It's Thursday and this is the best kind of update - one piece that is insanely expensive and a bunch of other affordable watches. My favorite today might be the Spinnaker, but the CW is a close second.
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What's new
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For years, I didn’t like titanium watches. They were weirdly light and their lack of coolness to the touch first thing in the morning made them feel like plastic. Since then I’ve come around to understand how great titanium can be. The past five or six years have seen an introduction of titanium watches at all price ranges and has turned it from an exotic material into one that lightened up a ton of watches. While perhaps a bit pedestrian now, a brand like Omega has found a way to use titanium in a new and innovative way that uses even more high-end materials in their new light, robust, bold and monochromatic Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT.
This new watch is all about being light. Omega is expanding their utilitarian Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M with the use of a new type of ceramic called silicon nitride ceramic. It’s light and tough, in fact it’s 50% lighter than traditional zircon ceramic and to keep things even lighter pretty much all the steel has been exchanged for titanium, which is 40% lighter. All of this has made a super-light watch that weighs only 107 grams. Compare that to the slightly older black ceramic version at 140 grams and a steel Planet Ocean 600M GMT on a steel bracelet that weight 226 grams.
While being light is very cool, this might have had an adverse effect in other areas. The Seamaster Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT is huge. It measures 45.5mm wide, a whopping 17mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 51.5mm. It would be hard to pull this size off with a heavier watch, so you decide for yourself if this is a worthwhile tradeoff. This is, in essence, a classic Planet Ocean 600m, meaning you get lyre lugs, a unidirectional bezel with a 60-minute scale, sapphire crystals front and back, a helium valve at 10 o’clock, a screw-down crown and, of course, a water resistance of 600 meters.
Back to the materials. The silicon nitride ceramic is used on the case, the NAIAD LOCK caseback and the bezel insert. In this version it gets a fully monochromatic grey look and the grey continues in the grade 5 titanium in the bezel body, the crown, the helium valve, the clasp and dial. Yeah, the dial is made out of solid titanium with a sandblasted finish, with the same grey tone as the rest of the watch, and the color is seen on the hands and indexes. The only splashes of color are the orange accents on the dial and the arrow on the GMT hand. The GMT hand points to a 24-hour inner bezel.
Inside the watch is the familiar calibre 8906, a traveller style GMT, which has the same Master Chronometer certification, its antimagnetic properties, its co-axial escapement and a dual-barrel architecture for 60h of power reserve. However, you might notice it looks completely different than previous versions and has been lightened with bridges and plates made from matte-treated grade 5 titanium. The watch comes on an integrated rubber strap with grey textile inlay and a titanium folding clasp.
So, there’s no denying that the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT is an incredibly cool looking watch that’s unbelievably light. However, will those two things be enough to justify it’s almost unmanageable size and a truly eye-watering price of €24,500. Keep in mind that the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Deep Black, which is made out of ceramic but lacks the few titanium bits, is priced at €13.400 in Germany. See more on the Omega website.
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Christopher Ward Introduces Stunning Aventurine Dial Perpetual Moon Phase At An Incredible Price
Getting ready to write this piece, I read something that truly blew my mind. Despite all the super-popular sports watches like the Sealander and the Triden diver, the fan-favorite brand Christopher Ward’s best selling single model, and by a wide margin, is the C1 Moonglow. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great watch, but so incredibly far from what I would expect would be their bestseller… Seeing as how this is their biggest success, it’s no wonder they’re releasing a new moonphase watch. This is the incredible Christopher Ward C1 Moonphase.
At the same time, not much has changed and everything has changed. The new Moonphase has the same form as the Moonglow, but with slightly different measurements. The case remains the same mix of brushed and polished surfaces with a width of 40.5mm. However, it’s a bit thicker at 13.3mm and has a slightly lower lug-to-lug measurement of 47.9mm, making it a bit more elegant. There’s a box sapphire on top and 30 meters of water resistance.
The dial on the new Moonphase might be one of the best use of aventurine, as it gives you a beautiful starry sky, with no indices or numerals, with just a huge cutout for the moon phase complication. And the moon is huge. Christopher Ward claims it’s 25% bigger than the one on the Moonglow and it’s made out of luminescent Globolight overlayed with a print of the moon and sits on a rotating plate of aventurine. The high-polished, faceted hands either contrast the dial or blend in with it depending on how the light hits them.
To keep costs low, the C1 Moonphase uses an elaboré grade Sellita SW200-1. This is a solid and affordable movement, but it’s a time only operation. To get the perpetual moon phase function that will accurately display the phases of our Moon for 128 years, CW uses an in-house JJ04 moonphase module. The base movement beats at 28,800 vph and has a 38 hour power reserve and CW quotes accuracy to be -20/+20 seconds per day. Having had several SW200 movements, accuracy should be much, much better than that.
The watch comes on either a deep blue leather strap with a quick release or on CW’s 7-link Consort bracelet with a butterfly clasp. While their bracelet is fine, the leather strap makes the watch look just incredible, so I believe this will be the choice for most.
The Christopher Ward C1 Moonphase is priced the same as the C1 Moonglow, meaning you will have to pay €2,655 on the bracelet or €2,495 on the leather strap, which are incredible prices for a perpetual moon phase with such a stunning dial. See more on the Christopher Ward Website.
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Spinnaker Teams Up With seconde/seconde/ For The Ultimate Halloween Themed Watch
The makers of solid diving watches Spinnaker would be the last watchmaker I would say would make one of the best Halloween themed watches out there. And, perhaps, it would have been a huge undertaking for them alone, if they didn’t team up with Paris-based watch customiser seconde/seconde/ whose popularity has exploded in the past years. And it’s kind of clear why, as his sense of humor on the Spinnaker Fleuss Automatic seconde/seconde/ is on full display.
While I usually start with the outside of the watch, here it’s all about that dial, so let’s do that first and deal with the familiar shape and internals of the Fleuss Automatic later on. Right there at 12 o’clock is the text 50 Phantoms, an obvious wordplay on the Blancpain 50 Fathoms, but seconde/seconde/ took the phantoms part literally and placed 50 custom-moulded ghosts on the dial in order to create a mesmerising visual experience. An even better joke is written at 6 o’clock: ‘No feet’. Seeing as how ghosts don’t have feet. Each one of the 50 phantoms are generously coated with Swiss Super-Lumi Nova to give an ethereal glow and they vary in color, making for one of the best lumed dials out there.
The dial comes in a standard Fleuss stainless steel case that measures 43mm wide and 12mm thick. You get a unidirectional bezel, a sapphire crystal and water resistance is set at 150 meters. Inside the watch is the very familiar and not particularly advanced NH38 Japanese automatic movement but it does it’s job right and for the perfect price. The watch comes on a leather strap as well as an additional rubber strap.
The Spinnaker Fleuss Automatic seconde/seconde/ Limited Edition will be made in just 670 pieces and goes on sale tomorrow, October 27th. I assume this one will go very fast, as it’s one of the cheap ways to get your hands on a seconde/seconde watch. And a great one at that. Price is set at $445. See more on the Spinnaker website.
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Awake Releases Ultra-Limited Version Of Blacked Out Watch They Made For The Special Forces
The French microbrand Awake is known for it’s very ambitious and great looking collaborations. Previously they have worked with renowned designer Alain Silberstain as well as NASA on a series of space-themed watches. Now, they are releasing a super-limited edition of a watch that was originally only dedicated to the French Special Forces of the CCT FS (Compagnie de Commandement ET de Transmissions Des Forces Spéciales) and was never supposed to be released to the public. This is the Awake CCT FS.
Made out of recycled titanium, the Awake CCT FS has a black sandblasted PVD coating making it stealthy for special operations use. It’s fitted with a screw-down crown that ensures water resistance up to 10 ATM. The dial features a fine-grained texture, also pitch black, with just the raised applied indices, sword-shaped hands and the brand logo that break up the darkness. The indices and hands are filled with lume.
Inside the watch is the well known Miyota 9039 caliber, which beats at 28,800vph and gets a power reserve of 42 hours. The watch comes on two straps with one being a black and lightweight Biopoly strap and the other being a more traditional NATO strap.
The Awake CCT FS will be a highly limited edition. Only 50 pieces will be available to the public, and there are no guarantees that you will even be able to get one. The brand has already opened its members-only pre-sale access for the watch and they might be gone already. If, however, there are some left over, you will be able to get one on October 27 at 2 p.m. Central European Time or 8 a.m. EDT. Price is set at €990. See more on the Awake website when release time comes.
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Maen Works With Worn&Wound For A Fantastic Looking Version Of The Manhattan
Worn & Wound is on a serious roll with their collaborations. After knocking it out of the park with an incredible 90s inspired Zodiac duo, they have now teamed up with the Swedis microbrand Maen to release a duo of limited editions of their Manhattan watches that look just great.
The Manhattan is a Gerald Genta-inspired dressy sports watch that comes in a stainless steel case that measures 37mm wide and 9.3mm thick. You get the brushed and polished finish you would expect from a watch that draws inspiration from Genta and a bunch of facets. The Worn & Wound input comes on the styling for the dial, which gets an either red or blue fumé dial. You get applied markers at 3, 6, 9, and 12 and a ring with additional markings for hours that surrounds the fumé that radiates rom the centre.
Inside the watch is the Sellita SW 200-1 which is obviously becoming the most important movement of the microbrand era. The movement beats at 28,800 vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on an integrated steel bracelet that appears to be much more expensive than the price would suggest.
The MAEN x Worn & Wound Manhattan Limited Editions are already on sale but be quick if you want one, since they are limited to just 75 pieces of each color. Both are priced at $899. See more on the Worn & Wound website.
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On hand - a selection of reviews
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Hands on with the Victorinox Swiss Army I.N.O.X. Chrono in black carbon
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A review of the Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton Azure
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Watch Worthy - A look at an offbeat, less known watch you might actually like
The New Vario Empire GMT — A 1920s-Inspired Travel Watch
What set the Empire collection apart from the brand’s other ones was how thoroughly developed it was. Besides the watches having modest dimensions and solid movements, buyers could choose from many colors and dial textures, including salmon dials, green dials, mother-of-pearl options, and more. So it’s rather exciting to see Vario expand the collection further by adding a GMT variant. And it’s not just any GMT. It is a so-called (perhaps erroneously) “true” GMT with an independently adjustable 12-hour hand. This is what we at Fratello often call a “flyer GMT,” akin to a Rolex GMT-Master II or Tudor Black Bay GMT. Anyway, the Empire collection looks different from what I generally write about, and it stands out for a few reasons. Read the whole story on Fratello.
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I love and have been looking for a good fume dial and I love the look of the Manhattan. I thought, “that’s gonna be a for sure swipe of the card” and then I saw it. Kinda lackluster for me. I think the cotes de geneve dial is my personal preference. So the hunt continues.
hm, yeah. affordable fume is kind of elusive. it's hard to do it right. oris, rado, longines, they're all there at a simmilar price point, but very few nice ones I can think of in the sub 1,000 range. I happen to like the Maen, but fume is so very much personal how much you like it
For sure. I actually work at an AD that carry’s all 3 of those brands and even then there is just something lacking. Not in quality per se, but, idk I love the fume on AnOrdain or however it is watches, but I just don’t like the watch you know? I respect it and they are gorgeous, just not for me. Any good recs on fume dials in the 2k-4k price range that I should check out? Also I’m uncultured swine so when I refer to fume I’m also referring to enamel dials too which I know is an entirely different thing, but the effect is similar to the uncultured eye like myself haha. Love kurono I think that’s how it’s spelled, but can’t stomach the flipper markup. Thanks!
adding another one, this brown Baltic