TAG Releases A Solid Gold Carrera With Bamford And Wes Lang, G-Shock Gives 7 Most Popular Models Great Clear Cases, Bulova Livens Up Marine Star Dials and Ace Jewelers Makes A Multicultural Watch With Elka

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Today is a travel day as I’m starting my summer vacation. Nothing will change here, the newsletter will be on time as ever, but do excuse if I miss something the second it’s announced. It will be covered, don’t worry

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In this issue:

• TAG, Bamford and Wes Lang Release a Solid Gold Carrera

• G-Shock Gives 7 Most Popular Models Completely Clear Treatment

• Bulova Embraces The Summer And Livens Up Marine Star Collection

• Armin Strom x Horomariobro Pure Resonance Ultimate Sapphire Is An Extremely Unique Collaboration

• Ace Jewelers Teams Up With Elka To Bring Together Western Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew Culture

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 11 seconds

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👂What’s new

1/

TAG Heuer Releases Solid Gold Carrera In Collaboration With Bamford Watch Department x Wes Lang

Bamford has been on a roll in the past couple of months. Well, at least their Bamford London division has. Bamford London is the part of the company that has spun up their own production and in recent times we have seen them release a completely new and very attractive titanium Bamford B80. Just the other they they also released a watch styled after the Land Rover Defender. And while that sounds like it should be a disaster, it is actually a pretty cool watch.

Bamford also has the Bamford Watch Department, which specializes in collaborations with other watch brands and customizing legendary pieces. For their most recent collab, they have teamed up with American artist Wes Lang to create a very limited edition solid gold TAG Heuer Carrera.

The case of the watch, of course, remains the same - 42mm wide and 14.4mm thick, but it comes in 18k rose gold, with a gold dial with a pair of black sub-dials and a matching black rehaut. Executed without a date or even a display of the running seconds, this Carrera only shows time, active chronograph seconds, and a 12-hour chronograph measure. Inside is the expected Heuer 02 caliber, their in-house movement with a column wheel and an 80 hour power reserve.

Most of the customization of the watch happens on the dial. There’s red accents peppered all over the watch, including the hands of the subdials and the caseback. Then there’s the Wes Lang touch to the watch in the form of an automotive-theme design at six, where you might otherwise find a third sub-dial. Instead, we find a tire with wings and, above it, a flaming skull. If you're familiar with Wes Lang's work, you'll quickly see the connection, and it forms a reference to the Carrera's place in post-modern automotive iconography.

The watch comes on a black textile strap with red contrast stitching and it’s limited to just 15 pieces. If you can get your hands on one, it will set you back £19,000.

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G-Shock Continues 40th Anniversary Celebration By Giving Seven Of Their Most Popular Models The Completely Clear Treatment 

There’s already been a bunch of special edition G-Shocks to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the model. There were the fantastic frosted gold variants earlier in the year, as well as the Remastered Black just a week or two ago. But this just might be the biggest show of force for G-Shock yet. Not just in numbers - there are a total of seven new watches - but also in execution. The new Clear Remix models are just what they promise, completely clear G-Shocks.

While this collection comprises of seven new watches, it’s only actually four model lines, with one in two different executions and two others in two different sizes. The whole point of the collection was to put all the G-shock internals on display, meaning that you can see the watch modules and circuit boards. And they’re going all out on it - the band, case, dial, LCD and buttons - it’s all transparent. It’s as if Casio is embracing the digitality of these watches in the same manner haute horology brands embrace the beauty of their movements with skeletonized dials. I love it.

The first watch in the collection is the ref. DW-5040RX, a fully transparent version of the iconic G-Shock “Square” based on the DW-5000. But G-Shock also made a second Square version, ref. DWE-5640RX, featuring a bracelet with one half made of transparent resin and the other half made of bare and gold-ion-plated stainless steel. The third model is the DW-6940RX, which is based on the DW-6900. Fourth is the GA-114RX, which is based on the analog-digital GA-110 as well as the smaller GMA-S114RX that is targeted at women. Of course, since these are ridiculously large watches, the “women’s” version will work perfectly for most people.

The last two models are the two sizes of the G-Shock GA-2100 “CasiOak”. The design of the CasiOaks is slightly different, with the application of black printing to the underside of the dial that prevents outside light from coming in that could cause malfunctions. A shame, as it makes these two the least transparent models and I really wanted to see what a fully transparent watch would look like in on of those Royal Oak mod cases people stuff the CasioOaks into.

The series is scheduled to be released in Japan on July 7th with other markets to follow shortly thereafter. All of the models are limited editions, although Casio has not unveiled the production numbers. When it comes to prices, currently, the UK prices and Japanese prices have been revealed. In the UK, the Square DW-5040RX will be £209, and DWE-5640RX will be £239. My favorite DW-6940RX will be slightly cheaper at £159. Both the men’s GA-114RX and women’s GMA-S114RX will be £169. Lastly, the GA-2140RX and the smaller women’s GMA-S2140RX will be the cheapest at £129.

For more information on the G-Shock Clear Remix series, visit the G-Shock website.

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Bulova Embraces The Summer And Tries To Liven Up Their Marine Star Collection With New Dials

Nobody would accuse Bulova of being a too experimental and whimsical brand. No, Bulova makes sturdy, stoic watches that you would find on the hands of astronauts of physicists. But the brand obviously doesn’t want to be pigeonholed. Enter the Bulova Marine Star models which pull inspiration from all over the place, ending up with two new watches - Series “A” and “B” - with unashamed character and bombastic looks.

Both are aiming to be hefty divers, but it seems that the “B” variants take on more of a ‘60s chronograph influence while the “A” watches are a blockier, industrial beast. With thick and harshly bevelled corners on the lugs, the “A” type Bulova Marine Star is like a tank on the wrist. The “B” type Marine Star case retains a sense of sophistication with its sloping lugs, although it doesn’t shy away from making a powerful impression in other ways. The outer bezel also has some thick indentations, and the case’s flared “ears” help to protect the crowns and balance the symmetry.

Neither of the watches are for the faint of heart nor wrist, as the 45mm (Series “A”) and 44mm (Series “B”) are true behemoths. The lug-to-lug lengths of both watches hover around 49mm however, taking a little bit of the edge off, as do the respective thicknesses of 13.45mm and 11.8mm.

The dials are equally as busy. The Series “A” has an octagonal sector of guilloché that holds the hour markers. The Bulova tuning fork acts as the 12 o’clock marker, while Roman numerals occupy the even number spaces and Roman ones for odds. The Marine Star Series “B” is not necessarily a simpler dial in execution, but it is so in concept. The quartz-powered chronograph displays a running seconds subdial, a 60-minute timer, and a subdial for measuring twentieths of a second. Although it’s unlikely many will use this watch for scuba diving, there is an inner timing bezel available with markers for the first 15 minutes, and then at 5-minute intervals. All of this is just detail on top of a blaring orange colour.

Bulova has been a Citizen company since 2008, so it’s no surprise that the watches have a Miyota movement. Powering the Bulova Marine Star Series “A” is the automatic calibre 82S5, which is specially designed to display its balance wheel. While the 82S5 is visible through a mineral crystal display caseback, the quartz movement of the Series “B” chronograph is hidden behind a solid one.

The watches are available for Bulova now and you will be expected to pay $525 for the Series “B”, while the mechanical Series “A” sells for $650

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The Armin Strom x Horomariobro Pure Resonance Ultimate Sapphire Is An Extremely Unique Collaboration

Horomariobro, if you are unfamiliar, is an Instagram watch celebrity and influencer that has gained popularity for his unique macro photography and videography of watches, done mostly with an iPhone and a loupe. He has grown so much in popularity that many brands fear what he might find wrong with his loupe. His power is so vast that when he approaches legendary watch brand Armin Strom and asks for a commission of a unique piece based on the phenomenon of resonance, Armin Strom says “let’s get to work” They created a minimalist, monochromatic beauty, highlighting the symmetry of the movement and the exquisite hand-finishings. In fact, Armin Strom believed this to be such a nice watch, they are now coming out with a ten-piece limited edition of it.

The commissioned watch differed from other Mirrored Force Resonance and Pure Resonance pieces in several ways. Horomariobro’s requests included the incorporation of a sapphire crystal dial for the hours and minutes, the elimination of the double seconds counters feeding off the twin resonance counters and the removal of the signature lip on the case at 6 o’clock. Closer in spirit to the Pure Resonance of 2018, the steel case shares the same 42mm diameter and 13mm thickness without the lip.

The sapphire crystal on the reverse side reveals the beautiful finishings of the highly symmetric in-house manual-winding calibre ARF16. In a departure from other models powered by the ARF16, the crown wheel’s improved ratchet system is now exposed and the pin that usually bears the inscription Resonance CAL ARF16 is now engraved with Horomariobro 0/10. You can see the two mainspring barrels feeding the two regulators and the guilloché work on the plate that echoes that of the gear train bridges on the dial. Beating at 3.5Hz, the movement delivers a 48h power reserve and is wound by hand.

The watch is delivered on a black fabric strap with light grey stitching. Not only is this watch limited to just 10 pieces, it will only be available through Oster Jewelers in Denver, USA and retails for USD 59,000.

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Ace Jewelers Teams Up With Elka Watch To Bring Together Western Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew Culture

Watch industry veteran Hakim El Kadiri last year revived the dormant Elka Watch Co. with a successful Kickstarter campaign for the Elka X-Series and D-series collection, a duo of vintage-inspired watches with mechanical movements at a fair price. People loved them, which only meant that El Kadiri would continue to make watches under the beloved brands. This time he has teamed up with Amsterdam-based luxury watch retailers Ace Jewelers for a quartet of watches that is sure to turn heads, calling it the Ace Jewelers x Elka Diversity Series.

In essence, all four watches are housed in the same 40.8mm wide and 10.8mm thick stainless steel case. This is based on the case of the X-Series launched last year which comes with a box-shaped sapphire crystal and a solid caseback. The radical difference of the four models come sin the dials. Each of the four versions has a deep blue sunray brushed dial, with each using a different alphabet to display the numerals - your choice comes down to Western Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Chinese or Hebrew, bringing the four cultural worlds together in a single watch collection. The dials all have a white printed minute track on the outer edge and are signed with the Elka Watch Company logo. Time is indicated with Dauphine-shaped hour and minute hands with a luminous insert and a white lacquered central seconds hand.

Inside the watch is the Calibre G100 automatic movement by La Joux-Perret, which is also found in the X-Series and D-Series watches that relaunched Elka as a brand last year. It runs at a frequency of 28,800vph and has a running time of 68 hours when fully wound. With such specs, the La Joux-Perret G100 is a very good alternative to similar movements by ETA and Sellita, which by now can be quite challenging to acquire.

The watches are delivered on a beige nubuck leather strap and are limited to 25 pieces. Not only that, you can only get them at acejewelers.com or the Ace & Dik Boutique in Amsterdam. While limited and hard to get, the good news is they are not that expenisve. The retails price for all models is EUR 1.966 incl. VAT.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the The Schofield Patinated Bronze Beater B3 — big, brawny bronze is back

2/

A Blog To Watch goes hands on with the Unimatic x South Park Modello Uno U1-EC

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The MKII Stingray II Keroman is a true military diver, recreated

Speaking of the bezel, the Stingray II Keroman comes in two versions – one with an acrylic insert with no lume pip at the 12 and markers for the five-minute increments and another with an aluminium insert, this time with a lume pip at the 12 and full graduation from 0 to 15 minutes. This type of bezel design might indicate that the Stingray II is a proper diver, helped by the 200 metres of water resistance thanks to a screw-down crown and case-back. Note that MKII tests its watches to meet the ISO 6425 requirements for water resistance, however they are not ISO 6425-certified.

⏲️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

• A former roommate of mine had this incredibly weird shampoo bottle in our bathroom. I swear, they printed the entire Shakespeare opus on it, there was that much text. I never bothered to read it, but it turned out to be one of the most popular soaps ever made. And GQ investigates whether Dr. Bronner’s could be the last ethical corporation out there.

• Looks like the biggest lawsuit in the world is not the US Government vs. Trump, but rather Pitt vs. Jolie. When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split up they started to fight over their most prized possession: Miraval was more than just their family home. It was their family business - a hugely profitable wine label on an enchanting estate in the South of France.

• The wild story of the psychic, the sheikh and the $90 million diamond heist. Vice has the previously unreported inside story of how the former Prime Minister of Qatar became the victim of one of the world’s biggest – and weirdest – jewellery heists.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Imagine sitting for a work lunch on the twenty-something floor, only to see a drone outside the window, spying on you, trying to learn your trade secrets. This is a crazy story of high-stakes corporate espionage.

💵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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