This Expensive Citizen With A Black Washi Paper Dial Is Very Interesting, Louis Erard Releases Another Great Art Deco Watch, Maurice de Mauriac's Tennis Watch Is Weirdly Priced, New Watches From IFL And Ba111od

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Tomorrow will be a big day. Geneva Watch Days is starting so expect a BUNCH of new watches from brands you might not have herd from in a while - this is prime indie watchmaker release time!

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In this issue:

• The Black Washi Paper Is Not A Watch You Would Expect From Citizen, But It Hast To Be The Brand’s Best Looking Watch

• Louis Erard Teams Up With The Horophile For La Petite Seconde Metropolis, A New York Art Deco Inspired Watch

• Maurice de Mauriac’s New Tennis-Themed Rallymaster II Is Beautiful But Weirdly Overpriced

• IFL Watches Customizes An Candy Dial Oris Divers 65 With An Enamel Rendition Of Thor The Bear

• Independent Watchmaker Ba111od Releases First Watch Tailored For Women – The Chapter 6 - With A Fantastic Price Point

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 37 seconds

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The Black Washi Paper Is Not A Watch You Would Expect From Citizen, But It Hast To Be The Brand’s Best Looking Watch

Among casual watch wearers Citizen, much like Seiko, is associated with cheap watches. Something you get as a tough beater, something that will give you great value for money and something you won’t have to fear banging on a doorsill. But, much like Seiko, Citizen also has a very robust offering of higher-end watches. At the very tip of that high end range is the infuriatingly named “The Citizen” collection - these are watches with premium movements, better quality materials and are, usually, limited to the Japanese market. However, Citizen just announced their latest addition to The Citizen collection will be coming to the United States, although I’m not sure about the rest of the world. It is called the The Citizen Eco-Drive Black Washi Paper Dial Limited Edition AQ4103-16E and it is unlike any other Citizen you have seen - in looks, in internals and definitely in price.

This Citizen is made out of Super Titanium with a bright yellow gold Duratect coating making it look, at least in photos, as if it’s actually made out of solid gold. Live, with the titanium lightness, I doubt you would mistake it for the precious metal, but it still looks good. The watch measures 38.3mm wide and 12.2mm thick, gets a double-domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment and a solid screw-down caseback is engraved with The Citizen collection’s signature eagle insignia. The same eagle appears on the tip of the signed crown at the 3 o’clock location, and right next to it on the side of the case is a small recessed pusher that is used during the setting process. .

While the case is already a step up from the rest of the Citizen lineup, the real stunner is a dial. While I have only seen this in pictures, this looks like a dial that would easily find it’s place in a Grand Seiko limited edition. According to Citizen, the black washi paper dial is handcrafted by master papermakers and sprinkled with gold leaf using a traditional Japanese decorative technique called Sunago-maki. Keep in mind, this is a watch powered by an Eco-Drive solar-powered movement, so the semi-transparent nature of washi paper makes it ideal, while care must be taken when applying the gold leaf to not cover too much of the dial. Also, since this is a hand made dial, every single one is unique.

Speaking of the Eco-Drive… Inside is the brand’s Eco-Drive Caliber A060 high-accuracy solar quartz movement, their most premium movement. Just like the others, it can be powered by natural or artificial light and in energy-saving mode can run up to a year in darkness. The accuracy is as crazy as you would expect from a premium quartz movement and measures -/+5 seconds per year. You also get a perpetual calendar, low-power warning, and independently adjustable hour hand, along with automatic hand position adjustment. The watch comes on a premium two-piece black crocodile leather strap with gold contrast stitching running down either side and a gold colored deployant style clasp.

This is the highest level of Citizen you can buy, and it’s an interesting proposal. The Citizen line has had some great watches in the Japanese market, and now the rest of the world can see what they are doing. However, only 350 pieces will be made and they are priced at $3,800. That’s a hell of a lot of money for a quartz-powered Citizen. Yes it’s their most advanced watch, yes it has a hand-made paper dial with gold flakes, yes it has the most premium quartz movement they make inside, but would you ever consider getting one? You can see more on the Japanese Citizen website and run it through a translator, or you can wait to see when and if the global Citizen website will include the watch in their lineup.

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Louis Erard Teams Up With The Horophile For La Petite Seconde Metropolis, A New York Art Deco Inspired Watch

Geneva Watch Days, a show event started by Breitling, Bvlgari, De Bethune, Gérald Genta, H. Moser & Cie., MB&F, Ulysse Nardin, and Urwerk after Baselworld and Watches and Wonders were canceled due to the pandemic, starts tomorrow. When you see all the exhibitors, it makes perfect sense that Louis Erard will also show up there in force, and they have already unveiled a pretty big heavy hitter for the event - the Petite Seconde Metropolis Louis Erard x The Horophile.

For years (actually, since 1929) Louis Erard was a solid, if relatively unknown, Swiss watchmaker. In the past several years, this has radically changed. Louis Erard is now, perhaps, one of the leading manufacturers of innovative, prestigious, even complicated watches for funny low prices. They have worked with the likes of Konstantin Chaykin to make an accessible Clown watch, they make incredible hand made marqueterie dials for some of their watches, they created an incredible monopusher with Massena Lab… And their latest collaboration is with Swiss-based watch influencer known as The Horophile (aka Amr Sindi) and using Louis Erard’s Petite Seconde.

The classic 39mm stainless steel case of the Petite Seconde was chosen for the “collection within the collection”. Although the three watches are limited to 59 pieces each (177 plus 1 for The Horophile), the idea is to create a base upon which other special editions can be built. The inspiration is Art Deco with a contemporary twist, a style Louis Erard head Manuel Emch and Sindi refer to as Neo Deco.

The watch comes in three colors - slate-grey, salmon and tobacco. The font of the numerals is double traced and very Art Deco, while the center of the dial is decorated with concentric grooves. The classic small seconds counter of the Petite Seconde is also reinterpreted here with strict minimalism – no indices, and a single dot at noon. The “Empire” hands enhance the Art Deco spirit of the watch and look like a 1930s New York skyscraper like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler building, with a stepped shape.

Inside the watch is the automatic elaboré grade Sellita SW261-1, a version of the SW-200, with an openworked rotor and black lacquered LE logo. The movement has a frequency of 28,800vph/4Hz, a power reserve of 38 hours when fully wound and features a stop-seconds mechanism. The watch comes with a grained calfskin strap.

Each colorway, as noted, is limited to just 59 pieces and the retail price is CHF 2,300. See more on the Louis Erard website.

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Maurice de Mauriac’s New Tennis-Themed Rallymaster II Is Beautiful But Weirdly Overpriced

As a kid I spent a lot of time around people who like tennis. And most of them were fascinated with two huge tournaments - Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. For me, it was always the U.S. Open that had a certain sense of coolness about it. Not sure why, but I liked it the most. It seems that the folks from the brilliant tennis magazine Racquet, designed Carlton DeWoody and Zurich-based Maurice de Mauriac agree with me, as they are releasing a sequel to their Tennis watch, the Rallymaster II.

Unfortunately, just a day after the trio announced the watch, Maurice de Mauriac sent out another piece of news, this one much more somber. Their founder Daniel Dreifuss has passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer. Read this obituary by Ariel Adams from A Blog To Watch.

Back to the Rallymaster II. This is a second limited edition which follows one released last summer to mark the French Open at Roland-Garros and this time comes in a pastel colorway. It’s basically the same watch as the first watch, with a 39mm wide case at 12mm thick, with a 47mm lug-to-lug measurement. The stainless steel case is fully brushed, which makes sense for a sporty watch, but what doesn’t make sense is the 30 meter water resistance that the watch has.

The dial comes in a light blue colorway with a texture inspired by the hardcourt surface of a tennis court. There’s a pattern that looks like a tennis court net across the dial from 3 to 9 o’clock, with a grey line only broken up by dial text running vertically from 6 to 12 o’clock simulating the lines of the service box. Around the dial is a rally-style minute rehaut, utilising white-on-grey tones that provide contrast while also matching the colours of the broader dial. A step within, raised and metallically framed circular hour indices surround the dial with the exception of the third and ninth hour. At 3 o’clock, you have a magnified cyclops date with a black-on-white disc, and the running seconds counter is at 9 o’clock. The running seconds has a yachting inspired separation into three sectors, each in a different colour: blue, pink, and grey. However, this separation has nothing to do with yachting, but rather is inspired by a previously held serve time limit rule of 20 seconds. This rule is no longer in place.

Inside the watch is the Swiss automatic Landeron 24 calibre, originally designed as an alternative to the workhorse ETA 2824. It is a reliable performer with 40 hours of power reserve and a 4Hz beat rate. It has a display caseback, despite the movement not being decorated, but the glass does feature a painted mid-century style tennis logo. The watch comes with two quick-release, two-piece stretch NATO-style straps in blue or pink.

These watches will have a limited production with pre-orders open for the duration of the U.S. Open which starts today and ends September 10. Now for the biggest issue with the watch. It is priced at CHF 1,950. This is quite a price to ask for a watch, but this has been an issue with a lot of Maurice de Mauriac watches - extremely high prices not backed up with any real quality or heritage. You can see more on the MdM website.

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IFL Watches Customizes An Candy Dial Oris Divers 65 With An Enamel Rendition Of Thor The Bear

In 2019 a group of friends came together and decided to turn their passion into reality. They collective became known as IFL watches and they are most well known today for their customized Casio G-Shock, Tissot PRX, and Oris watches. And their latest release is perhaps their best Oris yet - the Oris Divers 65 Candyman. It is bright, it is fun, and it is still a proper water-going watch underneath its flashy exterior.

IFL Watches has taken the 38mm Divers Sixty-Five “Cotton Candy” to use as a backdrop. This is a great watch with vintage looks, 100 meters of water resistance and powered by the Sellita SW200-1-based Oris caliber 733. The bracelet is constructed with real rivets, but all of that is not important. The original Cotton Candy line is already famous for their great dials, but IFL made it better by giving it to their in-house hand-enameler.

The result is the mascot Oris bear placed in a bright pink candy world, sprinkling candy. And while IFL describes this as “Thor, the Oris Bear, as he cheekily romps through a Candyland, his jovial smile outshining the timid candy character in the backdrop,” it’s pretty obvious that that’s a creepy bear stalking someone in the Candyland, so it’s not beyond reason to think that this is the original Candyman.

IFL has made only 25 of these, and unfortunately, all of them are already sold out. But I still wanted you to see how great of a watch his was. The watch sold for €3,490, a €1,140 premium over the regular Cotton Candy. See the watch for yourself on the IFL website.

5/

Independent Watchmaker Ba111od Releases First Watch Tailored For Women – The Chapter 6 - With A Fantastic Price Point

Ba111od is killing it lately. They have made waves by producing the least expensive Swiss made tourbillon – the Ba111od Chapter 4.1, as well as the Ba111od Chapter 4.5 GMT Tourbillon. Their CHPTR_Δ has one of the most interesting ways of moving hands and displaying time, for a crazy low price, compared to pieces it competes with. Now they’re releasing a new collection - Chapter 6, completely aimed at women.

I’ve been saying for some time now that there is a big gap in the market for afforable high quality watches from micro and indie brands that are aimed at women. And it seems that the people from Ba111od agree with me. A total of 5 models are released. All in 36mm steel cases, with two with additional gold PVD coating. The watches are released in 5 different colour options for the dial. All feature the crown at 4 o’clock, which is a Ba111od signature.

The design is quite a good looking watch, with an open aperture forming the upper part of the figure of 8 which dominates the dial. The time is displayed centrally and the hour/minute hands sweep across the entire dial surface. What you see inside is the Automatic Swiss Made SOPROD P024 Skeleton, which is a decent movement, again based on the ETA 2824. You can see the same movement, without the skeltonization in a lot of watches from Nivada Grenchen and Benrus.

Ba111od is also proud of their integration of NFC chips into their watches, most notably into the top crystal, but Chapter 6 comes with 2 NFC chips embedded in the leather bands of the watch, one of which can be used to store your business card or any other file you would like to share with others.

The best part of Ba111od watches is their value for money. They make complicated, interesting and great looking watches for not a lot of money. The same is true of the Chapter 6. The five new Ba111od Chapter 6 models have a retail price of CHF 625 for the steel models and CHF 650 for the models with yellow gold coating. You can get them right now from their website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands-On With The Chopard Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph In Steel And Gold

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A review of the cream-colored Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Hemingway Iconico

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Attitude is designed to be a tribute to military veterans without looking like every other field watch we’ve seen before

The intricate chapter ring (secured by three visible screws) houses military-inspired numerals at the quarters while a triangle at 12 o’clock nods to more traditional pilot watches. A rehaut above it features additional markings, including numerals at five-minute intervals and small lume plots at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock. The date at 4:30 will certainly polarize people, but there simply isn’t space for it at 3 o’clock or 6 o’clock. The dial has a lot going on, so it doesn’t stand out like it would on a dress watch or a watch with a lighter-colored dial.

⏲️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

• Avi Loeb’s single-minded search for extraterrestrial life has made him the most famous practicing astronomer in the country — and possibly the most controversial. This is the story of how a Harvard professor became the world’s leading alien hunter.

• Death on the Savage Mountain: What really happened on K2, and why 100 climbers stepped over a dying man on their way to the summit

• Tim “Doc” Anderson, once a respected boxer, is in prison for killing the promoter he believes poisoned him in the ring. Read up on poison, bribes, and murder in the seedy underbelly of 90s heavyweight boxing

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Let’s make this a relaxed Monday. My Analog Journal is a brilliant YouTube channel that has introduced me to a lot of incredible music. Not only from all over the world (really, there’s funk from Japan, African grooves, Italo dance, Caribbean disco…). Here’s a playlist of some jazz from Yugoslavia. I was born here, I have been exposed to this music all my life, and these tracks were still completely new to me.

💵Pre-loved precision

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