Zenith Releases New Subtle White-Grey-Blue Chronomaster Sport; Tissot Updates Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton; Massena Teams Up With Pagès For The Absinthe; And New From William Wood And HYT

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Writing about watches kind of desensitises you to new releases. It’s hart to be wowed by something. But that William Wood just blew my mind. Not saying I would buy one. But it sure is different.

In this issue:

• Zentih Chronomaster Sport Centenary Gets A Subtle White-Grey-Blue Colorway For 100 Years Of Watches Of Switzerland

• Tissot Updates The Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton Collection With New Colors And The Movement Visible On Both Sides

• Massena LAB Teams Up With Indie Watchmaker Raúl Pagès For The Limited Edition “Absinthe”

• William Wood Dedicates Watch To The Massey Shaw Boat That Saved 600 Soldiers From Dunkirk

• HYT Gives A Panda Colorway To Their Gravity Defying Conical Tourbillon

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 53 seconds

👂What’s new

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Zentih Chronomaster Sport Centenary Gets A Subtle White-Grey-Blue Colorway For 100 Years Of Watches Of Switzerland

It’s been a very good year for Zenith. They added some fantastic colors to the Chronomaster Sport line, released the first Titanium Chronomaster Sport, unveiled the new High Beat El Primero Tourbillon movement in the Defy Skyline and a couple of really fantastic looking divers. But perhaps the best release of the year was the incredible Chronomaster Triple Calendar. Their latest release isn’t groundbreaking - if you don’t count the first matte blue bezel on the Chronomaster Sport as groundbreaking, which you shouldn’t - but it is very good looking. This is the new Zenith Chronomaster Sport Centenary which is released as a limited edition to mark the 100th anniversary of the legendary retailer Watches of Switzerland.

The watch comes in the very familiar Chronomaster Sport case, which means it’s made out of stainless steel, measures 41mm wide and is 13.8mm thick. New for the case is the deep blue ceramic bezel, a first for the Chronomaster Sport line, which has a 1/10th second graduation. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom and water resistance is decent for a chronograph without screw down pushers - 100 meters.

The dial is also new for this model, as the white base gets very subtle colors for the familiar tri-compax layout. The running seconds at 9 o’clock are the same white as the dial, while the other two dials come in different shades of grey. Zenith still insists on placing the date at 4:30, but at least it blends in with the all white background.

Inside is the El Primero 3600 which uses the 36,000vph (5Hz) operating frequency to display time with a tenth of a second accuracy and a buttery smooth seconds hand. Yet, despite this higher operating frequency, Zenith manages to squeeze out 60 hours of power reserve from the watch. The watch comes on a three-link steel integrated bracelet or the new option of a blue rubber strap.

The Zenith X Watches of Switzerland Chronomaster Sport Centenary is limited to 100 pieces and available only through Watches of Switzerland showrooms and their website. Priced at £10,800 or €12,665. See more on the Watches of Switzerland website.

2/

Tissot Updates The Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton Collection With New Colors And The Movement Visible On Both Sides

Skeletonized watches are a divisive topic. Especially those that are based on generic and industrially cranked-out movements like the Swatch Group’s Powermatic 80. Some - especially those who are new to watches - adore the dynamic faces they offer, while others see them as being a bit cheesy. Regardless of what you think of skeletonized watches, there’s no denying that they are huge moneymakers for brands. So, it’s no wonder that Tissot, which knows their buyers really well, has a number of skeletonized watches. Now, they’ve updated the Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton with new dial colors and a better view at the movement.

The new Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton come sin the midsize Chemin des Tourelles case, which means it measures 39mm wide and 11.2mm thick. The watches have short and slim lugs, which gives it a very comfortable 43.7mm lug-to-lug. There’s a domed sapphire crystal on top and a see-through caseback. Water resistance is 50 meters.

While all three of the new Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton share the same open dial with chapter ring and a transparent cover for the movement that has the Tissot logo printed on it, each of the three have a distinct look. First, there’s the blue dial with the Clous de Paris pattern and applied Roman numerals which comes on a 5-link stainless steel bracelet. Then there’s the brushed ivory dial version which has gold-coloured hands and baton markers, delivered on a a dark brown nubuck-like strap. Lastly, there’s all black version that not only gets a black PVD coated case, but also a smoked crystal dial and grey markers and hands. It comes on a black nubuck-like strap.

Inside both is the Powermatic 80, a familiar movement that beats at 3Hz and has an 80 hour power reserve. Seeing how it’s a mechanically finished movement, Tissot made sure to pretty up the front of the movement as well, as it can be seen through the dial. Don’t expect much, in fact, as you only get vertical brushing.

The new Tissot Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton models are avilable now as part of the permanent collection, priced at three different prices: $895 for the ivory, $930 for the black and $975. See more on the Tissot website.

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Massena LAB Teams Up With Indie Watchmaker Raúl Pagès For The Limited Edition “Absinthe”

Almost exactly a month ago, Massena LAB, the design studio founded by watch industry persona William Massena, teamed up with Raúl Pagès, the winner of the first LVMH Watch Prize, to create a special watch inspired by the Observatory-grade Patek Philippe Ref. 2458, for Phillips auction house. That was the 1952 Observatory Dial watch and despite the incredibly weird collaboration with Phillips auction house, it was a great looking piece. Thankfully, the two are back with another watch called the Absinthe with a very nice green dial.

The stainless steel case measures 38.5mm wide and just 10mm thick, making for a very dressy watch. The case has smooth, polished lugs and a matching smooth bezel surrounding a sapphire crystal on top. It’s an incredibly simple case, which is by design so that the dial could take over all the attention.

The dial is vertical brushed and has is painted an emerald green with an ombré gradient. It’s very much reminiscent of the absinthe drink. You get applied polished markers and there’s a snailed small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock and a circular inscription “Observatory Precision” at 3 o’clock to offer balance on the dial. The hands are leaf shaped and polished.

Inside is the proprietary caliber developed by Raúl Pagès for Massena LAB called the M690. Pagès oversses the hand finishing and decoration of every movement, including a plate adorned with Côtes de Genève finishing and meticulously hand-chamfered plates and bridges. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 60 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue Saffiano leather strap.

The Absinthe is limited to 99 pieces and retails for $8,675. You can, however, add another $300 to that price tag and have your watch submitted to the Horological Society of New York’s Chronometer Certification Program, launched in 2021. Watches meeting HSNY’s standards have to endure 15 days of testing in several positions and temperatures while exceeding the demands of COSC and ISO 3159. Deliveries will start in July 2024. See more on the Massena LAB website.

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William Wood Dedicates Watch To The Massey Shaw Boat That Saved 600 Soldiers From Dunkirk

I don’t think I have had the chance to write about William Wood in the newsletter. It’s a slight shame as they make very interesting watches. They are surely not for everyone - especially with their firefighting theme - but you can’t deny their originality. For their latest release, what they call their “greatest watch yet”, they are paying homage to the Massey Shaw, a London Fire Brigade Fire Boat, that saved over 600 lives off the beaches of Dunkirk in World War II. And the William Wood Dunkirk Watch really is something different.

You can see this is not a run-of-the-mill watch just by the case. While the measurements seem fairly standard and a bit on the large size - 42mm wide, 13mm thick and with a 49.5mm lug-to-lug - that’s where standard looks end. The case is made out of CuSn8 grade bronze with the sides and lugs getting a brushed finish. But then, the side of the case is wrapped with striking and unusual red piping that takes inspiration from the engine room of the Massey Shaw. On top is a sapphire crystal that is tinted with a medium blue colour paying tribute to William Wood’s 25 years of service on a shift pattern called The Blue Watch for the Newcastle & Gateshead Fire Brigade. Water resistance is 50 meters.

On the back of the case is a black caseback with the words “we will remember them” engraved into it. The caseback also houses a scene of Dunkirk engraved on three-tone bronze, including soldiers waiting on the beach and the Little Boats that came to their rescue. An original piece of the Massey Shaw engine used in the Dunkirk evacuation has been melted-down and poured into the silhouette of the Massey Shaw on the horizon.

The dial is equally as unique as the case. It’s made to look like the twin telegraphs of the Massey Shaw which are used to communicate between the bridge and the engine room and operate both the fire pumps and the main engines of the ship. The writings are rendered in bronze on a black bacground and both STOP and LONDON illuminate on the dial in red to match the Massey telegraphs. The dial uses an aged champagne Super-LumiNova and the hands are fully skeletonized. It’s an incredibly unique looking thing.

Don’t expect the same level of uniqueness inside. You will get the Sellita SW220 Premium Top Grade movement. It’s the well known movement in the independent world, easily servicable and reliable. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. Being the Premium Top Grade level, it has an accuracy of +/-4 sec/day up to +/- 15 sec/day. Like all other William Wood watches, thsi one come son a beige rubber strap made from upcycled firefighter jackets and trousers worn in real fires by UK Fire & Rescue Service.

The William Wood Dunkirk Watch is priced at £3,995, which might seem like a lot of money for a SW220 powered watch. But considering the unique nature of the case and dial, I would say it’s worth it. I’m assuming this piece is limited, but William Wood doesn’t specify this. However, if you do buy one, your name will be engraved on a plaque on the Massey Show that will sail over the channel in 2025 for the 80th year anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation. The Massey Show need a restoration before it goes on the trip and William Wood Watches have donated £10,000 GBP to the Massey Shaw Partnership Trust to help refurbish the Massey Show engine. See more on the William Wood website.

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HYT Gives A Panda Colorway To Their Gravity Defying Conical Tourbillon

It is often said that the tourbillon complication is completely unnecessary in modern watches. While they were a useful tool to combat the effects of gravity on solid-mounted clocks, in today’s wristwatches they are mostly prestigious decorations. So, if it’s not useful, why not make it completely bonkers? That’s exactly what HYT, the high end brand best known for their unique way of time telling with fluids, did with their Conical Tourbillon. Following the black and multi-coloured versions, the HYT Conical Tourbillon now comes in a black-and-white Panda version.

There’s nothing traditional about this watch, so don’t expect it to have traditional proportions. The titanium case measures a whopping 48mm wide, 52.3mm long and an almost incredible 25.15mm thick. Most of the thickness is made up of an ultra-domed sapphire crystal which makes room for the centrally mounted tourbillon. The case is coated in white ceramic and it has a 30 meter water resistance.

The dial has a white chapter ring with three-dimensional, black-coated indices treated with Super-LumiNova. The HYT’s signature retrograde hour indication is represented by black and white liquids propelled by bellows inside a borosilicate capillary tube. Minutes are indicated by a matte black pointer hand with white Super-LumiNova. But it’s all about that centrally mounted conical tourbillon.

HYT points out that the conical tourbillon, developed by master watchmaker Eric Coudray, offers a chaotic animation that’s made out of three 2.5mm white spheres smaller counterweights, along with two white and four black spheres within the futuristic tourbillon cage. The tourbillon completes a revolution every 30 seconds, while the spheres rotate at different speeds on the cage’s periphery.

The movement is the manually wound calibre 701-TC which beats at 21,600vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. You can see it through the transparent caseback, whit all its black and rhodium-plated finishes and distinctive bellows. The watch comes on a white rubber strap with a black DLC titanium buckle.

Only eight pieces of the HYT Conical Tourbillon Panda will be made, which make sense with the truly astronomic price tag of CHF 355,000. That’s without taxes. See more on the HYT website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Gerald Charles Masterlink Blue

2/

Hands on with the Seiko Presage Classic Series

3/

 A review of the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu Sapphire

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

DWISS doubles down on a novel time-telling display with the M3S

The most captivating feature of any DWISS is its dial, and the M3S hopes to continue the trend. The slanted hour markers with engraved Arabic numerals were inspired by roulette wheels, as they slope towards the open central portion of the dial. Here you’ll find indications for the centre seconds, pointed to by a short nub on the large red cog, while minutes are indicated by the trapezoidal, skeletonised protrusion reaching to the inner minutes track. The hours are what DWISS calls its “mysterious signature hours”, and if you’ve recently read our coverage of HYT’s new release, they’re read in a similar fashion. Rather than employing immiscible fluids, the hour hand is replaced by a large coloured disc that slowly makes its way around the outer perimeter of the dial, looking at its solid end to read off the hours. On the image above, the time is the reviewer’s special – 10:10 (or just about).

Read the whole review on Time + Tide

⏲️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

• A year ago, the greatest chess player in the world Magnus Carlsen was beaten by a decent player named Hans Niemann. This is not unusual, as it’s not unusual for better players to be beaten by lesser players - it’s a numbers game. What was unusual is that Carlsen straight up accused Neimann of cheating. Not only was this scandalous, but it was also not the first time that Neiman was accused of cheating. But now, argues New York Magazine, Neiman has been kinda-sorta vindicated. So how is he more disliked than ever?

• The first reviews of Kevin Costner’s $38 Million epic movie Horizon that he self-financed are pretty horrific. As in, career-ending horrible. GQ has a look inside the making of and an interview with the actor that just might lose his house over this gamble.

• It’s a shame that so much was fumbled by the medical authorities during the Covid pandemic - from lack of transparency to flat out lies. It will take an incredibly long time to regain the trust of the public. I say this is a shame because the world of virus hunters who track outbreaks around the world to prevent an epidemic is incredibly interesting. Like this team of disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Hagerty truly does some cinema-level stuff. This action-packed documentary celebrates the achievements of the man who brought you the racing Porsche 911, the 917, the Bugatti Veyron, the Audi Quattro, the VW Phaeton, the Mercedes OM617 turbodiesel, TDI, DSG, XL1 and... Dieselgate.

💵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

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-Vuk