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  • Timex Introduces Reissue 1971 Velocity Inspired By 70s Racing; Fortis Expands Marinemaster M40 Diver Line; Bulgari Celebrates With Octo Finissimo Sketch Dial; Fears' New Silver-Cased Brunswick 38

Timex Introduces Reissue 1971 Velocity Inspired By 70s Racing; Fortis Expands Marinemaster M40 Diver Line; Bulgari Celebrates With Octo Finissimo Sketch Dial; Fears' New Silver-Cased Brunswick 38

Summer is coming, so expect a surge of marine-themed watches like the new Fortis

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It's About Time
March 14, 2024

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Call it tacky, please, but I love the new sketch dial of the Octo Finissimo. I loved it on the older version, but this one takes it that one step further that makes it even better.

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In this issue:

  • Timex Introduces New Reissue 1971 Velocity Inspired By 1970s Racing Watches

  • Fortis Expands Their Marinemaster M40 Diver Line With Four New Colorways

  • Bulgari Celebrates 140th Anniversary With An Interesting Octo Finissimo With A Sketch Dial

  • Fears Takes Inspiration From British Watchmakers’ Day Exclusive Watch For Their New Brunswick 38 ‘Silver Noir’

Today’s reading time: 5 minutes and 36 seconds

👂What’s new

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Timex is an incredible brand, if for nothing then for the sheer volume of models in their lineup. Sure, they aren’t on the cutting edge of horology. Instead, they make great looking, well made, long lasting and affordable pieces that can suit any person for any occasion - from sports pieces to dress watches. Their latest release, however, is part of their “Reissue” line which, like the name says, offers a number of vintage-inspired watches that look fantastic. This is the new Q Timex Reissue 1971 Velocity, inspired by 70’s racing.

The watch comes in a stainless-steel case that measures 36mm wide and 9.5mm thick, with a brushed finish on top and polished on the sides, to reflect the vintage vibe. Equally as vintage are the very short lugs that give the case an almost cushion shape. On top is a domed acrylic crystal, just like you would get from a 70s sports watch, with a aluminum bezel that has a 60 minuted scale that’s minute-marked up until the first 15 minutes.

Underneath the crystal is an equally vintage-looking dial, featuring a checked flag patter on the perimeter. The watch is black, save for a ring of red color just near the flag pattern. The hour markers are faceted applied chunks of what looks like aluminium, with applied dots of lume in the center. The black surface of the dial is broken up with red crosshairs and the central seconds hand is a very retro orange color.

Inside is an unnamed quartz movement, but seeing as how this is a Q series Timex, chances are it’s the Seiko PC33 quartz movement, accurate to +/- 30 seconds per month. You don’t expect much from a quartz Timex, but it’s still a nice watch. It comes on a black rubber tropical strap.

The Q Timex Reissue 1971 Velocity is available for purchase now in the U.S. and is surely coming to Europe soon, but no set date has been given. Price is set at $179, which is pretty awesome. See more on the Timex website.

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In the little under a year that this newsletter has been around, every single time I mentioned Fortis it has been for their aviation and space themed watches. They are particularly well known for their Novonaut N-42 which is just a wonderful watch. However, they also make other stuff. Like, for example, the very attractive Marinemaster line. Now, Fortis is adding four new colorways tot heir Marinemaster M40 line and while they’re pretty expected, they also look pretty nice.

The Marinemaster M40 comes in a stainless steel case that’s 40mm wide, 12mm thick and has a 43mm lug-to-lug. Adding to the length measurement is the fact that the watch doesn’t have traditional lugs, instead opting for hooded ones that make the watch look like it has an integrated bracelet. On top is a unidirectional rotating bezel with a 60 minuted timer that count’s up. The case has a tonneau shape, it’s brushed and has 300 meters of water resistance.

All four new dials, just like the older ones (which already come in a fantastic light green, turquoise, white and grey), have a textured dial, with the texture being made out of the “O” motif that mimics the “O” in Fortis. The new dial colorways consist of Amber Orange, Gravity Black, Ocean Blue, and Blue Japan. The last two are a similar shade of blue, but the designs are somewhat different. The Amber Orange, Gravity Black, and Ocean Blue all have matching rehauts and contrasting applied markers filled with white Super-LumiNova, a stainless steel handset and a white luminous circle on the dial’s periphery, while the Blue Japan has a white rehaut and a red minute hand.

Inside is the UW-30 caliber, which is a very slightly modified Sellita SW200-1. It keeps the 28,800vph beat rate and 38-hour power reserve of the original, while adding several engravings to the movement. The watch comes on a 21mm rubber strap in the same color as the dial, with an additional option of a stainless steel Fortis Block bracelet which the Blue Japan version already comes on.

The four new versions of the Marinemaster M-40 are available now and reatil for €2,950 on the rubber strap and €3,300 on the bracelet. See more on the Fortis website.

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It was a pretty big deal when Bulgari announced last year that they will be stoping development on their cult Octo Finissimo line to focus more on the more approachable Octo Roma line. The Octo Finissimo is a relatively new model for Bulgari, only about 10 years old, but has put the Italian fashion brand square back into the running for the top of prestigious watches mountain. They made incredibly thin Octo Finissimos, skeletonized ones, beautiful ones in collaboration with architect Tadao Ando, so the question marks over why they were ditching the model were many. Well, turns out, it was a bait an switch as Bulgari has released at least five new Octo Finissimo models since announcing they will no longer be releasing Octo Finissimo models. To be perfectly fair, they are all limited and special editions, but still… Now, Bulgari is celebrating their 140th anniversary and they’re not doing it with the Octo Roma but with another Octo Finissimo. This is the new Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch Dial and it’s something else.

The watch comes in the classic Octo Finissimo Automatic case, which means it measures 40mm wide and 6.4mm thick. You can get it in either stainless steel or 18k pink gold with satin-finished and polished facets. Despite being a very thin case that verges on being a dress watch (it’s obviously not), you still get a screw down crown and 100 meters of water resistance, which is pretty cool.

This is not the first time that the Octo Finissimo gets a “sketch dial”, meaning a dial that has a drawing on it. In 2022, celebrating 10 years of the model, Bulgari put out a Automatic and Chronograph “sketch dial” which replaced the numerals, logos and markers with sketches of the same, just like you would see on a sketch of a watch. The new “sketch dial” watches go a step further and reveal the mechanics under the dial. Drawn by hand by designer Buonamassa Stigliani, the sandblasted dial is color matched to the case and shows the BVL138 movement that’s inside. The hands are black PVD coated and satin-finished.

The BVL138 that’s inside is just 2.23mm thick and wound by a platinum micro-rotor. It gets 60 hours of water reserve and it’s finished with Geneva stripes, circular graining and bevelled bridges. The back of the watch is transparent so you can compare the look of the movement with the sketch up on top. The watches come on material-matching bracelets with u-shaped links and satin and polished surfaces.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic 140th Anniversary Sketch Dial is limited to 280 pieces in stainless steel and 70 pieces in rose gold, with the former priced at €17,800 and latter at €51,500. See more on Bulgari’s website.

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A whole bunch of British watchmakers came together to celebrate British Watchmakers’ Day this weekend and a number of them created limited and special editions to mark the day. Most of these were available only live at the event, making them worthy of the special edition label. Fears was there as well, with their 1924 Edition, a beautiful white-dialed retro-inspired version of their Brunswick with a silver dial. Now, having sold those watches at the event, Fears is introducing a non-limited version of that watch, but in black, called the Fears Brunswick 38 ‘Silver Noir’.

Being based on the 1924 version, the watch comes in a 38mm wide and 12.2mm thick case made out of sterling silver. The case retains the same shape as the Brunswick line, which was inspired by one of the Brunswick’s most important watches from the 1920s. Interestingly, the original had a much smaller flat crown, whereas the new version gets the very recognisable onion crown the brand uses now.

The brand reached into the archive not just for the case material, but also for the numerals which are inspired by the 1924 watch. Instead of a white dial, the Silver Noir gets a black lacquer dial with numerals, railway minute track and small seconds subdial rendered in white.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret D100 manually wound movement which has a 50 hour power reserve. Fears uses the top-grade version of the movement, which means that it gets Côtes de Genève finishing and blued screws. The watch comes on a black berenia leather strap.

Like I said, the Brunswick 38 ‘Silver Noir’ is not a limited edition watch so it will be available for all that are interested. And I assume there will be more than several people interested, seeing as how the £3,950 seems pretty reasonable for a sterling silver cased watch. See more on the Fears 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 like

The Time Master 70s is designed around a 39mm square case of 316L stainless steel that features a nice mix of brushed and polished finishes. The TV case echoes old Bulova Clippers while being refined proportionately for modern sensibilities. The case shape, the brawny lugs, and the stepped bezel, topped off with AR-coated sapphire, make it look bulkier than its 10.4mm height would suggest, but in practice, it fits neatly beneath a shirt cuff and wears very nicely on my 6.5” wrist. Small crown guards protect the gear-toothed and signed crown. The screw-down crown looked a little small in proportion to the burly flanks of the case, but it was easy to grip and operate. The watch is rated for 100 meters of water resistance, which is fine for daily wear and the occasional dip.

⏲️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

How about something a bit more random for this random Thursday? Here’s the opening chase scene from Mad Max. Because it’s one of the best ever.

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-Vuk