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- TAG Heuer Introduces Incredible Green Glassbox Dato And Tourbillon, Citizen Releases First Mechanical GMT Promaster, Breitling Releases Dragon Watch, New From Code 41 And Bulgari Bulgari Is Back
TAG Heuer Introduces Incredible Green Glassbox Dato And Tourbillon, Citizen Releases First Mechanical GMT Promaster, Breitling Releases Dragon Watch, New From Code 41 And Bulgari Bulgari Is Back
LVMH watch week is starting so get ready for a steady stream of new releases, all week
It's About Time
January 29, 2024
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I find it always to be honest and upfront - I completely forgot that LVMH week starts today and that we will be inundated by a whole slew of watches. Here are some new releases, along with stuff I wanted to cover before the weekend, but do expect many, many more watches in the coming days. It’s crazy out there.
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In this issue:
TAG Heuer Introduces Incredible Green Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Dato and Tourbillon In Teal Green
Citizen Celebrates 35 Years Of The Promaster With First Ever Mechanical GMT In The Legendary Line
Breitling Releases Burgundy Chronomat B01 Limited Edition To Celebrate Lunar New Year
Code41 Continues Bringing Affordable High-End Level Watches With The Moon Inception
Bulgari Brings Back The Iconic Bulgari Bulgari Watch In Two Sizes And Two Shades Of Gold
Today’s reading time: 8 minutes and 15 seconds
Number of dragon-themed watches this Year (so far, and including today): 18
👂What’s new
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Tag Heuer Introduces Incredible Green Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Dato and Tourbillon In Teal Green
For years, TAG Heuer had a bit of an image issue. They were drifting off towards becoming a super high-end mall brand. There was nothing particularly wrong with them, they were all just a bit boring, with many watch enthusiasts seeing them as a one-model brand, as they did their most interesting stuff with the TAG Heuer Monaco limited editions. And yet, last year, all of this changed when they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Carrera and in one year brought a completely new life to the brand, again with only one brand - the Carrera Chronograph Glassbox, perhaps the prettiest watch released last year. Now, as LVMH weeks kicks off, they’re releasing a beautiful green teal version of the Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Dato and the Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Tourbillon.
Starting with the very cool Dato, you get the 39mm wide, 13.8mm thick, stainless steel case with the incredible domed sapphire crystal that covers the internal bezel with the 60-second/minute scale from which the Glassbox get’s it’s name from. You also get the very sharp beveled angular lugs and stout pump pushers for the chronograph.
But it’s all about the dial - it has a gorgeous green teal color that I know will be divisive, with very deep circular brushing. And it being the Dato means that it’s based on a model from 1968 which featured the date at 9 o’clock and an asymmetric display with a 30-minute timer subdial at 3 o’clock. Fans called this type of dial the cyclops. It has an undeniably cool setup. Inside is the Calibre TH20-07, an alternative name for the Heuer 02, which has an impressive 80 hours of power reserve. That's a column-wheel, vertical clutch chronograph that's been a mainstay of the brand, modified for the dial and date layout of the new Dato watch. The watch comes on an alligator leather strap with stainless steel deployant
Then there’s the more extreme version of the watch, the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Glassbox which retains the same case shape and incredible crystal, but slightly larger at 42mm and it switches up the dial a bit. You still get the same color and brushing, but with a tricompax setup in which the 6 o’clock dial has been replaced with an opening for the tourbillon cage. The watch is powered by the Heuer 02 once again, but this is the TH 20-09 which has the tourbillon and a 65 hours of power reserve.
The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Dato is available now through authorized dealers, while the new teal green TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon will arrive at authorized dealers in May 2024. MSRP for these two watches stand at $6,550 and $24,050, respectively. See more on the TAG Heuer website.
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Back in 1989, Citizen introduced the Promaster line to their lineup. I was two at the time, so I couldn’t tell you what the reaction to this watch was, but I can only imagine people were pretty impressed with what they saw. Despite it being so long ago, the first Promasters, especially the Promaster Sky, was a beast of a watch, with at least five different scales on the internal bezel and an analog-digital super-complicated display. It was just cool. 35 years later, Citizen is celebrating this anniversary with, completely surprisingly, not just a duo of very subdued looking GMTs (as subdued a Promaster can be) but also their first mechanical GMT.
The Promaster is made up of three families—Marine, Land, or Sky - and this new one is all about the sky. There are two models, the impossible-to-remember NB6046-59E and NB6045-51H and they both come in the same sized chunky case that measures 44.5mm wide and 12.7mm thick, both made out of stainless steel, with a stainless steel strap, but with one with an untreated silver case and the other in a gray DLC-coated finish. There’s an anti-reflective sapphire crystal on top and the watch is water resistant to 200 meters. An engraved flight helmet on the caseback is a further nod to the watch’s inspirations, touching on the flight-ready status.
The two models differ in dial color, with the steel version coming with a black sunray brushed dial and the DLC treated version coming with an anthracite dial with the same brushing. Other than that, they are virtually identical. The center of the dial is rather unclutered with bold hands, prominent applied indices, arrow tipped GMT hand (all with copious amounts of lume) and a 3 o’clock date window ensure legibility. On the outskirts of the dial, things get a bit more crowded, with a 24-hour GMT bezel and an internal slide-rule scale operated via an 8 o’clock crown.
Inside is the familiar Citizen Cal.9054 automatic movement which shows up in the Pormaster for the first time. It beats at 28,800 vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. Citizen claims accuracy of -10 to +20 seconds per day.
The watch is available for purchase now at a price of $1,125 for the silver version and $1,175 for the DLC coated version. See more on the Citizen website.
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Here we go, we have two more weeks until the Lunar New Year. Just 10 more working days, and our counter of dragon-themed watches released this year to mark the start of the Year of the Dragon is up to 17, not counting the couple that were released last year. Well, it’s 18, if you count the newest release from Brietling, the Breitling B01 42 Year of the Dragon.
Based on the Chronomat B01 42, the Year of the Dragon comes in the familiar beefy case that measures 42mm wide, 15.1mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 50.1mm. It’s a stainless steel case with a platinum bezel plate, with the bezel having very characteristic raised rider tabs to protect the crystal. It also has one of best features of all time (although, not the only Breitling to have that), with the 15-minute and 45-minute positions of the tabs being interchangeable, making it possible to use the rotating bezel for either counting up or counting down.
The dial has the same setup as a regular Chronomat B01, meaning it’s a tricompax setup with black subdials with the 6' o’clock subdial housing the aperture of the date in a very clandestine way. What’s new is the color of a dial, which is a really beautiful burgundy, which is appropriate since red is a lucky color in Chinese culture. There’s also a depiction of a red dragon motif on the seconds subdial and the caseback.
Inside is the Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01, a self-winding movement that boasts a 70-hour power reserve and a column-wheel chronograph mechanism. The watch comes on a black rubber strap.
The Breitling B01 42 Year of the Dragon is limited to just 88 pieces (again, 8 is a lucky number in several Asian cultures) and it will be exclusively available at Breitling boutiques in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South East Asia. Price is set at SGD 15,888 (aprox. €11,000) or HKD 75 900 (aprox. €9,000), depending where you’re buying it and what the taxes are. See more on the Breitling website.
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There is a whole sub-genre of watch brands that focuses on creating high horology and watches with post-modern ways of displaying time, stuff that you would usually see from Urwerk and MB&F, but making it for incredibly low prices that are accessible to most watch enthusiasts. Brands like BA111OD, Xeric, Ciga, even Christopher Ward make stuff you wouldn’t believe could cost not just under 10k, but also in the €1-2,000 range. One of these brands is Code41, which has made a name for themselves by making weird time telling affordable. Now, they’re releasing the Moon Inception, which is their take on the moonphase.
The Moon Inception comes in a cushion shaped case that measures 41.5mm wide and 11.2mm thick. The lugs are spaced out to the very edges of the case, very short and a whopping 24mm apart. On top is a very interestinc convex anti-reflective sapphire crystal and it has a large brushed bezel
The dial of the watch is equally as interesting as the case. It comes in three colors - black, blue and tan. The base has a grained texture finish that mimics the surface of the moon on which they situated two large subdials. The larger sits at 8 o’clock and houses the moonphase, which is a realistic moon within its own aperture surrounded by a starry, constellation scene. This large frame integrates with a much smaller one at 1:30 to form an 8, symbolizing infinity. The date sits within the smaller frame at an angle that aligns with the angle of the 8. On the perimeter of the dial is the minute/seconds track. The time keeping hands are centrally located with a very interesting seconds hand which has a retro-futuristic vintage rocket at the tip.
Inside is the C41-MP, which is based on the elabore grade of the Sellita SW288. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 41 hour power reserve. The brand cites an accuracy of +/-7 seconds per day, but you can also get a COSC-certified upgrade that brings it to -4/+6 seconds per day. The watch can be had on a number of colors of a perforated leather or a very interesting looking steel bracelet.
The watch is now available for preorder and preorders will close on Februrary 23. Price starts at €3,275 and the COSC certification will cost you an additional €316. Deliveries are expected in September of this year. See more on the Code41 website.
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Growing up in the 90s, especially on the Adriatic coast, I got used to seeing a whole range of tacky watches. From incredibly cringey Armany pieces to stuff like perfectly round Bulgari pieces rendered in yellow gold and almost always buried in a fur of Italian grey hair, surrounded by three or four gold chains that are just too big to be described. I used to look at these with baited laughter but then I grew up and now it’s 2024, when the irony and ostentatiousness of the late 80s and early 90s is making a comeback. So, welcome the four new Bulgari Bulgari models, in two sizes and either yellow or rose gold.
Technically, the Bulgari Bulgari came out in the 70s, but it’s most certainly came to prominence in the 80s and 90s where it would be the watch you would imagine Flavio Briatore wears on his yacht in nothing else than a tiny speedo. The new version comes in two 26mm time-only quartz models and two 38mm date mechanical watches. Both quartz and automatic versions of the Bulgari Bulgari are available in either yellow gold with a matte black dial or rose gold with a silver opaline dial.
The two smaller Bulgari Bulgari models measure 26mm wide and just 6.4mm thick. On top is a sapphire crystal and it has 30 meters of water resistance. The dials are as plain as imaginable, on all four versions, as the name of the watch is pretty prominently engraved in the bezel. The dial has hour markers that includes two large Arabic numerals at the 12 and 6 o’clock locations.
The larger two Bulgari Bulgari watches measure 38mm wide and 8.75mm thick and they have a display-style caseback. Water resistance is not much batter at 50 meters, but you have the same dial devoid of any writing. There’s a date window at the 3 o’clock location and inside is the Caliber BVL 191 “Solotempo” automatic movement, which runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 42 hours.
The four Bulgari versions are available for purchase now and don’t seem to be limited in any way and the two smaller versions are priced at $8,150, while the larger versions are $13,000. Expensive, especially when compared to the rest of the Bulgari line, but consider the fact that they are made of solid 18k gold. See more on the Bulgari 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 move on to what makes this new Seascoper 600 Retro stand out. The new model’s dial and ceramic bezel insert both come in a nice shade of navy blue. They are combined with copper-gold hands and applied indices filled with Old Radium Super-LumiNova. Additionally, the numerals on the bezel have the same cream color to match the text on the dial. The combination of navy blue, copper-gold, and cream works miracles. Titoni hit the nail on the head with this charming color combination. It transforms this modern diver into a watch with a soul. And because of its overall modern styling, the watch does not feel like a retro trick. The looks and the colorway just work very well together.
⏲️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
Alastair Humphreys is a British adventurer and author. He has bicycled around the world, walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons in the Sahara and trekked 1,000 miles through the Empty Quarter. He was named one of National Geographic’s adventurers of the year in 2012. He is the author of 16 books, and yet, his most interesting might be “Local: A Search For Nearby Nature And Wildness,” in which he describes how many big adventures he managed to have exploring every nook and cranny in the 20 square kilometres around his house. It’s an incredible alternative look at what adventure actually is and how accessible it is.
Hoods themselves have no overarching meaning as a signifier. As Nicholas Russell points out in this probing essay for The Point, they can evoke everyone from Emperor Palpatine to tech bros. But the hooded sweatshirt is another matter entirely; it has become an American symbol.
With a hard-boiled detective’s iron-will and spare, sharp-edged prose, Mary Spicuzza investigates who killed her cousin Augie by a car bomb on June 30, 1978—and why. A storytelling tour de force.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
Here’s something for the architecture nerds out there. I wouldn’t say I’m proficient in it, but I do love seeing a beautiful house and Frank Lloyd Wright sure didn’t make an ugly one in his life.
💵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
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-Vuk