We're Turning One(ish); Hamilton Updates Jazzmaster Performer Collection; Aquastar Revives The Benthos 500; Brew Releases Titanium Metric; And A New Bamford x Ace Collab

In this issue:

• Hamilton Updates The Jazzmaster Performer Collection, Their Sporty Everyday Watch, With Nine New Models

• Aquastar Revives The Benthos 500 With A Central Minutes Monopusher Chronograph

• Brew Releases The Metric In A New Material, You Know It Had To Be Titanium

• Bamford Teams Up With Ace Jewelers On A Pre-Scratched Watch For Your Piece Of Mind

• It’s About Time Turns One (And A Bit) Year Old, Thank You Everyone

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 33 seconds

👂What’s new

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Hamilton Updates The Jazzmaster Performer Collection, Their Sporty Everyday Watch, With Nine New Models

The Jazzmaster line of watches has been around for years in the Hamilton lineup but the Jazzmaster Performer is a new(ish)addition. Seeing as how the brand has almost specialised in mid-century field and aviation watches, especially those with , the Performer came as a breath of fresh air when it was introduced in 2023 as a sporty and much more modern take on the go-anywhere do-anything watch. And now Hamilton has updated the line, with 9 new references and spanning all three model lines - the time only automatics in 34 and 38mm, as well as the 42mm chronograph.

Starting off with the Jazzmaster Performer Automatic Chronograph, it’s quite a presence. Measuring in at 42mm wide and a whopping 15.2mm thick, it will stick up from even the beefiest of wrists. But other than the size, this is very much a modern chronograph with vintage inspirations. On top is a fixed silver bezel with a black tachymeter scale which, in combination with the new dial, gives off a look that’s very reminiscent of that other silver watch with a blue dial. The pushers are sloped, almost looking like crown guards, the crown screws down and water resistance is 100 meters.

Back to the dial. It comes in a beautiful pale blue color that has a sunray-brushed finish and silver rings around the subdials. The tri-compax layout has the classic 3-6-9 setup and the horrible date window at 4:30. Inside is the calibre H-31, based on a Valjoux 7753 architecture with a reworked kinematic chain and 60 hours of power reserve. The two new references for this year are the addition of a 3-link steel bracelet on the existing dark blue variant, the same bracelet this one gets.

Moving on to the 38mm variant, the time-only Jazzmaster Performer Automatic. It comes in a 38mm wide case that’s much more manageable at 11.5mm of thickness. Since it’s not a chronograph, you get a bezel with a 60-minute scale that comes in either steel of black PVD, depending on the color of the dial you get. You still have the screw down crown and 100 meters of water resistance.

Updated is the white dial (which pairs with the black PVD bezel), previously available only with a gold PVD-coated case, in addition to the sunray-brushed blue dial which gets the steel bezel. Inside is the calibre H10, which is Hamilton’s version of the Powermatic 80, the familiar movement known for its 80 hour power reserve.

And finally, there’s a larger update to the 34mm time-only Jazzmaster Performer Automatic. As the name would suggest, it comes in at 34mm wide and almost the same thickness of the larger 38mm version at 11.18mm. despite being marketed as a women’s watch, Hamilton sidesteps the urge to make the watch sporty and more dressy. This means you still get the bezel with the 60 minute scale and 100 meters of water resistance.

New for this year is the addition of a slew of colorful dials, making it a serious competitor in the colorful sports watch category. The new colors are blue, pink, silver, a pastel purple and light green, all with a sunray brushed finish. Inside is the same calibre H10 with an 80 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a 3-link bracelet with a folding clasp.

All nine new watches are now available from Hamilton, with a wide range of prices: the Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer Automatic Chronograph is priced at €2,525, while the Automatic 38mm and 34 share a price at €1,225. See more on the Hamilton website.

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Aquastar Revives The Benthos 500 With A Central Minutes Monopusher Chronograph

Back in the 1960s, diver, sailor, pilot, mathematician and watchmaker Frédéric Robert founded Aquastar, a brand he developed from his father’s watchmaking business. Over the next ten years, Rober filed a number of patents that are still relevant today, like inner rotating bezels, multiple dive decompression bezels, a new crown sealing system and the friction bezel ring. When Robert retired, the brand was bought and sold by a number of companies and ended up being revived in 2020 by Rick Marei, who is known for building up Doxa to the powerhouse it is today. While not as big as Doxa, his work with Aquastar has been just as interesting - first with the revival of the Deepstar, and then with the reintroduction of their first-ever diver with modern specs, the Model 60.

With the Benthos H1, Marei showed that he was dead set on reviving the most influential models from Aquastar history, but fans were asking: when are we getting the Benthos chronograph with a central minute counter, just like the original? Well, here we are, this is the Aquastar Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition Chronograph, an almost 1:1 recreation of the 1970s legend, but fully modernized and with a movement that explains why it took so long to recreate the watch.

Starting with the outside of the watch, the Benthos 500 is a hefty watch, which is to be expected from a capable diver. It measures in at 42mm wide, a chubby 15.4mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 47mm. And before you think to yourself that we are over inflating watches and should go back to 70s watch sizes, keep in mind that this watch is 0.6mm thinner than the original Benthos 500. However, looking at the very short lugs, they seem to slope down significantly, which should help with comfort. On top is a flat sapphire crystal surrounded by a notched unidirectional bezel with a ceramic black insert that has a 60 minute scale, something that will be of importance a bit later. Water resistance is 200 meters.

Moving on to the dial, it’s also very similar to the original. Around the perimeter is a checkered flag patterned rehaut with the dial getting a semi gloss black treatment with a mix of printed and applied indices. The hour and minute hands are blocky batons with lume in it, while the chronograph hand is orange with a luminous arrow-shaped tip. And speaking of the chronograph hand, you will notice that there is just the one arrow-tipped hand, which keeps track of the minutes, with no chronograph seconds hand. This means that when you start the chronograph, nothing happens until a minute passes and the minute counter moves one tick forward and keeps track for 60 minutes along the scale on the bezel. An interesting complication for a dive watch.

And it was this movement that took Aquaster a while to make which kept them from recreating the watch earlier. Not only does the movement have a centrally mounted 60-minute chronograph hand, but it is also operated with a monopusher. It took three years for Aquastar and La Joux-Perret to create a bespoke movement which they call the 1MPS. It has a chronograph pusher at 2 o’clock, operational underwater, and a regular crown at 4. It beats at 28,000vph and has a 60 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a 22mm wide ISOfrane rubber strap.

Only 300 pieces of the Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition Chronograph will be made, but seeing as how they went to the trouble of creating a bespoke movement for it, I assume they will be releasing an unlimited line sometime in the future. Especially considering the pre-order price is set at a relatively low $2,790. If the watch doesn’t sell out during pre-orders, which I doubt, the price will go up by $1,000. Additionally, the first 150 orders will receive a signed copy of the novel Sweetwater, written by Jason Heaton of The Grey Nato fame. See more on the Aquaster website.

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Brew Releases The Metric In A New Material, You Know It Had To Be Titanium

In no time at all Brew Watch Co. has amassed a cult following with their super affordable, retro-styled watches. It’s great to see how such a simple concept can still work in the market if it hits the right notes. And Brew has been doing that with watch after watch, especially with their Metric line. Most of the updates to the Metric so far have been aesthetic, with some getting incredible color schemes, the Metric is now getting a material change - this is the Brew Metric Titanium.

Despite the change in material, you still get the exact same shape - 36mm wide, 10.75mm thick and with a 41.5mm lug-to-lug. On top is a sapphire crystal and water resistance remains same at 50 meters. The titanium case and matching integrated bracelet get a brushed finish and brew says that the use of the lightweight material keeps the weight to just 89 grams.

While the Metric watches have become very well known for their fantastic use of color, this one lets the material shine with a subdued dial. All black, with the recognisable 60 minute internal bezel on the perimeter and recessed subdials in the bi-compax layout with the subdials at 6 and 9 o’clock. The only hint of color comes from the central seconds hand and the subdial hands which are red.

Inside the watch is the very familiar Seiko made VK68 Meca-Quartz chronograph which uses a quartz movement for regular time telling, with a mechanical addition to operate the chronograph portion.

The new Brew Metric Titanium is on sale now, with no hints as to how many will be made or whether it will be limited in any way. Also, the price increase is very slight, with the titanium version priced at $495, only $20 more than the steel version. See more on the Brew website.

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Bamford Teams Up With Ace Jewelers On A Pre-Scratched Watch For Your Piece Of Mind

I have a friend who has an incredibly weird habit. When he buys a car, be it new or used, he takes his key and puts in a big scratch somewhere on the bumper. He says it makes the car less precious and when he does accidentally scratch his car through regular use, he is much less upset about it. I can’t say I completely understand the logic behind it, but I do agree with his sentiment that “it’s just a car”. I have been known to say similar things about cars, but also about watches. Watches are made to be worn. To be used. To take knocks. And this is the sentiment behind the new watch made in collaboration between Bamford and Alon Ben Joseph from the Amsterdam-based Ace Jewelers - the Bamford B80 ‘Ace’ Edition get its first scratch straight from the factory so you don’t have to worry if you scuff it up later.

Based on the Bamford B80, the watch comes in a titanium case that gets a black PVD coating and it measures 39mm wide and 10.5mm thick. PVD is a very durable coating, but as many vintage black watches will show you, it’s not completely scratch proof. And being black on top and titanium inside, when it inevitably does get scratched, the scratch will be even more visible. So, as Bamford and Ace put it: “with this watch, the first knock is on us”. That’s because you get a distressed watch. It’s not revolutionary and previously unseen, but it sure is a very clever approach to this finish, one that I just adore.

The dial is a result of direct collaboration between Alon Ben Joseph, CEO of Ace Jewelers, and George Bamford. Alon is a fan of the traditional field watches, with their true layout of both hours and minutes, while Bamford added the a smoky colour gradient - beige on the inside, fading to black on the outside. The simple numerals for the hours are also rendered in a shade of beige, while minutes are denoted in black. The hands also get the same beige treatment, making for a very monochromatic look.

Inside is the Sellita SW300, a fine movement that’s easy to maintain. It beats at 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 56 hours. The watch comes on a 20mm Cordura strap that matches the dial nicely.

The Bamford London x Ace Jewelers limited edition B80 is a limited edition that goes on sale today, April 2, at 2pm GMT. Head on over to the Bamford website to see more.

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It’s About Time Turns One (And A Bit) Year Old, Thank You Everyone

I was 100% sure that I launched It’s About Time on April 1st, and thought to myself: heh, the first April Fools joke I like. Not only did I never say that to myself, it turns out that I didn’t even start this newsletter on April 1st. The first issue of It’s About Time was, in fact, published on February 27th. I always planned to publish a short sum-up of the first year to let you know what’s going on and where we are going, and now it turns out I’m more than a month late… That’s on me. What’s on you are the thousands of watches we have looked at together. So, here’s what we’ve all done together in the past year:

• There are now just a hair under 7,000 people who are actively subscribed to this newsletter. That’s just a mind bending number. When I decided that I wanted to continue writing this after the first several issues, I set a goal of 1,000 subscribers in one year. I would be happy with that. To 7x that number is amazing.

• In the past year, I published 267 posts, meaning that I wrote about more than 1,300 new watch releases, mentioned over 800 reviews of watches and featured some 250 watches in the Watch Worthy section.

• Speaking of numbers that blow me away, this newsletter is read by a lot more people than there are subscribers. A lot more. In the past year, the newsletter has been read almost 10 million times, meaning that on average each issue gets read almost 40.000 times. That really is incredible.

• I’m bad at social media. For year two, that is one of my top priorities - post more on social. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, where I will have to become more active in the year that’s ahead. I’ve been most active on Reddit, where we’ve build a nice little community. Over the past year, the posts on Reddit have received a bit over 12,000 upvotes, 4,386 comments and have been shared 5,593 times.

• A couple of months ago I started a Pateron because so many of you asked me for ways to support the newsletter. I promised you more longform writing on there in exchange for a small monthly fee, but I failed you there and it’s been eating at me. I focused on some other things which sucked away a lot of my time. But that’s changing. Starting this weekend, we’re back to weekly longform articles, and I already have five banked. It’s going to be a blast over there, so do subscribe if you’re interested.

That’s it for now. I have a lot of things in the works for year two and I can’t wait to share it.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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A review of the Tissot PR516 Mechanical Chronograph

2/

Hands-On With The Mido Ocean Star GMT Special Edition

3/

A review of the Louis Vuitton Voyager Flying Tourbillon “Poinçon de Genève” Plique-à-jour

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The MMI Turret Marine Chronograph is a solidly built watch that wears better than the blocky and angular cases suggests

There are a few design tricks here that make for a busy, but legible dial. The first is that the roulette-wheel date function is pushed to the perimeter of the dial from the more central position it inhabits on the Turret GMT and Nor Light. This leaves the inner portion of the dial for timekeeping, making for well-executed visual and functional delineation. The color distinction between the black and white date ring and the inner portion of the dial – rendered boldly here in what the brand calls “Bismark Yellow” – makes the date ring visually disappear when not in use and draws your eye to the inner portion of the dial.

Read the whole review on The Time Bum

⏲️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

• Inigo Philbrick, the wunderkind dealer personified the art market’s wealth-generating potential and its unregulated excesses—until he pleaded guilty as part of the largest art fraud in US history. Now out of prison and “wearing the scarlet letter,” Philbrick is searching for a second act. These are the confessions of an art fraudster extraordinaire.

• The other day I mentioned my dad and I have a garage of shame full of books, comics, VHS tapes and toys. And lots and lots of DVDs. Of course, we are not the only ones that collect DVDs. The Guardian has a nice piece on modern day DVD collectors, making it easier for us to claim we are not, in fact, hoarders.

• For more than a decade after Toni Morrison marked her debut as a novelist, she remained a senior editor at Random House—a job in which, as any editor knows, writing rejection letters is an unfortunately crucial skill. Sifting through the hundreds of letters in Random House’s archives, Melina Moe draws out what made Morrison’s so special. Rejection is never fun, but it’s also rarely laden with this much empathy and thoughtfulness.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Teddy has to be the nicest guy in the watch world. And you know I don’t really like posting watch videos in this section, as it’s mostly a getaway from watches into adventure and cars. But I just love his visits to watchmakers, like this most recent one to Grand Seiko

💵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 Ōtsuka 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