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- Omega Introduces Funky New Colors To The Aqua Terra, Rolex Leaks It's Own Secrets, Furlan Marri Might Be The Deal Of The Year And The MeisterSinger Astroscope Is Strange
Omega Introduces Funky New Colors To The Aqua Terra, Rolex Leaks It's Own Secrets, Furlan Marri Might Be The Deal Of The Year And The MeisterSinger Astroscope Is Strange
This is the last email before Watches and Wonders starts. I hope you're ready
It's About Time
March 24, 2023
Hey friends, welcome to It’s About Time, where you speak and I listen. You wanted photos in the daily email, I give you photos! This is a news-packed issue and the last one before the Watches and Wonders craziness starts on Monday. So lets do it!
In this issue:
New Aqua Terra colors
Rolex leaks its own secrets
Raketa has a nice watch
The new Furlan Marri might be the deal of the year
And… invite your friends to win a Tiffany PRX
Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 22 seconds
We’re starting off with a bang! We’re giving away TWO of this year’s hottest watches, The Tiffany Tissot PRX Powermatic 80
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
👂What’s new
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Omega, just like all the other Swatch Group brands, famously does not participate in the Watches & Wonders, the largest annual watch show, which starts in a couple of days. Which does not mean they will not try to bank on all the watch news going around and introduce a couple of models.
Yesterday they unveiled a new collection to the Aqua Terra line - the Aqua Terra Shades collection, available in two sizes: 34 mm, and 38 mm. The 38 measures 12.3mm in thickness, while the 34 is 11.9mm, and both come in five varying dial colors.
The dials are made of brass and then sun-brushed outwards from the center and use a number of technologies to apply crazy vibrant colors to them - the 38 mm is available in Atlantic Blue, Bay Green, Sandstone, Saffron, and Terracotta and the 34 mm model comes in either Sea Blue, Lagoon Green, Sandstone, Shell Pink, or Lavender.
If you want more color, you can swap out the stainless case for two new gold models - one in Omega’s signature reddish Sedna gold, framed by 46 diamonds along the bezel, the other in the brand’s own yellow gold alloy, Moonshine gold.
Retail on all of the 34 mm and 38 mm stainless steel models, five of each, is $6,300. The gold Aqua Terra at 38 mm with a bracelet goes for $37,800 and the 34 mm version with a leather strap goes for $16,000.
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Russian brands are not all the rage at the moment. But we don’t deal with politics here, we report on the news. Watch news. And the legendary watch manufacturer Raketa has just launched a new watch to pay homage to the launch of Sputnik-1, the first satellite in orbit, in 1957 and they named it Sputnik-1.
The newly announced Raketa Sputnik-1 has a 40.5mm diameter stainless steel case with a round shape, conjuring images of an orbit around the Earth. The display is given in a 24-hour format split into day and night portions with inverted white and grey colours. The connections with the satellite go beyond the design - the 24-hour dial design dates back to 1974 when it was shown to and approved by the Soviet construction bureau that created the original satellite and the dial is made of the exact alloy of aluminium-magnesium that the heat shield of Sputnik was made from. Powering the Sputnik-1 is the Raketa Calibre 2624, produced in the Raketa Watch Factory in Saint-Petersburg.
The Raketa Sputnik-1 is limited to 500 pieces and is available with either a stainless steel bracelet for €1,800 or a canvas strap for €1,700. You can also get it in a specially made case with both straps and a model of the Sputnik satellite for €2,300.
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MeisterSinger doesn’t like doing things that other brands do. First, the German brand uses a single-hand display to indicate the time. And for its day-date watch, the Astrosocope, MeisterSinger decided to go for a display that pays tribute to astronomy, something that hardly anyone does.
The 40mm stainless steel case has a domed sapphire crystal, a decent water-resistance of 50m and an outsourced, slightly modified Sellita SW220-1 movement. Nothing extraordinary, but this isn’t why the Astroscope matters.
The real deal of this watch is the use of astronomical features to elevate one of the simplest complications, the day-date, to another level. The day-date indication relies on the traditional 7-day division but not in any particular astronomical rhythm. Tuesday doesn’t follow Monday on the dial… Weird? Yes, but also interesting. The current day of the week is indicated by a yellow dot wandering back and forth above the horizon, which gives the impression of a night sky. It is mechanically simple but visually elevates the whole concept.
This year, the new MeisterSinger Astroscope special series limited to 200 pieces with a black sunburst finish and sunny yellow is released. The new model comes with a supple leather strap in matching yellow and the watch is available now at EUR 2,190.
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Furlan Marri did not exist in 2019. In less than four years, founders Andrea Furlan and Hamad Al Marri have created a microbrand with a cult following. The entire brand was conceptualised, designed, tested and produced in the space of one year during lockdown.
They came out strong with a Kickstarter campaign in 2021 for a mecaquartz powered watch inspired by Patek Philippe steel chronograph reference 1463 that came in at only $330. Orders were literally ten times what the brand had expected and Furlan Marri quickly became a social media sensation. Then one year later came a mechanical, limited edition, three-hander with cool black sector dial, cow-horn lugs and movement by La Joux-Perret.
Now Furlan Marri makes that limited edition a permanent part of the collection with a very nice mechanical watch with three dial colors: Salmon Sector, Grey Sector and White Sector. Model 2154-A, named “Salmon Sector”, features a dial with a finely stamped texture enhanced by raised applied hour-markers with a “black gunmetal” PVD coating. Model 2161-A, known as “White Sector”, also has a dial with raised applied hour markers, paired with hands in blued steel. The dial of model 2145-A, entitled “Grey Sector”, offers a double-printed dial.
The watches are driven by Swiss-made automatic movements that are crafted by La Joux-Perret in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The watch comes with two soft straps in the travel case. One comes with curved ends while the other has straight ends, and they even correspond to two different sets of lug holes. Each watch has a vintage-eloquent diameter of 37.5mm, a 46mm lug stretch, a 10.5mm thickness.
Go read the article because there are so many details about this watch I can’t fit them all here. Best thing? The price is just CHF 1,250. This will be a new hit for Furlan Marri.
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Glashütte Original’s offering mainly comes in two forms – rugged, but finely finished pieces like the SeaQ, and contemporary works of art in the likes of their Senator and Pano collections.
The Glashütte Original PanoInverse Limited Edition follows the biennial release of this special edition, and falls among the latter. Its predecessors used the inverse movement three-quarter plate to display intricate engravings and delicate guilloché. The 2023 edition takes a more contemporary approach, evoking an urban spirit via an engraved canvas of skyscrapers. The case makes this a very heavy hitter, as it’s 44mm across and made out of highly polished platinum.
Only 50 pieces will be available from the end of March 2023 from GO boutiques and selected dealers. Price is “upon request”, but the previous PanoInverse in Platinum with Guilloché dial retailed for EUR 45,000.
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Founded by watchmakers Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat, Petermann Bédat made its debut with the 1967 powered by an elaborately finished movement featuring a deadbeat seconds.
Now, the duo has just unveiled their next creation which is a step-up in complexity – the 2941 Monopusher Split-Seconds Chronograph. Presented in a 38 mm platinum case and limited to ten pieces, the 2941 follows the design language of the 1967 with a transparent dial and an emphasis on movement finishing.
It’s uncommon to see a new chronograph movement designed from the ground up, even more so a rattrapante with an instantaneously jumping minute counter. But that’s exactly what was done here. Make no mistake, this is a haute horologie, painstaikingly created by hand. The price reflect that. CHF243,000 before taxes. It’s beyond most of our reaches, so go read the article linked above, as well as this one, this one and this one, to understand the crazy amounts of labor that go into this watch.
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Rolex is notoriously secretive about their releases. Then they go ahead and post an Instagram reel ahead of Watches and Wonders, which starts on Monday, and it is FILLED with clues as to which models the brand might be introducing next week.
The folks over at Time+Tide went over the video with a fine tooth comb and there’s some interesting hints in there: a Yacht-Master in RLX Titanium seems certain, there might be a RLX Titanium Rolex Explorer, another icy blue anniversary Daytona and some other tidbits.
🫳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
“Intended to be Ferdinand Berthoud’s entry-level model, the Chronomètre FB 3SPC lacks the fusee and chain transmission and tourbillon found on its older siblings. However, before you get too carried away, the term ‘entry-level’ is relative, with the Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 3SPC priced at circa CHF 140,000 at the time it was launched in October 2022. Nevertheless, as I hope to elucidate, the price actually represents value for money”
⏲️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
While this newsletter is about watches, it is also inherently about the time we measure with the tools we like. Buzzfeed, of all places, has a very interesting article on how the 2010s changed our sense of and relationship with time
Speaking of time perception, read this article on how an author managed to stop time and his hectic life by sitting for 24 hours in the woods
Time is not just seconds, minutes and hours. It’s also seasons. And with changing seasons comes seasonal depression.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
Are you too lazy to read all the potential Rolex leaks? No worries, just go and watch this video form Watchfinder & Co.
💵Pre-loved precision
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