Zodiac's Two New Super Sea Wolf GMTs; Vulcain Is Summer Ready With Five New Skindiver Nautique; Farer Updates The Fantastic Moonphase With Natural Aventurine; New From Bulgari And Jacob & Co.

In this issue:

• Zodiac Releases Two New Versions Of Its Popular Super Sea Wolf GMT

• The Vulcain Skindiver Nautique 38mm Is Ready For The Summer With Five New Colors

• Farer Updates Their Spectacular Moonphase Collection With A Natural Aventurine Dial

• Bulgari Finally Gets A Move On With The Octo Roma With A New DLC-Coated Auto And Chronograph

• Despite What You See Whin Your Own Eyes, The New Jacob & Co. Is The Tamest Astronomia Yet

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 42 seconds

👂What’s new

1/

Zodiac Releases Two New Versions Of Its Popular Super Sea Wolf GMT

This year at Watches and Wonders, Rolex introduced 11 new references, of which only one came in steel, the traditional Rolex material. It was the fully steel Rolex GMT - Master II with a black and grey bezel. This wasn’t much of a surprise as they already made a black and grey two-tone model, but seeing as how many brands like to take inspiration from Rolex, do expect a few more black and grey bezel GMT watches in the near future. The watches I’m writing about now, however, are not quickly put together homages to the stainless steel 126710GRNR. NO, the new Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMT duo, one of which has a black and grey bezel while the other gets a lot more color, was released a day before Rolex unveiled their pieces, I just didn’t have the space to write about them sooner.

So, here we are with two new Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMTs, a watch uses the dial and bezel as an increasingly interesting canvas for color combinations. But beneath the new colors, you get the very familiar basics. The case measures 40mm wide, 13.6mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 48mm. Being part of the Super Sea Wolf family, it is a pretty capable diver with 200 meters of water resistance.

The two models share a couple of technical details - a date window at 3 o’clock, the logo at 12, the baton-style hands in stainless steel for hours and minutes, the baton-style colored hand with a white tip for for the GMT and the thin seconds hand with a lumed portion, as well as the 24-hour scale on the bezel - and most of the differences come from the color. First is the model with the silver sunburst dial, a red GMT hand and the black and gray insert in the bezel. The second is model comes with a full black dial with applied markers and contrasting white lume. The GMT hand gets a bright pink finish, which matches the pink and white bezel insert.

Inside is a brand new movement from STP, the movement manufacturer owned by the Fossil Group, which also owns Zodiac. It’s called the STP 7-20 GMT, beats at 28,800vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. It’s a caller style GMT, meaning you independently set the 24-hour GMT hand. The watches come on a Jubilee-style steel bracelet with a butterfly clasp.

The two new Super Sea Wolf GMT are available now and priced at $1,995. See more on the Zodiac website.

2/

The Vulcain Skindiver Nautique 38mm Is Ready For The Summer With Five New Colors

Sure, Vulcain is best known for the watches a number of presidents wore, or for their absolutely fantastic Cricket Nautical, one of the best mechanical alarm watches you can get. But they have always been linked to a nautical theme. So it came as no surpirse last year when they used the Vulcain Nautique of the 1960s to introduce a new diver, the Skindiver Nautique 38mm. And now they’re updating the line with five new colors, which join the previous black, blue, and salmon dials.

The Skindiver Nautique 38mm, as the name suggests, comes in a 38mm wide stainless steel case that’s 12.2mm thick and has a domed sapphire crystal graces the top. It’s a simple case that has short lugs, a combination of brushed and polished surfaces and an oversize crown. There are three finishes to the watch - an unfinished stainless steel, a yellow gold-plated steel and a bronze. On top is a unidirectional rotating bezel with a black ceramic insert and water resistance is 200 meters.

The dials keep on with the vintage vibe of the watch with baton hand that are silver on the stainless watches and gold-colored on the gold and bronze version. The stainless steel versions get three colors - fir green, orange and a spectacular brown that looks like a tropic dial, which might be a dealbreaker for people who don’t like fauxtina. The yellow gold-plated steel gets a blue ceramic insert on the bezel and a blue dial, while the bronze watch gets a black dial.

Inside is the ETA 2824 movement which beats at 28,800vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. All five versions come on a slightly bizarre strap that’s made out of black leather with an embossed carbon pattern, making them look like the rubber tropic straps. If you don’t like leather on your diver, Vulcain has a total of nine strap options.

The Vulcain Skindiver Nautique 38mm is priced at €1,610 for the steel versions, €1,990 for the gold-plated version and €2,150 for the bronze version. See more on the Vulcain website.

3/

Farer Updates Their Spectacular Moonphase Collection With A Natural Aventurine Dial

A bit over a year ago, Farer introduced a new collection of Moonphase watches. And just like with pretty much every category they dip their toes in, they made the prettiest version of the Moonphase. They featured their iconic cusion case, beautiful colors on the dials and the wonderful huge moon right above the handset. These three watches sold out pretty fast, just like most Farer do, and now they are bringing the original three colors back for another run. But, in addition to these three, Farer is also introducing an incredible green dial made out of what Farer points out is natural aventurine.

Back to the case for a bit. It comes in a beautiful cushion case that measures 38.5mm wide, 10.5mm thick and has a 43.8mm lug-to-lug, making for a nicely wearable watch. The top of the watch has a highly polished finish, while the sides have what Farer calls the “grain twist” imprint texture. While Farer’s cases are beautiful, it’s all about the dials.

The new Farer Moonphases are getting the familiar three dial colors - light pink in the Burbidge, warm yellow in the Halley, and a neutral eggshell in the Eddington. The fourth model, new for this release, is the Baily, which uses natural aventurine. Most of the aventurine seen in watchmaking is simply glass flecked with copper filings, but Farer says this is a natural semi-precious gemstone that has been cut and polished into a dial that is just 1mm thick.

All four versions feature applied hour markers made using Lumicast, a blend of ceramic and Grade OL X1 Super-LumiNova, paired with a polished lance handset and a seconds hand with the Farer “A” in white. Most impressive, of course, are the huge moons that occupy the large aperture above the handset. The moons themselves are hand-painted in Geneva using grade OL X1 Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the SW288-1 Ma Elaboré Grade movement, which beats at 28,800vph and has a 45 hour power reserve. It’s even decent looking, with blued screws and bespoke Farer embossed patterned bridge. The watches can be had on a number of leather straps, or Farer’s Milanese bracelet.

The Farer Moonphase is available for pre-order now, with the three old versions delivering in May and the natural aventurine in September. The three Moonphase models with the regular dials are priced at €1,795, while the natural aventurine dial is priced at €1,925. See more on the Farer website.

 4/

Bulgari Finally Gets A Move On With The Octo Roma With A New DLC-Coated Auto And Chronograph

Last year, Bulgari made a big deal while practically relaunching their Octo Roma line that they are halting updates to the Octo Finissimo - a watch that established itself as an absolute legend in just 10 years on the market - and will be focusing on the Octo Roma. Since then, they released maybe one or two new Octo Roma models and probably a dozen new Octo Finissimo models. So I guess that plan didn’t exactly work out. Now, Bulgari is finally shifting into a higher gear and releasing two new Octo Roma models, a three-hander and a chronograph, but now covered black DLC.

First up is the Octo Roma Automatic time-and-date model which comes in a 41mm stainless steel case that’s 9.15mm thick. It gets a matte black DLC coating which turns the watch into a black hole, thanks to the black dial and the black strap. The dial gets a pyramid-shaped Clous de Paris pattern rendered in black, with applied metallic indices, Arabic numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock and a handset that’s covered in Super-LumiNova. There’s a date window at 3 o’clock which, thankfully, has a black background. Inside is the automatic calibre BVL191 Solotempo, made by Bulgari’s manufacture in Le Sentier, which beats at 28,800vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes with a textured black rubber strap and black alligator strap with pin buckle.

Next is the Octo Roma Chronograph, which comes in a slightly larger case that measures 42mm wide and 12.4mm thick, but with the same steel case with a black DLC coat, and pushers so well integrated into the case that they look like part of the case. There’s also the same black Clous de Paris dial, with snailed sub-dials - small seconds at 3, 12-hour chronograph totaliser at 6 and the 30-minute elapsed times at 9 o’clock - and a date window at the horrible 4:30 position. This version gets an Arabic numeral only at 12. Inside is the brand new BVL399 automatic movement, which is the in-house BVL191 Solotempo with a Dubios-Dépraz chronograph module. The watch can be had on the same textured black rubber strap and black alligator strap with pin buckle.

See more of the Octo Roma Automatic, which is priced at €8,900, on the Bulgari website, while the Octo Roma Chronograph is priced at €10,900.

5/

Despite What You See Whin Your Own Eyes, The New Jacob & Co. Is The Tamest Astronomia Yet

There is no denying that Jacob & Co. watches are equally as incredible pieces of mechanical engineering, as they are tacky pieces that are a bit embarrassing to wear. And at the very top of their lineup is the Astronomia line, incredible mechanical wonders that often cross the line of good taste. However, their latest model is the Astronomia Regulateur, their spin on the regulator, a watch that separates the hour, minute and seconds hands, but which also doesn’t look as wild. At least when it comes to Jacob watches.

The Astronomia Regulateur is the latest in Jacob’s “carrousel movement” series, housed in a 43mm wide and 18mm thick case made out of rose gold with openworked lugs and two large sapphire panes to see the inside of the dial. Its rotating movement carries three arms. One is for the one-minute flying tourbillon, while the other two arms are dedicated to the time display, one for the minutes and one for the hours. Both of these displays are rendered in a blue transparent material, while the seconds are displayed with a hand at 6 o’clock and indicated by the blue translucent ring rotating counter-clockwise in 60 seconds that makes up the base of the dial.

There are incredible amounts of rotation going on here, and to move them Jacob needs a lot of force, which is provided by a constant force mechanism to equalize the force exerted by the mainsprings. It consists of an intermediate spring reloading six times per second. Constant force is initially used to even out the energy received by the balance wheel to make it more accurate. This is crucial in achieving a consistent rate and sustaining a smooth, uniform rotation for the movement’s platform every minute.

The Jacob & Co. Astronomia Regulateur comes on an alligator strap with a rose gold folding buckle and limited to 250 pieces. That’s a lot of watches considering the price of $280,000. See more on the Jacob & Co. website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rewind 

2/

Hands on with the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique 42mm

3/

A review of the Rolex 1908 in platinum

⚙️Watch Worthy

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

The fish scale design of the Batavi Atelier dial is inspired by the Netherlands’ greatest enemy, the sea

The Batavi Atelier may catch your eye, first and foremost, with its dial, but I found the case to be just as intriguing. Moving away from the thicker, more generic cases of some of its previous models, the Atelier gets an elegant 39mm case that’s 46mm lug-to-lug and a respectable 11mm thick. A gentle curve to the form allows it to sit comfortably on the wrist. This case profile may be one of the best suited for my 7-inch wrist that I’ve encountered. The case’s pull-out crown doesn’t significantly affect the water resistance, which is 100m, but it does seem to be an afterthought. It’s a bit too short, and the fully polished finish seems a bit out of place. I might have preferred something narrower and longer, with a matte or brushed fluting and a polished end.

Read the whole review on A Blog To Watch

⏲️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

• O.J. Simpson died a couple of days ago. To mark this occasion, Evergreen republished Andrea Dworkin’s brilliant essay about Nicole Brown Simpson, the abuse she suffered at the hands of O.J., and how the help she needed never came.

• If you haven’t seen it, go watch Idiocracy right now. Mike Judge’s incredible dissection of modern culture has perhaps reached its peak with the 2006 film in which he explicitly tells us how our society will crumble. We laughed at it as an absurd comedy back then. Not even 20 years later, it turns out he was 100% right. You can see us slipping into the world of Idiocracy with every passing day, as demonstrated by articles with titles like this: “People are falling off buildings in search of the perfect Instagram shot”.

• The Maasai people were stewards of the Serengeti for centuries. Now they’re being evicted and violently displaced by the Tanzanian government in the name of “conservation,” and so the land can be set aside for ecotourists, safari companies, trophy hunters, and powerful foreigners like the Dubai royal family. An important but upsetting read—one that’s both incredibly reported and beautifully written by Stephanie McCrummen.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I have a three-year-old and she’s just entering the “why” phase of life. Where very single question is why. Why is the sky blue? Why are her hands wet after washing her hands? Why does her hair hurt? It’s a fun ride, especially when you realise not only how little you know about the world around you, but also how incredibly difficult it is to explain the world. That’s why I always loved these videos from Wired where physicists take highly complex topics like dimensions (linked above) or time, and explain it to a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert. It’s incredible.

💵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