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- Zenith Introduces Wild Mirror-Finished Defy Extreme, Zodiac And Rowing Blazers Pay Homage To Trading Places, Unimatic Introduces Brand New Model Line And New From Paulin, Formex And Oak & Oscar
Zenith Introduces Wild Mirror-Finished Defy Extreme, Zodiac And Rowing Blazers Pay Homage To Trading Places, Unimatic Introduces Brand New Model Line And New From Paulin, Formex And Oak & Oscar
This might be the first time marketing copy is not overblown, the Zenith really does look like from another dimension
It's About Time
December 08, 2023
Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. The tardiness of these editions continues as the virus has spread from my daughter onto me, so I’m actually surprised I managed to squeeze this one out! I hope you enjoy it, there’s some wild stuff in there.
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In this issue:
Zenith Shows Off Completely Wild Mirror-Finished Zenith Defy Extreme
Zodiac Teams Up With Rowing Blazers For An 80s Cult Movie-Inspired Super Sea Wolf GMT World Time
Unimatic Debuts Brand New Smaller Model, The Cinque, With Massena LAB Collaboration
The Paulin x The Armory Modul A "Hong Kong Dial" Watch Is A Very Nice Take On The California Dial
Formex Listens To Their Customers And Release A Smaller “Baby Reef” 39.5mm Automatic COSC 300M
Oak & Oscar Releases Limited Edition Burbon-Themed Watch With FEW Spirits
Today’s reading time: 9 minutes and 47 seconds
👂What’s new
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Marketing copy is often cringy hyperbole. I’m not one to judge. When it comes to multi-million dollar international corporations, they usually know what they are doing and while it might seem over-the-top to us, it works. That’s why they do it. So when you take a peek at the Zenith website and see that the top has the text: “THE CHRONOGRAPH FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION” written across it, you are expecting to roll your eyes. Except, you don’t. Because the new Zenith Defy Extreme Mirror actually does look like a chronograph from another dimension. Zenith took their ultra-modern Defy Extreme with the ultra-technical skeletonized 1/100-second dual-escapement chronograph and gave it a full mirror-polished finish. It’s crazy looking.
The Zenith Defy Extreme Mirror is a huge watch - 45mm wide, 16mm thick, and made out of stainless steel. If that wasn’t enough, every millimetre of that steel case is polished to a degree that looks like it puts Zaratsu to shame. This plays tricks on your mind when you see it in pictures, as it makes the watch look like a computer generated image that’s reflecting everything around it. You can actually sue it as a mirror. Despite the unnatural look, you still get a capable sports watch with 200 meters of water resistance.
While the dial of the Zenith Defy Extreme Mirror is skeletonized, every par that is not a void into the movement is also mirror-polished. The bases of the 12 o’clock power reserve indicator and each of the three round subdials are actual tiny mirrors, as are the mirrored outer minutes track, the polished beveled hour indices, and the broad, semi-skeletonized polished paddle handset.
Inside the watch is the in-house El Primero 9004 automatic chronograph movement. It’s a high-frequency movement that has a 36,000 bph beat rate and a 50 hour power reserve. Add to that the chronograph which has its own dedicated escapement which beats at a blistering 360,000 bph, or 100 beats per second, to enable its fully mechanical 1/100-second chronograph function. This extremely high beat rate has it’s downsides, also, since you will burn through the power reserve in 45 minutes.
You can’t exactly make a mirrored watch and then give it a brushed bracelet. No, of course not. The H-link bracelet on this one is also incredibly polished, putting the watch over the top. If, however, you don’t want to wear a full mirror around your wrist, Zenith includes a heavy-duty integrated hook-and-loop strap in black.
It seems that the Zenith Defy Extreme Mirror is not a limited edition and will is available from all authorized dealers and brand boutiques, which is just wild. Price is set at $26,100. Sure, this watch is definitely not for everyone, but you have to give it to Zenith for creating something so incredibly wild. See more on the Zenith website.
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“It tells the time simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad!” yelled Dan Aykroyd at a pawn shop clerk in the legendary 80s comedy Trading Places in which Aykroyd, a powerful commodities trader changes places with Eddie Murphy as an experiment from his bored bosses. Aykroyd claims that the watch, a Rouchefoucauld, is worth $6,955 retail, only to be offered a cool fifty bucks for it. This one scene serves as the inspiration for the new watch collaboration between Zodiac and Rowing Blazers, the Super Sea Wolf World Time GMT.
Sure, it’s not inspired by the look of the Rouchefoucauld and is much closer to the 1970s Super Sea Wolf World Time. According to Rowing Blazers, the 80s preppy style inspired fashion house, the inspiration comes from Aykroyd’s attitude in the movie.
The watch comes in the familiar 40mm stainless steel case of the Super Sea Wolf that’s 13.6mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 47.8mm. You get 200 meters of water resistance, along with a bidirectional world-time bezel in Rowing Blazers’ signature blue color. World-time bezels usually have 24 cities on them, but this one is a bit special as it has 27 cities - Monte Carlo, Rome, and Gstaad are new additions, in honor of Trading Places. The dial gets a black finish, with retro stick hands and square indices. Both the hands and indices have Super-LumiNova. There’s a Rowing Blazers logo above 6 o’clock.
Inside the watch is the mechanical STP7-20 movement. You’ll often find STP movements in Zodiac watches as they are both owned by the Fossil Group. It’s a flyer GMT, meaning you independently adjust the 24-hour hand. The movement beats at 28,800vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a five-row stainless steel bracelet with an additional fabric strap that has the characteristic Rowing Blazers zig-zag.
This release is limited to just 282 pieces and goes on sale today, December 8th, at 11:00 EST (17:00 CET) for a price of $2,195. See more on the Zodiac or Rowing Blazers website.
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In a somewhat unusual move in the watch industry, Italian independent watchmaker Unimatic has decided to debut a new model not on their own, but rather in a collaboration. It would be a very strange move, if the collaboration were not with Massena LAB, a design studio owned by watch industry luminary William Massena, who the brand has very successfully worked with before. This is the Modello Cinque U5S-ML.
Starting off with the case, it’s a brand new excursion into smaller watches for Unimatic. The Modello Cinque gets a 36mm brushed stainless steel case with very sharp and pointed lugs that slant down, making it appear even smaller on wrist. Inspiration for this watch obviously came from mid-century European design with clean lines and minimalism present all over the case, including the minuscule unmarked bezel.
The minimalistic approach carries over onto the matte black dial. Markers are glossy white and super simple, almost remeniscent of the work Dieter Rams did for Braun. The hour and minute hands that are matte black ladder phantoms. The seconds hand get’s a round and lume filled counterbalance and a yellow tip.
Inside the watch is the very familiar and easily servicable Sellita SW200-1 movement that comes with a 41 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black tapered TPU strap and an alternate strap in a yellow tone to match the seconds hand.
This is a limited edition watch numbered at 300 units. It is available now via Massena LAB’s website, retailing for $995.
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There are many stories about how the California Dial was first made, but none that pin points down the exact truth. The overall consensus seems to be that this distinct style of dial that combines Roman numerals on one half of the dial with Arabic numerals on the other was the product of divers asking for a solution that would allow them to just glance down at watches and tell which quadrant the minute hand was in. In its 70+ year history, the California Dial has seen very little, if any, evolution. Well, here’s something new. Scottish watchmaker Paulin has teamed up with the Hong Kong based fashion powerhouse The Armoury to release the Modul A “Hong Kong Dial” edition.
The most striking part of the watch is obviously the dial, which offered a different approach to the California dial. On top are the Roman numerals as you would expect, but the bottom half has Chinese characters at the four, five, eight, and nine positions. This design choice is meant to be symbolic of The Armoury’s deep-rooted connection to both Eastern and Western cultures. You can get the dial in four color combinations - a yellow base with black numerals (my favorite), a purple base with lavander numerals, a light blue base with silver numerals and a black (actually, anthracite) base with gold numerals.
The case is the product of the The Armoury team’s visit to Glasgow, where they were drawn to anOrdain and Paulin’s unreleased 1970s-style C-shaped case. It measures 35mm wide and just 8.2mm thick and has super short lugs with a pronounced barrel shape. On top is a vintage-style Hesalite box-crystal.
Inside is the watch things get even more interesting. You get the ETA 955.112 movement, a quartz movement that looks absolutely incredible. How do I know? Well, because the badasses at Paulin and The Armoury use a transparent caseback. I wish more quartz movements used one because I find them really pretty to look at. The watch is available with either a suede strap or a stainless steel mesh bracelet.
I didn’t see any limitations to the number of watches they will make, but do not that the Black/Gold color has sold out. However, more of those are coming in February 2024. Price is set at $600. See more on The Armoury website.
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Customers, sometimes rightfully, think they know best. I mean, they have every right to do so if they are parting with their hard earned money. And yet, you will rarely find a brand that is willing to twist and pivot to listen to what their customers are saying in order to make them happier. Which is weird, as pleasing your audience seems like a very sure way to success. Well, looks like Formex is very open to listening to what buyers have to say. Back in 2020, they took the diving-watch-enthusiast world by storm with the Formex Reef Automatic Chronometer 300M, a very capable diver that came in at a chunky 42mm. The people said: “this is too large.” And Formex listened and are now introducing the Formex Baby Reef Automatic Chronometer 300M that comes in at 39.5mm.
The Baby Reef comes in a stainless steel case that shrinks down from 42mm to 39.5mm, with a thickness of 11mm and a lug-to-lug of 45.5mm. On top is a unidirectional 120-click rotating bezel that has a zirconium oxide ceramic insert that comes in either blue, black or green, or a fully stainless steel option. The colored ceramic bezels look absolutely incredible, as all the markings are engraved without any colour added, which makes it a bit less legible. Also Formex has a system that every watch should have - they have a bezel mounting system that allows the wearer to swap the existing one for any other colour option without any tools.
The dials might not be interchangeable like the bezel, but it does come in some pretty nifty colors - blue, silver, green, and a multi-level-lacquered white. The blue, silver, and green have a hand-applied dégradé finish, and all dials feature hand-applied, shaped and faceted indices, vertically brushed, with the angles mirror polished. The hour and minute hands get the same treatment, and with the markers, they are filled with Super-LumiNova that shines blue in the dark. The running seconds hand features a lollipop design with a luminous dot at its tip, adding a touch of visual interest.
Inside the watch is the COSC-certified Sellita SW300-1 chronometer-grade movement which comes with a not at all bad 56 hour power reserve. As for the strap, the whole thing with Formex watches is that they are customizable - you have four dial options, four bezel and seven bracelet and straps. These range from a stainless-steel bracelet, featuring a compact folding clasp which has up to 10mm adjustment to rubber and leather straps that come with a carbon fibre deployant buckle offering a 7mm adjustment.
The Formex Reef 39.5mm Automatic COSC 300M is available for sale now with price set at €1,630 for the NATO strap option up to €1,960 for the stainless steel bracelet. Additional bezels are priced at €169 each. See more on the Formex website.
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Watches and whiskey may not be a natural pairing at first glance, but come on - is there anything better than a flask somewhere in nature while wearing your field watch? It seems that Chase Fancher, founder of Oak & Oscar, agrees with that sentiment as he himself is a bourbon enthusiast. So oit comes as no surprise to see Oak & Oscar collaborating with FEW Spirits to create a burbon-themed version of the Olmsted, the brand’s 38mm field watch.
The burbon theme is most evident on the dial, as it is lifted directly from FEW’s own color palette. It should be immediately recognizable to fans of the FEW spirits. However, even if you don’t know what FEW is, it’s a beautiful dial that takes on a dark red, almost brown hue.
The Olmsted line is Oak & Oscar’s take on the traditional American field watch. It’s a classic time-only piece in a 38mm stainless steel case that’s 10.8mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 49mm, along with 100 meters of water resistance. The new Olmsted FEW Limited Edition has a two-layer sandwich dial, a signature feature of the brand. The dial is clean, save for the FEW logo at 6 o’clock. A bit too much?
Another burbon connection is on the caseback, where you will find a wooden coin that has been meticulously crafted from an oak bourbon barrel used to age the bourbon that was selected for this limited edition. The coin itself is a gorgeous work of handcraft by a Chicago-based woodworker who broke the barrel down and was able to create 50 wooden discs with Oak & Oscar’s “Make No Little Plans” motto to commemorate the release.
Inside is the Sellita’s SW300, a Swiss-made, 25-jewel caliber with a 56-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a 20mm leather strap from Horween, another Chicagoan company and long-time O&O partner. You could also have the Olmsted on a nylon strap.
This is a limited edition of 50 pieces and each Olmsted FEW will be shipped with a bottle of FEW’s Bottled in Bond, straight from the batch chosen for this LE. The retail price is $1,850. See more on the Oak & Oscar 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 Trinity’s stainless steel case is 38.5mm wide, 46.5mm long, and 12mm thick, including the double-domed and AR-coated sapphire box crystal. These tidy, vintage proportions gain more than a modicum of industrial weight thanks to the case’s sheer sides and a surface that is brushed everywhere, including the lug chamfers, fixed bezel, and signed crown. It leaves no doubt that you are wearing a tool watch, and a proper one at that, with its screw-down crown and 200m water resistance rating. To keep this handsome brute looking its est, Radia added a 1000Hv hardening and anti-fingerprint treatment.
⏲️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
‘True crime’ has become a big business — and an emotional minefield for victims’ families. As is the case with Liz Flatt. Podcasters took up her sister’s murder investigation. Then they turned on her.
In June 1968, a who’s who of poets convened on Long Island. They ate lobster, drank vodka, and brawled. This is the Literary Fight Club.
Norman Lear’s Truth: He depicted the American experiment, one family at a time.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
This 1969 National Geographic special resolves around the year spent on the islands of Tahiti, Bora Bora, Raiatea and Tahaa by the Stanton Waterman family of Princeton, N.J., and illustrates how a typical American family meets the challenges of a strange and rather primitive environment. With Waterman, a veteran filmmaker, are his wife and their three teenage children.
The purpose of the journey, according to the world-travelling Waterman, is to expose his family to a culture other than their own and to establish an esprit de corps within the family unit that he finds lacking in stateside society.
The Watermans shed their suburban dress for traditional Polynesian garb and join their new neighbours in their work, celebrations, and day-to-day living.
As he films, Waterman leads his family on undersea expeditions to a world he has long known and that he wants them to experience. They examine the reefs and waters, seeing first hand the awesome creatures of the deep that have challenged Waterman through his professional 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
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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