Breitling Releases Two Top Time Chronographs Honoring Biking Legends; Aquastar Adds A Blue Benthos H2; Ollech & Wajs' Slide Rule Bezel; New BA111OD Is Best Watch Of W&W; An Easter Egg-Themed Moser

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Listen to me, you have to check out the BA111OD. It looks great in photos. It’s stunning in real life.

In this issue:

• Breitling Releases Two More Top Time Watches, Chronos Dedicated To The Greatest Italian Cyclists Of All Time

• Aquastar Adds A Blue Benthos H2 Well Sized Diver To Its Collection

• Ollech & Wajs P104 ‘Selectron’ Brings Back Their Vintage Slide Rule Bezel

• The New BA111OD Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon Gets You Haute Horology At A Fraction Of The Price

• The New H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer Centre Seconds Sunny-Side Up Is Here In Time For Easter

👂What’s new

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Breitling Releases Two More Top Time Watches, Chronos Dedicated To The Greatest Italian Cyclists Of All Time

Breitling sure is on a roll over the past few weeks, with all new releases being part of their delightfully retro Top Time model. Just a week before Watches & Wonders, they released a really cool trio of three-hand Top Time 38mm models, and a week following the show, they did the same with some new Top Time chronographs. Now, we’re getting a third Top Time release in nearly as many weeks, but this one is a bit different. These are the new Breitling Top Time B01 Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali Limited Editions, dedicated to two Italian champion cyclists who competed against each other in the 1940s and 50s, one-upping each other in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

While Coppi and Bartali were fierce competitors on the road, the watches they have inspired are much friendlier. They both come in the same case we know from the Top Time chronographs, which means that they are made out of stainless steel and measure 41mm wide, 13.3mm thick and have a 50.36mm lug-to-lug. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom, with the one on the backside having a ring around the crystal that is engraved with either “Fausto Coppi Tribute” or “Gino Bartali Tribute” and “One of 750.” You get the pump pushers, the slightly oversized crown and the 100 meters of water resistance from the regular edition as well.

Then, we have the dials, which are unique to each rider. The Coppi edition is turquoise with a white dial and orange chronograph seconds hand, inspired by the colours of his bike. Bartali’s inspiration doesn’t come from his bike, but rather from his racing jersey. The dial is dark blue with white accents and a yellow hand. Both dials feature the squared circle sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, with the signatures of the respective riders at 6 o’clock.

Inside is the Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01, a self-winding, COSC-certified, movement that boasts a 70-hour power reserve and a column-wheel chronograph mechanism. The watches come on leather racing straps that match the dial colors or on mesh steel bracelets at a premium.

The new Breitling Top Time B01 Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali Limited Editions is available now and limited to 750 pieces each. Price is set at €7,800 on strap and €8,200 on the bracelet. See more on the Breitling website.

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Aquastar Adds A Blue Benthos H2 Well Sized Diver To Its Collection

Back in the 1970s, the Aquastar Benthos 500 was the dive watch to own. Not only was it super capable, being able to dive down to 500 meters, it had a very innovative way to tracking dive times with a chronograph that had a large central minute arrow hand. The Benthos 500 was supposed to be a jumping off point for a whole collection of Benthos, but plans were cut short by the quartz crisis. Well, the revived Aquastar is righting that wrong, having discovered the designs for a smaller Benthos with a helium release valve. Given a new lease on life by industry legend Rick Marei, you can buy a modern Benthos 500. Up until recently, you could have also bought a Benthos H1, a throwback to divers of old. Earlier this year, we got the Benthos H2, a smaller take on the super capable diver and now we’re getting the same thing, but in blue.

The Benthos H2 hits the nail on the head when it comes to size. Made out of 904L stainless steel, it measures 40mm wide, 11.9mm thick and with a 44 lug-to-lug. This is a welcome shrinkage from the H1, which came in at 42 wide, a whopping 16mm thick and with a 47mm lug-to-lug. The short L2L of the H2 is made possible by the iconic C-shaped case. On top is a flat sapphire crystal, surrounded by a steel unidirectional bezel that has a blue ceramic insert with a fully graduated 60 minute scale. On the right side of the case you’ll find two crowns — the one at 2 o’clock screws down and adjusts the time, while the one at 4 o’clock actually serves as the screw-down helium escape valve. Very nice implementation, that is. Water resistance is 300 meters.

The dial is a simple blue, with the Aquastar logo and brand name at 12, and the Benthos H2 text at 6 o’clock. You get applied indexes, a blue-and-white angled chapter ring and rectangular hands that are filled with lume. And unlike the Old Radium on the black H2, this one gets stark white lume.

Inside, nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the Sellita SW200-1, a very familiar movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black rubber tropic-style strap, which is perfect for a thin diver like this one, but you can also opt for a thicker ISOfrane rubber strap or, for an extra $100, you can get a beads of rice steel bracelet.

The Aquastar Benthos H2 is available for preorder now, with deliveries beginning in August. Also, unlike the black version, this will be a limited edition of 500 pieces. If you get it on preorder, you will pay $1,190 on a Tropic or ISOfrane rubber strap, and if it doesn’t sell out before it goes on sale, the price goes up to $1,390. See more on the Aquastar website.

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Ollech & Wajs P104 ‘Selectron’ Brings Back Their Vintage Slide Rule Bezel

The Zurich-based Ollech & Wajs has a very long connection with military and law-enforcement units and it might be the thing that they are most well known for. However, they also big among scientists, and their Ollech & Wajs Selectron Computer was one of the most famous slide rule watches of its time, allowing engineers to make quick calculations on their wrists. Now, Ollech & Wajs is bringing this back with the Ollech & Wajs P104 ‘Selectron’.

I’ve met the OW team in Geneva, and they’re very meticulous when it comes to their history. So, this modern Selectron is based on the 1969 ‘Selectron Calculator’ Ref 004, which they produced for General Electric Co.’s aerospace engineers and test pilots. very cool. It comes in a beefy stainless steel case that measures 39.5mm wide and a porky 15.8mm thick. That thickness is the product of the protruding box-style crystal on top. The case is fully brushed and on top is a bi-directional slide rule bezel with a logarithmic scale. You can use it to calculate multiplication, division, ratios, percentages, and unit conversions. Water resistance is 300 meters.

The dial looks familiar, save for the metal ring on its periphery that’s part of the scale for the slide rule. The base of the dial is black, with white rectangular and triangular markers, as well as a date aperture above the 6 o’clock position. That’s paired with rectangular hands that have alternating orange and black squares on the minutes hand and orange lume on the hour hand.

Inside is the Soprod Newton Precision P092 automatic movement, which beats at 4Hz and has a 44 hour power reserve. The first 56 watches will come with COSC certified movements, and the COSC movement will be made available as an optional upgrade. The watches come on a nylon RAF Regimantal-style band, with an option of black leather strap or a beads of rice bracelet.

The new Ollech & Wajs P104 ‘Selectron’ is available for pre.order now, priced at CHF 1,656. See more on the Ollech & Wajs website.

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The New BA111OD Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon Gets You Haute Horology At A Fraction Of The Price

Easily, and without a doubt, the best watch I’ve seen at Watches and Wonders is a watch hardly anyone else mentioned. It’s the BA111OD Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon. BA111OD was founded with the idea that Swiss watches can be made for a much lower price. And they applied this philosophy to pretty much every genre of watch. They made the cheapest Swiss-made tourbillon, their CHPTR_Δ brought avant-garde time indications you would expect from the likes of MB&F to the masses. Hell, even their sports watch was greatly priced at CHF 495. But the Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon will drop jaws, as it really should cost multiple times more.

The case is the least interesting part of this watch, but it’s still fantastic. Made out of stainless steel, it measure 41mm wide. I didn’t take any other measurements there, and BA111OD doesn’t post them to the website, but the case is very elegant, with a polished finish and welded lugs. It has a box shaped sapphire crystal on top and the crown sitting offset at 4 o’clock. It even has decent water resistance at 50 meters.

But things get way more exciting on the dial side. It really is one of the most beautiful dials of this year. The base gets a beautifully sunray-finished cosmic blue color, with the sunrays expanding from the small seconds display expanding from the 10 o’clock position. And it’s not a regular small seconds display, but rather just a hand with nothes every 5 seconds. Next to it, at 1 o’clock, is a breathtakingly beautiful hammered and polished moon phase indicator and at 7 o’clock you’ll find the flying tourbillon. There’s not much more to it, other than the polished hands and a tone-on-tone engraving of the brand’s logo at 3 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre BA.02 manual-winding mechanical movement developed in partnership with Olivier Mory, based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The movement beats at 3Hz and has a great power reserve of 120 hours. The movement is chronometer-certified by Timelab - Observatoire Chronométrique de Genève. The watch comes on a dark blue calf leather strap with crocodile-style embossing.

The new Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon is available for pre-order now, with deliveries beginning in November. Now, the best part, the price. Sure, €11.350 is a lot of money, but this watch is incredible value for that amount of money. This is easily a €30.000 watch. See more on the BA111OD website.

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The New H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer Centre Seconds Sunny-Side Up Is Here In Time For Easter

By now, we all know that H. Moser & Cie is really good at color on their dials. We’ve seen the purples, the greens and the reds. Now, a bit of an unusual color, one that is perfect for the Easter egg hunt this weekend — a really nice smoked yellow dial on the Pioneer Centre Seconds. And it’s not just me imagining that their inspiration was an egg. The watch is called the Pioneer Centre Seconds Sunny-Side Up.

On the outside, there are no changes. It comes in the 40mm wide and 12mm thick Pioneer stainless steel case with a brushed finish with cutouts along the mid-case. On top is a domed sapphire crystal and on the right side you’ll find a slightly oversized screw-down crown. That helps with the 120 meter water resistance.

The dial is also relatively unchanged, save for the color. You get the yellow fumé treatment with applied inidices that have lumed dots above them. The hands are leaf-shaped, skeletonized at the base and filled with lume at the top. The central seconds hand features Moser’s signature openworked counterweight.

Inside is the HMC 201 automatic calibre. It beats at 21,600vph and thanks to it’s double barrels it gets a 3 day power reserve. The bridges are partially skeletonized and finished in an anthracite color with Moser’s signature double stripes. The watch comes on a white rubber strap, with an option for a steel bracelet.

The new Pioneer Centre Seconds Sunny-Side Up is available for order now and priced at CHF 15,000. See more on the H. Moser & Cie 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

• This feature appears online under the title “After Forty Years, Phish Isn’t Seeking Resolution,” but the print headline speaks to what makes it so compulsively readable. Whether you love or avoid Phish (mere tolerance doesn’t seem to be an option), the truth remains that no group of musicians so regularly seeks, let alone attains, a state of creative ecstasy. That state extends to the audience as well, many of whom are famously—and chemically—primed for the journey. Over nearly 10,000 words of journalistic jam session, Amanda Petrusich plumbs the phenomenon that has given the Vermonters a thriving multi-decade career.

• When you sit down to eat a meal, do you know exactly where your food comes from and how it was raised? In a revision of a story originally published at Food as a Verb, David Cook profiles the Cherry Family of Tennessee, owners of Bear Creek Farm and Cherry Meat Co., a USDA processing plant.

• In this thoughtful essay for Coda, J. Paul Neeley writes about his participation in a study run by Bryan Johnson, an entrepreneur known for his anti-aging and longevity program called Blueprint. ” Interested in the Quantified Self movement, Neeley was initially enthusiastic about Johnson’s ideas. But participating in the study opened his eyes to the cons—and side effects—of the Blueprint regimen.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

If you ever wondered why James Bond switched from Rolex to Omega, there’s no one better to tell the story than Watches of Espionage.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk