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  • Zodiac Introduces A Very Colorful Diver, Junghans Covers The Large-Wristed Fellas, Orient Star Adds a Silver Dial and Luis Vuitton Is Serious About Watches

Zodiac Introduces A Very Colorful Diver, Junghans Covers The Large-Wristed Fellas, Orient Star Adds a Silver Dial and Luis Vuitton Is Serious About Watches

We have found our two Tissot PRX winners and have a new giveaway in the works

Author

Vuk Radic
April 11, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Hey friends, It’s About Time is proud to announce that we have wrapped up our first giveaway! The two winners have been chosen and I’ve contacted them this morning via the emails they gave me. I was going to announce the winners here, publicly, but then my lawyer friend reminded me I live in the EU and that would be super illegal, since I didn’t ask their permission if I can share this info. I asked the two winners to send back pictures of them rocking the watches they won, so I hope I will be able to share that.

Oh, well. To all of you who weren’t as lucky… don’t go storming off and unsubscribing. We have a new giveaway planned for next week and everyone who is currently subscribed will be eligible to win. More on that very soon.

As you may have noticed, there was no newsletter yesterday - Easter holidays were just too good to keep my eye on watch news. But now we’re back and ready to hit it off!

In this issue:

  • Colorfull Zodiac

  • Huge Junghans

  • Shiny Orient Star

  • Flashy Luis Vuitton

  • And… dino-inspired Uhrwerk

Today’s reading time:

👂What’s new

1/ 

I’ll admit, the title is misleading. Zodiac has never shied away from color. They have had some very funky special editions over the years. What I meant is that not a lot of brands are embracing color - watch fans go crazy when Tudor introduces a dark red bezel…

With the new Super Sea Wolf Skeleton 6-15, Zodiac goes all in with all the colors with a crazy rainbow Super Chroma K1 crystal bezel and a new skeletonized movement.

At it’s core, the SSW Skeleton is the same as any other SSW - 40mm, 13.6mm tall with 20mm lugs. But this is where the similarities kinda stop. The watch carries an in-house caliber STP 6-15 skeletonized automatic movement with a crystal back so you can see through the entire watch. For a skeleton watch with a rainbow bezel, it’s all very tastefully done. It might not be perfectly usable as an actual dive watch, but it sure does look nice.

Zodiac says this will be a limited run watch, but have not said how many they are making, but you might be able to get yours for $1,895.

2/

The past three or four years have seen a general shrinkage of watches. Everyone seems to be going smaller with their diameters, and people with smaller wrists are loving this trend. On the whole this seems to be a good trend. But it leaves those with bigger arms on the outside. This is especially true when it comes to more elegant watches.

In comes the Junghans Meister S Chronoscope. First introduced in 2020, Junghans is now putting out a new version in a very nice blue. The matte “night blue”, as Junghans calls it, is given a lacquer gradient for a very dark appearance, which in turn gives the watch a very sophisticated and elegant look.

While it is elegant, this is still a sports watch. It comes in steel, with a nice steel bracelet or a blue rubber strap, and is a chronograph with day/date display. The watch is powered by their caliber J880.1, which is and ETA 7750 with 48 hours of power reserve.

The watch can be bought for EUR 2,340 on the rubber strap or EUR 2,440 on the bracelet.

3/

Orient Star, the higher-end division of Orient, is updating the Diver 1964 which they introduced in 2021 as a celebration the 70th anniversary of the Olympia Calendar Diver. While the original revival came just in black, not the Orient Star Diver 1964 1st Edition Series comes in silver.

This new iteration of the Olympia Calendar Diver from 1964 reproduces some of the key attributes of the original, a solid steel unidirectional rotating bezel, three-dimensional cut indices, an arrow-shaped hour hand and a shaped case with faceted lugs. It measures 41mm in diameter and 14.5mm in height on top of the dual-curved sapphire crystal. It’s compliant with the ISO 6425 standard for diving watches, with a water resistance of 200m. The dial on this new version is a sunray brushed silver.

The watch comes on a 20mm wide stainless steel five-link steel bracelet with a trifold deployant clasp and diver’s extension. It is limited to 900 pieces and retails for EUR 1,360.

4/

So many fashion brands want to make watches. Not many are successful. Most end up making Chinese mass-produced fashion watches that cost pennies to produce and can be sold in malls for a few hundred. Then there’s Louis Vuitton, who is going to ask for about $50.000 of your money for their new Voyager Skeleton.

In recent years, LV has been getting more and more serious about their watches. So the Voyager Skeleton fits in this very fine to show off how far the brand has come in openworked movements.

The new skeletonised movement LV60 fits perfectly into the 41mm Voyager case as it was created for this particular model. While the movement really is beautiful, it’s also kind of tacky as it spells out Louis Vuitton with its bridges and gears. Not something one would expect to see in a super-high end watch.

The new Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton is offered with two straps, a navy blue alligator leather strap and a taurillon leather strap with a platinum buckle. The watch will be a limited edition of 150 pieces, costing EUR 48,000.

5/

For their latest release, Isotope has collaborated with renowned ice diver Johanna Nordblad to create the most purpose-built and function-forward version of its Hydrium dive watch. Known as the Isotope Hydrium Pro Nordblad Limited Edition, this highly utilitarian rendition ditches all the bright and playful colors and gets an ultra-legible display and specifications that exceed the requirements for ISO 6425 certification.

While the 300-meter depth rating and on-paper stats are identical to other Hydrium and HydriumX models, the more function-forward design of its display offers superior legibility, and it almost looks like a futuristic version of a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms that comes from some alternate reality. The watch uses the same 40mm micro-blasted stainless steel case with a screw-down crown, 120-click unidirectional rotating bezel, domed sapphire crystal, and a screw-down caseback with a flat sapphire display window.

Inside is the Swiss Landeron 24 automatic movement, which is based on the core architecture of the ETA 2824 with a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. The watch comes on a black tropic-style FKM rubber strap that offers integrated quick-release spring bars and a signed stainless steel pin buckle.

This will be a limited edition of 100 pieces that will sell for $1,110.

6/

Not everything about watches has to be dead serious. Sometimes it’s nice to see a brand swing for the fun fences. Sometimes they miss, like Rolex did with the puzzle watch this year. Sometimes they hit it so far out of the park with ridiculousness, it’s fantastic.

The later example is the Urwerk UR-105 Trinity, a piece unique based on an already ridiculous creation from Urwerk that takes inspiration from TRX-239, also known as Trinity, a 11.6 meter long Tyrannosaurs Rex skeleton. Urwerk will offer this watch at auction on April 18.

It’s a crazy watch. You recognize the Urwerk shape with the display on the front/side of the watch, but the entire thing is covered in what seem to look like dinosaur scales, painted bronze and green. On the back of the watch you can find a little reservoir covered in sapphire crystal, and inside is bone material from the Trinity fossil.

The watch is expected to go for between CHF 80,000 and 120,000, but that’s not all you will be able to get the auction. Trinity is also up for auction, and you can get the T-Rex skeleton for between CHF 5,000,000 and 8,000,000.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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⚙️Watch Worthy

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

Stefan Kudoke and his unique and intricate timepieces incorporating elements of traditional watchmaking with modern designs and super-fine execution have been known to collectors and watch enthusiasts for quite some time before his Kudoke 2 watch won the Petite Aiguille at the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). The high-profile success brought wider recognition and increased demand for the Kudoke creations, Kudoke 1 and Kudoke 2. And now we get the Kudoke 3.

⏲️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

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Teddy Baldassarre on the new PRX Chrono Panda Blue. Enough said.

💵Pre-loved precision

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