Universal Genève Is Back! But Not Really, Since You Can't Buy One Yet; TAG Heuer And Time+Tide Team Up For A Sleek Solargraph; Spinnaker's New SpongeBob Watches; A New Kurono; A Striking Habring

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. For the first time in… I think ever… this issue of the newsletter is super-light. There aren’t a lot of reviews floating around, so I had to cut that entire segment out for today. However… This is very much made up with the watches we have today. They’re all very much cool. Also, excuse me for opening up the newsletter with a watch none of us will get a chance to buy, but I just can’t pass up the opportunity to fawn over Universal Genève.

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In this issue:

• Universal Genève Is Back! But Not Really, As These Are Some Mighty Rare Anniversary Polerouter SAS Tributes

• TAG Heuer And Time+Tide Team Up For The Aquaracer Solargraph Sundowner Edition

• Spinnaker Releases Another Trio Of SpongeBob-Themed Watches And They’re Just As Crazy

• Kurono Tokyo Announces Special Edition Chronograph That Pays Homage To Shanghai

• The New Habring² Josef Is A Regulator Watch With A Dead-Beat Seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Universal Genève Is Back! But Not Really, As These Are Some Mighty Rare Anniversary Polerouter SAS Tributes

I have to start this writeup with a confession — the Universal Genève revival has me hooked and it’s reeling me in. I have long been a fan of the UG brand, but especially their Gérald Genta-designed Polerouter, one the prettiest watches ever made, in all its forms. So it only makes sense that I was excited when it was announced that Breitling (actually, the private investment firm that owns Breitling Partners Group and former owner CVC Capital Partners) have bought the rights to Universal Genève and Breitling CEO Georges Kern would oversee the relaunch. The first new UG watches are expected to release 2026, but we got a bit of a surprise today — three modern Polerouters, tributes to the original SAS Watches. But let me warn you right away, you will not be able to buy these, as they are each a unique piece, one of which will be auctioned. Why lead the newsletter with a watch you can’t buy? Well, because I’m fanboying over here. So shoot me.

The Polerouter was developed in 1964, at the request of the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) for their pilots who would be flying from the North of Europe to the West Coast of the United States over the North Pole and reducing travel time between Copenhagen and Los Angeles by 14 hours. It’s an incredible story, the creation of the Polerouter, and I’ll write about it at length for paid subscribers (either directly on the newsletter or on Patreon) for a weekend long read (you can read it too if you want, with a free trial to the premium subscription). But back to the Polerouter we have today. Only 170 of those original watches were made with SAS branding and it’s these watches that the modern Universal Genève Polerouters pay homage to.

And when I say modern Universal Genève Polerouters, I’m not sure what I mean. These are, obviously, not modern production watches, but they are also not NOS or restored vintage pieces. They are brand new cases, almost identical to the originals, but with restored vintage micro-rotor calibre 1-69 from the 1960s inside. The case, of course, keeps the same dimensions as the original — 35mm wide and 9.95mm thick — whilke keeping the same curvy look, lyre lugs and a flat bezel.. The watches ditch the old plexi crystals and instead you get a cambered sapphire crystal. There are upgrades to the crown as well, which is now gasketed to give you 50 meters of water resistance.

The dials also keep the same look, but with modern construction. The inner flange is guilloched, while the centre of the dial is satin finished and colored, featuring the Universal Genève logo and historic SAS logo. There are three unique watches made. First, the one that features an SAS blue dial, which comes in a white gold case, with a sensational gold bracelet recreating the UG original. Second is the stainless steel cased watch that has a silver dial with contrasting logos in red gold. And last is the example in a 18k red gold case with a red gold inner flange, with the classic tuxedo black dial.

And just like I said, you won’t be able to get one. I mean, you might, if you are very lucky and very wealthy. The blue-dialed version goes to auction in May of next year to benefit CFP Arts in Geneva, which teaches applied arts. But the other two… no amount of money will get you those, unless you buy the entire company, as they are going to the Universal Genève archives. For more on Universal Genève, head on over to their website.

2/

TAG Heuer And Time+Tide Team Up For The Aquaracer Solargraph Sundowner Edition

We’ve all agreed that TAG Heuer is definitely going through a renaissance which started when they introduced the incredible Glassbox Carrera. But the cool thing is that they weren’t focusing on just the one model, as other brands have been known to do. Pretty much everything they put out seems to be nice. They even brought cool to the world of high-end quartz, which is not always easy to do. They did that with the Aquaracer Professional Solargraph, with its grooved dial and rugged construction. A pretty much perfect watch if you wanted an expensive quartz. The Solargraph was introduced in 2022, was updated several times since, but now gets perhaps it’s sleekest looking version. But, as we’re used to, it’s a limited edition made with the Australian watch publication Time+Tide. This is the new Aquaracer Professional Solargraph Sundowner Edition, inspired by the Australian desert landscape.

On the outside, it keeps largely the same case. It’s a very cool looking fully sandblasted grade 2 titanium case that measures 40mm wide and 11mm thick. It has the same guarded fluted screw-down crown, titanium caseback (only now it has the Time+Tide emblem), and 200 meters of water resistance. What’s new is the 12-sided, notched unidirectional rotating bezel or more precisely, the rose gold colored 60-minute markings.

Inside is an anthracite grey dial which plays very nicely with the lighter grey of the blasted case. It still has the same horizontal grooves and is semi-transparent to allow the movement inside to charge. It has trapezoidal indices that are applied and bordered in rose gold plating. In fact, the rose gold plating can be found on the logos and hands (both the sword shaped hour and minute, as well as the seconds). At 6 o’clock is the Time+Tide logo, the one thing they could have done without as kind of crowds the bottom part of the dial. At 3 o’clock is a date window.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret developed quartz TH50-00 movement which will give you 10 months of battery life with 40 hours of charging in sunlight and the battery needs to be replaced every 15 years. The watch comes on a green textile NATO-style strap which rose gold hardware, a pretty nice combination with the watch.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional Solargraph Sundowner Edition is limited to 250 pieces and goes on sale on November 18th. Price is set at US$3,050. See more on the Time+Tide website.

3/

Spinnaker Releases Another Trio Of SpongeBob-Themed Watches And They’re Just As Crazy

For years, Spinnaker was known as the maker of some pretty decent and fairly priced dive and sports watches. But it all changed for them significantly last Halloween when they collaborated with seconde/seconde/ on the ingenious 50 Phantoms watch that featured lumed ghosts on the dial. Since then they have done a couple of collaborations so impressive that they could soon be know as the collab brand. Some four months ago they teamed up with the iconic cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants for a quartet of incredibly cool watches. Now, we’re getting three more.

While the previous collaboration was based on the huge Spinnaker Hass, this new trio is based on the equally large Cahill. The watches come in stainless steel cases that measure 43mm wide, 15mm thick and with a 50mm lug-to-lug. On top are sapphire crystals, water resistance is 200 meters and all of them have a brushed finish. There are three unique versions, each with their own bezel. The Work Not Work edition comes with a black ceramic insert on the bezel, Patrick O’Clock has a red sapphire bezel with 60 minute graduations and the Foghorn gets a brushed steel bezel with black has marks.

Each of the editions has its own crazy dial, also. The most striking is surely the Work Not Work, a watch that SpongeBob SquarePants wears himself. It features a unique dial that tracks “Work” and “Not Work” hours, one in bright red and the other in acid green, pointed to with black hands. The Patrick O’Clock features an illustration of Patrick Star on the dial, with his arms serving as hour and minute hands. And last is the Foghorn, Spongebob’s signature alarm clock which has a green fully lumed dial. Each of these editions is just spectacular.

Inside, a bit of a guessing game. Spinnaker just says they equip the watches with automatic three-hand movements. But if it’s the same movement as the rest of the Cahill line, then it should be the Miyota 8215. at least it is in the Patrick O’Clock and Foghorn. The Work Not Work gets at 24 hour movement. All of the watches come on rubber straps: black on the Work Not Work, orange on the Foghorn and yellow on the Patrick O’Clock.

All of them are limited editions and they’re going fast. The Work Not Work is limited to 350 pieces, while the other two are limited to 300 pieces. As I’m writing this, the Patrick O’Clock is already sold out, so hurry up if you want one. The price for the Foghorn and Patrick O’Clock is $385, while the Work Not Work is priced at $425. See more on the Spinnaker website.

4/

Kurono Tokyo Announces Special Edition Chronograph That Pays Homage To Shanghai

Some people in the online watch community will attempt to tell you that the fervour that watch fans felt for the Japanese independent brand Kurono Tokyo has died down. That they can now release watches without everyone having a complete meltdown and crashing their site. True, the site will indeed not crash, but not because interest in Kurono has waned, it’s because Kurono owner Hajime Asaoka is getting better at supplying watch fans with fantastic watches at great prices. This simple brand has become the face of indie Japanese watchmaking, representing everything we love about it - high quality minimalist pieces that would have looked good 50 years ago, look good now and will look good in 50 years. But seeing as how getting a Kurono watch has always been very difficult, it comes as a bit of a surprise to see them open up their first overseas salon. And to celebrate that, they are releasing the Chronograph P1 Shanghai Special Edition

Like so many models before it, this one comes in just a beautiful case. Made out of highly polished stainless steel, it measures 38mm wide and 11.7mm thick. Even if you take into account the quite pronounced sapphire box crystal on top, the thickness goes up to 13.5mm, which is quite decent for a chronograph, especially one that uses an off-the-shelf movement. The lug-to-lug measurement is decent at 46.8mm, maybe a bit long for that width, but that’s the tradeoff for those beautiful lugs. You get 30 meters of water resistance, which is not great, but also not surprising for a chronograph.

But while the watch case is beautiful, things get really nice on the dial. It’s equally as complex as it is simple. The base is pure white, with a carmine ring on the periphery that has been done in the pointilism technique and gives off a red-brown hue. Outside it are two scales, one nested in the other. At the start of the chronograph cycle you have a pulsometer scale, which then turns into a tachymetre scale. Moving inwards, we get the incredible gothic numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock. At 3 is a small seconds and at 9 is a 30 minute totalizer. The hands are signature Kurono, high-polish leaf-shaped, with the tips of minute and chronograph seconds hands bent by hand to match the curves of the dial and glass.

Inside is the NE86PWT. This is, of course, the NE86, which is the Seiko 8R46A. However, Kurono modifies it in house to remove the date entirely from the movement, so that there’s no ghost position when adjusting the time. The NE86 is a higher-end Seiko chronograph with a vertical clutch and column wheel and it beats at 4Hz, with a 45 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black calf leather strap.

You already know that this is a limited edition. Only, Kurono doesn’t say how many they will make. All they say is that this is a “once-off small batch release and will not be reintroduced”. The watch goes on sale November 25, 11 p.m. JST/ 2 p.m. GMT/ 9 a.m. EST and is priced at $3,590. See more on the Kurono Tokyo website.

 5/

The New Habring² Josef Is A Regulator Watch With A Dead-Beat Seconds

When you get started in watches, you learn one universal truth and you stick with it, as it makes you feel like you know a lot about watches — if the seconds hand glides, then it’s a mechanical movement, and if it ticks, it’s a quartz. This helps you a lot to tell the difference at a glance between an expensive and a cheap watch. And it works in the majority of cases, until you run up on a cheap mechanical or expensive quartz. But your brain breaks for real when you see the first dead-beat seconds movement, a mechanical movement that ticks. It’s an incredible thing to see and behold, reserved usually for the highest end of watchmaking. It’s the dead-beat that the Austrian brand Habring² incorporated into their new Josef watch, along with a regulator setup. Very fun.

The case is similar, as we’ve seen it used before. But it’s also very unique and attractive. It has an unusual cushion shape that’s emphasized with abrupt transitions between the brushed flat surfaces and polished facets on the bezel. It measures 38.5mm wide, just 8.4mm thick and with a decent 47mm lug-to-lug. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals and water resistance is 30 meters.

It’s the dial where things get eye-popping. It has a glossy white lacquer base with black printed railroad tracks, with a regulator display. A regulator just means that the hours, minutes and seconds have been separated into their own axis. There are two sub dials at 12 and 6 o’clock that follow the shape of the case. All the hands are blued steel, with the minutes in the centre, hours at the bottom and a power reserve at 3 o’clock. At 12 o’clock, you’ll find the seconds and there are two interesting things about them. First, it’s one of the rare regulators to have the seconds at 12, as the original regulators had, thanks to the escapement being positioned at 12 o’clock underneath the dial. The other cool thing is that the second doesn’t sweep, it jumps like a quartz one.

Inside the watch is the calibre A11GSP, which isn’t exactly based on the ETA Valjoux 7750l, but it does borrow some philosophies from it. The movement is done almost entirely in-house or thanks to suppliers from Austria and Switzerland. It beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a brown nubuck leather strap.

The new Habring² Josef Regulator is part of the regular collection and available now, priced at €7,450. See more on the Habring² website.

⏲️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

• Longing for a calmer life seems endemic in today’s world. Too much phone! Not enough book! More focus! But an undersappreciated element of that calm involves carving out a space in which to think. Once upon a time, that was something that people intuitively understood. As the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance, reading and writing became more valued as a secular activity—and, as Andrew Hui details, reading and writing rooms became an increasingly common part of that ritual. If you’ve ever stared longingly at a photo of a bookstore or library, this one’s for you.

• This excellent and empathetic J.B. MacKinnon story about dam removals on the Klamath River is about so much more than dams: it’s about how we live together when we’re all working from different sets of facts, how we decide what’s factual at all, and how to trust our neighbors.

• What does the future look like for Soho, a district at the very heart of London? Francisco Garcia talks with “a wide selection of Soho residents, past and present, a diverse constituency of council and private tenants and middle-class, occasionally very wealthy homeowners, young, old and middle-aged” to find where views diverge and align. The result is a fascinating insight into a diverse area where partiers, tourists, and residents merge.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I love these in-depth videos that Atelier Wen put together of their entire production process. This is the third episode int he series, so you might want to check out the other two first.

💵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