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Rolex Pays Homage To Vienna Philharmonic With Rare Special Edition, Seiko Releases Pair Of Colorful Seiko 5 Sports GMTs, IWC Celebrates Year Of The Dragon And New G-Shocks And Otsuka Lotec

A newsletter with a new Rolex, Seiko and IWC, and yet, the best watch is from a tiny Japanese manufacture

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It's About Time
January 09, 2024

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Today’s a great day for watches - a limited Rolex, some great looking Seikos, a new IWC, fun GA-2100s and, to top it all off, a brilliant Ōtsuka Lotēc. Hope you enjoy it.

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In this issue:

  • Rolex Starts 2024 With Rare Special Edition Paying Homage To Vienna Philharmonic

  • Seiko Releases Pair Of Colorful Seiko 5 Sports GMT, Unfortunately Only For The Asian Market

  • IWC Celebrates The Year Of The Dragon With A Beautiful Shade Of Red On Their Portugieser Chronograph

  • G-Shock Releases Three Monochromatic Versions Of The Legendary GA-2100

  • Cult Japanese Watchmaker Ōtsuka Lotēc Releases No.6 Watch In A New Size

Today’s reading time: 7 minutes and 20 seconds

👂What’s new

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New releases from Rolex are exceedingly rare. They usually do one large release per year, often at one of the large watch shows (last year it was at Watches and Wonders) and maybe a release or two on its own. Nothing compared to any other brand that spreads their releases through the year. Even rarer are Rolex special editions. And yet, in first days of 2024, Rolex introduced not just a new version of the Day-Date 36, this one to honor their 15 year long partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras. Rolex has been the orchestra’s exclusive partner since 2008 and has sponsored its popular New Year’s concert since 2009.

To mark this anniversary, they’re putting out an incredibly limited edition of 18ct yellow gold Day-Date 36 models that have a finely crafted dial representing a violin and its volute, a decoration made using the champlevé method of grand feu enamelling. According to Rolex, the violin design is etched into the yellow gold base and then coloured by hand in different shades of green. It’s great to see Rolex on top of their métiers d’art, especially since the last such edition was the very controversial Jigsaw model.

This watch first appeared at the Philharmonic’s New Year’s concert this year on the wrists of several performers and guests, including acclaimed piano soloist Yuja Wang and famed Roman opera singer Cecilia Bartoli. While the watch will be “made in limited quantities”, Rolex, of course, does not say how many. However, rest assured that when Rolex says the watch will be produced “for select clients”, you would have already known if you were getting one. No price is given, but considering the fact that the regular yellow gold Day-Date 36 is priced at €37,000, this one can only be higher.

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In the last post I wrote in 2023, I did a short overview of the trends that marked 2023 and a prediction for 2024. In it, I noted that 2023 had an increase in GMT watch releases as well as a proliferation of models limited in both numbers and geographic availability. And I predicted both trends would continue deep into 2024. Thank you Seiko for confirming this prediction by releasing two really pretty GMT versions of the Seiko 5 Sports which will be available only in the Asian market.

Seiko introduced the 5 Sports GMT in 2022 and with it’s great design, SKX-style case and low price it quickly became one of the best budget-friendly GMT watches on the market. The basics of the two new Seiko 5 Sport GMT Asian limited editions are just like the regular Seiko 5 Sports GMT. This means you get a stainless steel case that measures 42.5mm wide and 13.6mm thick, with a decent 46mm lug-to-lug. The crown is at the familiar 4 o’clock position, and you get 100 meters of water resistance.

There are two designs for the limited edition. First is the Ice Blue SSK029 with a light blue dial, blue hour, minute, and second hands, and a contrasting red GMT hand, while the rotating 24-hour bezel is split in half with black and blue. The other is the fantastic looking Passion Red SSK031, with a deep red dial, silver hour, minute, and second hands and a perfectly shaded gold GMT hand. The bezel is black and red.

Inside is the Seiko 4R34 automatic movement which is robust and easily servicable. It beats at 21,600vph, has a 41 hour power reserve and in perfect Seiko fashion has wild accuracy discrepancies of +45/-35 seconds per day. The GMT movement is caller-style, meaning that you independently set the 24-hour hand.

The two watches will be available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Brunei and each will be available in only 1,000 pieces. The watches went on sale yesterday and I couldn’t dig up the exact price. Expect it to be in the €500 range. The watches are still not up on any on the Seiko websites, but you can see it on their Instagram.

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December saw a slew of releases from large and niche watch brands marking the Lunar New Year which will start the Year of the Dragon. With over a month left until the Year of the Dragon starts, there’s still time for a few great releases. And IWC has, just like previous years, unveiled one of the best homages to the new year with their Portugieser Chronograph in a beautiful shade of red and an even better looking dragon on the backside.

The Portugieser Chronograph comes in the familiar stainless steel case that measures 41mm wide and 13mm thick. It has a water resistance of 30 meters and a simple round construction. The dial comes with a rich burgundy dial, which is appropriate as red is considered the colour of luck in Han Chinese culture.

Flip the watch over and you’ll find a see-through sapphire glass back through which you can see the in-house calibre 69355. It beats at 28.800vph and has a power reserve of 46 hours. Nothing special about it. What is special is the gold-plated automatic rotor shaped like a coiled Chinese dragon. The watch comes with two straps, a black calfskin strap and a burgundy rubber strap, both with butterfly clasps.

The IWC Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon is limited to 1,000 pieces and is available now. Price is set at $9,350. See more on the IWC website.

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I am slowly becoming convinced that the analog-digital watch is absolute perfection. Sure, digital watches are much simpler and an analog watch with a mechanical movement carries with it the romanticisms of a complex movement, but I just can’t shake the sheer coolness of an ana-digi watch. The Omega X-33, Breitling Aerospace or even the G-Shock GA-2100 are just perfection to me. And G-Shock is now releasing a trio of new GA-2100 watches in the Tone-On-Tone series.

The Tone-On-Tone series consists of watches that come in monochromatic shades and the new releases will have three colors - white, baby blue or neon yellow. The colors are everywhere - on the case and on the dial. The watch comes on the familiar bio-based resin case. Casio claims that the choice of bio-based resin doesn’t compromise on readability, with the Tone-On-Tone series able to shine in the darkest of settings thanks to its Super Illuminator technology.

As for the rest, you know what the GA-2100 is capable of. It has a shock-resistant structure, 20 bar water resistance, hand shift feature, world time featuring 48 cities, stopwatch function, countdown timer, five daily alarms and a double LED light.

The new G-Shock GA-2100 Tone-On-Tone series will be released in Februrary at a price of $126. See more on the G-Shock website.

5/

To see a watch so different from everything else that it makes you do a double take is incredibly rare. And yet, every single watch made by the Japanese watchmaker Jiro Katayama under the brand Ōtsuka Lotēc is just jaw dropping. It’s as if someone vaguely described to Katayama what a watch is and then he locked himself up in a garage with welding tools, magazines on cars, mid-century design, engineering books and Sci-Fi comic books and tried to recreate what he thinks a watch is. Now Ōtsuka Lotēc is re-releasing one of their most iconic watches, the No. 6 in a slightly new case.

The brand’s name, Ōtsuka Lotēc, reflects Katayama’s affinity for low-tech, mechanical objects, and the No. 6 is no different with a clear industrial vibe. The re-release comes in a limited series and keeps many of the same features of the old watch - the analog meter, fan-shaped, retrograde display, the original 40mm size and central seconds disk and a date display.

But there are also many improvements - the case is sleeker at 11.8mm and is now constructed out of SUS316L instead of SUS303. You get sapphire crystal glass instead of mineral and the dial is now screwed directly onto the Miyota 9015 movement.

While the Ōtsuka Lotēc is a fantastic looking watch, there’s one major drawback - it’s only available in Japan, despite Katayama hinting for some time that they will start offering watches globally. However, this thing looks so amazing it’s worth the hassle of trying to source one from Japan. Especially since it looks way more expensive than it actually is - the watch will be avialble for order in mid-January at a price of $2,725. See more on the Ōtsuka Lotēc 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

Let’s face it: there are so many watch brands nowadays that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the options and to not know where to look. And if you’re looking for rugged and attainable tool watches, then look no further than Momentum and its vast catalog of well-priced models. It’s not just another microbrand with little to no history (not that that’s a bad thing) – the SQ30 may actually look familiar. In fact, it’s a reimagining of one of the first quartz diver’s watches, back when the brand was known as Chronosport, also featuring on the wrist of the mustachioed private detective Thomas Magnum (no, not the 2018 rerun). Here we’re going to take a closer look at the newly released SQ30 Eclipse Solar Black-Ion and the titanium field watch gem that is the Wayfinder GMT.

⏲️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

  • On a quiet country road outside Toronto, a charismatic martial arts teacher built a megamansion for his entourage of disciples. For 15 years, he preached peace and love. Then, one morning, the police stormed in and secrets came spilling out. This is the crazy story of the Guru of Mount Nemo.

  • A Turkish company announced what sounded, to some, like a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: a trip aboard a ship dubbed Life at Sea that would embark on the longest cruise ever—392 port calls over nearly three years. Kara and Joe Youssef signed up, sold their two apartments, withdrew their life savings and shed most of their belongings. Beset by chaos—unsold cabins, a lack of financing—the Life At Sea remained in an Istanbul port, where the Youssefs found themselves stuck amid a huge con.

  • Do you know who Tom Junod is? If yes, good. If not, you really should. He’s a magazine writer famous for his memorable stories like The Falling Man, The Rapist Says He's Sorry and the Esquire profile of Fred Rogers and their meeting is the premise of the A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood movie. He also won the James Beard award for his incredible essay "My Mom Couldn't Cook". So, when he writes, I read. In his latest piece, he asks: Was Frank Gore the Last NFL Running Back?

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

The range of Porsche modifications out there is really wide. From the aggressively wide Japanese RWB to the much more classic but subversive Outlaw 911s, with Singer firmly on top of the pyramid. Then there’s the twin brothers from Oilstainlab. Their vision for the perfect 911 is the legendary car chopped in half, powered by an American V8 and more dangerous than a 1970s racing car. It’s absolute perfection!

💵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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