Zodiac Releases New Incredibly Funky 90s Inspired Super Sea Wolf, Cartier Brings Stunning Tank Louis To Europe, Ochs Und Junior Pays Homage To The Eameses, New Watches From Franck Muller And RM

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Looks like we’re exiting the revival of the 80s and are moving into my childhood - the 90s and 00s. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I do like the new Zodiac.

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In this issue:

• Zodiac Works With Worn & Wound For An Incredible 90s Laser Tag Themed Version Of The Super Sea Wolf

• Feel Free To Hate Cartier For Making This Beautiful New Platinum Tank Louis Cartier A Super-Limited European Exclusive

• Three New Women’s Richard Mille Watches Are Here For The Never-ending Summer

• Franck Muller Releases The Vanguard Beach, An Update To The Collection With New Bright, Bold And Audacious Colours

• Ochs Und Junior Pays Homage To Ray And Charles Eames With The New Mese 2.23

Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 18 seconds

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👂What’s new

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Zodiac Works With Worn & Wound For An Incredible 90s Laser Tag Themed Version Of The Super Sea Wolf

In the past week, both Blink-182 and Sum 41, bands that left a huge mark on my childhood, released new songs that hit right in the feels if you were a kid in the late 90s and early 2000s. Since all trends are cyclical, these two releases from these early 2000s bands had me thinking that we might be out of the late 80s revival and are running right towards my childhood. And boy, was I right. Zodiac just released a new watch with Worn & Wound, an incredibly nostalfic Super Sea Wolf inspired by the 90s, specifically the neon lights of laser tag arenas.

The base of the watch is the familiar Super Sea Wolf from Zodiac. It measures 40mm wide, 13.6mm thick and has a lug-to-lug measurement of 49mm. It has a 20mm lug spacing and a 200m water resistance rating as well. This time, the stainless steel case has dark, sleek gray plating. And this is about where things stop being regular and become a bit funky, in the best possible way. You will notice, for instance, that the lugs have channels milled in them and these channels are filled with luminous material that looks white in daylight and in darkness looks like floating thin lugs.

And it only gets crazier from there. There will be two versions of the watch, each with it’s own 90s colorway. The on called Ultraviolet has a deep purple dial is accented by lighter mint, blue, and green markings and hands, while the Infrared has a deep scarlet dial has accents of pink, red, and purple. But the watches look even better in darkness. They are absolutely slathered in lume.

However, the real party trick of these two watches is what happens if you shine a blacklight on them. Just like laser tag arenas come to life under blacklight, so do these two pieces. The center of each dial has several lines that light up in blacklight, as does the center of the crosshairs. In addition, all the excessive lume on the watches lights up brightly in shades of green and bright blue, depending on the model. There’s more - the lines on the case also light up, as does the logo on the crown. Even the freaking leather straps have a pattern of laser lines that light up under blacklight. These watches are something else, truly.

Inside the watch is the STP 1-21 caliber. This is Fossil Group’s version of an ETA 2824-2 clone, which makes sense since STP and Zodiac are both part of Fossil Group. The movement runs at a frequency of 28,800vph and has a power reserve of 44 hours. STP claims an accuracy of -0/+15 seconds per day, tested in five positions.

The Zodiac x Worn & Wound Super Sea Wolf "Laser Tag" will be available for pre-order through W&W's Wind Up Watch Shop beginning on September 28 at 1pm ET. It's limited to 282 per color at a price of $1,595. The watches will begin shipping in early November. See more on the Worn & Wound website.

Also, Zodiac and Worn & Wound put together a promo video for the watch that fell right out of the 90s:

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Feel Free To Hate Cartier For Making This Beautiful New Platinum Tank Louis Cartier A Super-Limited European Exclusive

Cartier is in a very celebratory mood the past few weeks. The other day I wrote about their new Tank Cintrée which they rendered beautifully in Platinum as a continuation of the celebration of 100 years of the model which started in 2021 for them. Now, they’re celebrating 170 years of the first Cartier watch and are doing so with an incredible looking platinum version of the Tank Louis Cartier. The watch is kind of a good news-bad news-worse news kind of situation. The good news is that it looks stunning and is actually reasonably priced. The bad news is that it’s an European exclusive, so everybody else will miss out. The worse news is that it’s limited to just 170 pieces.

The basic look of the watch is actually familiar since Cartier already sells one, just in a different colorway. You can get one with a grey dial and a rose gold case and they used to sell on with a red dial and yellow gold. All of these models share the same case that measures 25.5mm wide and 34mm long with a thickness of only 6.6mm, so as vintage as they come. The Tank case remains the same with rounded polished brancards and brushed inter-lugs, but this time made out of 950 platinum. And if you hoped that Cartier updated the crystal to sapphire, don’t. It’s still mineral glass, as is the case on so many of the Tanks. Since it’s platinum, you get a ruby cabochon on the crown.

The dial is the same as you find on the grey version, but this time in blue. The pattern is laser engraved and with angled lines and different shades of blue, there’s some depth in there. Four oversized Roman numerals adorn the otherwise restrained dial displaying only the hours and minutes.

Inside the watch is their in-house hand-wound 1917MC movement. It’s a tiny little thing that still gets you 38 hours of power reserve and it beats at 3Hz. The watch comes on a semi-matte blue alligator strap.

Again, the bad news about the Tank Louis Cartier Limited Edition is that it can be bought only in Europe and only 170 pieces will be made. The price is quite reasonable, actually, at €13,800, excluding taxes. The rose gold version is priced at €12,500, so the premium for platinum is really not that bad.

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Three New Women’s Richard Mille Watches Are Here For The Never-ending Summer

Ettore Sottsass was a legendary Italian architect and designer, founder of the 80s Memphis Group. The group designed postmodern furniture, lighting, fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass and metal objects that featured colorful and abstract decoration as well as asymmetrical shapes. Thirty something years after the formation of the group, Richard Mille is releasing three new Memphis-inspired variants of the RM 07-01, their female-oriented collection.

This capsule collection of RM 07-01 watches comes in colors that were very prevalent in the Memphis movement - powder blue, blush pink, and lavender pink. The high-performance ceramic cases are made from TZP, which is a biocompatible ceramic that is resistant to corrosion, has increased hardness and toughness superior to sapphire.

The case shape is a traditional RM tonneau but with a smaller size that’s supposed to fit slender wrists. It measures 31.40mm wide and 45.23mm long. Even though it looks thick, it measures only 11.85mm. Fixed atop the baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium is a gray PVD-treated red gold skeleton dial that showcases the engraved Memphis motif, surrounded by other decorative detailing in colored ceramic, laser-cut rubber appliques, and diamond-set elements.

Inside the watch is the Caliber CRMA2 – a skeletonized automatic movement with hours, minutes, and adjustable rotor geometry with a power reserve of 50 hours. Each watch comes on a different contrasting color strap - yellow, teal and coral.

While the previous series of RM 07-01 watches with colored ceramic cases were each produced as limited editions of just 50 pieces, the new Memphis Design-inspired Richard Mille RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics models will be limited productions, although their total output will not capped. All three have the same retail price of $205,000. See more on the Richard Mille website.

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Franck Muller Releases The Vanguard Beach, An Update To The Collection With New Bright, Bold And Audacious Colours

How many brands do you know that are world famous for their tonneau-shaped cases? I would say that it’s two major brands that are completely married to this shape. One is Richard Mille, of course, while the other would be Franck Muller. How likely is that two of these brands release new tonneau-shaped watches on the same day? Pretty high, actually, as I just wrote about the new RM and now it’s time for Franck Muller and three new additions to the Vanguard collection, a sporty and colourful line of watches for an otherwise subdued brand. Unfortunately, it’s available only in the Asia-pacific market.

The new Vanguard Beach, unsurprisingly, is inspired by the seaside and spending time on the beach. And perfect for that are three intense colors - fiery red, cerulean blue, and emerald green. It’s interesting that both RM and Franck Muller release watches inspired by the summer just as summer ends in the Northern hemisphere, but I like it a lot. The colourful cases are made from a glass fibre composite, which Franck Muller explains has been specially designed to create a pattern of undulating lines reminiscent of ripples in the sand on a beach.

This effect is achieved by first melting glass at 1,500°C, drawing it into filaments, then cooling it down again and forming into sheets at a lower temperature of 700°. The sheets are then dyed before being layered and compressed into blocks which are then machined into watch cases. This makes the watch look a bit like beach glass. It’s also supposed to be incredibly light, which you would want from a summer wearer.

This all sounds very nice, very sporty and very summery. Until you’re smacked in the face with the most glaring of downsides to this watch - it has a water resistance of just 30 meters. While that sounds plenty for the occasional swim, we all know water resistance doesn’t really work like that and 30 meters is more suitable for washing your hands than cannonballing from a yacht.

As for the Vanguard Beach’s dial, it’s classic Franck Muller, with large, hand-painted Arabic numerals and a deeply recessed circular date window at 6 o’clock. Inside the watch is the in-house calibre FM 800-DT, a simple automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve. The watches come on a colour-matched fabric Velcro strap.

The Franck Muller Vanguard Beach collection is an Asia-Pacific exclusive and is available now. Price is set at $11,500.

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Ochs Und Junior Pays Homage To Ray And Charles Eames With The New Mese 2.23

I adore strange, bold and unique watches. Just like the ones made by Ochs Und Junior. The brand was started by legendary watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin. Ironically, he designed the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei wristwatch, mentioned in 1989 in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most complex watch ever made. But Ochs Und Junior is the complete opposite of complex. Oechslin is now well known for his minimalist approach to watchmaking and using as few parts as possible to execute complex movement complications. For example his moonphase uses a regular ETA 2824-2 with a epicyclic gear system that uses just 5 parts that will take 3,478.27 years before its calculation will be off by 1 day.

Now the brand is introducing a new watch, the Mese 2.23 which follows their successful first date watch, the Mese 1.22. This new release also serves as a tribute to the renowned American design duo, Ray and Charles Eames, embodying their understated 1950s color scheme.

The watch comes in either a 39mm or 42mm wide case made out of Grade 5 titanium. It’s supremely simple, almost architectural, with a gently domed bezel and simple short lugs. The watch comes on an Ecopell leather strap, featuring an innovative buckle design by Oechslin.

The Mese 2.23’s dial and date disc are rendered in a dark anthracite, almost black and accented with six light green indices. The hour hand features a smoky green hue, while the minute and second hands are light green and orange with a striking orange point marking the date. Check out the website to see how with an ingenious swipe of the orange color, Ochs und Junior manages to arrange the date cutouts in a very slight spiral.

Inside the watch is the ETA 2824-2 movement, which is a super simple and well known movement. So, the basic movement is nothing special. What is special is the watch’s date module designed by Ludwig Oechslin. It is made of just two parts. That’s it.

The mese 2.23 is priced at CHF 3,230 and is available now via the Ochs und Junior’s official site, along with the mese 1.22, which is available for the same price. A bundle package is also available if you want both.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

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Hands on with the new Rolex Explorer 40 reference 224270

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A review of the Zenith Defy Revival Shadow

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

D1 Milano Polycarbon Sketch will have you questioning if it’s even real

Getting straight to the point, D1 Milano has created a watch which appears two-dimensional much of the time thanks to the matte black finish and broad white strokes that sit just within each edge and corner of the watch case. The very roughly sketched dial and skeleton hands complete the look. It’s surprisingly easy for this watch to mess with your depth perception and to question just how real it is. If you’ve ever seen photos of the Greem Café in Seoul, South Korea, then you’ll be familiar with the cartoon look that can be created from three dimensional objects, but unless you’ve been there in person, this watch might be the closest you’ll get to experiencing it. 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

• New York Magazine came out with a pretty bold claim that Sam Altman is the Oppenheimer of our age. While Altman, as CEO of OpenAI is certainly an important figure in the artificial intelligence world, he ain’t exactly Robert Oppenheimer… Still, an interesting read about a curious guy.

• In 1968, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were the world’s most famous teens after starring in a seriously popular rendition of Romeo and Juliette directed by Franco Zeffirelli. In 2023, they sued Paramount for abuse. This is a messy story about how convoluted the film industry can be.

• Blame the pandemic’s deprivations and our collective need for personal connection. Or maybe blame Gen Z as generational oversharers, but LinkedIn has evolved from a place where people not only post promotions and business and industry-focused content to a platform for revealing the overly personal, leading to—of course—public mockery, because some cannot resist the chance to be funny on the internet.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Skateboarding and watches are really not two things that go together. And I assume the the overlap of these two audiences is small, but trust me, watch this short documentary on Steve Alba over the weekend. Salba is an absolute legend and brought back a bunch of memories watching skate videos as a kid.

💵Pre-loved precision

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