Yema Puts A Micro-Rotor Into The Skin Diver Slim; Circula Releases Guy Bove-Designed Pilot's Watch; FC Highlife Chrono Gets New Colors; MesiterSinger's Sporty One-Handers; Armin Strom's Collab

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. While I very much like the Yema that came out today, when watches like the Circula ProFlight come out it makes me giddy. I love when smaller brands go bold.

In this issue:

• Yema Gives Their Skin Diver Slim The CMM.20 Micro-Rotor Movement And A Washed-Out Vintage Look

• Circula Releases Pretty Spectacular Guy Bove-Designed ProFlight Pilot’s Watch

• Frederique Constant Introduces Two New Dramatic Colorways For The Highlife Chronograph

• MeisterSinger Sticks With Single Hand Time Telling For Two New Sporty Unomat Limited Editions

• Armin Strom And Collective Horology Team Up Again For A Stealthy Gravity Equal Force P.03 Night Ops

Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 6 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Yema Gives Their Skin Diver Slim The CMM.20 Micro-Rotor Movement And A Washed-Out Vintage Look

Every time I write about Yema, people go crazy for them. And it’s kind of easy to see why. Despite moving up in price - but who isn’t - over the last five or six years they have made incredible strides forward. Yema was once a French watch powerhouse, the biggest exporter in the entire country, but the quartz crisis decimated it. It’s been making a steady comeback and depending on if you consider Cartier a French or Swiss brand, they might be the largest French watchmaker. In their most recent years they made a huge push into creating their own movements. They stumbled at first with some quality control issues, but these seem to be resolved (although, it seems there are a few issues remaining with customer support. And it’s this effort that brings us a watch like the new, but extremely retro, Skin Diver Slim equipped with a movement that’s been making the rounds through their models, the CMM.20 micro-rotor.

Most recently we saw the CMM.20 in the Superman dive watch, a bulky dive watch with some pretty cool features. But if you wanted the movement in a slimmer movement, you knew this was coming. The Skin Diver Slim, as the name suggests, is Yema’s skin diver, which means it has a smaller footprint. Made out of stainless steel, the case measures 39mm wide, 10mm thick without the crystal and with a 47mm lug-to-lug. It also ditches the very cool, but slightly controversial bezel lock system of the Superman. Interestingly, most skin divers sacrifice a bit of water resistance for the smaller size, but this one keeps the 300 meters. On top is a double-domed sapphire crystal, surrounded with an incredible bezel with a faded ghost grey sapphire insert. I’ve been vocal in my criticism of faux patina in the past, but mostly because it’s awkwardly implemented. Yema has created a bezel insert that truly looks like it was made in 1964 and worn on a writs of a diver for the past 60 years.

The retro feel continues on the dial, which is lacquered in a dark grey and has incredible trapezoid indices that also get a fauxtina look, but one that looks perfectly natural, more grey and pale, instead of the sickly orange that so many brands opt for today. The hands are colored the same faded grey color and all of that is actually Super-LumiNova C3 Grade A lume.

Inside is the CMM.20 automatic micro-rotor movement developed in collaboration with watchmaker Olivier Mory and Yema points out that they manufacture their own bridges and mainplate with Swiss components, while the assembly is done in their own facility. It’s also a movement that has pretty good stats - it beats at 4Hz, has a 70 hour power reserve and is accurate to -3/+7 seconds per day. The watch comes on the absolutely stunning Scales Slim stainless steel bracelet which some also call a coffin-style bracelet for it’s elongated hexagons that make up the central links.

Unfortunately, the Yema Skin Diver Slim CMM.20 is limited to 500 pieces, which I assume will sell out fast. Helping that is the price which seems to be decent considering what you get - €2,249. See more on the Yema website.

2/

Circula Releases Pretty Spectacular Guy Bove-Designed ProFlight Pilot’s Watch

Pilots have used dedicated tool watches for over 100 years, with manufacturers putting more and more effort in providing aviators with what they needed. And in a plane, this is easy - a watch needs to be robust and easy to read in order to help with navigation. The robust/legible dial combination proved to be a winning combination even after watches started being obsolete in operating planes, and the genre has since seen exploded in all sorts of directions. Now, the family-owned watchmaker from Pforzheim, Germany, Circula, is giving their own twist on the genre with the new Circula ProFlight which draws on the history of pilot’s watches and combines it with sharp, modern and refreshing design.

Circula is best known for their dive and field watches, all of which have a very consistent and utilitarian design language. The new ProFlight takes on a super-modern look, one that was obviously done with a clear vision. Which is not really a surprise, as this is Circula’s first collaboration with Swiss star designer Guy Bove, who previously worked as Creative Director for Tag Heuer - where he designed the Autavia Isograph - and IWC, among others. Starting with a case, it’s clear that a lot of attention has been paid to the details of this watch. Don’t frown yet when I tell you that this is a 40mm wide case, as it has super short and angular lugs which give the watch a lug-to-lug measurement of just 46mm. Thickness is 12mm without the domed sapphire crystal, while the lug width is 20mm. The case is made out of 316L stainless steel and has a surface hardening layer with scratch resistance up to 1,200 Vickers. On top is a flat fixed bezel that has a sandblasted finish like most of the case, but the bezel also has a dramatically polished edge that must look amazing live. Water resistance is 150 meters.

More attention to detail can be found on the dial. Bove designed new numerals for the watch, and set them on two dial colors - a blue and a dark grey. Both colors have a grained finish on the outside of the dial with a deeply snailed center of the dial. According to Circula, the circular structure on the inside reflects the rotation of the propeller second hand. The blue dial gets hands and numerals filled with Swiss Super-LumiNova BGW9, while the grey dial gets C3 X1 lume. The hour hand offers a short but wide luminous surface in one shape and emphasizes the idea of the faceted case. It also has the same front angle as the pilot's triangle. The modern design of the 12 o'clock marker plays with the traditional flieger triangle in a lighter, more dynamic design.

Inside, is a very familiar movement, the Sellita SW-200-1, which comes in its Elaboré grade. The movement beats at 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 38 hours. To protect the movement, Circula uses a soft iron cage which makes it anti-magnetic up to 80,000 A/m. The watch comes on a color matched sailcloth textile strap with quick release pins, but you can opt to add a matching scratch-resistant steel bracelet for €170.

I was talking yesterday with someone how SW-200 powered watches were all over the place in the €500-€800 range just a few years ago. But things have changed a lot, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to find a watch with such a movement for under €1,400. Circula is playing this correctly and not going in the €1,400+ range. But, to be fair, they’re also not in the sub €1,000 category. The new Circula ProFlight is priced at €1,029 and by the looks of it, it’s worth it. See more on the Circula website.

3/

Frederique Constant Introduces Two New Dramatic Colorways For The Highlife Chronograph

A Frederique Constant Highlife watch looks pretty good in photos. But it isn’t until you get one on your wrist that you see how its interesting shape makes it a pretty amazing daily wearer. A couple of months ago I had the Ace Jewelers X Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Amsterdam in for review and save for a JLC Worldtimer which has been haunting my dreams for the past 20 years, this just might be the perfect Worldtimer - awesome dimensions, sleek design and an interesting movement with a great price, all of those are hard to beat. Read that review here. But now, FC is celebrating 25 years of the Highlife and updating another watch that shares the Highlife architecture. Only now it’s with the Chronograph Automatic model with some pretty amazing colors.

The watch comes in the same great looking cushion shaped case that measures 41mm wide, 14.22mm thick and has a relatively short 45mm lug-to-lug measurement thanks to the fact that it doesn’t, in fact, have lugs. Instead, the bracelet/strap integrates directly into the flat top and bottom of the case. On top is a round fixed bezel with no markings and on the rights side of the case are rectangular pushers. Water resistance is 100 meters. The new version can be had in either stainless steel or a rose gold-plated case.

The dials have the engraved longitude and latitude lines forming a globe that has become a staple of the Highlife collection (and whose removal I really liked in the Ace Amsterdam version). You still have the snailed and slightly recessed sub-dials that show a elapsed times of 30-min at 3, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a small seconds at 9. Unfortunately, there’s a date window at the 4:30 position. There’s a seconds track on the outskirts of the dial, but no Tacymeter scale, as this is more of a luxury chrono instead of a Two new dial colors are available, and I’m not sure which one I like more. The stainless steel version gets a cream dial with green sub-dials, while the rose gold-plated version gets a blue dial with silver sub-dials. Just look at them!

Inside is the FC-391 calibre, an automatic movement wound by a rose-gold plated rotor visible through the see-through caseback. The movement is based on the Valjoux 7750 and modified by La Joux-Perret, to replace the cam-lever system of the Valjoux with a higher-end column wheel. Power reserve is a decent 60 meters. The watches come on either a green or a blue strap made out of calf leather with a nubuck finishing and crocodile pattern.

The new colorways of the Highlife Chronograph Automatics are priced at €3,495 for the steel version and €3,995 for the gold plated version. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

 4/

MeisterSinger Sticks With Single Hand Time Telling For Two New Sporty Unomat Limited Editions

After a whole slew of elegant releases, it seems that MeisterSinger, the watch brand that made its name on telling time with just one hand, is finally getting back to a couple of sporty models. Specifically, these are two new Unomat series watches with black cases and splashes of color.

The Unomat is a more robust version of the regularly elegant MeisterSinger cases. It measures 43mm wide and has prominent crown guard on either the right side of the case in the version that can be bought globally or on the left side of the case for the Netherlands exclusive watch. The watch is treated with black DLC, with the midcase and caseback getting a sandblasted treatment, while the bezel has a polished finish.

The dials follow the aesthetic of the case and are matte black with white 15-minute interval track and dash-like markings for the hour indices. Like most MeisterSinger watches it has double-digit hour numerals, made of luminous material. The international version has blue numerals, while the Netherlands exclusive, of course, is orange colored. Both have a single white lumed hand. At 6 o’clock is a date aperture that seems so well integrated that I barely noticed it.

Inside, no surprises. It’s the Sellita SW400 automatic which they use in other watches, modified to work with the single-hand design. The movement is protected from magnetism by a soft iron case and it beats at 4 Hz with a 38 hour power reserve. The international version gets a blue rubber strap while the Dutch one gets an orange strap.

Both versions of the new MeisterSinger Unomat are limited to 50 pieces each and will be available for purchase soon. Price is set at €2,690. See more on the MeisterSinger website.

5/

Armin Strom And Collective Horology Team Up Again For A Stealthy Gravity Equal Force P.03 Night Ops

Collective Horology is a members-only collectors club from California that creates collaborative watches for enthusiasts and retails independent brands with limited distribution in the US. Sounds pretty straightforward. Until you see how incredible their collaborations are, that is. There was the California-influenced Czapek, the stunning Oris Divers Seventy-Five and the gorgeous 1858 Minerva Monopusher Chronograph “Blue Arrow” P.05. Their latest release is their second collaboration with Swiss indie brand Armin Strom, the Gravity Equal Force P.03 Night Ops.

This release is almost identical to the previous collaboration, at least when it comes to the major stuff. You still get a 41mm wide, 12.65mm thick titanium case. The case gets a black finish, while the fumé dial gets a matte khaki green. Collective asked to add lume to the dial and a guilloche base plate with a frag-style pattern. The dial is still off-center and framed by three dark gray ruthenium plated bridges. These bridges are finished by hand, and are skeletonized so that the geartrain and mainspring barrel are visible underneath.

Inside is Armin Strom’s Caliber ASB19 which is known for solving one of the great watchmaking problems - inconsistent power delivery through the duration of the power reserve. When regular watches unwind their mainspring, there is less force on the gear train, which generally leads to less accurate timekeeping as there’s less and less in the proverbial tank. Armin Strom’s solution is a “stop work” mechanism, which keeps the mainspring from ever fully unwinding, and always topped off with enough power to deliver enough force for accurate timekeeping. The watch comes on a black textile strap.

The Armin Strom x Collective Gravity Equal Force P.03 Night Ops is limited to 30 pieces and priced at $27,000. See more on the Collective Horology website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Vulcain Skindiver Nautique

2/

Hands on with the TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton Dark Blue

3/

A review of the CVSTOS Metropolitan Chrono Skeleton Sapphire watches

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The Beaufort Pulsatimer might look like your average chrono, but it’s so, so much more

Upon closer inspection of the dial you will find some significant departures from most chronographs. The dial itself appears much smaller than most dials inside a 39mm case, as the architecture of the bezel takes up a few more millimeters of real estate than usual. The indices around the dial are interconnected, in that they are all attached to one another by a continuous polished line circumnavigating the entirety of the dial. Each index is a rectangular block that shoots out and comes back with the same running line. It’s definitely the most intriguing aspect of the dial design, and it’s quite mesmerizing to follow that polished ring, especially as it shimmers in the light against the brushed backdrop.

Read the whole review on Worn & Wound

⏲️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

• Even if you are not a science nerd, Nicolla Twilley’s history of refrigeration in America - which takes the reader to subterranean cheese caves in Missouri and banana-ripening rooms in NYC - and leaves them with grave questions about how it impacts the environment and politics, is just brilliant. This excerpt will only whet your appetite for more.

• Joan Donovan is a world-famous disinformation expert, a punk rock figure caught up in a disinformation battle against formidable opponents, institutions like Harvard and Meta. Stephanie Lee’s meticulously reported feature is an eye-opener; you will come away educated and also unnerved, as Donovan emerges as a complicated, necessarily paranoid, and bruised advocate fighting the power.

• The story of Audrey and Gary Revell, who practice the art of worm grunting in the Florida panhandle where the Apalachicola National Forest runs into the Gulf of Mexico, is an absolute charmer. Michael Adno gives us a history of the trade, his prose sterling and succinct, and evokes the lives of Audrey and Gary and the work they do. A captivating story, expertly told.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

One would expect that a show produced for the YouTube channel of the slightly hipster leaning Huckberry website would be a vaguely disguised commercial. But Dirt is so incredibly far from being a commercial. In fact, after seeing a couple of episodes - including this new one set in Texas - this might be a worthy successor to Anthony Bourdain’s shows. And I’m not even kidding.

💵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

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

-Vuk