Baltic's Summery Hermétiques; Awake's Scaly Tribute To The Year Of The Sssnake; Straum Revamps Jan Mayen In Titanium; Brew Shrinks Metric To 30mm; Great Things From Glashütte Original And Breguet

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Super late today, but what an incredible lineup of watches. I think I would like to own every single one. Yes, even the snakeskin one. Finally a watch I can wear with my snakeskin suit without looking like a fool.

In this issue:

• Baltic Is Ready For The Heat With The Wonderfully Colorful Hermétique Summer

• Awake Teams Up With The Dial Artist For A Scaly Tribute To The Year Of The Sssnake

• Straum Revamps The Jan Mayen, Gives It A Titanium Case And Rubber Strap

• Brew Shrinks Down The Ever Popular Metric To 30mm With The Metric Lite

• The New Glashütte Original PanoLunarTourbillon In Platinum Has To Be Their Best Watch To Date

• Breguet Releases Their First Ever Flying Tourbillon In The Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255

👂What’s new

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Baltic Is Ready For The Heat With The Wonderfully Colorful Hermétique Summer

Easily one of the highlights for me of the fairs in Geneva in April, one I couldn’t tell you about until today, was the Baltic Hermétique Summer Collection. The Hermétique is already a cool thing, a field watch with a couple of really great colored dials. But this summer version just knocks it out of the park. The pictures of the watches are great, but there’s no way to convey in picture how vibrant these colors actually are. It was the most fun I’ve had with a watch in Geneva this year.

The watches come in a vintage-inspired stainless steel case that measures 37mm wide and 10.8mm thick. To keep with the vintage style, there’s a double-domed sapphire crystal on top, with the case being brushed with a polished bezel. Just like vintage field watches, the crown is recessed into the case, but unlike vintage field watches, you get 150 meters of water resistance.

The dials keep the same setup as the regular versions, with applied indices and Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock made from Super-LumiNova BGW9. The hands are still syringe style and have lume inserts. Around the perimeter of the dial is a brushed black railroad track, while the center of the dial is glossy with the four bright colors — orange (my absolute favorite), pink, yellow and turquoise (a close second). It’s just too fun.

Inside, there’s nothing new. The watch is still powered by the Miyota calibre 9039, an automatic that beats at 28,800bhp and has an OK power reserve of 42 hours. The movement is accurate to -10/+30 seconds per day. The watches come on color matched FKM rubber tropic strap, which is just perfect. You can opt for a beads of rice or flat link bracelet, but this is one of the rare occasions I would say just stick with the rubber.

The new Baltic Hermétique Summer Collection is available now, priced at €550 on the rubber and €615 on the bracelets, both without tax. See more on the Baltic website.

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Awake Teams Up With The Dial Artist For A Scaly Tribute To The Year Of The Sssnake

At the end of each year, a whole bunch of brands start releasing watches that pay homage to the Chinese zodiac. The Asian market is important for a lot of watchmakers, and the animal theme of the zodiac works very well for watches, making this time of the year a very fun one. However, we rarely see Chinese zodiac watches released in the middle of the year. And yet, that’s exactly what Awake just did today, with the release of the Awake Sơn Mài Year of the Sssnake. I’ll just say that this is likely the most polarizing release from Awake to date, but I love how wild it is.

The case of the watch remains virtually unchanged from the other Sơn Mài models, made out of recycled stainless steel, and measuring 39mm wide and 11.8mm thick, including the crystal. Without the crystal, the thickness drops down to 10.9mm. On top is a rounded bezel, surrounding the sapphire crystal, the side of the case is brushed, and you get polished surfaces on top of the lugs, with a wide polished chamfer stretching down the edge od the case. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Then, there’s the dial. Oh, what a dial. It is actually a collaboration with Scottish artist Chris Alexander, aka The Dial Artist, known for his great use of color and hand painted dials. For this dial, Awake gives the dial a black Sơn Mài lacquer base, onto which Alexander then paints snake scales in a way that not only give it an iridescent effect, but also a snake skin-like texture.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement, an alternative to the ubiquitous but increasingly hard to source ETA 2824, and the Sellita SW200. However, it has a much better power reserve than those two at 68 hours, and the same beat rate of 4Hz. The movement is decorated with Geneva stripes and a customised tungsten rotor. Instead of on a delicate snakeskin strap, the watch comes on chosen an iridescent and metallic purple trout leather strap that resembles a snake’s skin while remaining more resilient.

The new Awake Sơn Mài Year of the Sssnake by The Dial Artist is limited to 50 pieces and priced at €2,100. The first 30 watches will be delivered in July and the other 20 in September. See more on the Awake website.

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Straum Revamps The Jan Mayen, Gives It A Titanium Case And Rubber Strap

The Norwegian microbrand Straum makes some really nice watches. The cases are robust, movements are solid, price is accessible, the overall design is understated. But then you get to the dials. Oh, those incredible dials. Some of the best dials in the industry, and perhaps the very best at this price point. A couple of years ago, they released the Jan Mayen, a collection named after the volcanic Jan Mayen Island off the coast of Norway, that came with very dramatic colors on the dials and even better textures. There was even a collaboration with Fratello, that featured a beautiful red dial. Now, Straum is revamping the Jan Mayen — they are keeping the great dials and are giving it a titanium case and rubber strap.

The new case is made out of Grade 5 Titanium, bead blasted and then given polished accents. The size and shape remain largely unchanged, which means you get a case that measures 38.7mm wide, 11.5mm thick including the crystal and a comfortable 45.7mm lug-to-lug. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal with internal anti-reflective coating, surrounded by a blasted and polished flat bezel. The crown on the right side gets two very nice guards and water resistance is 100 meters.

The dials are unchanged, and they al feature custom designed patterns embodying the landscape of Jan Mayen. They really are unlike anything else, stamped in multiple stages with increasing detailing and fidelity. They are treated and painted in several stages, including fumé, with applied indices and hands that are filled with Grade A Swiss Super-LumiNova.

Five colors are available. Arctic Blue captures the vast Arctic Ocean enveloping Jan Mayen and has a radial texture that mimic waves; Moss Green gets a similar texture, styled after the mosses that cover the island; Glacier White has jagged ridges like you would find on a glacier and an icy white colorway; Black Sand mimics the coastline of Jan Mayen that are made of black volcanic sand and feature jagged ridges; and lastly, there’s the Volcano Red Fratello version which is an homage to the molten lava of the Beerenberg volcano.

Inside, you’ll find the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic which beats at 4Hz and has a 68 hour power reserve. It’s also made to the soignée level, which means it’s adjusted in four positions. Straum claims accuracy of ±7 seconds per day. This titanium version also comes with a new FKM rubber strap, very blocky and very cool, available in several dial-matching colors.

The new Jan Mayen collection is available for pre-order now and deliveries beginning in February 2026. The only limited model is the Fratello collaboration, and that is not limited in number, just time — pre-orders for that model are open until July 3rd at 6:00 PM CEST. Price is set at €1,820. See more on the Straum website.

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Brew Shrinks Down The Ever Popular Metric To 30mm With The Metric Lite

For a couple of years now, a select few watch brands have been shrinking their watches to meet the demands of the enthusiast market. This mostly meant that we got a fair bit of watches in the 36-38mm range. But what we didn’t get is a lot of watches smaller than 35mm. And sure, while this market isn’t huge, one could argue that half the global population — women — needs watches that are smaller than 35mm. And it seems that some brands are addressing this need as well. To be clear, there have always been smaller watches aimed at women, but these have often been needlessly washed in pink colors and multicolored gems. Just the other day, Omega showed what a 30mm watch should look like with the new Aqua Terra. And now, Brew is joining the pack. Brew has made a name for themselves with basically two case designs that they have then iterated on to perfection. Now, we’re getting the Brew Lite in 30mm and in unisex colors.

The shape of the Metric Lite remains the same, meaning it’s an almost square with a slight cushion shape. It’s made out of stainless steel and can be had with or without a gold PVD coating. There are sapphire crystal on front and back, and the case measures a very compact 30mm wide, 10.55mm thick and has a 34mm lug-to-lug. Only the case has an integrated bracelet, and no lugs. Water resistance is 50 meters.

While there are three versions of the new Brew Metric Lite, there are only two dial options — black and mother-of-pearl. The black comes on both the gold and regular versions, while the MOP is only available on the silver variant. However, forget the MOP, as that was a very limited version and is already sold out. The dials are very much unchanged from the larger watches, with no date option, three hands and applied baton indexes.

Inside, a bit of a surprise. One would expect a watch like this to come with a quartz movement, but no. The Metric Lite has the Miyota 6T27 automatic inside. It’s a tiny thing that still gets you a 40 hour power reserve and an accuracy of +40/-20 seconds per day. The watches come on integrated bracelets with single links.

The new Brew Metric Lite is on sale now, with the MOP version all sold out. Price is set at €325, which is a fantastic price for all that you get. See more on the Brew website.

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The New Glashütte Original PanoLunarTourbillon In Platinum Has To Be Their Best Watch To Date

Glashütte Original is not a brand that’s here to blow your hair back with their radical new releases. They are more a brand that iterates not through years, but rather through decades. Some of their models have been in development for more than 40 years. So, it’s only expected that they will get better with time. That’s perfectly illustrated in the new PanoLunarTourbillon which gets a platinum case and a salmon colored dial. This has to be the best watch they’ve released to date and you can see the years that have gone into the development of the watch.

The PanoLunarTourbillon is already the top of the line Glashütte Original, but while previous versions came in gold cases, this new version gets a polished and brushed platinum case. The case measures 40mm wide, 12.7mm thick and has a 47mm lug-to-lug, and those measurements, paired with the platinum, must make for a hefty thing to lug around. You get sapphire crystals front and back, while the crown is knurled and a push-pull one, meaning water resistance is limited to 50 meters. But I can’t imagine diving with a platnium watch is a good idea.

Then, we have the new dial. While we might describe it as salmon, because it does look like a salmon dial, it’s actually inspired by the color of the iron ore found in the mountains surrounding Glashütte. The color is achieved through a galvanic treatment, with the main part of the dial having a grained finish, while the time-telling sub-dial has a snailed texture. The hour and minutes sit off centre to the left, with a tourbillon aperture cutting into it at 6 o’clock, the beautiful moon phase sits at 2 o’clock and the platinum-framed date is at 3:30. The tourbillon has a blue tip which serves as a seconds hand. The hour and minute hands, along with the applied markers are all done in blue.

Inside, you’ll find the new Calibre 93.03, a slight update to the movements we’ve seen in previous versions of the PanoLunarTourbillon. The movement beats at 21,600vph and you get a 60 hour power reserve. It has a silicon balance spring, a diamond endstone for the balance staff on the tourbillon, rhodium-plated plates and bridges with broad Glashütte ribbing, blue infilled engravings, hand-polished bevels, and blued screws. The watch comes on a blue alligator leather strap with an additional blue synthetic fabric strap, both closed with a platinum folding clasp.

The new Glashütte Original PanoLunarTourbillon in platinum is limited to 50 pieces and priced at €125,000. See more on the Glashütte Original website.

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Breguet Releases Their First Ever Flying Tourbillon In The Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255

On yesterday’s date, June 26, 224 years ago in 1801, Abraham-Louis Breguet patented one of his most famous inventions, the tourbillon. And I was actually shocked to learn that in the 224 years, and despite all the ownership changes over the centuries, Breguet hasn’t released a flying tourbillon watch. The flying tourbillon is not that much of an improvement over the regular tourbillon, with the only difference being the regular one having bridges that hold it up on top and bottom, while the flying one has bridges just on the bottom, making the tourbillon look like it’s floating. So it would have made sense if Breguet made on. That all changed yesterday, with the release of the Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255, with a flying tourbillon and a starry aventurine enamel dial, as part of the 250th anniversary celebration that Breguet has going on this year.

The theme of the 250th anniversary releases is obviously gold. More specifically, Breguet gold, which is a proprietary alloy made up of 75% gold with silver, copper, and palladium added to it. So, this Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255 features a case made out of Breguet gold and measures 38mm wide and 10.2mm thick, with a fluted caseband and welded lugs, both iconic Breguet details. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, while the back has a flat crystal.

Something new is happening on the dial as well, the first aventurine enamel dial that Breguet made. What’s aventurine enamel, you ask? Well, Breguet takes aventurine glass, crushes it into a powder and then treats it like Grand Feu enamel, layering it on a Breguet gold base and firing it in a kiln. Time is told on a smaller dial at 12 o’clock, surrounded by a gold ring and coated in blue PVD. The hands are gold and Breguet-shaped, while the numerals are also gold and classic Breguet Arabic. At 6 o’clock is a large aperture for the flying tourbillon, with the actual turbillon protruding 0.9mm above the enamel dial, which gives it a great look. The point of the flying tourbillon is to make it look like its floating, and Breguet takes it a step forward, with the lower bridge and lower support of the tourbillon carriage being made out of sapphire glass, making the entire thing look like it’s floating in space.

Inside, you’ll find the manual-winding calibre 187M1, beating at 2.5Hz with a Nivachron balance spring and having a power reserve of 50 hours. Despite the watch having a transparent caseback, you can’t see that much of the movement because it’s covered by a beautiful plate that has a Quai de l’Horloge pattern guilloché. The watch comes on a navy blue alligator leather strap, closed with a 18k Breguet gold triple-blade folding clasp.

50 pieces of the new Breguet Classique Tourbillon Sideral 7255 Aventurine 250th Anniversary will be made, with price set at CHF 190,000. See more on the Breguet website.

⏲️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

• You put ghee in your coffee. You’ve been in a cryochamber. Maybe you even start your day with some near-infrared light therapy. But you’ve still got a long way to go to match Dave Asprey, Bryan Johnson, or any other of the longevity-obsessed throngs who call themselves biohackers. For Wired, Will Bahr heads to Asprey’s annual conference, a Mecca for self-experimenters—and a testament to how “do your own research” has a funny way of butting heads with “follow the science.”

• In 1971, Lew Welch, a poet and “unsung member of the Beats,” walked into the wilderness of the San Juan Ridge carrying a .22 -caliber revolver, leaving behind a cryptic note. Police in Nevada County, California, searched for days to locate Welch; so did a a team of locals, campers and poets rallied by Gary Snyder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and environmentalist. But Welch was never found, and his disappearance has evolved into a hazy legend. “He’s been useful grist for a certain type of adventuresome, hermeneutics-obsessed academic attracted to the themes of nature, retreat, and nonduality,” writes Brad Rassler, “with the handy conceit of his disappearance as a unifying metaphor for fill-in-the-blank.” Rassler, a mountaineer, explores the boundaries of Welch’s disappearance, sharpening the edges of a decades-old mystery while salvaging the complicated figure at its heart.

• In this piece, Peter Holley provides an exhaustive account of the disappearance of Texas student Jason Landry. But this is more than just a narrative of the event—Holley also explores the fanaticism of the online sleuths who have spent years trying to solve this case. In doing so, Holley edges into the fanatical himself. A study of both a tragedy and a true crime obsession.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

This is former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who was involved in high-level operations following 9/11, including the capture of senior figures from Al Qaeda. But when he declined to participate in what the CIA called “enhanced interrogation,” he made the life-changing decision to speak out, and was imprisoned for doing so. Interesting.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk