons. Things picked up for the MoonSwatch once they introduced the moonphase complications, the Snoopy watches and the new colors on the Mission to Earth releases. The Blancpain, on the other hand, had a warmer reception from day one — it featured a mechanical movement (albeit not exactly servicable) and the colors seem to be more pleasing to a larger number of people. It really hit its stride with the black Oceans of Storms which, if social media is any indicator, seems to be the most popular mode. Now, Swatch is very quietly adding a new model that I love, but I could also see getting a lot of hate. This is the new Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms Blue Lagoon

The case is the same as the existing models - 42.3mm wide, 14.4mm thick and still 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. But most people just call it plastic because that’s exactly what it feels like. You get 91 meters of water resistance (50 fathoms). The Blue Lagoon has a bright blue case with a glossy and slightly darker blue insert on the bezel with a 60-minute graduation. The dial has a gradient blue color, brighter in the middle and fading to a darker blue on the edges. The indices and hands are finished with luminous material and blue on the edges.

Inside, and seen through the transparent caseback, is the mechanical Sistem51 movement. It beats at 21,600vph and has an impressive 90 hour power reserve. The rotor is again decorated with a nudibranch, a shell-less type of Gastropod, this time features the Tambja Mullineri nudibranch, with an illustration of a lagoon to boot. Of course, there’s much debate over this movement as it’s unlikely to be serviced due to it’s fused components, but it’s still a nifty piece of engineering. The watch no longer comes on a NATO-style strap, instead you get a blue/white two-piece nylon strap made of recycled fishing nets removed from the oceans.

The Blancpain x Swatch Scuba Fifty Fathoms Blue Lagoon will be available in Swatch stores at a rate of 1 per person per day and priced the same as the other versions at €390. See more on the Swatch website.

2/

Hamilton Continues Air Zermatt Mountain Rescue Service Collaboration With Hard Core X-Wind

Hamilton is best known for their collaborations with the film industry, and the many, many special editions that they have created for the silver screen. But it’s not all movies for Hamilton. They have also been a sponsor of the Air Zermatt Mountain Rescue Service and their pretty incredible helicopter pilots that perform life-saving rescues hundreds of times per year. For a special edition that pays homage to these pilots, Hamilton opted to do so with a pretty hard core X-Wind Auto Chrono, which is part of their otherwise very subdued and vintage-inspired Khaki Aviation collection.

The new Air Zermatt-themed X-Wind Chrono uses the same 45mm wide case that’s 14.85mm thick. It’s made out of steel and has a black PVD coating. There’s a lot of crowns and pushers on this thing. On the right side are two crowns at 2 and 4 o’clock, both with crown-guards, while on the left is a crown at 9 o’clock and pushers at 8 and 10. Yeah, there are a lot of functions on this thing. On top is one external and two rotating internal bezel, operated with the crowns on the right, and are used to calculate the cross or drift winds mid-flight. How? I have no idea. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The busy dial has a black base and a bunch of apertures and sub-dials. The hands filled with Super-LumiNova point to large Arabic numerals, while the central chronograph seconds hand is orange. At 9 o’clock is the day-date indicator. The 12-hour elapsed time at 12 and 30-minute totalizer at 6 have black snailed interiors, while the running seconds at 3 have orange markings from 1 to 15. The orange details are inspired by the colour of Air Zermatt pilot’s helmets.

Inside you’ll find the calibre H-21-Si, a modified Valjoux/ETA 7750 base. It beats at 4Hz, has a 60 hour power reserve and, as the name suggests, a silicon balance spring. The watch comes on a black nylon Velcro strap with orange stitching and the phrase “Ready for Take Off”, along with an additional riveted black leather strap.

The new Hamilton Khaki Aviation X-"Wind Auto Chrono Air Zermatt is not technically limited, but the only place you can get it is at the Hamilton store in Zermatt, priced at CHF 1,995. See more on the Hamilton website.

3/

Bulova Teams Up With Complecto For A Trio Of Stone-Dialed Super Seville Models

I’m not exactly sure what Complecto is. Their website says they are “a platform committed to elevating and amplifying underrepresented voices in the watch industry and collecting community”. But that says 0 about what they do. I think they might be some sort of agency, because they say they “help brands reach and engage new audiences through dynamic storytelling, infusing original content with Complecto’s inclusive aesthetic and ethos.” But regardless of who they are and what they do, I am very much digging the collaborations they have had. Their take on the Bulova Jet Star last year was very cool. And their new collaboration with Bulova, a trio of Super Seville watches, is spot on the hottest trend in 2024 — stone dials.

Being based on the recently re-introduced Super Seville, the watches come in stainless steel cases that measure 37.5mm across and come in three finishes — plain stainless steel, a gold PVD and a rose gold case. The watches have a distinct 1970s style with a square profile and rounded fluted bezel on top.

With pretty much everyone playing in stone-dial territory this year, these three are very much welcome. The stainless steel case comes with a turquoise stone dial, the rose gold version comes with a snowflake obsidian dial, while the yellow gold version comes with a tiger’s eye dial. The stone dials make the watches look even more 70s inspired.

Inside is the HPQ Precisionist caliber. It has a specially tuned three pronged quartz crystal that oscillates at a frequency of 262 kHz, which is eight times faster than a traditional quartz movement. This ensures accuracy deviations of seconds per year. The watches come on three-link bracelets that match the finish of the case.

The new Complecto x Bulova Super Seville Stone Dial Collection is limited to 718 pieces each, with 718 standing for the area code of Queens, the New York borough that was home to Bulova’s headquarters for many years. The watches are priced at $1,095 for the turquoise, $1,195 for the snowflake obsidian, and $1,295 for the tiger’s eye. See more on the Complecto website.

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Simon Brette Introduces The Chronomètre Artisans Rose Gold Edition with ‘Battle’ Dial

Simon Brette has spent years coming up with some of the most important modern watches from independent watchmakers like Chronode and MB&F. Then last year, he introduced the Chronomètre Artisans Subscription Edition, his first solo watch. It was overly engineered and ultra decorated, a perfect debut for a very talented independent watchmaker. It was so good, it won a GPHG award. Now, we get a new version of that iconi watch, the Chronomètre Artisans Rose Gold.

The new version doesn’t use titanium any more. Instead, the 39mm wide and 10.5mm thick case is now made out of rose gold. The case is pleasingly plain, with a stepped construction and short lugs that give it an overall length of 45mm. On the side is a flat oversized crown and out back is a transparent caseback. That’s pretty much it. Because this watch is less about the case, and more about the dial and that movement.

The dial is no longer rendered in a copper color. Instead, it gets a dark grey, anthracite coloured PVD coat and a solid hand-engraved gold dial base that combines the textures of the previous two releases. It uses 50% the smooth scales of the dragon and 50% the engraved scales of the tiger, leading to this rendition being called ‘battle’, a war between the two finishes.

The original CA featured a brass movement, but the updated movement has rose gold plates and bridges that contrast better against the two barrels (in parallel), which gives the watch 72 hours of power reserve. Everything is black-polished to the extreme, giving a beautiful swirling effect to the barrels. The watch comes on a black leather strap.

The new Simon Brette Chronomètre Artisans Rose Gold is a limited edition of 50 pieces, but all of them are sold out. That’s because Simon Brette sells watches in a souscription model, meaning they are all pre-sold before production even begins. Price wasn’t revealed, but the titanium version last year was priced at CHF 50,000. This can only be higher. But if you like it, you can subscribe for the next release, which will be a steel model. See more on the Simon Brette website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Nodus Contrail GMT Terra

2/

Hands on with the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date

3/

A review of the Venezianico Arsenale Ultrablack And Blue

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Camp Fieldtimer is an excellent, alt-take on a field watch, with custom fonts and lacquer dials

Let’s start, of course, with the dials. There are three colours available, each finished in an opaque, stove-enamelled lacquer. The execution of the surface finish really is excellent, and drew me immediately when seeing these watches in person. The press release notes 15 layers of enamel, for an overall dial thickness of 1.3mm – and if you’re wondering exactly what “enamelled lacquer” is, I was too. Rather than using a glass powder like in a traditional enamel dial, think of it like a sped-up paint drying process, with the heat treatment giving the lacquer coating additional durability. Once I caught myself staring, I also realised that each of the three dials sport a unique typeface. I wonder whether this was the result of not being able to decide which one Jakobson liked the most – in any case, it works for me! So many brands are let down by a poor choice of font, which can easily ruin anything else the dials have going on, and I’m glad that’s not the case here.

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

• If there’s one kind of true crime I can unabashedly enjoy, it’s an elaborate and bloodless heist. Cinematic scenes, crisp imagery, and character-driven point of view make Brett Popplewell's art caper—about the theft and recovery of a famous Winston Churchill portrait in Canada—a thrilling read about what one FBI agent called “the most scandalous, mysterious art heist in Canada in the twenty-first century."

• This story begins in the basement of a building that once housed an epic ‘60s nightclub called The Scene, which turned into a crime scene in 2003, when construction workers noticed an odd concrete slab behind the furnace. One of them swung a sledgehammer at it and… “A skull rolled out. … The slab revealed so much awfulness, later confirmed through forensic anthropology: the bones of a girl, lying in the fetal position, hands and feet bound together by an extension cord also wrapped around her neck. She’d been bundled up in a rust-colored rug, and at some point, cement was poured on top of her. The girl wore a size 32A bra, clear pantyhose, and a glittery frock. They recovered a ring with the initials “P Mc G,” a Bulova watch issued in 1966, a dime dated 1969, and a plastic toy soldier. And there was DNA from an unknown source — possibly a white male — from a hair found in the rug.”

• As the toxicologists say, the dose makes the poison. Christopher Goffard is on a tear with Crimes of the Times, a series revisiting famous and forgotten crimes in Los Angeles and beyond. This is a story of William Dale Archerd whose wives kept dying mysteriously. His secret poison: Insulin.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

This is one of the better Tiny Desk Concerts you’ll hear.

-Vuk