Yema Brings Their Micro-Rotor To The Navygraf Slim; Farer Gives Us Their First Textured Dial And It's Just As Beautiful; Paulin's Crazy Looking LE; And New From Toledano & Chan And Bianchet

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Yema won’t blow your mind, they will just continue putting out great watches. Farer, on the other hand, will blow your mind with their incredible dials.

In this issue:

• Yema Brings Their Surprising Micro-Rotor Movement To The Navygraf Slim CMM.20

• Farer Dips Into Texture On Their Already Stunning Dials With The Banzare GMT Limited Edition

• Paulin Teams Up With California-Based Type Foundry OH no For A Crazy Looking LE

• New Brand Toledano & Chan Release Their First Watch, The Very Sharp B/1

• Bianchet Partners with Maserati MSG Racing For Two Limited Flying Tourbillon Grande Date

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 11 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Yema Brings Their Surprising Micro-Rotor Movement To The Navygraf Slim CMM.20

In the 1960s, Yema was the biggest watch exporter in France, selling more than 500,000 watches per year. Twenty years later, they nearly dissapeared thanks to the quartz crisis. In the past decade or so they’ve been making their way back and they’re on track to their former glory. Starting off with Swiss off-the-shelf movements, Yema is now pushing towards making their own movements. While the debate on what in-house actually means goes on, Yema tries to make all of their manufacture movements either internally or by Swiss and French suppliers within a range of 72km from Morteau and then assembled by Yema. And this move has proven to be largely a success for the company (after a few stumbles in the beginning) and allowed them to experiment with what they make. And their most interesting creation has been the micro-rotor calibre CMM.20, as micro-rotors are not something you see every day. Now the CMM.20 is making it’s way to more models in the range, this time the Navygraf Slim CMM.20 diver.

The Navygraf could be considered a light version of the much more hardcore Superman, but that might be underselling this very nice watch. The dimensions of the Navygraf are spot on - 39mm wide, 11m thick with the pronounced double-dome sapphire crystal and a very nice lug-to-lug of 46mm. It’s a more blocky watch than the Superman and it loses the bezel lock of the larger watch which could be seen as a positive as you need to unscrew the crown on the Superman to adjust the bezel. The black sapphire bezel on this version is a bit less useful for diving as it’s doesn’t have any numerals, only markers fore very five minutes. Water resistance is also a bit down from the 300 meters of the Superman to a plentiful 200 meters.

The dial is also very simple to match the simplicity of the bezel. It’s a glossy black lacquered finish with applied polished steel markers that are filled with Super-LumiNova. The same treatment is also seen on the faceted and polished hands, while the seconds hand gets a yellow treatment.

Inside is the mentioned CMM.20 micro-rotor movement. Assembled by Yema, the tungsten micro-rotor winds the movement up to 70 hours of power reserve at a beat rate of 28,800vph. It’s also quite accurate with a rating of -3/+7 seconds per day. You can see the deep black mainplate and rotor through the caseback. The watch comes on a grained calfskin leather strap that’s slightly annoyingly 19mm wide.

The Yema Navygraf Slim CMM.20 is limited to 200 pieces and priced at €1,990. Deliveries will start in August of this year. See more on the Yema website.

2/

Farer Dips Into Texture On Their Already Stunning Dials With The Banzare GMT Limited Edition

I think I’ve said it 150 times already, but Farer is absolutely the best brand when it comes to the use of color. No other watch, at any price point, is as good at not just choosing primary colors for their dials, but then combining it with spectacular contrasting shades. Now, they’re just taking things to a new level by introducing, for the first time, a texture to their lacquer dials. This is the wonderful Banzare GMT.

Before I get to the case, a word on that name - Banzare - as there’s always something to learn from Farer names. The term is an acronym for the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, a scientific expedition to the Antarctic in 1929-1931 that mapped the coastline of the continent. Pretty cool. The watch comes in the known case used for the Farer GMT, which means it’s 39.5mm wide, 10.8mm thick and has a 45mm lug-to-lug. The case has a polished finish with brushed lug tops. There’s a tiny, almost invisible, bezel on top and it surrounds a boxed sapphire crystal domed glass. Water resistance is rated at a comfortable 100 meters.

Then we have the incredible dial. Stamped into the metal is a 3D sunray pattern that gives the dial a special shimmer. This is additionally made beautiful with a gorgeous plum red color with a layer of clear lacquer. It really is incredible. On top of that are the applied hour markers and sword hands and a GMT 24-hour scale in a great shade of blue, with an orange 24-hour hand.

Inside is the top grade of the Sellita SW330-2, which means you get a 56-hour power reserve and an accuracy of +/-4 seconds per day. The watch comes on a mulberry leather strap, but this is a Farer which means you can get a whole range of straps and bracelets.

The Farer Banzare GMT is limited to 150 watches and priced at €1,460 on rubber, €1,475 on leather and €1,490 on the milanese bracelet. See more on the Farer website.

3/

Paulin Teams Up With California-Based Type Foundry OH no For A Crazy Looking LE

It seems that we have seen every single type of collaboration in the watch world possible. Watches teaming up with carmakers, with sports organisations, with countries, even actors. But what we have never seen is a watch brand partnering with a type foundry - a company that designs fonts. Well, now we have. In preparation for the San Francisco Wind Up Watch Fair which took place last weekend, the Scottish watch brand Paulin teamed up with the San Jose type foundry OH no to create a really unique watch.

Based on the Paulin Modul watch, it retains the same case, meaning it measures either 39mm wide, 9.7mm thick with the crystal (and just 7.7 without), with a 45mm lug-to-lug or in the smaller case which comes in at 35mm wide, 8.2mm thick and with a 40mm lug-to-lug. The case has a charming cushion shape and a vintage-style Hesalite box-crystal. Water resistance is 50 meters.

It’s all about the dial on this thing. Paulin points out that the partnership was born out of our mutual love of typography and their particular fondness for the font Obviously, used across Paulin’s identity. And it was heavily influenced by California’s design history including those from Sister Corita Kent and Saul Bass. The dial features OH no’s free-form bespoke numerals. Their interlocking layout playfully tests legibility, with exaggerated emphasis on the 12, 3, 6 and 9. It also comes in three color options - black numerals on white dial, red numerals on white dial and blue numerals on a black dial.

Inside, you can choose which movement you want. There’s a choice of either a a mechanical La Joux-Perret G101 which beats at 28,800 and has a 68 hour power reserve. Or you can go for the quartz version which is fitted with the Swiss-made ETA 955.112 with an intricate blue and gold design, visible through an exhibition caseback. The watches come on a number of straps, which include leathers, suedes and a metal mesh bracelet.

The Paulin x OH no Modul is limited, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find to how many. They are still available for sale on the Paulin website and priced at €453,95 for the quartz and €906,95 for the mechanical. You can also read a very informative blog post from Paulin on the collaboration and the history of design they reference.

 4/

New Brand Toledano & Chan Release Their First Watch, The Very Sharp B/1

Rolex never recreated one of their most iconic watches from the 1960s and 1970s, the extremely flamboyant, Gerald Genta designed, solid gold Rolex Midas. The model is relieving a new youth in recent years, with social media influencers hunting down the perfect example on video. One of these hunters has been Phil Toledano, artist and watch collector, who often appears in videos filmed by watch dealer Mike Nouveau. Well, now Toledano, who goes by the quite insufferable Mr. Enthusiast moniker online, has decided to give it a go and make his take on the Midas. He teamed up with watch designer Alfred Chan to form the new watch brand Toledano & Chan and released the B/1.

The B/1, of course, is not a direct copy of the Midas, but you can see the lineage, combined with a lot of 1970s inspiration as well as the windows of the Marcel Breuer-designed Whitney museum building in New York. The case is tiny, measuring 33.5mm wide and is between 10.4 and 9.1mm thick. The difference in thickness comes from the fact that the case is angled, just like the Whitney windows. The stainless steel is cut sharply and deeply brushed to give it an amazing texture. The crown is located on the straight left side of the case, as the right side is devoted to the dramatic slope of the case.

The dial is also very 70s in design, made out of lapis lazuli stone. I applaud the duo for not putting their logo - or any markings at all - on the dial, letting the stone shine. It helps to keep it not crowded when the dial is so tiny. The hands are dauphine shaped and just as sharp as the case, with an interestingly cut off end on the hour hand, giving it a knife-like look. The bracelet is integrated into the case in an equally dramatic fashion, continuing the complex facets and angles of the case with parallel links.

Inside the watch is a movement that might disappoint some, but I like a lot. It’s the not-often-used Sellita SW100 automatic movement. Yes, it’s an off-the-shelf movement, very compact to fit in the small case, but the relatively generic movement allows for a lower price. I’m not saying this is a cheap watch, but I can see someone else using a manufacture movement and charging into the five figures. The Sellita beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve.

The Toledano & Chan B/1 will go on sale on May 16 and will be limited to 175 numbered pieces. Price is set at $4,000. Like I said, not cheap. But intriguing at this price. See more on the Toledano & Chan website and check out the extremely cool concrete box it ships in.

 5/

Bianchet Partners with Maserati MSG Racing For Two Limited Flying Tourbillon Grande Date

Opening this one with a pretty strong question - what is Bianchet’s game plan and why do they think it will work? If you haven’t heard of the brand, don’t worry about it. From what I’ve seen, they seem to be making cushion-shaped, skeletonized watches with high-tech materials, wild colors and tourbillon movements, which they then sell for obscene amounts of money? Sounds familiar? Yeah, these could easily be Richard Milles. But, while not a brand with huge history, Richard Mille shocked the world in 2001 with their first RM 001 Tourbillon and has since been building a dedicated audience. They were new, they were completely different, they were wild and they attracted a very specific clientele that had way too much money and wanted to show it off. Richard Mille cultivated relationships, built a brand and can now be ridiculed for being over the top. But they can’t be denied the fact that they are doing it well.

Bianchet, on the other hand, came out with their first watch just three years ago in 2021 and have since just put one RM lookalike after another. At prices that match RM. A pretty wild business plan, I’ll admit, but they’re still around. So what do I know. Now, they’ve teamed up with the Maserati MSG Racing team from the electric-powered Formula E series to release two new versions of their Flying Tourbillon Grande Date.

The case comes in at 43mm wide, 14.35mm thick and has a 51mm lug-to-lug, with a pronounced tonneau shape. One of the watches is made out of high-density carbon composite infused with titanium powder, known as Titanium-Dust-High-Density Carbon, while the second edition combines titanium and carbon. Both include blue rubber accents on the case and crown, paying homage to the Maserati team colour. The watch supposedly has a shock resistance up to 5000G and water resistance up to 100m.

The dial is a mix between an RM and Hublot dial, which doesn’t really inspire much confidence. It has a flange on the edge with a minutes track with blue accents at 5-minute intervals. At 12 o’clock the Maserati MSG Racing logo replaces the Bianchet logo, underneath which is a big date displa and at 6 o’clock is the flying tourbillon display. The hands are baton shaped and also blue accented. The movement is made out of titanium, it’s skeletonized and has a 90 hour power reserve. The watch come on a natural vulcanised rubber strap, available in blue or black, with a titanium folding clasp.

The Bianchet x Maserati MSG Racing Flying Tourbillon Grande Date is limited to 21 pieces each and both carry the same price of CHF 70,500. Without taxes. If you want one, you can check out the Bianchet website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Zenith Defy Revival A3648

2/

Hands on with the Patek Philippe Ellipse

3/

A review of the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Panda 

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The new Citizen Tsuyosa Small Second is the perfect gateway watch

Where it gets truly impressive is the way those specifications are presented. The bracelet feels solid, the surface finishing punches above its weight, and even the movement looks quite good. The dials are, of course, stamped. However, the pattern is pretty darn sharp, giving off a convincing guilloché effect that you wouldn’t expect in a watch at this price. Weighing 145 grams on the full-length bracelet, it even feels quite hefty, conveying a sense of quality.

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

• Matthew Bergwall was a gifted coder who could have gotten a job at any tech company. He decided to go in another direction. He made millions on an incredibly simple scam, one that’s based on something we’ve all done many times - the return of Amazon packages.

• Astrophysicist Jacob Bean has devoted his career to studying worlds beyond our solar system. Now, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, he can observe them in greater detail than ever before. What can these mysterious orbs tell us?

• Did you know that the average American consumes an average of eight pounds of avocados per person, per year? Can someone please explain this to me? It’s tasteless at best, slimy and gross at worst, made edible only by copious amounts of spices. Why is everybody crazy about avocado? Taste has a great piece on the popularity of this horrible fruit.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

For a couple of weeks now I’ve seen the video of the rapper T-Pain singing War Pigs pop up all over my social networks and it made me go: that’s nice. What I didn’t know is those clips were part of an hour-long set of him covering some amazing bangers. This might be the weekend go-to music set for me.

Want to let us know what you think about the newsletter? Go to our survey and fill it out.

-Vuk