TAG Shrinks The Aquaracer Professional 300 Date & GMT; Oris' All Black Divers Sixty-Five; Holthinrichs' Entry Level Collection; seconde/seconde/ Is Back; AP's New Openworks; And A Choco Piaget

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Boy, did yesterday’s title cause quite a stir. Here’s a much more relaxing release today. But don’t skip that Holthinrichs, that’s pretty amazing.

In this issue:

• TAG Heuer Shrinks Down The Aquaracer Professional 300 Date & GMT A Bit, Gives Them New Dials And Better Movements

• The Oris Hölstein Edition 2024 Celebrates 120 Years With A Pitch Black Divers Sixty-Five

• Holthinrichs Launches Entry Level Signature Series With An Incredible Case And Beautiful Dials

• seconde/seconde/ Is Back With A Collaboration With Maen That Pays Homage To The Manhattan Project

• Audemars Piguet Releases Two New Gold Versions Of The Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked 37mm

• Piaget Introduces A Very Chocolatey Dial For Their Pink Gold Piaget Polo Date 42mm

Today’s reading time: 12 minutes and 37 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

TAG Heuer Shrinks Down The Aquaracer Professional 300 Date & GMT A Bit, Gives Them New Dials And Better Movements

While never in danger of going bankrupt, TAG Heuer was in a bit of a tight spot a couple of years ago. Despite their incredible heritage - and a few notable exceptions - they were putting out pieces with little imagination behind them, stuff that could easily find its place in department store cases. It was all a bit bland. And then something changed with the pandemic. They started putting out more interesting stuff, both references to their past and looks towards the future. The TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox is, without a doubt, one of the prettiest watches of the past year or two. And it was in 2021 that TAG completely revamped the Aquaracer dive watch collection, the successor to the legendary 2000 series. Now, the Aquaracer Professional 300 Date and Aquaracer Professional 300 GMT versions are getting a new look with slightly smaller cases, beautiful colors and two new movements.

I’ll address the new movements a bit later, but for now, they are important because they play a role in slimming down the case. Don’t expect much, but it’s sill welcomed. The stainless steel case goes from 43mm to 42mm in width and looses half a millimetre in thickness and now measures an even 12mm. Water resistance is, of course, 300 meters, and you still get the recognisable diving helmet engraved on the back. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded by a rotating bezel with a ceramic bezel On the 300 Date it’s a unidirectional bezel with a single color insert and a 60 minute scale, while the GMT gets a two-tone insert and a 24 hour indicator.

There are a total of five new colorways for the new Aquaracers, three for the Aquaracer Professional 300 Date - black, blue and green - and two for the GMT - blue with a blue-black insert, and green with a green-black insert. All five dials have a new textured surface with a wavy pattern. I’m a bit torn on this choice. I very much liked the straight grooves of the previous versions, while the waves look a bit like the Omega divers. That’s not to say they’re not great looking, they are. All five have sword-style hands, applied lumed markers with silver surrounds and a contrasting seconds hand on the Date model or GMT hand on the GMT model. All five also have a date aperture at 6 o’clock with a cyclops over it.

Inside is what could easily be considered the most major update to the Aquaracer, as the collection is moving away from off-the-shelf Sellita movements. Instead, TAG worked with Sellita sister company AMT to develop proprietary movements for the model. The Aquaracer Professional 300 Date gets the TH31-00, while the GMT gets the TH31-03 which has the same TH31-00 base, but with a GMT complication added on top. The specs are very respectable - both beat at 4Hz, both have a pretty great 80 hour power reserve and both are COSC-certified. All five come on either with a stainless-steel 3-link bracelet or a rubber strap, both of which have a double-safety folding clasp with a micro-adjustment system.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Date and GMT models are available now in unlimited numbers and with pretty decent prices. The Date comes in at €3,500 on rubber and €3,750 on steel, while the GMT is priced at €3,950 on rubber and €4,150 on steel. And these prices are with the insanely high 25% VAT my country deems appropriate, so expect them to likely be much cheaper where you live. You can see more about them on the TAG Heuer website.

2/

The Oris Hölstein Edition 2024 Celebrates 120 Years With A Pitch Black Divers Sixty-Five

Every year on June 1, Oris releases a 250-piece limited edition to celebrate the registration of its company in its hometown of Hölstein, Switzerland, on June 1, 1904. Last year, the release was a great looking purple dial Aquis, the first without a date. This year, however, is a big anniversary. Not only is this the fifth annual special edition that they release, but it’s also the 120th birthday of the brand. So, on June 1, Oris released a special and limited edition of the Divers Sixty-Five, one that’s so pitch black Darth Vader could wear it and nobody would notice.

The Oris Hölstein Edition 2024 keeps the vintage style of the Divers Sixty-Five which is a relatively new watch for the brand, less than a decade old, as it was inspired by a 1965 Oris dive watch. The stainless steel case gets a matte black DLC coating and Oris doesn’t give a lot of measurements other than the width of 40mm. However, it if’s true to the size of the other models, it should be 12.8mm thick and have a lug-to-lug of 48mm. On top is a domed sapphire crystal surrounded by a fully black bezel with a 60-minute scale with raised numerals and markings. On the backside is a caseback with an engraving of the brand’s teddy bear mascot wearing sunglasses and swimming trunks. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There’s more black to be found on the dial. And by more, I mean everything. The dial base is black, as are the circle, rectangle and shield-shaped hour markers, the hands, the date wheel and the Oris logo. The hour markers and hands are still coated with Super-LumiNova, but black Super-LumiNova. That must look amazing at night.

Instead of opting for the Sellita SW200-1 based movements they use in many of their watches, Oris gave this watch the calibre 400, their in-house movement. The movement had a rough start with several notable issues that included a jumping minute hand when setting and rotor blocks, but this has all been straightened out for the v2 of the movement. It beats at 4Hz and has an amazing power reserve of 120 hours. The watch comes on a black rubber strap with a black DLC-plated buckle.

Like all the ones before it, the all-black Oris Hölstein Edition 2024 is limited to 250 pieces on a first-come, first-served basis only in Oris retail stores. From what I gather, there are still some available and at a price of CHF 3,900. See more on the Oris website.

3/

Holthinrichs Launches Entry Level Signature Series With An Incredible Case And Beautiful Dials

Last week I wrote about the incredibly good looking De Rijke & Co. watches and how they are one of the pillars of Dutch independent watchmaking. While looking very traditional, there’s a (literal) twist to the De Rijke & Co. watches as you can turn the entire midcase to adjust for better viewing while driving. And at the time it occurred to me that watchmakers in the Netherlands seem to love their special cases, as the brand Holthinrichs instantly popped into my head. They made a name for themselves with incredible cases and bracelets that took on impossible shapes thanks to 3D printing in titanium. However, most of these watches were pretty expensive, in the low to mid five figure ranges. But now, Holthinrichs decided to change this and introduce a Signature line with three different models, a line that’s much more affordable.

Like I said, there are three models to the Signature line, so let’s start with the Signature Ornament. The case is made out of grade 5 titanium and has pretty fantastic proportions - 38.5mm wide and 9.85mm thick. But what you will notice immediately is that the regular round case carries its incredibly sculpted lugs and case band as significant decorations. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal with almost no bezel. Underneath the dial is a quartet of frosted dials - with colors that include black rhodium, white rhodium, pale gold and rose gold - all of which have floating fang-like indices that are filled with Super-LumiNova C3.

Inside these four is a slightly modified Sellita SW-300 movement which is well known. It beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 56 hours. The modification comes in the form of a 18K gold plated rotor that has a tungsten weight. All four watches come on a blue alligator strap. The quartet shares a price of a pretty incredible €3,500. Not cheap, but just look at the detail on that case and dial. It looks worth it.

The second model is called the Signature Delft Blue, and just a glance tells you why. It keeps an equally complicated and ornate case that’s 3D printed, but gets a brand new dial, a reference to the city of Delft where Holthinrichs is located and their famous white-blue pottery. The dial is made out of white ceramic, with blue pad-printed Breguet-style numerals. The watch has the same Sellita SW-300 movement as the Signature Ornament and has an ostrich leather strap that tapers from 20mm to 16mm. The ceramic dial brings up the price by €250 to €3,750, but still affordable.

And last, there’s the Signature LAB Series which takes the experimental nature of the 3D printed cases to its extreme. While all three models feature lugs that appear disconnected from the case in the Ornament and Delft Blue models above, the lugs of the LAB Series have additional skeltonization, making them really look impossible. The dial is also incredible, made out of copper with a sunburst engraving it already took on a green patina color and will continue to evolve in color. Inside is the top-grade Sellita SW-300 with a customised rotor that’s acid dipped. To make the watch even crazier, the strap is made out of rooster feet. The Signature LAB Series is limited to 30 pieces and is POA. You can learn more about the new and more affordable Holthinrichs watches on their website.

 4/

seconde/seconde/ Is Back With A Collaboration With Maen That Pays Homage To The Manhattan Project

After 2023, a year of almost monthly, maybe even weekly, releases, it seems that seconde/seconde/, the trendy watch customiser from Paris, has disappeared. He had that amazing deconstructed Frederique Constant, but he hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while. Well, looks like he’s back to his off-the-cuff and slightly on-the-nose references on watches. He has teamed up Maen to modify their Manhattan square wrist watch and to no surprise, the parallel he made is that with the Manhattan project. And this is the prime example of seconde/seconde/’s biggest problem, his bluntness and lack of nuance.

The Manhattan is a Gerald Genta-inspired dressy sports watch that comes in a stainless steel case that measures 37mm wide and 9.3mm thick. You get the brushed and polished finish, along with a flat bezel, you would expect from a watch that draws inspiration from Genta and a bunch of facets. It’s all very 70s and remains unchanged from the original.

Even the dial looks a lot like the original, with a silver base with vertical Côtes de Genève stripes. But that’s wehere the similarities stop, as seconde/seconde/ has removed all decorations from the dial to symbolize, as he puts it the frightening consequences of the original Manhattan Project. And at the center of the dial, connecting the hands, is the universal radiation symbol. On the back is the most obvious of J. Robert Oppenheimer quotes, the one from the Bhagavad Gita.

Inside the watch is the Sellita SW 200-1 which is obviously becoming the most important movement of the microbrand era. The movement beats at 28,800 vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on an integrated steel bracelet that appears to be much more expensive than the price would suggest.

The Manhattan 37 x seconde/seconde/ Limited Edition will be a limited offer, available for preorder for 24 hours only. Preorders open on June 7, 4 p.m. CET time/ 10 a.m. EDT at a price of $1,057. See more on the Maen website.

 5/

Audemars Piguet Releases Two New Gold Versions Of The Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked 37mm

There were some pretty strong reactions to the Audemars Piguet [Re]Master02 Selfwinding I wrote about yesterday. Some people loved it, others hated it, but the universal consensus was that it was great to see AP make a watch that is not a Royal Oak. Well, that’s over and we’re back to the Royal Oaks, as AP just introduced two new versions of the RO Double Balance Wheel Openworked, both measuring in at 37mm, made out of white or pink gold and with the in-house calibre 3132.

The Double Balance Wheel Royal Oak is not new. The 37mm version has been around since 2018, but only in a frosted gold version. The new ones get a white gold case with a rhodium-toned movement and a pink gold case with gold-toned finishes. The cases have a mix of satin-brushed and polished finishings. And as the name suggests, they measure 37mm wide, but also a rather svelte 10mm thick.

Being an openworked dial, it’s pretty obvious that this doesn’t have a dial. What you do get, at least on the white gold version, is a view of the rhodium-toned bridges and movement that’s framed by a light blue inner bezel. The pink gold version gets pink gold-toned bridges and movement, while the inner bezel gets a purple color. To provide more contrast, the applied markers and hands on the white gold version are rendered in pink gold and the opposite on the other material.

The movement you see through the crystal is the calibre 3132. Like the name suggests, it has two balance wheels to increase chronometric performance and stability, and you can see one between 7 and 8 o’clock on the dial, and the other is visible on the caseback. The watch ticks at 3Hz and has a power reserve of 45 hours. Both watches come with integrated gold bracelets, an additional light blue alligator strap for the white gold model, and a purple alligator strap for the pink gold with gold AP folding clasps.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked 37mm is on sale now and they are both priced at the same pricepoint - €97,800. You can see more about the white gold version here and the pink gold version here.

6/

Piaget Introduces A Very Chocolatey Dial For Their Pink Gold Piaget Polo Date 42mm

When a brand hits a roll, the watch world is happy. Piaget has had some pretty great releases over the last few months, so it’s kind of hard to get excited over incremental updates, but I can get behind this one. It’s a new dial for the 42mm version of the Polo Date, one that comes in an incredible shade of chocolate brown.

While the Polo Date also comes in 36mm, this brown version comes in only the 42mm version which is also 9.4mm thick. The watch keeps the signature cushion shape of the case and it’s made out of 18k rose gold. On top is a wide and flat bezel that’s brushed and has polished bevels. This is a sports watch, so you get sapphire crystals on top and bottom, along with 100 meters of water resistance.

Other than the new brown color, a lot of the dial remains the same. You still get the recognisable horizontal guilloché gadroons, a date window at 6 o’clock and applied rose gold indices filled with lume. The hour and minute hands are also made out of gold and filled with lume, while the central seconds hand has a ‘P’ as the counterweight

Inside is the calibre 1110P, a very thin (4mm) movement that beats at 28,800vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. The movement is decorated with circular Côtes de Genève on the bridges and the slate grey rotor, bevelling and perlage on the mainplate. The watch comes on a alligator leather strap.

The Piaget Polo Date is not limited and it’s priced at €33,000. See more on the Piaget website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Montblanc Iced Sea 0 Oxygen Deep 4810

2/

Hands on with the Baume & Mercier Riviera Skeleton ref. 10721

3/

A review of the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Pro-Diver ZO3560 with lumed dial

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Echo/Neutra’s New Cortina 1956 Chrono GMT is a bronze-dialed beauty

Chrono GMT watches are not unheard of, but they’re not the most common sight, especially in the microbrand world. Usually, this is because of the availability of affordable movement options, but recently, Sellita has expanded its catalog to offer a more comprehensive array of complications and configurations. Echo/Neutra chose the manual-winding SW532M b elaboré, without the date, for its Cortina 1956 Chrono GMT. Hidden behind a relief-engraved stainless steel case back, the signed movement features a 30-minute counter at 12, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, and small seconds with a day/night indicator at 9 o’clock. It also has a very respectable power reserve of 62 hours.

Read the whole review on Fratello

⏲️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

• Have you ever heard of the INR. I only did by chance, because I know a guy who used to work there. INR stands for Bureau of Intelligence and Research and it’s the State Department’s in-house intelligence agency. Small and forgotten, it turns out it’s also the best intelligence agency that the US has. They get almost everything right, including Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine, so why are they not a bigger deal?

• A couple of weeks ago, we were all treated to a phenomenon we would have otherwise had to spend thousands on travel, if we were lucky to catch it, the Northern lights, which were visible much more south than usual. This is thanks to a huge eruption of solar radiation that hit the earth. But disturbances on the sun may have the potential to devastate our power grid and communication systems. When the next big storm arrives, will we be prepared for it?

• You think you know how misinformation spreads? Welcome to the hellhole of programatic advertising. The internet is a cesspool of misinformation, and the biggest blue-chip brands and their ad agencies are the ones funding it—by stuffing money into a Rube Goldberg machine no one really understands.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Not only is Eminem back with a song that sounds like Eminem from the late 90s and early 2000s, Slim Shady is also back. This will trigger a lot of nostalgia if you’re my age.

💵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: Here’s a crazy request. One of you is looking to buy the Ōtsuka Lotēc No. 7.5. Sure, it’s a big ask, but if any of you have one and want to sell, reach out to and I’ll put you in touch

• SOLD: Well, not really new. It’s a great looking mid-90s Tudor Submariner 75090, offered for sale by a member of the It’s About Time reader crew. I love the way it looks and seems to be in great condition. Check it out over on Chrono24.

• 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

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-Vuk