Bulova Ads Colors To The Snorkel, Its Affordable Plastic Swatch-Killer; Doxa Is Back With Another Clive Cussler Collab; Bell & Ross BR-05 Skeleton In Black Ceramic; David Candaux's DC7 Blue Hawk

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. This weekend, my kid decided that it was a great idea to discover the joy of blowing all of her germs directly into my nose, so I’m sick as a dog, running a fever. Take this as an apology for the tardiness, and announcement that there’s no newsletter tomorrow. There aren’t any great releases, and I’m dying over here. But despite the low output today, we have some great watches.

In this issue:

• Bulova Ads Iconic Colors To The Snorkel, Its Affordable Plastic Swatch-Killer

• Doxa Is Back With Another Clive Cussler Collaboration, The Coolest One Yet

• Bell & Ross Introduces The BR-05 Skeleton In A Black Ceramic Case

• David Candaux Keeps The Funky Inclined Tourbillon And Hidden Crown On The DC7 Blue Hawk

👂What’s new

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Bulova Ads Iconic Colors To The Snorkel, Its Affordable Plastic Swatch-Killer

In January of this year, Bulova pulled quite the move, one that I liked a lot. They relaunched their Snorkel line of casual divers and created a watch that I instantly fell in love with and will be including in my best of 2025 lists. Instead of just adding colors to the existing Snorkel, Bulova completely redesigned a case, giving it a very retro C-shape, and made it out of colorful plastic. In one way, it seemed that Bulova was building on the “Swatch X” trend, but they did so in a very original and very good looking way. The original four came in a variety of great colors, and the version we’re getting now is extremely 90s. No, really, do you remember these cups? Tell me that’s not the exact same colorway? Bulova is calling this the Coral Reef

On the outside, everything remains the same. It’s a C-shaped case which measures 41mm wide, 12mm thick and has a compact 43mm lug-to-lug. Sure, thickness could be a bit lower, but part of it is dedicated to the pronounced double-domed sapphire crystal on top, which is a very nice addition to an affordable watch. Let me tell you, I’ve recently seen the wholesale price difference between single and double domed sapphire crystals, and it’s a 10x difference. So thanks, Bulova. The sapphire crystal is robust, but to keep the rest of the watch just as tough, it has a stainless steel core that holds the movement, along with a stainless steel crown. The plastic around that steel core comes in a very light grey, with a teal bezel that has a silver and pink insert.

The dial has the same wavy texture on the bottom half, stick markers and hour and minute hands, both filled with lume, and a date window at 3 o’clock as previous editions, only this one comes in a teal color, with a pink seconds hand.

Inside, you’ll find the Miyota 2115 quartz movement, which will get you approximately three years of power reserve and an accuracy rating of 15 seconds per month. Unlike previous editions that came on Tropic-style rubber straps, this one comes on a faux-NATO style strap that has quick-release spring bars and a stainless steel pin buckle.

Unfortunately, the Bulova Snorkel Coral Reef (in fact, the entire collecion) is still available only in the US, which is an incredible shame. It’s really hot outside and this would be the perfect summer watch. Come on, Bulova. Price is set at $395, which is $45 higher than the January release, but I’ve seen the prices fall on these fast. See more on the Bulova website (if you are in the US, because Bulova has a different website for the rest of the world).

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Doxa Is Back With Another Clive Cussler Collaboration, The Coolest One Yet

Despite him not being among the living any more, every year for Clive Cussler’s birthday, Doxa releases a special edition watch to honor the writer of some of the most entertaining adventure fiction we’ve ever seen. Cussler was an American novelist best known for his adventure book series with leading man Dirk Pitt, a marine engineer graduated from the US Air Force Academy and served as a pilot during the Vietnam War. After leaving the Air Force, Pitt became a full time adventurer and explorer. His weapon of choice is a .45 Colt that he received from his father. His drink of choice is tequila with salt and lime. And most of the time, he strapped an orange dial Doxa 300T dive watch to his wrist, the same that was made famous by Jacques Cousteau. The story of how the Doxa was chosen is also pretty amazing - during his younger years and before becoming a full-time writer, Clive Cussler worked in a dive shop. Once his first novel finished, he decided to quit his position in the shop, devoting the rest of his life to the creation of his books. And before he left, the manager of the shop gifted him an orange dial Doxa SUB 300T. But Cussler wasn’t just a writer, he was also an avid shipwreck hunter who founded the non-profit National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA). Now, we’re getting the third Cussler Doxa, the SUB 300T Clive Cussler Edition, and I would say it’s the best one yet.

Previous collaborations came in the SUB 300T case which got an extremely weathered case that looked like it belonged on the wrist of an adventurer. The latest collaboration comes in the SUB 750T, with a completely different take. The 750T is among the more robust offerings from Doxa, and it’s obvious from the dimensions. The case is 45mm wide, which sounds substantial, but thanks to the helmet-style case it has a rather reasonable lug-to-lug of 47mm. But what’s most impressive about its size is the thickness, which measures 11.95mm. That doesn’t sound particularly thin, but when you consider the water resistance of 750 meters, it’s incredible. This case doesn’t have the weathered finish, but rather a combination of brushed and polished surfaces, making it stand out a lot less and out back is a solid caseback with an engraved compass rose, a nod to Cussler’s life and writings. On top is a saw-tooth bezel that has a orange no-deco scale followed by a black 60-minute scale.

The dial is my favorite part, as it puts this Clive Cussler side by side with Doxa models developed for companies like Aqua Lung. The base of the dial is the iconic Professional Orange version, paired with black markers with cream lume. The chunky hands are black and have a lighter shade of lume. At 3 o’clock is a date window with a white date discs and the dates 7, 15, and 31 highlighted in orange to mark Cussler’s birthday and the Sahara release date. But most eye-catching is the NUMA logo that sits at 7:30.

Inside the watch is a very familiar and reliable/easily servicable Sellita SW300-1 automatic movement, which beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a beads of rice bracelet closed with a folding clasp that has a diving suit extension, and you get an additional orange NATO strap with a central black stripe.

The new SUB 750T Clive Cussler is limited to 94 pieces, a nod to Cussler’s 94th birthday which would have been today. Price is set at €2,890, with a portion of the proceeds going to NUMA. See more on the Doxa website.

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Bell & Ross Introduces The BR-05 Skeleton In A Black Ceramic Case

While my sympathies lie with other models in their range, the French indie watch brand Bell & Ross has been going all out on their BR-05 collection. It’s the closest they have come to an integrated bracelet sports watch with their square case designs. And since its introduction, they’ve been releasing model, after model, after model of what must be a huge hit for them. The cool thing is we get to see how versatile the BR-05 is, with watches ranging from plain black and silver watches, all the way to what we have today — the BR-05 Skeleton Phantom Ceramic, which comes in a fully ceramic case with a skeletonized dial and completely black. This thing is sleek.

Like a lot of Bell & Ross watches, when they switched from steel to ceramic for the case, it increased in size just a bit and now measures 41mm wide and 11.2mm thick. The black ceramic case keeps the brushed and polished surfaces, with a flat sapphire crystal on top, surrounded by the flat ceramic bezel held down with four exposed screws. This is also the surface where the dramatic vertical brushing and polished bevels are most obvious. Water resistance is 100 meters.

As black as the case is the dial, or what’s left of it since it’s skeletonized. Or, perhaps better said, completely transparent. You get a black flange on the edge that holds the black hour markers filled with dark grey Super-LumiNova, while the center of the dial is covered by a smoked sapphire crystal. The hands are also black with grey lume, while the seconds hand is rhodium-plated.

Inside, no surprises. It’s the Caliber BR-CAL.322-1, which is essentially a slightly redesigned Sellita SW300. It beats at 4Hz, has a 54 hour power reserve and has a black-coated movement with a blackened 360-degree rotor. The watch comes on a black ceramic bracelet, but you can also opt for a black rubber strap.

The Bell & Ross BR-05 Skeleton Phantom Ceramic is a limited to 500 pieces, priced at €9,100 on rubber and €9,900 on the bracelet. See more on the Bell & Ross website.

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David Candaux Keeps The Funky Inclined Tourbillon And Hidden Crown On The DC7 Blue Hawk

I haven’t exactly written much about the independent watchmaker David Candaux. And there is a pretty good reason for that — since the brand was launched in 2017, they’ve only released two models, with the last one, the DC6, released in 2019. So, it’s been a while. But late last week, we got the DC7 Blue Hawk which keeps all the signature David Candaux flourishes, including that interesting crown and tourbillon, paired with layered architecture and a new blue color.

If you’ve seen the price of this watch before reading about it, you would have been forgiven if you thought it is made out platinum or white gold. But it’s not. It’s made out of Grade 5 titanium that DC says is completely hand polished, which is a rarity. The shape of the case is hard to capture in photos. The brand calls it basin-shaped, with an asymmetric construction from 6 to 12 o’clock, but a symmetrical shape from 3 to 9. There’s an incredible amount of curvature here, accentuated with the lugs that swoop into the sides of the case. The lugs also form a dish at 6 o’clock, which holds the patented Magic Crown, a flush crown that you press in to have it spring out for winding and time setting. On each side of the crown are lacquer-filled plaques engraved with “David Candaux” and “Handcrafted”. This whole thing is very… interesting? Water resistance is 30 meters.

There’s more curves and levels on the dial side. The central part of the dial is done in anodised titanium, surrounded by an engraved minutes track and recessed baton hour indices. At 12 o’clock is an aperture for the tourbillon, but not just a regular tourbillon — it’s an inclined tourbillon which is angled to the side. The angle is even clearer with the inclusion of bright blue bridges on the cage. The tourbillon also acts as a seconds hand, with a tiny white lacquered titanium hand pointing to the correct time. The skeletonized hands are hand-polished, bevelled and with blue lumed triangles at the tips.

The watch is powered by the hand wound calibre H70 which the brand uses in the entire DC7 series. The movement is also made out of titanium, also inclined at 3° relative to the case and beats at 21,600 vibrations/hour. The movement has two coaxial barrels that gives you a 72 hour power reserve. The movement has hand-polished bevels, straight-grained titanium bridges, a black-polished tourbillon bridge, and inward angles. The watch comes on a rally nice looking handmade rubber strap with a leather lining and available with a Velcro closure, folding clasp, or pin buckle.

The new David Candaux DC7 Blue Hawk is limited to eight pieces, which kind of makes sense with a price tag of CHF 149,000. Without tax. See more on the David Candaux 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

• For nearly a year, a motley crew scoured New Orleans for a shaggy white mutt named Scrim. To his own surprise, David W. Brown, a cat person, became one of the most dedicated seekers. The saga opened Brown’s adopted city up to him.

• Caught between suburban Utah and the heart of Africa, two unlikely friends—Marcel Malanga and Tyler Thompson—find themselves at the center of a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What began as a wild, “Call of Duty”-style adventure spirals into international intrigue, violence, and betrayal, leaving families and friends questioning how ordinary young men became accused mercenaries and symbols of a nation’s struggle for change.

• After her marriage crumbles, 73-year-old Margaret is swept up in an online romance with a man claiming to be Kevin Costner—only to lose $100,000 and her sense of reality. As AI-powered celebrity scams proliferate, Margaret’s story reveals how loneliness, hope, and digital deception collide, leaving victims isolated and families fractured in a world where no one is who they seem.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

In October of 2014, Jorg Verhoeven spent 30 days in Yosemite Valley, California with one goal in mind; Make a free ascent of The Nose (5.14), on El Capitan, arguably one of the world's most famous climbs. Join Jorg as he explains why this route is so hard, what keeps people from climbing this iconic route free, and what he personally invested into his remarkable ascent. Tommy Caldwell and Lynn Hill help narrate this incredible story of determination and perseverance that ultimately leads to the 5th free ascent of The Nose.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk