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- Bremont has a Great New Military Watch, Too Bad It's Limited; and we dig a Dive Chrono With Compass Bezel and Regatta Counter
Bremont has a Great New Military Watch, Too Bad It's Limited; and we dig a Dive Chrono With Compass Bezel and Regatta Counter
The Broadsword Recon might be the best version of a Dirty Dozen watch
It's About Time
March 14, 2023
Hey friends, welcome to It’s About Time. Our watch newsletter is like a trusty timepiece - it always delivers. Thanks for ticking with us.
In this issue:
Too bad the new Bremont is limited
Maurice Lacroix does very small updates to the Pontos Day Date
The Fine Watch Club creates a Custom Montblanc
And… invite your friends to win a Tiffany PRX
Today’s reading time: 5 minutes and 17 seconds
We’re starting off with a bang! We’re giving away TWO of this year’s hottest watches:
THE TIFFANY PRX!
This is the PRX Powermatic 80 we’re giving away. Not this one obviously. But one just like it.
That’s right! You’ve read about them, you’ve seen the videos and now you can own your own Tissot PRX with the Powermatic 80 movement and the light blue dial. All you have to do is forward this email to five of your friends and get them to click on the button below to subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the PRX online, so we can do this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
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Today Bremont introduces the Broadsword Recon, which pays tribute to the heritage of the British Ministry of Defense, specifically, His Majesty’s Armed Forces (HMAF) and their timepieces. The brand claims this is their interpretation of the classic Dirty Dozen watches. This is nothing new, as there is a bunch of brands paying homage to these legendary watches.
Where Bremont differs is in the details. The Broadsword Recon has a fantastic sandwich dial, only the second in Bremont’s history, and the cutouts allow the tan-colored trademarked “P51” Super-LumiNova to shine extremely bright. The watch features matte black hands with the same shade of tan lume. The two-piece hardened steel Broadsword case retains its usual 40mm diameter, 12.5mm thickness, 47mm lug-to-lug, and 20mm lug spacing. Bremont sells the watch on a chunky color-matched NATO strap, and it comes with an extra rubber or leather strap as well.
It’s a fine looking watch, and at €2.985 it’s very fairly priced. The only downside is the fact they will make only 200 of them.
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After an update to their Pontos chronograph, Maurice Lacroix has now facelifted their Pontos Day-Date 41mm for 2023. Redesigned quite drastically in 2017, the Day-Date model remains one of the bestsellers in the brand’s collection, and now, Maurice Lacroix releases 3 new dials.
The case remains the same - 41mm in diameter and 11mm high. The dial so fat was silver-colored with gold plated hands and markers. ML now introduces three new colors with contrast accents - the minute track that is inside the hour track is now painted a contrasting color to the rest of the dial. The available dials are silver with a grey minute track and 4N gold-plated hands and markers, anthracite with 4N gold minute track and hands/markers and a black dial with silver-coloured track and hands/markers.
The watch is powered by their calibre ML143, a Sellita-sourced movement with 4Hz frequency and 38h power reserve. Each version of the Pontos Day-Date can be chosen either on a faux-alligator leather strap in black, with that gaudy M logo at the 6 o’clock position, which will match the dial hardware, or a 3-link steel bracelet. Prices will be CHF 1,900 on strap and CHF 1,950 on bracelet.
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The Fine Watch Club is an international multi-brand watch club aimed at anyone with an interest in luxury mechanical watches. The Club offers different programs and experiences for Watch Aficionados and, also releases limited-edition watches. Their latest is the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea with their own twist.
While we have seen the green Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea before and think it’s already fantastic, the FWC added some very different details. Presented in a green colourway, the Fine Watch Club limited edition features a 6-9-23 numeral (with green lume) on its textured dial instead of the 6-9-12 on the regular MB.
Everything else remains the same: 41mm stainless steel case with a unidirectional steel and ceramic bezel, 300m water resistance, the automatic calibre MB 24.17 based on the Sellita SW200-1 and a stainless-steel bracelet (tapering from 20mm to 18mm). The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea FWC is released in a limited edition of 23 pieces. It retails for CHF 3,295 and will be delivered at Watches and Wonders.
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Ollech & Wajs has decided to revisit the design and one glance will confirm that this isn’t your original 1967 Astrochron. With the new refresh, Ollech & Wajs’ already capable multi-functional chronograph just got, well, more capable.
The bezel has an elapsed time display, but in this contemporary version of the Astrochron S, we also get a compass scale. The compass portion of the bezel angles downwards towards the bezel’s grip and uses black markers against a steel background to assist with getting your bearings out in the field. The slimmer and flatter portion of the bezel displays a count-up timer separated into two different tones – a white bezel with blue accents providing a 20 minute diver scale and the remaining portion of the bezel using a matte gray color with white accents
It’s a thick boy at 16.8mm and 39mm in diameter, but tries justifies that thickness with a 500 meter water resistance and the 5 minute regatta timer at three o’clock. It’s powered by the Valjoux 7753, a descendent of the iconic Valjoux 72. It comes on a beads of rice stainless which looks very nicely brushed.
The Astrochron S is currently available directly through Ollech & Wajs with the first 56 models numbered and retails for $2,737.
🫳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
There’s no shortage of independent watchmakers. But it’s not everyday that you see a watch made for kids that makes you say: “hey, that’s not half bad”. They are rugged, they are perfectly made for kids’ wrists and they are legible. At $180, it’s time to get your kids into the game
⏲️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
Do you like watch and automotive brand collaborations? Yeah, not a lot of people do. But Time + Tide argues that this concept has been done right at least six times. Do you agree?
The MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold has gotten a crazy amount of hate since it’s launch. Mostly rightfully so. But if you are looking for an alternative to the Moonshine Gold Swatch, maybe start here.
Men get obsessed with their watches. Men also get obsessed with their cars, cigars and myriad of other niches. One of these niches is the dad-movie, a film made for dads and enjoyed by dads. Think movies like the Gladiator or Master and Commander. Now GQ asks the question: why are men so obsessed with Master and Commander?
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
Speaking of obsession… You have to be completely obsessed with details to create a company like Singer. Look at this factory tour where they create the best Porsches that ever existed
😉Famous faces
Celebrities are just like us 😄
💵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
SOLD: Rolex Explorer I 39 mm Mark I, ref. 214270. Great condition, no box or papers. €7250, OBO. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch
For sale: Longines Heritage Skin Diver, box and papers. €1400. Reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch
Want to sell your watch to a community of passionate horologists? Reach out to us and we’ll put your ad up. $15 per listing without photos, $25 with photos. 10 available slots per day, discounts for multiple slots.
We’re starting off with a bang! We’re giving away TWO of this year’s hottest watches:
THE TIFFANY PRX!
This is the PRX Powermatic 80 we’re giving away. Not this one obviously. But one just like it.