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  • Timex And Worn And Wound Team Up To Bring More Colors To A Classy Watch; Tissot Shrinks The PRX Even More; 80s Cool From Farr+Swit; A Surprising Acetate Case From Briston; And A Wild Voutilainen

Timex And Worn And Wound Team Up To Bring More Colors To A Classy Watch; Tissot Shrinks The PRX Even More; 80s Cool From Farr+Swit; A Surprising Acetate Case From Briston; And A Wild Voutilainen

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In this issue:

  • Timex Teams Up With Worn And Wound For The Third Time On Some Very Classy WW75 V3 Models

  • Tissot Shrinks Down The Ever Popular PRX Even More To Enter A Very Interesting Market Position

  • Farr + Swit Finally Redoes Their 80s Retro-Futuristic Solar Chrono, Finally Not A Limited Edition

  • The New Briston Clubmaster Legend Divers Bring Something New To The Table With Cool Acetate Cases

  • Voutilainen Brings A Bold Cherry Red Color To Their Inverted KV20i Reversed

👂What’s new

1/

Timex has been on an absolute tear these past few years. It seems that every single watch they release is an absolute banger. They had that incredible diver, the cool Expedition GMT, a slew of cartoon-themed watches and even a watch they priced at $1. Their designs are fresh, while prices remain very low. But to make things better, they are teaming up with another brand that knows how to make a great looking watch — the blog and retailer Worn & Wound. They’ve also had quite a streak of great collaborations, including a great looking GMT with Boldr and a striking Zodiac inspired by the 90s. They also worked with Timex on two collection that introduced some great colors — Worn & Wound are spectacular at color use — to a very classic looking watch. Now the two are teaming up again for the new Timex × Worn & Wound WW75 V3 models.

Version three of the collaboration continues where V2 left off. You get the same 37mm wide stainless steel case that’s 12.7mm thick (mostly due to the domed acrylic crystal). With an almost square stance thanks to the lug-to-lug of 43mm and the classic barrel shape, you can clearly see the 70s inspiration in it. Water resistance is 50 meters.

There are two dial options. The WW75 V3 Sunflower uses a yellow diamond-pattern dial that darkens towards the edges. The yellow is contrasted with incredible orange hour and minute hands that have lumed strips, as well as the hints of green on the Timex logo and minute track. The seconds hand is turquoise with an orange tip. All of this is paired to a very vintage-feeling olive-green nylon military strap.

The other dial is the WW75 V3 Sunset, which is the exact opposite of the Sunflower. While it does have the same diamond pattern, it’s finished in a bright magenta color, with a light blue crosshairs and minute track. The hands are dark teal, with a strip of pink lume on them. The seconds hand is white with the same pink on the tip. The watch comes on a blue and white striped nylon military strap.

Previous versions of the collaboration featured quartz movements, but the two mixed things up with this release. Instead, inside is the Seagull TY6, a manually wound Chinese movement that beats at 21,600vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. Kind of a weird choice as Seagull just announced that they are stopping delivery of movements for smaller watch releases, like this onw.

Speaking os small releases, the Timex × Worn & Wound WW75 V3 Sunset and Sunflower are limited to 500 pieces each. 900 of the total will be sold through Worn & Wound and 100 through Timex. They launched on Friday and are still around, but I don’t expect them to stick around for long, especially with a price of $239. See more on the Worn & Wound website.

2/

Women’s watches have a huge issue. It seems that the vast majority of brands aren’t selling watches to women, but rather to men, who buy them for the women in their lives. So what you end up with is (a majority) of men watch executives selling to other men and idea of what women would like. And when you ask women what watch they would like, you are so often met with a uniform response — “anything but shrink and pink”. Shrink and pink has become a term for what brands like to do with women’s watches, shrink them down a lot, give them a pink dial and slap on some diamonds. This is exactly what Tissot did with their latest release of the 25mm PRX, sure, but they’re also doing regular tiny PRX versions, making them a potential hit among people who want a really small watch without pink colors or diamonds.

The PRX has to be the watch that has saved modern Tissot, and Tissot is doubling down on the line to suit every single scenario. Hence the new 25mm wide version that slots underneath the 35mm version. In addition to the small diameter, the watch measures 9mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 25mm, thanks to the integrated bracelet. It’s actually a very different looking watch, with a much more pronounced bezel, a more angular case with slab sides and very noticeable facets. This is all the result of the small size. There are four versions available in brushed stainless steel, while one gets a rose gold PVD treatment. On top you still have a sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dials remain very familiar, while also changing up the proportions due to the much smaller size. There’s a number of dials to chose from — the rose gold PVD version gets a rose gold sunburst dial with triple diamond markers; there’s a black dial version with the same diamond markers; and there are two mother of pearl dials in stainless steel cases, with one having a rose gold PVD bezel. These all verge a bit close on the “shrink and pink” trend, but there’s also a steel version with a sunburst blue dial which is just classy.

Inside, you won’t find the Powermatic 80 as is so common in a lot of the other PRX models, mostly because it wouldn’t fit. Instead, you get a quartz movement which makes it very practical. The integrated bracelet closes with a milled butterfly clasp.

The new Tissot PRX 25mm collection is available now and priced at $315 for the steel watch with blue dial, $325 for the steel with MOP dial, $350 for the two-tone MOP, $425 for the steel version with black dial and diamond markers and $515 for the rose gold PVD version. See more on the Tissot website.

3/

OK, I missed this one when it first came out but it’s never too late for good news. You see, Farr + Swit, a slightly eccentric watch company known for their incredible eye for 1980s details, has re-released one of their most popular models, the Solar Chrono Vice. Their first release was a limited edition and it disappeared instantly. This new one uses the same colors, just inverted and comes in an unlimited package.

The Solar Chrono Vice case is mostly brushed, with a polished bezel and pushers. Although the bezel is not extremely thin, this watch is mostly dial. It also leads to the case looking a bit bigger visually than its 42mm diameter. Also, it’s 12.5mm thick, which is not bad but I assume it could be better with a meca-quartz movement inside. There’s not a lot to this case because it’s all about the dial. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is mostly taken up with the three-dimensional neon pink grid pattern that gives the feeling of racing West in an 80s video game, while a yellow sun sets in the 12 o’clock sub-dial. It’s a busy dial, but with a purpose and looking at it for some time, I imagine that there won’t be much issue with legibility. Absolutley everything - the hands, markers, logo, chronograph hands, subdials, a teal ring outside the dial and even the date aperture are covered in fantastic Super-LumiNova C3 green Grade X EF

As the name implies, the Solar Chrono is powered by the Seiko VS71A solar powered meca-quartz movement. They say it will run for six months after only five hours of sunlight. It has running seconds at 6 o’clock, and a 60-minute counter at 12 o’clock. The watch comes with two quick-release StrapHabit straps - a teal FKM rubber strap and a black sailcloth strap with magenta accents.

The new Farr + Swit Solar Chrono Vice 2.0 - Bubblegum is available for pre-order now, with deliveries in December, and is not a limited edition. Price is set at $525. See more on the Farr + Swit website.

4/

There’s only so many ways one can design a watch, right? It’s a square or circle on your wrist and that’s pretty much it. You could experiment with shapes, colors, positioning of elements, but they all kind of end up looking the same. Well, it seems that Briston, an independent French brand, it’s doing its hardest to give their watches — at least on the outside — a unique look. They’ve just updated their Clubmaster line that stands out from the rest with two fairly unique design choices — a pronounced cushion-shaped case, which is not revolutionary, and the use of tortoise-shell acetate for the case, which is not something you see every day. And despite their very similar looks, there are actually two distinct lines — the Clubmaster Legend Small Seconds and the Clubmaster Legend Diver. Oh, and best of all, they come in at a spectacular price despite looking four times the price they are asking.

Of the two lines, the Clubmaster Legend Diver is the larger one. It measures 40mm wide and 13.4mm thick and it’s made out of a steel core, surrounded by a cellulose-based acetate in a tortoise-shell color, the same material glasses are made out of. This is really not something you see every day. I love the look, I love how soft the corners are and the transparency of the material. What I do doubt slightly is its durability, at least with some people. For example, my sweat reacts very harshly with acetate and I’ve had to stop wearing acetate glasses because they discolor quickly. But regardless of that, I would risk it with this watch, it’s that cool. On top is a steel unidirectional rotating bezel with a sapphire insert. You can also get the watch in a steel case. Water resistance is 200 meters.

There are two options for the dial, either a gloss navy blue or a black option, with a very classic look. On the periphery is a minute track with painted lume dots for the hour markers and Arabic numerals on the cardinal positions — 6, 9 and 12. The one at 3 is missing because there’s a date aperture there.

Inside, you’ll find the Miyota 8315, a decent movement that beats at 21,600vph and has a 60 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a FKM rubber strap matching the colour of the dial or an H-link steel bracelet, which comes with the steel verions, both fitted with quick-release spring bars. The Briston Clubmaster Legend Diver is available now and priced at €850 on the rubber and €950 for the steel case with the steel bracelet.

Then, there’s the more compact Clubmaster Legend Small Second. While you can get it in a stainless steel case, just like the diver, there’s also the same awesome acetate case which here measures 39mm and 12.9mm thick. On the outside it’s very much the same, just with a 12-hour bi-directional bezel on top and the crown moved to 4 o’clock. Water resistance is a bit diminished here at 50 meters, but like I said, I’m not sure that acetate would fare well in salt or chlorinated water.

There are three dial choices — white, black or blue, with a contrasting railroad minutes track and a cross-hair small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock. The leaf-shaped hands are filled with lume, and you get Arabic numerals around the entire dial.

Inside is the Miyota 82S5 which beats at 3Hz and has a slightly lower power reserve of 42 hours. Accuracy is not all that great at -20 to +40 seconds per day, but I guess it works at this price point. The acetate version of the watch comes on a leather strap, while the steel versions come on a steel bracelet. Price is set at €590 for the acetate and €690 for the steel version. I think these are just fantastic. See more on the Briston website.

5/

Inverted watches are incredibly cool and should be a much more common occurrence. What they do is flip the movement the other way around, meaning that the movement - and also the visually more impressive part - turned towards the front. This gives you a constant spectacular view at the movement for which you would usually have to take the watch off. This makes a lot of sense, especially (actually only) if you remove the dial, so that you can have a constant view of the beautiful back of the movement instead of constantly having to take the watch off to admire it. Of course the famed watchmaker Kari Vouitilainen dabbled in this genre with the Voutilainen 28TI model. Now Vouitilainen is releasing a much livelier version of the movement, one in a cherry red colorway.

On the outside, there are zero changes. It comes in a 39mm wide fully polished titanium case with soldered teardrop lugs, a flat crown and a concave bezel that holds down the sapphire crystal on top. Out back you’ll also find a sapphire crystal, held down by six custom screws.

But it’s all about the dial, or lack thereof. What you see through the sapphire crystal is the backside of the movement made for this watch. It features a large 13.5mm diameter free-sprung balance wheel, equipped with rose gold timing weights, a Phillips overcoil, and a Grossmann interior curve. The direct impulse escapement, with its two large blued escape wheels, is positioned closer to the 12 o’clock mark. The movement is manually wound and has a power reserve of 60 hours. The watch comes on a hand-sewn crocodile leather strap.

Around the movement is the cherry colored minutes ring, with polished gold dots at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. The centrally mounted hour and minute hands are made out of gold, and feature blue rings at their ends.

There are more decorations on the back of the movement or what would be the fron usually — a hand-guilloché pattern on a cherry red ring and a plaque with the model name and number. The watch also features a cherry dial on the backside which shows the running seconds. The watch comes on a hand-sewn cherry-coloured fabric strap.

There’s no two ways to go about the price — it’s pretty high. CHF 124,800. Without taxes. I would say see more on the Vouitilainen website, but they don’t exactly put new watches up there.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

Even if you had the most stunning dial ever made, but bodged the case, you’d still end up with a crap watch. This is especially true with so many vintage-inspired releases and re-issues, given their propensity to bloat beyond their original, suave dimensions. It’s as if the folks at Nivada Grenchen were hyper-aware of this, as the case dimensions could not be better. The new Antarctic GMT sits at 36mm in diameter and only 11.1mm thick. This means it’s actually poised to wear better than its predecessor as it’s both smaller and slimmer. The box-domed plexiglass is the cherry on top of this delectable vintage dessert.

⏲️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

  • I still remember getting up in the middle of the night when I was a kid to watch Mike Tyson fight. I wouldn’t have to be up for very long, as Iron Mike had a tendency of finishing his fights fast even in his later years, when I got to watch him live. I don’t particularly care about the outcome of his fight with Jake Paul, but it’s incredible to watch him prepare for it. It is, once again, as if he is fighting for his life. And he might as well be, as he had to beat death just to get into the ring this time.

  • Dorje Chang captured the minds, hearts, and dollars of devoted followers, sharing his teachings through divinely-inspired art. Is he the third coming of the Buddha? An art professor? A miracle-worker? A strongman? Even still alive? None of the above? I’m still not sure—few are!—but that in no way lessens the pleasure of exploring the ever-branching rabbit hole excavated by Bien-Kahn’s decade of painstaking research into the enigmatic figure.

  • Tony Hồ Trần routinely visits Chicago cemeteries to document plot markers and grave stones to upload to findagrave.com. But why does he do it? After finding his grandfather’s grave on the site and revealing part of a family mystery, Tran wants to help keep the memory of others alive as long as possible.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Vice has been on a kick of documentaries about early 2000s reality shows. It’s an incredible look into the genre that completely revolutionized television as we know it today.

💵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 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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