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- A List Of The Best Sports Watches In 2023, Junghans Updates Meister Fein Auto Signatur Line, A Spectacular Worn & Wound And Nivada Grenchen Collab And New From Lang & Heyne And Hermes
A List Of The Best Sports Watches In 2023, Junghans Updates Meister Fein Auto Signatur Line, A Spectacular Worn & Wound And Nivada Grenchen Collab And New From Lang & Heyne And Hermes
Continuing with my best-of lists, here are all the watches you would want to wear while doing something active
It's About Time
December 20, 2023
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Here we go, the best sports watches of 2023 and a spectacular Worn&Wound/Nivada Grenchen collaboration.
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In this issue:
The New Jughans Meister Fein Automatic Signatur Is A Simple And Affordable Dress Watch
Worn & Wound Teams Up With Nivada Grenchen For Two New Models, With Two Radically Different Prices
The New Hermès Arceau Costume de Fête, Inspired By Polish Folk Culture, Is One Of The Most Intricate Dials Ever
Lang & Heyne Introduces The Incredible Anton Manufaktur Edition Tourbillon
The Best Sports Watches Of 2023, As Chosen By Me
Today’s reading time: 16 minutes and 1 minute
👂What’s new
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After a full year of crazy colors, complicated movements, crazy complications, weird materials and outrageous prices, it’s refreshing to see a watch. Like, give a child a piece of paper and ask them to draw a watch. They will most likely draw the new Meister Fein Automatic Signatur from Junghans. Because this is the essence of a watch - simple, legible, unobtrusive and relatively affordable.
The Meister Fein Automatic is an offshoot of the Meister Signatur Handaufzug series which was first introduced in 2021 to celebrate the establishment of Junghans in 1861, later expended with the Meister Fein Automatic Edition Erhard watches. And it’s in line with these previous models. It comes in a very simple 39.5mm wide case that’s circular and with very short, almost non-existant, lugs. The thickness of the case is 11mm and it has 50 meter water resistance. On top of the watch is a super-thin polished bezel and a domed crystal.
The dial is equally as simple and comes in two colors - silver and a light, almost baby, blue. The dial has a brushed finish and elongated diamond-cut indices. The hands are as thin as possible and the date window aperture at 3 o’clock, the second best way to display the date on a watch.
Inside is the Junghans J800.1 automatic movement but don’t think it is something special or in-house. It’s just a rebranded reliable and familiar Sellita SW200-1. This means you get a movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. Since they get to put their name on the movement, there are some modfications that were done - the rotor bearing cover is adorned with the Junghans star and other decorations are made up of blued screws and rhodium-plated components. The watch comes on a either a black or dark blue curved leather strap corresponding to the dial colour.
The Junghans Meister Fein Automatic Signatur will be available only at Junghans locations and retails and not online. The price is set at €1,690. See more on the Junghans website.
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Let’s say it again - the folks over at Worn & Wound have an incredible eye for color. Every single collaboration they have done pops with shade combinations so familiar that they feel secodn nature, and yet, we haven’t seen them used widely. For their last collaboration of 2023, they have teamed up with Nivada Grenchen for the second time to release two spectacular watches - a Datomaster, powered by a VK63 mechaquartz, and a Chronomaster Valjoux 72 V2, powered by the famed Valjoux 72, a legendary column-wheel chronograph movement that could was found in old Daytonas and Carreras. Two great looking watches with two incredibly different price tags.
Starting of with the Chronomaster Valjoux 72 V2, it comes in a 38mm wide and 14mm thick stainless steel case that has a 46.5mm lug-to-lug. There’s a bi-directional bezel on to with minute markings. The dial is inspired by old racing chronographs and comes in a sandy base with accents in teal, yellow and orange. There’s a checkered outer minutes track, two subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock with colored borders, one for the 30-minute elapsed counter and the other for the running seconds, while the 6 o’clock subdial tracks elapsed hours and has no border at all.
The watch, of course, has a transparent caseback to show off the Valjoux 72 inside. Which is great, since the Valjoux 72 is a lateral clutch movement with very few bridges, meaning you can see a lot of the parts in action. Of course, it’s a manual wound movement with 48 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a beads of rice bracelet and a burgundy suede leather rally strap.
Then there’s the Datomaster VK63 V2, which comes in an even smaller case that measures 36mm wide, 12mm thick and with a lug-to-lug of 43.5mm. The Datomaster doesn’t have a rotating bezel. Instead it has a minimal polished bezel and a heavily domed crystal that extends all the way to the edge. The dial has the same sand/teal color combination and an almost identical layout as the Chronomaster. As a nod to the remixed functionality of the 9 o’clock counter which is a 24-hour indicator, the yellow-orange accent is instead used to convey day hours while the other half of the bordering ring is executed in dark teal to convey night hours. At 6 o’clock, tastefully embedded within the small seconds counter is a date aperture.
Instead of a famed vintage chronograph movement, this watch gets the Seiko VK63 mechaquartz movement. The mechaquartz uses a quartz movement to power the hours, minutes and small seconds to keep things on time, and then uses a fully mechanical chronograph mechanism to get that beautiful sweep on the big seconds hand. The watch comes on a brown leather rally strap.
Both the Chronomaster Valjoux 72 V2 and the Datomaster VK63 V2 are limited editions, with the Chronomaster severely limited to just 15 pieces, while the Datomaster will be made in 150 pieces. Expect to pay $6,900 for the Chronomaster. Sure, a lot of money, but Valjoux 72 movements are not cheap to come by. If you want something less expensive, then the $499 for the Datomaster should be perfect. See more on the Worn & Wound website.
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In 1978, Hermès was headed by designer Henri d’Origny. He is one of the most influential artistic directors of all time and he has left a lasting legacy. Among it was the Arceau, a watch the brand introduced to reflect the equestrian spirit of Hermès. It’s known for its round shape and stirrup-shaped lugs and has since served as a canvas for many artisict projects of the design house. The latest is the Arceau Costume de Fête, inspired by a silk scarf that depicts a Polish wedding designed by Polish artist Jan Batjlik.
The watch comes in either a white or rose gold case that measures 38mm wide and both have a bezel set with 82 diamonds. While both versions feature a scene of a horse pulling the carriage of the bride and groom, brought to life with leather marquetry, sequins and miniature painting, each case gets a different colorway. The white gold has a pink, beige and orange palette, while the rose gold version has a blue, green and pink colour scheme.
Indredible level of detail is present on this dial. The leather marquetry that’s used for the horse’s head uses 0.5mm thick cut-out pieces of colourful leather applied to the dial. Once they are applied, the harness is painted on and the horse and surrounding scenery are festooned with six shiny sequins sewn with copper wire and brightly coloured miniature rectangular tiles. The left area of the dial is dominated by a floral motif composed of colourful glossy tiles applied to a cut-out and sculpted metal base.
Inside is the Hermès H1912 calibre made by Vaucher in Fleurier. It beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. The bridge and rotors have H motifs as decoration. The white gold version comes on a Sakura pink calfskin strap, while the rose gold has an Electric blue calfskin strap.
These will be highly limited pieces, with each colorway made in only 24 pieces. Expect to shell out €65,000 for the rose gold version and €70,000 for the white gold. Check out the Hermès website for more.
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Chances are, you haven’t really heard of the German watch brand Lang & Heyne. But it’s been around for more than 20 years and in that time it has lost both of it’s founders - Marco Lang and Mirko Heyne. Yet, it’s still ticking along, making breathtaking watches. Their watches are serious and Teutonic, and their latest - the Anton Tourbillon Manufaktur Edition - is the perfect addition to the collection.
The watch is named after the Saxon King “Anthony the Kind” and is the third special edition in this line following the rose gold and platinum versions launched in 2018. It comes in a 32mm wide, 40mm tall and 9.4mm thick platinum case that has a slight curve against the wrist. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals and it has decent waterproofing to 30 meters. This is surely not a sports watch.
The main selling point of this watch is the highly polished dial made of black zirconium oxide ceramic with a huge cutout in the bottom part which shows off the flying tourbillon. The numerals and scales are not applied but rather laser-engraved and filled with Berlac lacquer.
The flying one-minute tourbillon, inspired by Alfred Helwig's design, includes improvement to the shockproof spring and anchor components, aiming to enhance precision. The anchor, now comprising two bodies, enables finer adjustments, while the redesigned shockproof spring ensures easier mounting without the risk of damage. The tourbillon bridge is new and made out of steel, yet the overall aesthetic remains distinctively true to the original calibre IX, meaning that it beats at 2.5Hz and has a 55 hour power reserve.
This is a highly limited watch, as only 5 pieces will be made. Each of the five has an engraving of "Manufaktur Edition" and "1/5". The price is, as expected, pretty high. €160,000. See more on the Lang & Heyne website.
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The Best Sports Watches Of 2023, As Chosen By Me
The best-lists chosen by me continue. This category is even more vague than yesterday. It’s simply sports watches. These can be divers, chronographs, even field watches. Basically, anything that would go well with any amount of physical activity. And in the end, I’m putting this list together, so it’s all about what I feel are sports watches! Here we go:
These watches play into a tried and true formula that has served Zodiac remarkably well over the last years, which is to lean into bold colors layered over their classic dive watch design. The new white ceramic watches will be available in three variants: dark blue, lime green, and a silver and orange watch that feels like a nod to their popular “Sherbet” GMT from a few years ago. All of the dials have a subtle sunburst finish and the traditional rectangular hands and hour markers that are common to the Super Sea Wolf line. Read my whole writeup here.
TAG Heuer is at the very top of my favorite brands this year after years of “meh” products. And this is perhaps the best one they did all year. The new Skipper is based on the new Glassbox Carrera, which is just a stunning update to a watch that has gotten a bit boring over the years. The Glassbox was introduced at Watches and Wonders this year and features a curved sapphire glass that goes all the way to the edge of the watch, with a chapter ring that’s pressed all the way up to it, creating a very nice visual trick. Read my article here.
This re-edition of the Cricket Nautical is pretty straightforward and thus appealing. The vintage model stood out at the time with it’s large size at 42mm, and Vulcain tries to stick with approximately the same size - 42.2mm. However, get this - it’s 17mm thick. But it has to be that thick, as it has to include a an ultra-domed sapphire and a multi-layer dial, as well as an alarm movement and a resonance chamber. Read my whole writeup.
It’s the familiar FXD case, meaning you get a solid piece of titanium that measures 42mm wide and 12.75mm thick and a lug-to-lug of 52mm. The titanium case gets a titanium unidirectional rotating bezel with a black ceramic insert with a regular 60-minute diving scale. Since it’s a diver, it makes sense that it can withstand dives of 200 meters. The new FXD retains the fixed lugs and this is a carryover from the design element for the Marine Nationale when the Pelagos FXD was in development. With a fixed lug, a diver doesn’t have to fear failure of pins and losing a watch. Instead of a blue dial you get a black one with the line Pelagos printed in red instead of the white in the previous versions. That’s pretty much the only change, as you still get applied square, rectangular and triangular hour markers, as well as Snowflake hands, all with Super-LumiNova that have a very characteristic blue glow at night. Here’s my article on this great watch.
As you might notice, there is no third GMT hand. That’s because the rotating bezel has a trick to it. You push down on it to unlock the mechanism and by twisting the bezel to align the city of choice with the 12 o’clock position, the hour hand, the 24-hour disc and date wheel move back and forth accordingly. It’s actually one of my favorite world timer mechanisms.
The matte green of the case continues on the dial and it’s contrasted with lighter green indices and markings which are filled with lume. The hour and minute hands are black with a light green insert, while the seconds hand is all light green. The arched window at 12 o’clock shows a 24-hour ring, and there’s a colour-matched date at 3 o’clock. Read my article here.
Now titanium and Rolex fans get what they want, a wearable titanium watch - the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in RLX.The new reference is powered by Rolex’s in-house Calibre 3235, certified as a Superlative Chronometer. The cool thing is that Rolex did not just slap an Oysterflex on it, but rather they fashined an entire titanium Oyster bracelet for it. The new Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium reference 226627 will sell for CHF 13,400. See the entire article here.
The case measures just under 42mm wide and 16mm thick. It’s huge, but this chunky titanium case and a thick sapphire crystal on top and a solid titanium case back, ensure a crazy depth rating of 1200 meters. Inside the Squale Master × Palombari Comsubin ticks the common Sellita SW200-1 in its Elaboré execution. The blue dial features the Palombari del Comsubin logo at 6 and the date at 3 o’clock. Speaking of the color, the color scheme reflects the uniforms of the Comsubin, and the company that makes their uniforms has produced an leather and fabric strap (to accompany the tropic strap it comes on) for the watch with a fantastic blue camo pattern of the unit. My writeup is here.
They might as well called it the Navigator Timer, since it looks practically identical, down to it’s size. It’s 38.5mm wide and 45.2mm lug-to-lug, making it fairly compact in the line of large-ish Prospex watches. Once again you get the rotating bezel with an engraved 24-hour scale, with numerals painted black and a lumed pip at 12 o’clock. The finishing is brushed, the crown is at 4 once again and you get 100 meters of water resistance.
The dial also looks incredibly similar with a grey sunray brushed surface and applied markers. The dial is framed by an inner flange with minute scale and LumiBrite dots. Even the half-lenght red GMT hand is the same as the original. Read my article.
The dial on this watch is nearly black except at the center, where a shaft of light blue peeks out. This is also a major update to the Ploprof, as the stainless steel Ploprof 1,200 has been discontinued in 2019 after 10 years in the lineup, only to be replaced with a titanium model. While titanium is cool, if you’re buying a Ploprof, you want a steel model. This watch has to have a presence on your wrist. However, Omega has shrunk it down just a bit to make the intimidating asymmetrical case more wearable. It’s not small - it’s still 55mm wide, but the lug to lug has been brought down from 48mm to 45mm and the thickness is now 15.5mm. The retail price on the Ploprof is $14,300. See more about it in my writeup.
The latest stainless steel Spirit Zulu Time 39mm models have a case thickness of 13.50mm and a water-resistance of 100 metres. Fitted with a ceramic bezel insert with an engraved 24-hour scale with lacquered numbers, you can get it in four colors - black, green, blue and a fantastic chocolate brown. An arrow-shaped hand linked to a 24-hour scale indicates the second time zone. More about it here.
Now Marathon returns to it’s roots and announces the SSNAV-D, the Navigator Date made in steel. This is both the first time that a steel Navigator has been openly offered to the public and the first time that a steel Navigator has had a date function. Similar to the composite models, the SSNAV-D's 316L steel case is 41mm wide, 11mm thick, and 48mm lug-to-lug. Water resistance is 100 meters with a screw-down crown, the lugs are 20mm wide and have been drilled. The crystal is sapphire, the bi-directional bezel is steel with an engraved and painted 12-hour scale, and the date is located between 4 and 5 on the dial and uses a black-on-white date display. Read it here.
The watches, all eight versions of them will come in two sizes - 37mm and 41mm, which seems like a perfect spread to cover most wrist sizes out there. Seeing the press photos from Hamilton, it looks like the 41mm looks like a robust tool watch on the wrist, while the 37mm still offers the same field watch simplicity as the non-Expedition variants. Read more about it.
The dial is the real showstopper of the watch. You get the incredible retro Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, all on a warm brown-orange hour track. The central portion of the dial has a sandy color and all the lume plots on the dial are rendered in a light cream, almost yellow, color. I adore brown dials, something that is very controversial in the watch world, but I believe this will have to melt the hearts of even the staunchest lovers of blues and blacks. The entire watch just screams 1970s. My writeup.
When brands create limited editions, they usually slap an engraving on the caseback and maybe modify the dial a bit. But Doxa decided to go another route. They created a special - not limited but numbered - model that reimagines the SUB 300T in a voluntarily aged, almost antique-like manner. Fauxtina is usually a horrible, horrible thing that luckily only lasted as a trend for a couple of years. But here, in this Doxa, it is wonderful. Under the patina, this is a SUB 300T, with everything it means regarding the specifications. 42.5mm in diameter, with a reasonable length of 44.50mm, it is a modernised version of the classic SUB 300. The case is tough… this model is water-resistant to 1,200m. More about it.
While the majority of divers out there use black and blue dials, there are some that venture into more bold colors like Doxa with orange and an array of colors that Zodiac uses on their Sea Wolf range. It’s nice to see Aquastar and Fratello introduce a new color to diving watches. They describe it as pink and salmon combined, and looking at the photos it really does look like it has both colors in it, depending on how the light hits it. The dial has a “big-eye” sub-dial at 9 o’clock for the running seconds, black printed details and bright white Super-LumiNova. More here.
Yes, it’s obscenely expensive, but this is absolutely terrific looking. The subtle sunburst grey dial is also a qote of the original watch and on top of it are the big, flat, rectangular indices, with a boldly framed date window at 3. The text on the dial looks just like it was printed in 1965, only now it’s updated with the current specs — 200m instead of a 150m depth rating. The indices, hands, and lume pip are filled with Seiko’s Lumibrite. And to give the SJE093 even more of a ’60s vibe, the watch comes on a high-strength silicone Tropic-style strap. Read the whole thing here.
🫳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 likewatches
The inner case rotates 30 degrees by sliding the reinforced crown down the side cutout, with a sly Easter egg inside. The hidden engraving switches from “Show Time” with a directional arrow, to a shooting star motif, orienting the dial at a more handlebar-ready position for riding. It’s a great detail that will surely delight collectors.
⏲️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
The New Yorker is known for their crisply influential personal essays. To be honest, I didn’t really encounter many of those in recent times. But this one, written by Joe Garcia who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder really is something else. This is how Taylor Swift’s music influences prisoners.
Imagine being one of the most influential inventors of all time. A gargantuan icon that helps change the world forever with two very specific inventions. Imagine what your legacy would be. Now, imagine that the two inventions you are most known for end up being a compound that kills millions and a compound that decimates the entire global environment. A century ago, Thomas Midgley Jr. was responsible for two phenomenally destructive innovations - leaded gasoline and Freon. Here’s what we can learn from this disaster.
In the early morning hours of May 28, 2021, a strange boat appeared in the Caribbean. As local fishermen approached it, they made a grisly discovery: Everyone aboard it was dead. The boat and its passengers' origins were a mystery. Yet what remained held clues to their story.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
Among the very top of my all time artists is Warren Zevon. And lately I’ve been listening to more and more Shooter Jennings whose rock-and-roll-meets-country is really kickass. Lo and behold, Jennings recorded a live set of Zevon’s best tracks and recently released it as an album and it’s perfect. Speaking of, you might want to watch Zevon’s last interview. He was very close friends with David Letterman so to see these two guys essentially saying goodbye to each other without actually saying it is just heartbreaking. Enjoy every sandwich.
💵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: 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
Want to sell your watch to a community of passionate horologists? Reach out to us and we’ll put your ad up.
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