Timex Brings Back A Groovy 80s TV Shaped Dial; Nomos Shrinks Down The Club Sport Neomatik; Studio Underd0g's 3rd Gen 01Series; Christopher Ward Fixes The C1 Moonphase; Chopard And Hodinkee Team Up

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It’s a holiday here in Croatia, so I’m out of the office today (by office, I mean my living room couch). Don’t expect any prompt responses but I do hope you enjoy this edition, there are some interesting pieces.

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In this issue:

• Timex Brings Back A Lesser Known But Incredibly Groovy TV-Shaped Affordable 1983 E-Line

• Nomos Shrinks Down The Club Sport Neomatik With Three New Very Attractive Colors

• Studio Underd0g Introduces Third-Generation 01Series And Announces Exclusive Movement Deal With Seagull

• Christopher Ward Fixes The Mistake Of The Original C1 Moonphase And Shrinks It To 37mm

• Chopard Teams Up With Hodinkee For The L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition

👂What’s new

1/

Timex Brings Back A Lesser Known But Incredibly Groovy TV-Shaped Affordable 1983 E-Line

The early 1980s were a very weird time in our history. The turbulent 70s were turning into the excessive 80s and watches were getting weirder and weirder. Suddenly, the funky TV shaped watches of the 70s got even weirder when the 80s slapped a lot of gold on the weird watches. And it’s these two trends that the Timex is reviving with their new release, the Timex Automatic 1983 E-Line. If you were wondering if Timex has any intent on slowing down their pretty amazing re-releases, don’t worry. They’re just getting started, it seems.

The proportions of this watch remain, quite surprisingly, almost identical to the original. This means that this is a small watch, which just might be very interesting considering its shape — a rounded square or, what is more colloquially known as the TV Dial. These shapes often wear larger than they actually measure, so I assume this Timex will fit very well on wrists with its 34mm diameter. It’s surprisingly thick at 12mm for such a dressy watch, but I assume this has something to do with the protruding bezel. The bezel surrounds a flat acrylic crystal which I would argue is a better choice than a mineral glass because it won’t break easy and will be simple to polish if scratched. The case is brushed with a polished bezel on top and comes in two variants — a stainless steel version or a gold colored one. Water resistance is decent at 50 meters.

There are three dial options, all of them with the same setups. Each gets applied polished markers, a printed minute scale, very thing hour and minute hands and a small date aperture at 3 with a white date wheel inside. The three available colors are brushed silver in a silver case, a turquoise in the silver case and a gold dial in gold case. It’s all very much 1980s inspired.

Inside, you won’t find a quartz movement, which is surprising not just because of the price point, but also the era the watch pays homage to. The 1980s were the age of quartz so it would only be fitting to use one here. Instead, inside is the well known Miyota 8215 automatic movement which beats at 3Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. Nothing fancy, but it does the job and does it good. But the most 80s thing about the watch has to be the bracelets the watches come on. They have an interesting look with fully polished tapering sides and a brushed center. But best of all, it’s an expansion band, meaning that you just slip it over your hand. Come on, that’s cool.

The new Timex Automatic 1983 E-Line is available now and, best of all, priced fantastically at €229. See more on the Timex website.

2/

Nomos Shrinks Down The Club Sport Neomatik With Three New Very Attractive Colors

Everyone loves a good Nomos watch, but not everyone loves their size. While their diameters are always on point, usually falling somewhere between 36 and 41mm, but it’s their incredibly long lugs that are the dealbreaker. Most people who can comfortably wear 38-40mm watches from other brands struggle to fit even the 35mm Nomost watches within their wrists. This is not exactly true for their sporty Club Sport series which comes in 37, 39.5 and 42mm sizes, but with way more managable lugs. Somewhat ironically, it’s this model line that now gets a new smaller size, perfect for people with really small wrists.

While the Club Sport Neomatik is still one of the more sporty Nomos watches, it now brings that sportiness to a very diminutive size — 34mm wide, 8.2mm thick and only 41mm from lug to lug. Sure, still on the long side in proportion to the width, but short in absolute terms. Nomos offers you a choice of either a solid or a transparent caseback. The stainless steel case is polished, on top is a domed sapphire crystal and the crown has their very cool red warning ring that shows you if the crown is unscrewed. And you’ll need that crown to be screwed down since water resistance is 200 meters.

The three new colors get the same sunburst finish with azuré-textured running seconds 6 o’clock sub-dials. The colors are gold, rosé and purple, and they all have a really nice shine to them, like Nomos dials tend to. Otherwise, you still get the well known white lumed Arabic numerals and more lume can be found on the rhodium-plated hour and minute hands.

Inside, you know it will be an in-house movement. It’s the automatic DUW 3001 which beats at 3Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. It’s also decently decorated with the well known three-quarter plate with rhodium plating and Glashütte stripes, heat-blued screws and perlage detailing. The watch comes on a 18mm wide bracelet with a deployment clasp.

The new Club Sport Neomatik 34 is available now and priced at €2,780. Quite the price. See more on the Nomos website.

3/

Studio Underd0g Introduces Third-Generation 01Series And Announces Exclusive Movement Deal With Seagull 

Studio Underd0g, the darling of the indie and micro watch world that made a huge splash with their affordable and extremely whimsical watches, caused quite a stir earlier this year. First, it was their collaboration with Moser which priced their watch in astronomic territory, which many took offense to. But later, perhaps even worse, was the introduction of the 03Series, which was equipped with a monopusher Sellita SW510, pricing the watch at an eye watering €1,800. An extremely fair price for the movement, but an unheard of price for Studio Underd0g. And that annoyed a lot of fans of the brand. But there were rumors that there was good reason for the move.

You see, the early 01Series watches, that ones people fell in love with were powered by the iconic Chinese-made Seagull ST-19 chronograph. It is a spectacular chrono movement that’s based on the old Venus 175, with a column-wheel and horizontal clutch, and was extremely affordable. However, earlier in the year, Seagull made a huge shift to their business model and announced they would no longer fulfill small orders. Their minimum order quantity would be 10,000 pieces, way more than small brand like Studio Underd0g would be able to buy. So, the introduction of the SW510 movement looked, at the time, like SU’s attempt to replace the Seagull while also moving upmarket, leaving behind their roots of an affordable and fun chronograph. Well, good news! Seagull and Studio Underd0g have entered into an exclusive deal to produce the ST-1901B, a bespoke version of the ST-19 just for them. And it’s this movement that will find its place in the 3rd generation of the 01Series Chronograph which is coming out tomorrow.

The changes to the 3rd generation are subtle but welcomed. The fact that they are reworking the movement seems to have allowed Studio Underd0g to slim down the case a bit. The 3rd Gen comes in a case that measures 38.5mm wide and 12.9mm thick (13.6mm was the previous version). They also increased the size of the crown to make it easier to wind and they made the sapphire caseback larger to better show off the new movement.

The dial gets incremental updates as well, but it’s still the very well known “big eye” setup with a bi-compax setup with a larger sub-dial at 3 o’clock, and the same grained texture like the previous versions. The four colors are Watermel0n, Desert Sky, Go0fy Panda and Mint Ch0c Chip and they kind of speak for themselves. You know that Studio Underd0g is spectacular with color, and these four versions are no different.

So, what’s happening inside with the ST-1901B? Well, two major changes. First, you now get an all black main plate which gives the movement an incredibly cool look (no really, check out the view from the back). But even more importantly, the watch is now equipped with a swan neck regulator, allowing for more precise regulation. The movements will be regulated in the UK to -10/+15 seconds per day, a significant increase in accuracy when compared to the earlier version that were accurate to -15/+35 seconds per day. The watches come on Epsom Calfskin straps that vary in color depending on the dial you choose.

The 3rd Generation Studio Underd0g 01Series goes on pre-order on November 19th and the pre-order window will be open between 3pm – 12am GMT. All orders placed in that window will be fulfilled, which is a much more preferable way of approaching sales than just a limited edition. The first 600 orders will be delivered by Christmas. The watches are priced at €600. See more on the Studio Underd0g website.

4/

Christopher Ward Fixes The Mistake Of The Original C1 Moonphase And Shrinks It To 37mm

Pretty much everyone fell in love with the Christopher Ward C1 Moonphase. It was a wild looking watch that forgoes most aspects of being a time teller and just gives you a couple of hands, a starry sky and a huge moon. It earned a GPHG nomination for the brand, but it also had its fair share of detractors. Not for the looks, everyone liked the looks. It was the size. The C1 Moonphase had all the looks of a gem dress watch, but none of the size as it measured 40.5mm wide. Now they’re trying to fix that issue with a much more rationally sized C1 Moonphase 37mm.

As the name would suggest, the new C1 Moonphase comes in a 37mm wide case that’s still a bit tall on the wrist at 13.1mm, 0.2mm less than the 40.5mm. What does significantly improve is the lug-to-lug measurement which is now 44.07mm. The rest of the case is pretty much the same, with brushed surfaces and highly polished bevels. Water resistance is 30 meters, but it’s supposed to be a dress watch so what more would you want.

The dial remains largely unchanged, with a dark blue aventurine glass base that is infused with copper oxide standing in for a starry sky against the dark of the sky. There are no indices, just polished dauphine-style hands, and the entire top of the dial is taken up by the moonphase aperture. The moon is made out of Globolight, a ceramic infused with Super-LumiNova, which gives off a crazy glow.

Inside, Christopher Ward will tell you you’ll find the in-house Calibre JJ04 moon phase movement. It is, of course, not an in-house movement, but rather the Sellita SW200 movement that’s mated to the JJ04 moonphase module that CW designed. This means that the movement beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on the Consort bracelet or a blue leather strap and it looks 100 times better on the dark leather.

The Christopher Ward C1 Moonphase 37mm is on pre-order now with deliveries expected at the end of November. The price for the new 37mm version is the same as for the larger one and is €2,495 on leather and €2,665 on the bracelet. See more on the Christopher Ward website.

 5/

Chopard Teams Up With Hodinkee For The L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition

For more than a decade, Hodinkee has ruled as the premier online watch publication, educating millions of watch collectors and setting trends that are only now reaching their peak. But too much of a good thing often turns sour. Hodinkee got into some deep water and things were looking very shaky over there for a while. They announced some huge changes over there, most notably being acquired by Watches of Switzerland and promised to get back to what they did best — telling us stories about watches. Well, that and doing collaborations. Because despite them being behind some of the cringiest collaborations in the watch industry (looking at you, travel clock), they are also behind some of the most spectacular ones. You can’t deny that the folks from Hodinkee have taste. And their latest collaboration with Chopard comes in the form of the L.U.C. XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition and it’s very pretty.

The case of the new L.U.C. XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition is made out of Chopard’s Ethical 18k white gold, lightly brushed on the case and fully polished on the bezel and caseback. The case measures in at a very nice 40mm wide and just 7.7mm thick. I say just beacuse it’s unusually thin for a watch that has a hunter caseback. A hunter caseback is a hinged solid caseback that flips open at a push of a button — here, the button is well placed into the crown — and reveals a sapphire caseback. That hunter caseback is decorated with a guilloché pattern.

It’s that same rose engine-turned guilloché pattern that takes the central sector of the dial. And what a dial it is. That pattern in the center is cutout for a recessed small seconds sub-dial and has a cutout for a date window that has a disc that matches the dial. Surrounding the guilloché center is a brushed ring that holds the wedge-shaped white gold hour markers. The handset consists of Chopard's unique dauphine-style shape, with strong bevels. Best of all, the entire dial has an incredible deep green color.

Inside is the sensational micro-rotor L.U.C 96.01-L which has twin barrels for a 65 hour power reserve. The movement is COSC-certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute and carries the Geneva Seal. The watch comes with a Chopard strap in grey with a matching white gold buckle and a classic Hodinkee leather strap in textured Honey Brown leather.

The new Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition for Hodinkee is limited to 25 pieces and, interestingly, you can’t buy it through either Hodinkee or Chopard. Hodinkee did say that they are getting out of the retail business, but everyone assumed they would still sell their own collaborations. That is, in fact, not the case. The watch is sold through Hodinkee’s new owners, Watches of Switzerland. Price is set at $36,700. See more here.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Spinnaker Croft Pioneer Automatic

2/

Hands-On with the Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Zulu Time x Marine Nationale

3/

A review of the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Skeleton

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The ultra-affordable Praesidus H-75 Chronograph might not have a high-end caliber, but it makes up for it with fun and looks

A first glance at the new Praesidus Type H-75 Chronograph will bring a string of classic chronograph references to mind. The watches, however, are based on the Leonidas CP-1 chronographs created for the Italian Air Force in the mid-1960s and issued from then into the 1970s. The original watches have become heavily sought-after by fans of military watches and classic chronographs. Praesidus aims to revive the look of the Leonidas CP-1 but make it a lot more affordable.

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

• Mark Jenkins chose to skip a risky adventure with his friends. Twenty-five years later, he’s still haunted by what happened in his absence. This is the tragedy in Baffin Bay.

• With Putin’s threats in Ukraine, China’s accelerated weapons programme and the US’s desire for superiority, what will it take for leaders to step back from the brink? A new nuclear arms race is beginning. It will be far more dangerous than the last one.

• “Experience demonstrates that every time resident women talk with others, they are more restless.” Keeping women sedate by keeping them separate and silent: as common a tactic today as in 16th century Florence; everything old is new again, and vice versa. Erin Maglaque’s review of a new book on women and sound in Renaissance Italy peels back the layers of a less-talked about form of religious asceticism and control, one where there are no hair shirts or decade-long fasts, just… silence. But total silence is impossible — even breathing makes a sound — so what was really going on in these isolated spaces?

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I know I posted a video from my friend AYA Moto Adventure just some ten days ago, but his cinematography is just that good. In this most recent episode he visits Plitvice Lakes national park which is just an hour or so away from where I live. It’s a stunning place that has to be seen filmed this beautifully. Also, hi to the guys from the 40&20 Podcast that I like very much and they will certainly appreciate footage of national parks.

💵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

-Vuk