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The Zenith Defy Extreme E Is 96 Grams Of Hight Tech Watchmaking, Two New Fantastic Colors For Oris Divers, Breitling Pays Homage To College Sports, And New Laidet/Auffret Project Smashes Trough Kickstarter Goal
Today's edition is all about special editions, because all of our watches are special in one way or another
Vuk Radic
May 15, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 21 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time, where we can’t help you buy happiness, but we do tell you what the new watch releases are so you can buy those. And that’s pretty close.
In this issue:
The Zenith Defy Extreme E Is 96 Grams Of Hight Tech Watchmaking
New Colours For The Oris Aquis Date Calibre 400 And Aquis Small Second Date
The Breitling Endurance Pro University Edition Pays Homage To College Sports
Fortis Introduces New Limited Edition Flieger Used By The Swiss Air Force Aerobatics Display Team
And… invite your friends to win a Seiko Alpinist
Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 3 seconds
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the Alpinist, so we can get this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
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For a couple of years now, Zenith has been the official timekeeper of the Extreme E racing series, an international off-road racing series that features electric SUVs competing in remote locations around the world to help raise awareness about climate change. Zentih has produced a handful of special editions marking their involvement in the race, and for this year they are releasing the new Zenith Defy Extreme E 2023 Limited Edition.
The watch is very similar to previous Extreme E limited editions, but instead of the red, orange, yellow, or purple colorway like previous iterations, the new edition gets what the brand calls the “Vital Green” color throughout its strap and dial accents. The case measures 45mm wide, but it’s almost completely made of forged carbon fiber, meaning that it weighs only 96 grams. Which is pretty crazy for such a big watch.
It’s still a very sporty watch so it gives you 200 meters of water resistance and it comes on a rubber green strap with a velcro closure. In another marketing effort to connect it to the racing series, Zenith says they use recycled Continental CrossContact tires that were used during the first season’s races for the strap. The dial is interesting - made out of tinted sapphire to give it a skeletonized appearance, an it has a three-register layout with splashes of the Vital Green color.
Inside is the same El Primero 9004 automatic chronograph movement that can be found inside other models from the Defy Extreme series. Featuring two independent escapements, with one running at 36,000vph (5 Hz) for the time, and another running at 360,000vph (50 Hz) for the chronograph, the Zenith El Primero 9004 offers users the ability to measure times down to 1/100th of a second, while still being able to provide a power reserve of approximately 50 hours. To get the 1/100th of a second measurement easier, the centrally-mounted chronograph seconds hand rotates once per second instead of once per minute.
Zenith also decided to up production this year. Previous editions were limited to 20 pieces, but this year there will be 100 pieces made. You won’t have to hurry much though, as they likely won’t sell out very fast with a price of $30,100.
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While green has been a favorite watch color for a couple of years now, it didn’t deter Oris from slapping a beautiful shade of it on its new Aquis Date Calibre 400, but also gave it a twist - a gradient that seems to be a hit this year. Oris also updates another watch - the Aquis Small Second Date - with a new color, but not green this time. It’s a gorgeous shade of blue.
The Aquis Date 43.5mm was the first model to be equipped with the brand’s proprietary calibre 400 in 2020. Developed entirely in-house by COO Beat Fischli and his team, produced by a network of suppliers, the calibre 400 is a robust automatic anti-magnetic movement with a five-day power reserve and a 10-year warranty.
Now this Aquis date model gets an update from the blue dial and gets a green dial version that has already appeared on the dial of the smaller 41.5mm Aquis Dates. The gradient of the dial comes in the shape of a lighter green center and darker outsides. The watch has a notched unidirectional rotating bezel has a matching green scratch-proof ceramic inlay and the case has 300m water resistance. The date window at 6 o’clock has a black background, and the dial is protected by a domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating.
The Oris Aquis Date is also fitted with the brand’s patented DIY Quick Strap Change mechanism and can be purchased with a steel bracelet or a rubber strap, both with extendable folding clasps. If you get it on the bracelet it will set you back CHF 3,500, while the rubber version goes for CHF 3,400.
Then there’s the new blue gradient dial version of the Small Second Date. Not to be confused with the blue gradient dial version of the Small Second Date that was released a few years ago. This new one leans to a more petroleum blue and it’s quite a looker.
The blue dial has the running seconds displayed on a snailed sub-dial at 9 o’clock and the date window is at 3 o’clock. The case is 45.5mm wide, 15.9mm thick and the water resistance is updated to 500m.
Inside is an automatic Sellita SW220-1-base movement – Oris calibre743. Beating at 28,800vhp, the power reserve is just 38 hours. Available on a metal bracelet or blue rubber strap, both options come with Oris’s extendable security folding clasp and Quick Strap Change system.
The stainless steel bracelet version costs CHF 2,500 while that on the rubber strap comes in at CHF 2,650.
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To people who don’t live in the US and don’t already follow college sports in the US, it’s extremely difficult to explain just how popular these sports are among the general public there. People form their whole identities around supporting their favorite college team, and it doesn’t even have to be your alma mater. How’s this for an illustration - there are only 11 stadiums in the world with a capacity of over 100,000 people. The largest is in India, which makes sense and the second largest is in North Korea, which is also understandable. The 11th largest is in Australia. Every single other stadium between spot 2 and spot 11 is a college football stadium in the US. And they regularly fill them up.
Breitling is getting on this college sports bandwagon with a new release of their entry-level quartz chronograph that pay homage to the most popular schools - this is the Breitling Endurance Pro University Edition series. The new collection launches with four models in four different colors - an orange one to pay tribute to Princeton University, the red one is for The University of Alabama, and the two blue models are dedicated to The United States Naval Academy and the University of Michigan. While these colors have been available in the regular Endurance Pro lineup, the dials get a logo of the schools.
From a structure and functionality standpoint, the new Breitling Endurance Pro University Edition watches are identical to the standard-production models that were originally announced in 2020. Which means you get a case made of Breitlight, which is Breitling’s name for a carbon-composite material. It’s 44mm in diameter by 12.5mm thick, but it only weighs 64.5 grams, including the thick rubber strap.
Inside is the Breitling Caliber 82 thermo-compensated SuperQuartz chronograph movement (ETA base) that can be found inside the standard-production models. While most people are not fans of Quartz movements, this one has some neat tricks up its sleeve. Quartz movements are fairly sensitive to large changes in temperature and the Breitling Endurance Pro has a temperature sensor that allows the movement to compensate, giving it an annual precision of +/-10 seconds per year.
The Breitling Endurance Pro University Edition collection will, somewhat expectedly, be available only in the North American market and will cost $3,700, which is $300 premium over the regular Breitling Endurance Pro.
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Fortis might want to attempt to make other watches, but pretty much everyone will agree that the Flieger will be their bread and butter. And they can’t make enough special editions of them. That’s why it makes perfect sense that they have announced their new limited production watch in collaboration with the Swiss Air Force PC-7 team, an aerobatics display group that uses F/A-18 fighter jets or red, white, and blue Pilatus PC-7s to show off the dynamism, elegance, and precision the Swiss Air Force is capable of. And Fortis is their official watch.
Fortis has made a number of special editions for the PC-7 team, including the Aeromaster Chronograph and Day-Date editions of 2019. But in 2023, the team will get the Flieger, as should be expected from an elite flying squad. The watch is based on the Triple-GMT Flieger and is limited to 100 pieces.
The case measures 43mm and is made of brushed titanium, just like the regular Triple-GMT, but this editions gets a dark gray DLC coating. The 24-click bezel remains a bidirectional 12-hour GMT one. However, in place of the “12” is a depiction of the PC-7 aircraft, while the “04” has been swapped out in favor of a wine glass. Why? Because pilot’s have an alcohol cut off time of 8 hours before flight.
The dial remains as good as unchanged from the original Triple-GMT. There’s a couple of slight modifications for the limited edition - there’s a “PC-7 TEAM” signature at six and the counterbalance of the second hand also holds a hidden detail in the form of additional white lines to mimic the tips of the plane’s propeller.
Inside, and behind a smoked sapphire crystal with an etched PC-7 Team logo, is the caliber WERK 13. This is a movement crafted in partnership with Kenissi, the folks that are officially an arm of Tudor. You get 70 hours of autonomy, with COSC certification and 27 jewels. It is also a “true” traveler’s GMT, allowing the independent setting of the local hour hand that also alters the date both forward and backward.
The limited edition comes on Mission Green hybrid strap, as well as a bonus PC-7 Team hook strap in Swiss red. Limited to 100 pieces, the watch will cost you €5,300.
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You have to give Hublot credit where credit is due. If they do one thing very well, then it’s experimenting with new materials. So, with their latest partnership with Nespresso, they release the Hublot Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin whose case and strap are made out of recycled Nespresso aluminium capsules and coffee grounds.
Measuring 42mm in diameter, the case uses 28% of recycled aluminium, which is then anodized to obtain the green colour. The caseback and container housing the movement are fashioned out of eco-titanium. The water resistance is rated at 100m. The watch comes with two straps made from eco-material. The first one uses 4.1% of recycled coffee grounds and 8.2% of white recycled rubber. The second one is made with SingTex, a partner of Nespresso, producing a fabric made of 5% recycled coffee grounds and 95% recycled polyester.
The Hublot Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin is released in a limited edition of 200 pieces. The price is set at €25,200.
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Is there anything Guillaume Laidet can’t do? Laidet, 37, is a watch entrepreneur who’s behind the return of Nivada Grenchen, Excelsior Park and Vulcain. For his most recent project, he has teamed up with Théo Auffret. Auffret (27), is a Paris-based independent watchmaker who won the Journe watchmaking award and has already presented several fascinating, complex watches built by hand. The two are launching their new project, the Argon SpaceOne, a futuristic watch that looks way more expensive than it is. It launched on Kickstarter on May 11th, looking to raise $108,594. To date, they have raised $753,669, easily breaking through their goal, creating an instant hit and are happily on their way to perhaps the most funded watch ever on Kickstarter.
The design of the first watch of this newly-developed brand is, without a doubt, strongly inspired by space exploration and sci-fi. These are themes that have been used extensively by some of the most talented and respected independent watchmakers, such as De Bethune, Urwerk or MB&F. But the thing is, all of those watches are worth a small fortune. Argon is offering a strong design language and a classic movement, at a price of a vintage automatic diver.
The case is bold, original, and futuristic yet with a certain vintage, 1950s flair. It’s a huge watch, but photos make it look very wearable. The case is elongated, with a width of 51.67mm. However, the lug-to-lug measurement is only 42mm and the height of the case, at the highest point in the middle, is 12.61mm.
At launch, the Argon SpaceOne will be available in 4 different editions; polished steel, brushed steel, brushed titanium, brushed and blue-coated titanium and forged carbon. The watch does not have a traditional dial, but rather a window through which you can see three concentric discs, displaying the seconds (centre), the hours (middle, and also the only jumping disc) and the minutes (periphery). The first two discs are made of brass with super luminous, while the minutes disc, which sits on top of the hour disc, is made of sapphire with super luminous.
To keep the price low, Argon uses an off-the-shelves automatic base movement – the Swiss-made Soprod P024, an alternative to the ETA 2824. In order to bring the jumping hour complication, Auffret has developed a 9-part module, which is connected to the base movement and supports a spring and an intermediate wheel.
Each version of the Argon SpaceOne is delivered with two 22/18mm FKM rubber straps, one in black, and one in orange. The watches are exclusively available on Kickstarter for the next 4 weeks. The brushed titanium and forged carbon models are limited to 100 pieces. Deliveries are estimated for December 2023. The steel models are priced at EUR 1,500, while the titanium and carbon versions come at EUR 1,900. A bargain, considering it looks so much more expensive
🫳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 like
The hand-painted Earth globe with a tiny golden Sun in the zenith is a fun little object, more poetic than functional in precise GMT-indication terms. It makes a complete turn in 24 hours, and it tells you where on Earth there is noon, 6 AM, 6 PM, and night – to learn where it is dark on our planet, you will have to flip the watch over, the properly marked aperture – A l’autre bout du monde – will reveal the dark side of the Earth.
⏲️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
An excerpt from the new book, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, details the work of a notorious virus creator known only as the Dark Avenger haling from 1980s communist Bulgaria, of all places, who wreaked havoc on computer systems because, well, he could
From an Idaho detainment camp to the streets of the Windy City, Dan O’Sullivan serves up an absolute barnburner of a story about the man known as Tokyo Joe
You know I’m a sucker for a good blurb. How’s this for one: When a rash of sensational museum robberies stunned Europe, police zeroed in on a fearsome crime family—and a flashy new generation of young outlaws. Joshua Hammer unravels the case of a billion-dollar jewel heist and the race to catch a brutally audacious band of thieves. Not bad.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
You’re most likely familiar with the Fermi paradox which juxtaposes the relatively high likelihood of extra terrestrial life existing with the confusing fact that we have not found any evidence of such life. In this video, physicist Brian Cox, who you can listen to for hours thanks to his soothing voice, will introduce you to the Dark Forest hypothesis, a somewhat ominous reason why we might not have seen any alien life.
💵Pre-loved precision
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Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
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