- It's About Time
- Posts
- Zenith's New Defy Extreme Diver; Bremont Adds Caramel Dial To New Terra Nova; Grönefeld Brothers Launch Accessible Brand; Bulgari Teams Up With Artist Laurent Grasso; An Impossibly Thin AP RO QC
Zenith's New Defy Extreme Diver; Bremont Adds Caramel Dial To New Terra Nova; Grönefeld Brothers Launch Accessible Brand; Bulgari Teams Up With Artist Laurent Grasso; An Impossibly Thin AP RO QC
There's a lot of expensive watches today, but they're all beautiful
Vuk Radic
November 06, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 19 minutes
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m becoming more and more convinced that Dutch watchmaking will make such a huge leap in the coming years it could become the second most important area in the watch world. Oh, and if you’re a paid subscriber to the newsletter (be it on Patreon or here on the newsletter), don’t forget to vote on what you would like the newsletter to look like in the future.
I need your help… and you can do it for free
We’re at an exciting point—this newsletter is growing beyond anything I imagined, thanks to readers like you. To keep it ad-free and sustainable, though, I need your support.
As the community expands, so do the costs, which are now way more than I can finance myself. If you enjoy the content and want even more, consider supporting on Patreon or subscribing to the Watch Club directly here with just your credit card. For just a few dollars a month, you’ll get five extra posts every week, including exclusive watch overviews, early reviews, watch history insights, and more.
And now, something new… If you’ve ever wondered what members got in the price of their subscription, you can now get at two week trial, completely free, no credit card required to see if you like it.
Thank you for being here. Your support means everything!
In this issue:
Zenith Brings A Silver and Orange Color Combo To The Very Aggressive Defy Extreme Divers Watch
Bremont Adds A Caramel Dial To The New Terra Nova 40.5 Date Field Watch
The Legendary Dutch Grönefeld Brothers Launch Grøne, Their Much More Accessible New Watch Brand
Bulgari Teams Up With French Artist Laurent Grasso For A Show-Stopping All Blue Octo Finissimo
Audemars Piguet Releases A Fully Gold Ultra-Thin Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar
Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 35 seconds
👂What’s new
1/
When considering a chronograph, be it vintage or modern, Zenith, with its high-frequency movement, will always come up as a really good option for most people. What a lot of us forget is that Zenith wasn’t only good at making chronographs. They also made some pretty cool divers that could go down lower than 600 meters back in 1969. This legendary model, the Zenith Defy Plongeur ref. 3648 was revived this year at Watches and Wonders as the pretty extravagant looking Defy Revival, alongside the new black and blue takes on the Defy Extreme Divers. Now, the same watches get a silver and orange color combo that’s pretty great looking.
The Defy Extreme Diver is a chunky boy, just like you would expect from a very capable diver — this one meets the ISO 6245 standards for diver watches. It’s made out of stainless steel and measures 42.5mm wide and 15.5mm thick. Thankfully, it’s made out of titanium, so it should be easy on the wrist. On top we have an interesting situation with bezels. Surrounding the sapphire crystal is a fixed 12-sided bezel, which sits above another bezel, this one unidirectional rotating and made out of black ceramic with white 60 minute markings that are treated with Super-LumiNova that glows orange. On the right side is a chunky crown, surrounded by angular guards, and the watch has a helium escape valve. Water resistance is a cool 600 meters.
The dial on this new version gets a silver-white base that has the iconic Zenith starts engrave into it, surrounded by a dodecagonal orange minutes flange. The hour markers are large, applied and faceted, while the hands are super chunky. There’s nothing subtle about this watch. The hour hand glows green, the minutes hand blue and the seconds hand glows green, which has to look very cool in the dark. There’s also a date window at 3 o’clock.
Inside is the El Primero 3620-SC automatic, which is a high-beat movement. Which means that it runs at 5Hz and has a power reserve of 60 hours. The movement carries the iconic openworked star-shaped rotor. The watch comes on a three-link titanium bracelet with two extra straps: one black rubber and the other made of recycled fishing nets designed to be worn over a wetsuit.
The new Zenith Defy Extreme Diver with silver dial is part of the regular collection and is priced at €11,800. See more on the Zenith website (although, this was just released and isn’t up yet… should be soon).
2/
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brand go through such a thoroughly thought out rebrand and miss so wildly with the public as Bremont has. Of course, we might all be wrong and Bremont might turn it around in a spectacular shift. But for now, people aren’t exactly convinced by Bremont’s rejection of distinct military-inspired look for something people have called much more generic, with a new logotype that has not inspired much confidence. The trigger has been pulled and there’s no going back. Now, we have a new version of the already new Terra Nova model, this time with a caramel gradient dial.
The Terra Nova was introduced as part of the Bremont rebrand earlier this year at Watches and Wonders so it’s not a household name for most people. It’s fairly reasonably sized at 40.5mm wide and 11mm thick. Thanks to its cushion shape it has relatively short, angular, lugs that help with wearability, making it 47mm from lug to lug. The stainless steel case has a circular-brushed finish and you’ll instantly notice how large the oversized crown is. The crown also carries the controversial new Bremont logo. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, surrounded by a fixed unmarked polished bezel. Water resistance is 100 meters.
The dial keeps the same details of the original, but with the new color. It’s a deep caramel with a gradient which keeps it lighter in the centre and darker on the sides. The numerals are applied thin blocks of Super-LumiNova which are colored in a light beige color. It’s on the verge of being called fauxtina, but it plays well with the caramel. The hands are pencil-shaped and lumed with the same beige lume and at 3 o’clock is the date aperture. Interestingly, Bremont seems to have heard all the criticism. But like I said, there’s no turning back now. So what they did is they ever so slightly reduced the size of the Bremont logo at 12 o’clock.
In the redesign, Bremont also famously dropped their in-house movement production. Instead you get what they call the automatic calibre BE-36AE, but it’s actually the Sellita SW200. It’s a well known movement, especially in the microbrand space, beating at 4Hz and with a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on either a brown leather strap or a stainless steel bracelet.
The new Bremont Terra Nova 40.5 Date Caramel is limited to just 100 pieces and priced at €3,550 on leather and €3,850 on steel. See more on the Bremont website.
3/
The Dutch watch scene, while loved in some circles, doesn’t seem to get the respect it so much deserves. Which is really weird, when you consider how impactful it is. Fratello and Monochrome, two of the top five online watch publications are based in the Netherlands. ACE Jewelers from Amsterdam is one of the most prolific drivers of watch collaborations in the market. And then there’s the brands and watchmakers, ranging from affordable but fantastically designed Batavi, through De Rijke, all the way up to Holthinrichs, the incredible Christian van der Klaauw and Grönefeld. They really do have it all. And now the Grönefeld brothers are bringing their high end watchmaking to the masses with a brand new brand, Grøne Oldenzaal, which marries their style with off-the-shelf movements for a low four digit price tag.
The first cool thing is that Grøne doesn’t use a generic stainless steel case for its first model, the Manueel One. It is very much inspired by the Grönefeld 1941 Principia, with dramatically scalloped lugs and a conical crown. It has pretty perfect measurements, 38.5mm wide and 10mm thick, including the slightly domed sapphire crystal that is surrounded by a bezel that is domed in between the lugs and concave on the sides. The caseback is engraved with an outline of the city of Oldenzaal, the Grönefeld’s hometown. Water resistance is decent at 50 meters.
The dial is where things shine. At the center is a salmon colored disc with a finely grained finish, just like you might find on the more expensive Grönefeld watches. Only this is stamped instead of done by hand. That’s surrounded by a stepped ring with a blue minute track on the very edge and a broad brushed section for the polished hour markers which extend outside the ring to float over the salmon colored part. The hands are blue, although I’m not sure if they’re heat blued or painted.
The biggest difference between the Grøne Manueel One and other Grönefeld watches comes, of course, on the inside. While Grönefeld makes some of the most stunning movements in the industry, the Grøne Manueel One is powered by a humble hand-wound Sellita SW210, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue calfskin leather strap.
Now, a good news-bad news type of situation. First the bad news. It’s limited. Only 388 pieces will be made, with pre orders opening on November 19th at 3PM CET. The good news is the price, which sits at €2,150, without tax. Not exactly the cheapest thing in the world, but an incredible price point to come in and own something made by the Grönefeld brothers. See more on the Grøne website.
4/
Technically, Bulgari is no longer working on the Octo Finissimo model line. Last year they announced that they will stop with new Octo Finissimo releases in order to focus on the Octo Roma line. Well, that worked gangbusters, seeing as how we saw at least a dozen new Finissimo models since then. But hey, you won’t see me complaining. It’s still one of my all time favorite watches. Now, they’re releasing a new version, one made in collaboration with French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso and not only does the Finissimo get an iridescent cloud dial, it also gets an all-blue PVD titanium case and bracelet and it’s incredibly cool.
The watch is based on the regular titanium 40mm Octo Finissimo, which is incredibly thin at 5mm and has an overall sandblasted finish. This is already one of the best looking cases, with its angular edges and circular interior, but it looks even better with the matte blue PVD coating. The incredible thinness of the watch doesn’t help with water resistance, so it sits at just 30 meters.
But as cool as the case is, look at that dial! Grasso is best known for, among other things, illustrating manifestations of electromagnetic energy and paranormal phenomena. This often takes the form of floating eyes, celestial bodies, and especially haunting clouds. The dial has a blue PvD finish that Grasso then screen prints with metallic pigments to achieve an iridescent color on a floating cloud. There are no markers, only blue central hands and a small seconds hand, also in blue, both of which almost disappear against the dial.
Inside is the ultra-thin BVL 138 automatic movement developed and manufactured at the Bulgari manufacturer in Le Sentier. It can be seen through the transparent caseback which has Grasso’s signature. The movement is wound by a platinum 950 micro-rotor and you get 60 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a titanium single-link bracelet that’s also treated with the blue PVD.
The Octo Finissimo x Laurent Grasso is limited to 200 pieces and it’s priced at €22,000. I would tell you to see more on the Bulgari website, but it’s still not on there. Should be soon, though.
5/
The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin is one of the most impressive watches in the world. I mean, any watch that’s just 6.2mm thick is impressive, as it takes a lot of precision to make a movement thin enough to fit in such a slender case. Now, imagine if that movement also had to be able to tell you the day, date, month and correct moonphase for the next 120 years. And it still fits in 6.2mm. I told you it’s impressive. Now, the model gets a new all-gold look, including the dial, and it’s a special edition made available only in Greater China.
On the outside, this watch is the same as the previous titanium versions, only it’s made out of solid 18k yellow gold, so you’ll know that you’re wearing it. It measures 41mm wide and 6.2mm thick, which makes it the thinnest Royal Oak that you can buy. You get vertically brushed surfaces and highly polished facets on the case and the iconic octagonal bezel. Oh, even the bolts that hold the bezel and case together are made out of white gold. Water resistance is only 20 meters, but what did you expect.
The dial is equally as gold as the case, as are the hands and applied markers, both of which have white lume in them. There are three sub-dials with two tiny dials underneath the 3 and 9 o’clock dials. These all show the correct date, day, month and year, while also showing whether it’s day or night and whether it’s a leap year. At 12 o’clock is an aperture for the moonphase which has a blue starry sky with a gold moon in it.
Inside the watch is the in-house calibre 5133 which uses a neat little trick to keep things as slim — the bottom of the part serves as the upper bridge of the movement and it moves the perpetual calendar functions into a single plane instead of three. The movement beats at 19,800vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. The watch is fitted to an all gold integrated bracelet well known from other AP RO models.
The new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin 41mm Yellow Gold is limited to 88 pieces and will be available only in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Price is set at CHF 150,000. See more on the Audemars Piguet website.
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
1/
2/
3/
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
Then, we get to the Transatlantique II’s looks. This is where the opinions started to differ. While we all agreed that this is a well-executed design, it’s also a very vintage-inspired one. Some of us are a little tired of this concept, and others still appreciate a nice example when they see it. You can indeed find various characteristics of iconic watches from the past in the Transatlantique II. However, just as with my Serica 5303-3, brought together, they make for an overall consistent and attractive design.
⏲️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
Many now believe that the U.S. could descend into political violence. Some are joining survivalist communities, canning food—and buying guns. These are the Americans prepping for a Second Civil War.
What could go wrong when you make kitchen utensils from flame retardant plastic? A good story on exactly what.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
At the height of the Cold War, a terrifying concept emerged: a bomb so powerful it wouldn’t need to be dropped. Known as Project Sundial, this doomsday device would have left a 400-km radius in flames and plunged the world into darkness. It was a bomb that would destroy everything – not a weapon, but an apocalypse. How close did we come to pressing the button? I love these Kurtzgesagt videos.
💵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
What did you think of this newsletterYour feedback will make future issues better |
-Vuk
Reply