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- Omega Gives The Smaller 38mm Aqua Terra A Green Dial, Yema Releases A Slim Superman With Their New In-House Micro-Rotor, Citizen Releases New Moon-Inspired Watch And A March LAB Goes Bronze
Omega Gives The Smaller 38mm Aqua Terra A Green Dial, Yema Releases A Slim Superman With Their New In-House Micro-Rotor, Citizen Releases New Moon-Inspired Watch And A March LAB Goes Bronze
No, Aqua Terra is not always the right answer. It is, however, with this one
It's About Time
February 14, 2024
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I know I might come off as harsh on the Aqua Terra, but it’s still a great watch. But the hit for me this issue is the Yema, I’m becoming more of a fan with every passing day.
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In this issue:
Omega Gives An Olive Green Treatment To Their Smaller 38mm Aqua Terra
Yema’s New Superman Slim Is A Great Vessel For Their In-House Developed CMM.20 Micro-Rotor Movement
Citizen Uses The Moon As Inspiration For The New Attesa Hakuto-R Limited Editions
March LAB Goes Bronze For Their Latest Dive Watch, The Belza Bronze Automatic
Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 53 seconds
👂What’s new
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Very few modern watches have as rabid a fan base as the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. In online forums the people extolling Omega’s Go Anywhere Do Anything (GADA) watch can easily stand hand in hand with the people who will die on the hill that “GS is better value for money and higher quality than Rolex”. To Aqua Terra fans, the answer is always Aqua Terra. Want a dress watch for a wedding? Aqua Terra. Want to dive The Mariana Trench? Aqua Terra. Need something for $300? An Aqua Terra, but save up a bit. Want a one-off watch with a 200k budget? That’s stupid, just get an Aqua Terra. Need a chrono? An Aqua Terra is just as good, just try counting in your head. I joke, but only a bit, as the fandom for Aqua Terra really is that strong. I get it, it’s an attractive package made even more attractive by the various fantastic colors the watches come in. So, it’s good news that a color that was previously available only on the 41mm version is now available in the 38mm as well - a beautiful olive green.
This is just a color update, so you know all the stats. The Aqua Terra comes in both 41mm and 38mm. The 41mm green version with the teak-style dial was released in 2020, and now this 38mm. Along with the 38mm width, the watch is 12mm thick and has a 45mm lug-to-lug. The case is made out of stainless steel and has sapphire crystals on top and bottom. The crown screws in and you get 150 meters of water resistance.
The dial is equally simple and complicated. The green color comes from a PVD coat on the AT recognizable horizontal teak pattern, and the entire dial gets a subtle sunray-brushed finish. The markers are applied and, just like the hands, rhodium plated, brushed and filled in with Super-LumiNova. There’s a date window at 6 o’clock with a color matched disc inside. The one think I really appreciate about these Aqua Terra models is that the 38 and 41mm versions look exactly the same, aside from the size, which is not always the case with other brands.
Inside is the in-house Master Chronometer automatic calibre 8800 which beats at 25,200 vph (3.5Hz) and has a 55h power reserve. This movement features an anti-magnetic hairspring, Co-Axial escapement and being a Master Chronometer it has an accuracy rating of between 0 and +5 seconds per day. You can get the watch on a 3-link stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp or an integrated, structured green rubber strap with grey stitching and fold-over clasp.
The new Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m 38mm Green is avaialble now and not limited, retailing for €6,600. See more on the Omega website.
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There’s a somewhat justifiable reason why it’s not just microbrands, but also brands like TAG Heuer, IWC, Oris (although this is changing) and Bremont rely on ETA and Sellita movements instead of building their own in-house movements. Not only is creating a brand new in-house calibre expensive (and often difficult), it requires significant strategic planing in order to keep supply and demand in a perfect balance. So, it’s understandable why in-house is a route that only the biggest and boldest go for. Unless, of course, you’re Yema. Interestingly, Yema is not a microbrand, but it’s also not a huge watchmaker.
They’ve been around since the late 1940s, reaching their peak in the 60s when they were the top exporter in France, selling more than 500,000 watches per year. The brand went under and was revived to much enthusiasm - steadily approaching 100,000 watches sold. In their revival infancy, they used accessible movements from ETA and Sellita, but then decided to bringing back movement manufacture back to France. They started with the YEMA2000, their French-made ETA and Sellita alternative, and then took on more challenges - a micro-rotor and a proprietary tourbillon. Their latest release is the Yema Superman Slim CMM.20, a new medium for their brand new micro-rotor, the CMM.20.
A bit more on the idea of in-house before I get to the new Superman. Creating your own movement can be a daunting task not just because of costs, but also for quality control. And this is where Yema stumbled at the start of their in-house movements. They were so vilified online for being unreliable and breaking all the time that you would expect that these watches spectacularly explode while wearing. The truth was that there were about two dozen people online saying their movements failed, which was further complicated by Yema’s poor customer support that didn’t handle this issue right. From everything we know about their newer movements, there are well built and have no issues. And yet, every time you mention Yema online, people will convince you not to buy one because of grenaded movements. And yet, Oris doesn’t get the same treatment for their much more problematic Calibre 400, which they also fixed. However, Yema’s customer service seems to still be a mess.
Now, on to the new Superman Slim. It’s a more refined version of their Superman 500 collection, released as a duo of watches. It comes in a stainless steel case that7S slimmer and more rounded that the 500. It measures 39mm wide and has a 48mm lug-to-lug. However, you would expect a watch named Slim to be thinner than 11.8mm thick, right? Well, it is. The case measures just 9.95mm, which seems pretty good for a 300 meter water resistant watch at this price range. The rest is made up of the 2mm thick domed crystal giving it a very retro look. On top is a unidirectional bezel with a sapphire insert matching the dial’s colour and a simplified 0-60 scale. The bezel also has a locking mechanism which only unlocks when you unscrew the crown. Very cool, but not really practical for on-the-fly adjustments.
There are two dial colors - black and blue, both lacquered and looking shiny. The markers are traditional Superman printed and luminous, while the classic polished steel Superman hands have been changed a bit. Instead of the signature “shovel” seconds hand you get a more traditional stick hand.
Inside is the already mentioned CMM.20. According to Yema, 80% of all components in the new movement are made at – or sourced nearby – Yema’s own workshops in Morteau, France. The big exception, the remaining 20%, is the regulating organ, which is Swiss. If true, and there’s no indication otherwise so far, this is a big deal as a whole lot of off-the-shelf movements have their Chinese origin so heavily hidden they barely qualify as Swiss-made. The movement is 3.7mm thick, beats at 28,800vph and has a very good 70-hour power reserve. Yema claims accuracy of -3 / +7 seconds per day, which is close to COSC, but not actually meeting the standard.
The watches come on a spectacularly handsome fish scale looking bracelet that closes with a double-security folding clasp with a wet-suit extension.
Pre-orders start on 20 February and deliveries are expected to start in May 2024. The price will cause quite a stir, as not many people expect a Yema to cost €2,490, but it easily punches up. See more on the Yema website.
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More than 35 years ago, Citizen introduced their Attesa line, focusing on high-tech materials. The first Attesa was made out of titanium, and it has remained so to this day, with Citizen filling it with it’s best tech - Eco-Drive light-powered battery, radio-controlled functionality and GPS module. The latest addition to the Attesa line is a continuation of the watchmaker’s partnership with Hakuto-R, a Japanese lunar exploration mission. These three Attesa Hakuto-R models pay homage to the program’s latest attempt at an unmanned mission which will have components made out of Citizen’s proprietary Super Titanium. Very cool.
The same titanium that will go to the moon is used to make the cases of the three new Attessas, which is pretty cool. The three watches are not just three colorways, but rather two different watches. They all come with the the Citizen 4950 Eco-Drive movement, meaning you get solar charging and Eco-Drive Atomic Timekeeping, which uses radio transmitters to automatically update the time. All three also have lunar-themed dials.
The CC4065-61Y is the most substantial of the three, with the most features. The case measures 44.6mm wide and 16mm thick, with a double domed sapphire crystal on top and a sapphire bezel that displays the different city names for the world timer. On the back is a solid caseback that has an image of the Hakuto-R lunar lander. You get GPS connectivity to track you in one of the 27 cities on the bezel. The dial is made out of mother-of-pearl and colored green.
Then there’s the BY1008-67L and BY1009-64Y, basically the same watch with two different colored dials - the BY1008-67L features a striking blue dial, with silver hands and indices against a black case and bracelet, while the BY1009-64Y features a yellow-green dial, and a rose gold colored case with black bezel, pushers, crown, and bracelet. The case is much smaller at 41.5mm, but you lose some of the functions, like the world timer. You do get a moon phase function at the 6 o’clock, which looks great. Both models also feature day and date functions and a 24 hour subdial.
The CC4065-61Y is limited to just 1,900 pieces and priced at $2,995, while the BY1008-67L and BY1009-64Y are produced in quantities of 2,400 and 2,100, respectively and priced at $1,475. See more on the Citizen website.
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There are two reasons why I’m a fan of the French watch brand March LAB. First off they make, among others, square watches that are really good looking. And second, they make a whole bunch of women’s watches, something that I believe is severely lacking in the microbrand world. Although, March LAB might be past the microbrand moniker as they have been around for almost 20 years and make dozens and dozens of models. Whatever you describe them as, March LAB, they also have a line of divers that are an homage to the founders’ youth as a surfer in France. In this diving Belza line they just introduced the Belza Bronze Automatic, a great looking thing.
As the name might suggest, this is a bronze version of a watch that already exists in steel. It’s a vintage-inspired, in line with the recognizable diving watches of the 60s that have legendary status now. It’s a substantial case, not hugely wide at 40mm, but thick at 14.5mm. The bronze of the case is brushed with a couple of polished details. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal, a unidirectional bezel with a ceramic insert and you get 200 meters of water resistance.
The dial is black which is fine, but would look so much better in their sensational green which they already used on the bronze version of the Belza watch. The dial has a matte finish with an embossed crosshair in the middle, gold-toned applied markers and hands and a gold-framed date window with a color matched date disc and funky green numerals.
Inside is the familiar La Joux-Perret calibre G100 an alternative to the basic time-only offerings from Sellita and ETA, making it easily servicable. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 68 hour power reserve. The watch comes with two straps - a textured silicone strap and a perforated leather strap, both black.
The March LAB Belza Bronze Edition is available right now and is not limited. Price is set at €2,195. See more on the March LAB website.
🫳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
While the inaugural Traska Venturer watch was originally launched in 2021 as a three-handed model that relied solely on its internal rotating bezel for displaying a secondary timezone, the Traska Venturer GMT represents the follow-up generation that was launched in 2022, and then updated the subsequent year in 2023 to feature an improved clasp with an integrated extension system. While the core design DNA of the Venturer has endured throughout the generations, having a proper GMT movement exponentially increases the model’s functionality, and the modern Traska Venturer GMT is a substantially different timepiece than the original watch that debuted in 2021. Traska currently offers the Venturer GMT in four different colorways (Carbon Black, Arctic White, Steel Blue, and Bottle Green), and the Arctic White model is the version reviewed here, which features a crisp white dial paired with a contrasting light gray internal bezel and small blue accents.
⏲️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
There’s a famous photo, particularly well known in the Balkans, of a fat kid posing with his family with no shirt on. He has a glum look on his face, but he is instantly recognizable. The pudgy guy grew up to be world-known. The kid in the photo is Nikola Jokić. He doesn’t run very fast or jump very high, and seems to prefer the company of horses. But he has mastered the game’s new geometry like nobody else. This is how Jokić became the world’s best basketball player.
Texas’ most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians. This is the billionaire bully who wants to turn Texas into a Christian theocracy.
In this essay at The Dial, Jessica Traynor writes about the proliferation of data centers across Irish cities and towns, which store much of Europe’s digital information while increasing Ireland’s energy footprint and straining its power grid. Today, people generally think the cloud is an effective and secure way to preserve knowledge, but here, Traynor argues that the digital preservation of a nation’s records and memories is not as stable as we think.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
When I first arrived in the U.S. in 2005 I was pretty shocked to hear that the one universal answer to my question “where do you get your news from?” was The Daily Show. I really couldn’t understand how my college professors, doctors from the NYU medical center and students all looked to a comedian to tell them what’s going on. Then I watch the Daily Show and understood that what the U.S. really needed was a comedian, as Jon Stewart was the only one who could make sense of whatever was going on. Because only a comedian could say the truth. And now he’s back. After years away from the show, Stewart will be hosting the Daily Show on Mondays. I was afraid that he might have lost his edge. I was wrong. He is as good as ever.
💵Pre-loved precision
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