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  • Seiko's New Astrons Are Inspired By Early Morning Light, Kurono Brings Back 34mm Model With Breguet Numerals, Elka And Ace Jewlers Have A Stunning New Watch, New Mühle-Glashütte And Cartier

Seiko's New Astrons Are Inspired By Early Morning Light, Kurono Brings Back 34mm Model With Breguet Numerals, Elka And Ace Jewlers Have A Stunning New Watch, New Mühle-Glashütte And Cartier

Elka and Ace Jewelers' new release is incredible value for money if you want a great looking dress watch

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It's About Time
February 20, 2024

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Fans of small watches are really going to like the new Kurono. But, a question: is 34mm too small for a general-purpose watch?

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In this issue:

  • Seiko Introduces Two New Astrons Inspired By Early Morning Light

  • Legendary Kurono Tokyo Is Back With Three New 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project Pieces With Breguet Numerals

  • Elka Teams Up With Ace Jewelers For A Stunningly Beautiful D-Series Essence

  • The Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia II GMT Is Very Close To Being The Perfect Traveler’s Watch

  • Watches of Switzerland Celebrates 100 Years Anniversary With Limited Edition Cartier Tank Louis Cartier

Today’s reading time: 6 minutes and 42 seconds

👂What’s new

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While black, white and silver are constants, color trends in watches come and go. There was a time when brown was all the rage. We had a few years of greens. Now, it seems that purple is on an uptick. And Seiko, the brilliant marketers they are, are on top of the trend with two new Seiko Astron Morning Star GPS Solar limited editions with a very nice purple/gold colorway.

Despite being from the same Astron family, these are different watches, different sizes and different details, so let’s cover what they have in common. The cases are made out of titanium, just like the bracelet, and treated with a black hardened coating. On top are sapphire crystals and water resistance is set at 100 meters. Both also have solar battery-charging, GPS signal reception that adjusts the time zone, accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month and power reserve is six months with no charge.

Like I said, there are two releases. First up is the SSJ021, part of the 3X series of Seiko Astron watches, almost inspired by a very famous watch from AP with it’s very sharp and angular case with multiple facets. It measures 41.2mm wide, 12mm thick and has a 48.6mm lug to lug. The purple dial has an almost aventurine finish, which is meant to mimic the morning sky just before the sun comes out. The hands and major markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 are rendered in gold, all filled with lume, and there’s one sub dial on the watch that displays the power reserve. Inside is the 5X53, with a perpetual calendar and GPS signal reception.

Next is the SSH145, a slightly more traidtional looking angular case from the Astron 5X line. It measures 42.7mm wide, 12.2mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 48mm. It has the same purple dial and gold details, but with a lot more in terms of subdials. It’s powered by the 5X53 caliber which has a thirty-nine time zone display (you can display two at a time - one on the main display and on at 6 o’clock), a perpetual calendar that will work correctly until the beginning of 2100, a regular chronograph complication, a power reserve indicator, and day and date displays.

Both the Astron Morning Star SSJ021 and the SSH145 are limited to 1,200 pieces with the SSJ021 priced at €2,300 and the SSH145 priced at €2,800. See more on the Seiko website.

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Legendary Kurono Tokyo Is Back With Three New 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project Pieces With Breguet Numerals

Kurono watches, designed by japanese master watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, have for years gathered a following of hard core enthousiasts. And it’s understandable why. Asaoka’s watches under his own name sell for tens of thousands of dollars, but under the Kurono brand he has brought his high end finishing and incredible dials to a much lower price point while maintaining a lot of precision and attention to detail. Now Kurono Tokyo is releasing a new 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project, an affordable entry into the world of high-end Japanese watchmaking.

This is not the first 34mm watch from Kurono. Last year they introduced a watch in the same round case, which measures 34mm wide, 9.6mm thick and with a lug-to-lug of 41mm, with swooping lugs and with a minimal bezel. I loved those watches, despite they being way too small for me (I know smaller watches are all the rage, but is 34 too small?), but a lot of people weren’t in love with the numerals used on them. This is fixed with the 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project which derives its name from calligraphy and as such it gets Breguet numerals. The Breguet numeral, first developed by Abraham-Louis Breguet, was developed specifically for use on watch faces so that it retains symmetry on a round surface. This version of the Breguet numeral was hand-drew by Asaoka.

The 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project will come with three different dials - Dark MOP, Stark Black and Silver White. Black and white are pretty much self explanatory, with a sector dial, and then there’s the pretty cool looking mother of pearl setup which keeps the sector dial with a MOP disc in the center and a white disc on the outside. All three have very elegant blue syringe hands.

Inside is the calibre Miyota 90S5, a Japanese automatic movement with a 40-hour power reserve which has an accuracy of -10/+30 seconds. It’s not a particularly prestigious movement, but for the price, it will do. The watches come on black leather straps.

The Kurono Tokyo 34mm ‘Calligra’ Special Project goes on sale on February 23rd at 2pm GMT, so good luck getting one because you know it will sell out very fast. All three are priced at $1,170. See more on the Kurono website.

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A couple of months ago Elka, the until-recently-dormant brant that was revived by watch industry veteran Hakim El Kadiri with a very successful crowdfunding campaign, released one of the best watches of the year. Or rather, a group of watches. In collaboration with the Dutch retailer Ace Jewelers they put out a collection of four watches, the Diversity Series, all in the same case and with the same dial, but with numerals rendered in Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew numerals. It was very cool, especially if you got them as a set. Now the two are teaming up again for an even better looking D-Series Essence.

The new Elka × Ace Jewelers D-Series Essence comes in stainless steel case that’s 40.8mm wide and 10.8mm thick, with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug. It’s a simple affair with no bezel and a Chevé box sapphire crystal. This shape was fairly popular in the 60s and 70s, when crystals were made out of plexiglass and were formed in a mould. To make them out of sapphire requires a lot of work. The 60s are further present in the shape of the case with short faceted lugs. Water resistance is also very 60s like - 30 meters.

Underneath the very eye-catching crystal is an equally attractive dial. It has a very deep blue color with a fantastic sunray brishing and gradient from a light blue to a dark blue, almost resembling something that could be done by H. Moser & Cie. There are no markings on the dial, making it look even more dramatic and, frankly, expensive.

Inside is the 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 on a cognac colored suede strap.

Now, for some bad news. The Elka × Ace Jewelers D-Series Essence is limited to just 25 pieces, made even worse when you hear the price - CHF 1,625. A watch that looks this good has no place being so affordable. I’m completely in love and congratulations to the 25 lucky owners that will get one! See more on the Elka website.

4/

Among the very compelling offerings from the German brand Mühle-Glashütte, the Teutonia stands out as perhaps the most attractive. Sure, their sports watches are amazing, but the Teutonia takes on the best of German watchmaking and distills it into a single watch collection. Now, they’re releasing a the new Teutonia II GMT in a really nice green.

The watch comes in a puck-like stainless case that measures 41mm wide and 13mm thick. It has the same very recognizable sloping lugs as the rest of the Teutonia collection. The screw down crown gets you 100 meters of water resistance, and on top is a flat sapphire crystal.

The 24-hour GMT has a very nice setup in the Teutonia II, as it’s displayed as a raised ring with a matter finish, which is contrasted by the sunray brushed deep green dial. There’s a secondary 24-hour hand in light green that displays the second time zone and despite it sound like a legibility horror story, it actually works really good.

Inside is the Sellita SW 330-2 automatic movement which has Mühle’s woodpecker neck regulation. This is a device that Mühle introduces to improve the shock resistance of the calibre. This, along with regulating the movement in six positions ensures that you get accuracy of 0/+8 seconds per day. Power reserve is 56 huors. The watch comes on a green regular leather strap, a crocodile leather strap or a five-link steel bracelet.

Pricing for the Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia II GMT varies depending on the strap you get. €2.650 for the plain leather strap, €2.750 for the alligator strap and €2.900 for the stainless steel bracelet. See more on the Mühle-Glashütte website.

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There was a hell of a lot of talk about Watches of Switzerland a month or two ago. In particular, about their tanking stock, with many seeing this as the end of the luxury watch pricing bubble and a great danger to the Watches of Switzerland chain of stores. I doubt they are in danger, as it’s pretty hard to wipe out a 100-year-old store in a couple of months, regardless of what the stocks say. Celebrating this 100th year of business, Watches of Switzerland has teamed up with Cartier to release the Tank Louis Cartier Watches of Switzerland 100 Years Anniversary Limited Edition.

This is the Tank Louis Cartier you know and love, made out of 18k yellow gold and measuring 25.5mm wide and with a 33.7mm lug-to-lug. The caseback is inscribed to honor the Watches of Switzerland centenary, along with the limited edition number of the watch you have, out of 100 that will be made.

The dial is rendered with a sunray brushed finish, with a champagne color to it. It’s a hybrid between Cartier’s traditional Art Deco display and their numberless variants, so you get Roman numerals in the 12 and 6 o’clock positions. The hands are blued steel, matching the cabochon in the crown.

Inside is the Cartier Manufacture calibre 1917MC, a manual movement with a 38-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a blue alligator strap.

The Cartier Tank Louis Cartier Watches of Switzerland 100 Years Anniversary Limited Edition will be available in Watches of Switzerland boutiques starting in July, but online pre-orders are open now. Price is set at £12,700. See more on the Watches of Switzerland 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

The 40mm case of the Focuscope is a modest 11.2mm thick. That, and the almost non-existent lugs make it a sleek proposition. Add to that the completely sandblasted finish in either silver or gunmetal grey and the 316L steel case has a look you don’t see every day. The side profile incorporates machined rings that wrap around the entirety of the case, mimicking the layers of the dial and once again emphasising its telescopic inspiration. It’s as if they have squashed a modern telescope from base to tip, creating grooves where it’s folded in on itself. Very cool.

⏲️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

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Despite the somewhat corny start, this was a surprisingly well done one-hour crash course on how Fascism came to be. A must see for everyone who isn’t a historian or very familiar with the topic.

💵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 

  • LOOKING TO BUY: Here’s a crazy request. One of you is looking to buy the Ōtsuka Lotēc No. 7.5. Sure, it’s a big ask, but if any of you have one and want to sell, reach out to and I’ll put you in touch

  • 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

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-Vuk