Timex Brings Back Pan-Am Collab With Two Jet-Age Watches; Raymond Weil Shrinks Down Millesime; Aquastar Recreate Their Original Airstar Chrono; A Museum Makes A Watch; And New Bulgari Serpentis

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m still operating on island time, hence the late edition. I know you’ll forgive me. Right? I mean, it’s a good edition, I think, so it was worth the slight wait.

In this issue:

• Timex Brings Back Pan-Am Collaboration With Two Aviation Watches Inspired By The Best Of The Jet Age

• Raymond Weil Shrinks Down Their Super Popular Millesime Collection To A Unisex Friendly 35mm

• Aquastar Recreates The Original Airstar Chronograph For The 60th Anniversary Of Their Pilot’s Chrono

• The Musée International d’Horlogerie Celebrates 50 Years With A New Version Of Their Gaïa Series Watch

• Bulgari Continues To Show What Is Possible In High-Jewellery Watchmaking With Three New Serpentis

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 22 seconds

👂What’s new

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Timex Brings Back Pan-Am Collaboration With Two Aviation Watches Inspired By The Best Of The Jet Age

Some two years ago, Timex released a series of watches they made in collaboration with Pan Am. That’s kind of a weird thing to say, since Pan Am went out of business in 1991, but the logo is very much alive, bringing back the ideas of the golden age of travel, when flying was a cool thing. Those watches sold out very quickly, so it was only a matter of time before Timex brought them back. But the cool thing is that they didn’t just repeat the previous releases, which were very much inspired by military pilot’s watches. These two new watches are brand new designs, each with its own aviation purpose.

Let’s start with the Timex Fly Back Chronograph x Pan Am, one that utilises one of Timex’s very interesting quartz movements. It’s housed in a pretty hefty recycled stainless steel case that measures 43mm wide and 12mm thick, that has a finely knurled bezel on top with a silver and blue slide rule top ring with logarithmic scales for completing complex calculations while flying. On the side are chronograph pushers and a crown with an engraved Pan Am logo. The dial is rendered in a shiny blue, one with a sunray brushed finish, and with a ton of details. The first one that catches your eye are the two fan-shaped sub-dials at the 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions with retrograde hands. Start the chronograph and the one at 4 o’clock will start counting up the minutes that have passed. Every ten minutes it jumps back to zero and moves the upper left dial up one tick for up to four hours. When not in chronograph mode, the upper left dial serves as a second time zone in 24 hour format.

The central chronograph hand features a bright orange tip with plane wings extending from it. Also of note is the position of the date window, which shows up at 2:30. Inside the watch is what Timex calls their Intelligent Quartz Flyback movement, which means that it’s actually a flyback chrono. Hit the bottom pusher while the central hand is running and it will snap back to zero. The watch comes on a brown leather strap with contrasting stitching and Pan Am blue lining. The watch is available now and it’s priced at €299. See more on the Timex website.

The other release is much simpler and much retro, the Timex x Pan Am GMT. Also made out of recycled stainless-steel, it comes in a much smaller package, a case that measures 39mm wide and 11.9mm thick. The case is brushed, with a diamond shaped crown with a blue Pan Am log on it, and has a thin sloping bezel on top that holds down a flat mineral glass crystal. Underneath the glass is an almost vertical flange that holds the GMT 24 hour scale, split into silver and blue sections to indicate the day and night hours. The dial is much more a traditional flieger, with the same blue bas, large Arabic numerals, triangle at 12, Pan Am logo above the 6 o’clock and a date window at 3. The GMT hand gets a red-outlined arrowhead. The watch comes on a brown leather strap complete with contrast stitches, Pan Am blue lining, and Pan Am globe grommets. Price is set at €289. See more on the Timex website.

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Raymond Weil Shrinks Down Their Super Popular Millesime Collection To A Unisex Friendly 35mm

It might come as a surprise, but the spectacular Raymond Weil Millesime collection is actually a brand new collection in watch-world terms. It was only unveiled last year and became an instant success. Not only did it land the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 2023 Challenge Watch Prize, it was huge among enthusiasts and casual buyers alike. And the best thing is, despite being heavily inspired by vintage sector-dial watches, this is a fully original watch, not based on something out of the RW catalogue. That’s because that catalogue only reaches back to the mid 70s. Well, now Raymond Weil is building on that success with five new versions of the Millesime, as both a time-only and a moonhphase version, but in a more compact 35mm version that answers calls for a smaller watch.

All five watches come in practically the same case, with only slight differences. They al measure 35mm across, with the Central Seconds measuring 9.18mm thick and the Moon Phase a bit thicker at 9.98, but both perfectly thin. All have brushed flat bezels with polished bevels surrounding a box-shaped sapphire crystal. The denim models also have 16 lab-grown diamonds set in the lugs.

The Central Seconds model comes in three variants, stainless steel with denim blue and silver dials, or a very striking gold PVD model with a burgundy dial. The dials have three sectors — the outermost is used for the minutes and seconds tracks, while the middle one has 12 markers for the hours, both of which are snailed. The central part is vertically brushed. Inside all three are the familiar Sellita SW200 automatic movements, beating at 28,800vph and with a 38 hour power reserves. The watches come on color mateched leather straps, with stainless steel bracelets as an option. The plain silver dial and silver case is priced at CHF 1,575, the blue dial with diamonds in the lugs at CHF 1,925, while the PVD gold version is priced at CHF 1,850.

Then, there’s the very similar Moon Phase model, which only has two variants. There’s the stainless steel option with diamonds and a denim blue dial, available on a strap or bracelet, or a rose gold PVD case with a silver dial, only on strap. It’s an extremely similar watch to the Central Seconds, but with the addition of Arabic numerals and the moon phase aperture at 6 o’clock. Powering this is the Sellita SW280-1 automatic, which is very similar to the base 200, with the addition of a moonphase complication. The PVD gold watch retails for CHF 2,225, while the blue dial with diamonds sells for CHF 2,450. See more on the Raymond Weil website.

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Aquastar Recreates The Original Airstar Chronograph For The 60th Anniversary Of Their Pilot’s Chrono

Aquastar is best known for their close links to spending times in the water. Be it their skin divers like the Deepstar, the Model 60 or the incredibly cool Benthos (no, really, it’s one of my favorite chronographs), it’s all about diving or, swimming at the worst. But the thing is, once upon a time Aquastar made a pilot’s chronograph called the Airstar. It’s been exactly 60 years since that watch came out and Aquastar is celebrating. This is the new Airstar.

The new Airstar draws clear links to the original, while also giving it a few key upgrades. The most obvious one comes on the outside and the black DLC coat on the stainless steel case. It measures 39mm wide, 14mm thick and with a 49mm lug-to-lug measurement. Technically, the 14mm thickness is without the 2mm domed sapphire crystal. On top is a polished black bezel that has a black insert with a 60 minute scale. Water resistance is great for a chronograph — 200 meters.

The dial has a black base with a combination of white and tan writing and markings, most of which is lumed, especially the three tan stripes at 12 o’clock. On the perimeter of the dial you’ll find a tachymeter scale and it’s a bi-compax layout with a running seconds and a 30-minute counter.

Inside the watch is the tried-and-true Valjoux 7753, part of the legendary 7750 family, that beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. The strap situation is a bit annoying. You get a Tropic-style rubber strap, along with a black nylon strap, but it’s 21mm wide, so it’s slightly tougher to find the right strap.

Unfortunately, the Aquastar Airstar is a limited edition of 300 pieces. You can pre-order the watch right now, for a price of $1,890. Deliveries start in early October and if the watch doesn’t sell out by then, the price will jump up to $2,790. At the pre-order price it’s a great deal. At the higher one, I’m not so sure. See more on the Aquastar website.

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The Musée International d’Horlogerie Celebrates 50 Years With A New Version Of Their Gaïa Series Watch

When you think of a museum, even one that is dedicated to watches, you don’t really expect them to make their own. Watch, that is. And yet, the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds has done exactly that. It all started in 2005, when the legendary Ludwig Oechslin and Paul Gerber created the first watch for the MIH, an annual calendar chronograph, and continued with the introduction of the Gaïa Watch in 2019 which is named after the Gaïa Prize, an important industry award. Now, the MIH is celebrating its 50th anniversary and to mark that they are releasing a revised MIH Gaïa Series III watch and a special 50th anniversary edition featuring 50 unique dials, hand-guilloché by Georges Brodbeck, winner of the 2023 Gaïa Prize.

The MIH is housed in an incredible brutalist building and the Gaïa Series reflects the ethos of the building. The 39mm stainless steel case has a fully round shape, brutally brushed with shorter lugs that are super angular. Also the same is the way the watch displays time, with a rotating minute disc in the centre and hours displayed by a trailing disc in an arched window. The new edition has a blue dial plate with laser engraved lines that go in alternating directions. It’s a great look.

But then there’s the MIH Gaïa 50th Anniversary Edition, which is even more special. The dial base is rendered out of silver, covered with an anti-tarnish treatment, and is then hand-guilloched by Georges Brodbeck in a circular pattern. From what I understand, each of these patterns will be slightly different, creating 50 unique pieces.

Powering all the watches is the rarely seen but very cool Sellita SW400-1, which beats at 28,800vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. The oscillating weight is engraved with the MIH logo. They all come with black vegan apple leather straps.

The MIH Gaïa Series III is limited to 100 pieces, while the MIH Gaïa 50th Anniversary is capped at 50. The price is set at CHF 3,400 for the Series III and CHF 5,500 for the 50th anniversary, both without tax. See more on the special MIH website.

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Bulgari Continues To Show What Is Possible In High-Jewellery Watchmaking With Three New Serpentis

While Bulgari has recently profiled itself as a maker of spectacular high-end timepieces, it shouldn’t be forgotten that they make fantastic jewellery. And when they bring the two together, they have created what is perhaps the best high-jewellery timepiece of all time, the Bulgari Serpenti. The high-end piece is more bracelet than watch, curling around the wearer’s wrist like a snake and filled with precious stones and metals. Now Bulgari has released a trio of Serpenti Pallini models, made out of small gold beads or brilliant-cut diamonds. Also, keep in mind that all three are powered by the Piccolissimo BVL100 manual-winding micro movement instead of a quartz one. The movement is just 2.55mm thick, beats at 21,600vph and has a 30 hour power reserve.

The Serpenti Pallini 104027 features a yellow gold bracelet with yellow gold pallini beads. The head is diamond set with pear-shaped emerald eyes, opening up to reveal the dial which has a mother-of-pearl background and diamond indices, with green hands. The tail is white gold and also set with brilliant-cut diamonds. This incredible piece will set you back €256,000.

Then, there’s the Pallini 104026. While the previous Serpenti held 7.58 carats of diamonds, this one goes up to 24.44 carats. You get rose gold pallini beads, interspersed with brilliant-cut diamonds. The white gold tail and the head are all diamond set, with Pear-cut emerald eyes and a pavé-set diamond dial. More diamonds mean a higher price — €464,000.

Lastly, there’s the pretty incredible 104025. Made entirely of white gold, it holds an incredible 66.31 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds. There are no more gold pallini beads. Instead, they are all replaced with diamonds. It also features pear-cut emeralds as eyes, and larger diamonds on the tail and head. Are you ready for the price? It’s €708,000. That’s a lot of diamonds.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Oris Aquis Upcycle

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Hands-On with the Alpina Heritage Automatic

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A review of the Speake-Marin Ripples Skeleton

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Vero’s Smokey Bear 80th Anniversary is fun, functional, and fuzzy

Still, old-school charm is retained not just by the aforementioned blocky numerals, but also the vintage hand design. While the minute hand takes on a fairly simple syringe-tip structure, the stylized hour hand evinces images of a leaf. Meanwhile, the back end of the seconds hand looks suspiciously like a shovel — every wildland firefighter’s most important tool. It’s evidence that Vero prides itself on design, giving plenty of thought to making watches like the Smokey Bear 80th Anniversary appear as cohesive as possible.

Read the whole review on A Blog To Watch

⏲️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

• Bet you weren’t expecting to read 12,000 words on the history of mine safety today, were you? But you’ll be doing a disservice if you don’t make time for this profile of the man responsible for the fact that 2016 was the first year on record that zero underground coal miners were killed by falling roofs in America.

• Ezra Edelman, the Academy Award-winning director of “O.J.: Made in America,” has worked nearly five years on what is, according to the handful of people who’ve watched it, an epic, brilliant nine-hour film about Prince. Can’t wait to binge this, right? Don’t get your hopes up. The new executors of Prince’s estate screened a cut and claimed it misrepresents the music legend’s life. Now they are locked in a lengthy, bitter legal battle with Netflix—and Edelman’s film is shipwrecked in artistic purgatory. “As of today,” Weiss writes, “there is no indication that the film will ever come out. It has been like watching a monument being swallowed by the sea.”

• While DC’s once-ubiquitous couriers have been pushed to the brink of extinction, their culture and camaraderie endure—as does their impact on the city’s streets. These are DC’s last bike messengers.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Tim Dillon is a completely wild comedian. Perhaps one of my favorites at the movement. However, he is also razor sharp in his analysis of the downsides of modern culture. If you need an example of how he approaches this topic, look no further than his appearance on Joe Rogan a few years ago, 10 minutes of him taking America apart and predicting its future. But now, someone was crazy enough to give him a lot of money. And Dillon used all of that money to recreate a 1990s scandal show like the Jerry Springer Show in which he will rub our collective faces into what we became.

💵Pre-loved precision

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• 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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-Vuk