Circula's New Sensational Diver Is Manta Ray-Inspired; MING's Titanium GMT Diver; Panerai's Different Lunar New Year Watch; Enamel UN Freak S; Louis Moinet's Green Titanium Chronograph Tourbillon

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Arm is still killing me, seeing a neurosurgeon this week, so these releases are still a bit late. I’m doing my best. Also, the paid subscriber post is missing today, but it will be included in tomorrow’s edition. Sorry about that!

In this issue

• Circula Releases Brand New Diving Collection, The Sensational Manta Ray-Inspired ProSea

• MING Releases The 37.11 Odyssey, A Titanium GMT Watch Available With One Of The Best Bracelets Ever

• Panerai Gives Us A Slightly Different Take On The Lunar New Year With The Radiomir 8 Giorni China PAM02088

• Ulysse Nardin Comes Out With Red And Turquoise Enamel Dial Freak S Models

• Louis Moinet Gives Us A Very Green Impulsion Titanium Chronograph Tourbillon

👂What’s new

1/

Circula Releases Brand New Diving Collection, The Sensational Manta Ray-Inspired ProSea

Loyal readers know that I am a pretty big fan of Circula watches. Last year they released the ProFlight, their very modern take on a traditional pilot’s watch and it was one of my favorite releases of year. It was also my favorite Circula watch. I also very much liked the approach the owner, Cornelius Huber, went about reworking the entire lineup of the brand, keeping an air of tradition about them while making every single one decidedly modern. The keen-eyed among you might have noticed that I said that the ProFlight was my favorite Circula. That’s because I have a new favorite — the just-released dive collection, the ProSea, with one of the best dials I’ve seen in a while and some incredibly tasteful details.

The case of the ProSea builds up on the existing ProTrial, but takes it to a new level. The case is made out of 316L stainless steel that has a surface coating for scratch resistance up to 1,200 Vickers. It has a very traditional diver-width of 40mm, a comfortable 11.7mm thickness and a pretty great 46mm lug-to-lug. This will wear fantastic, especially thanks to the intricate construction of the case, designed by famed designer Guy Bove, that has a lot of angles and grained side indentations. On top, and surrounding the domed sapphire crystal, is a 120-click unidirectional rotating, ball-bearing diver's bezel with a matte ceramic insert. The insert comes in black with yellow or blue markings for the first 15 minutes or in blue with blue markings, with the entire scale made of Super-LumiNova C3 X1. Water resistance is 200 meters.

While the case is cool, the dial is absolutely spectacular. Let’s start with the rehaut that holds the minute scale — it’s half matte, half brushed, creating a very special effect. That surrounds the main dial part of the dial which has one of the best textures I’ve ever seen, imitating the skin of a manta ray. Three colors are available — black, blue and petrol. All of them feature blocky lume indices, which is where you’ll find another detail that’s jut perfect: the 12 o’clock triangle has a slight cutout in it, as if it was made by the triangle on the bezel. Great work. The petrol dial has a bright yellow seconds hand, while the other two have blue hands. The only thing keeping me from saying this is a perfect dial is the inclusion of the date aperture at 6 o’clock, but I get this is something people want. At least here it’s well done with a color matched date wheel.

Inside is the very well known and familiar Sellita SW200 in Elaboré grade. You know and love this movement. It’s reliable, it’s easily servicable and surprisingly accurate in my experience. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The movement is adjusted in Pforzheim to an accuracy of -5/+7 seconds per day. The watches can be had on a hybrid rubber strap with rubber on the inside and cordura on the outside or on a hardened stainless steel bracelet.

The new Circula ProSea is available for pre-order now, with deliveries starting on Novemeber 17th. Price is set at €1,090 on rubber or €1,290 with both the steel and rubber straps. I want this on my wrist, ASAP. See more on the Circula website.

2/

MING Introduces The 37.11 Odyssey, A Titanium GMT Watch Available With One Of The Best Bracelets Ever

Not to say that their watches weren’t cool before, but it was the MING 37 Series, more particularly the 37.09 Bluefin which won them the GPHG, that pushed them smack-dab into the limelight. Sure, they made dive watches before, but it was the simplicity of the Bluefin, along with the prestigious award, that is setting the playing field for what seems to be coming next. Stuff like the new 37.11 Odyssey, built on the same internal-bezel-two-crown construction as the Bluefin, which is now lightweight titanium dive watch with a GMT complication. About as perfect as a combination of complications can get.

Building on the base of the Bluefin, you get the iconic case construction with pagoda-style lugs. Made out of titanium, the case measures 38mm wide, 12.6mm thick and has a 44.5mm lug-to-lug. The case has a brushed finish, which you would expect from a sporty titanium case. There are two crowns on the right side — the one at 2 o’clock screws down and is used to wind the watch and set the time, while the crown at 4 operates the internal rotating sapphire bezel. It should be noted that it doesn’t screw down and the watch still has a 300 meter of water resistance.

While the Bluefin used that internal sapphire bezel for a 60 minute dive bezel, the Odyssey converts it into a 24 click bezel to display hours corresponding to the 24 time zones. The dial is not a solid piece but rather a smoked sapphire crystal, which gives you a peek at the movement inside. Surrounding the dial are elongated circular hour indices that aren’t printed on the bottom dial but rather engraved into a top crystal, filled with MING Polar White lume that actually glows white. Speaking of lume, the numerals on the bezel are color coded orange for nighttime and blue for daytime. The hands are sensational, openworked and have a gradient luminous effect that really needs to be seen to be experienced.

Inside, you’ll find the Sellita SW330.M2 movement that’s been modified to MING’s specifications. It’s a familiar automatic movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. Modifications include an anthracite skeletonized mainplate, bridges and rotor. The watch is available on one of three straps — a slate FKM rubber strap, a new grade 2 titanium universal bracelet with folding buckle and their sensational grade 5 titanium polymesh strap that they introduced recently that looks like a silky mesh but made out of titanium. It’s an incredibly cool thing to behold and see move in video.

The new MING 37.11 Odyssey goes on sale tomorrow, November 11 at 13:00 GMT with prices depending on the bracelet. On FKM, it’s priced at CHF 4,950, on the grade 2 titanium bracelet it’s CHF 5,500 and on the polymesh it’s €5,950. See more on the MING website.

3/

Panerai Presents A Slightly Different Take On The Lunar New Year With The Radiomir 8 Giorni China PAM02088

A couple of weeks ago, IWC was the first brand this year to release a special edition that honors the upcoming Lunar New Year of the Horse. And it is very much in line what you expect from a Lunar New Year watch — it was red and gold, with an engraving of a horse, to mark the animal that is the theme of next year. The second watch we get celebrating the Year of the Horse comes from Panerai and is so wildly different than everything we’re going to get in the coming months, I’m just going to go ahead and say that this is going to be the best Lunar New Year watch. This is the new Panerai Radiomir 8 Giorni China PAM02088.

On the outside, it’s a very familiar watch, not just because it’s a familiar Radiomir case, but also because it’s a quote of the legendary PAM3646. But more on that later. The case is made out of Brunito stainless steel, which is Panerai’s way of creating an interesting brushed finish. They coat the stainless steel with a black PVD coating and then brush the vast majority of it off to leave behind an almost patinated look. The case is cushion shaped, measures 45mm wide, wire lugs and a conical crown that doesn’t have a protector, as is in line with Radiomir models. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, out back is a flat sapphire crystal and water resistance is a mediocre 100 meters — one would expect more from Panerai.

But then we come to the dial, which is spectacular and a quote of the 3646. That was the watch made as a dive watch for the Italian Navy and it featured a California dial. The legend goes that the dial was split up into Roman numerals on the upper half with Arabic numerals on the lower half, with the idea that this would enhance legibility at a glance under water. There are some disputes to this story, but let’s run with it for now. Because what Panerai does here is use Roman numerals on the upper half, and replaces them with Chinese numerals on the bottom half. Now, that’s extremely cool. The numerals are painted on with beige Super-LumiNova X1, with the same beige railroad track on the periphery and a black base. The hands are blued through a controlled oxidation process, complement the vintage-inspired dial layout.

The 8 Giorni in the name means that inside you’ll find the manual wind calibre P.5000 which gives the watch 8 days of power reserve. To do that, it beats at 21,600vph and has two barrels. The watch comes on a brown leather strap featuring contrasting white stitching and a stainless-steel pin buckle.

Now, for the release, which seems to be the best news. The watch might not be limited, which is great news. But even if it is, there will be a global rollout of it and it won’t be limited to just China. It will first release in late November in China, expanding to Asia in December, with a global rollout in 2026. That’s freaking cool. What isn’t cool is that I would love a slightly lower price. Right now, it’s set at €12,700. The watch is not on the Panerai site yet, but should show up at one point.

4/

Ulysse Nardin Comes Out With Red And Turquoise Enamel Dial Freak S Models

As watch enthusiasts, we all have watches that we MUSTH have in our collections. Some are more affordable, others are virtually unattainable. I already have some of these, like the Omega Speedmaster, but there are many more that are still to make their place into the watch box. And I’ve sworn that I will have at least one Ludwig Oechslin watch. This will likely be an Ochs und Junior, but I really wouldn’t mind owning an Ulysse Nardin Freak, a wild thing designed by Oechslin. Until then, I can write about the Freaks, like this new duo of Freak S watches. The Freak S is now about three or four years old, and we haven’t seen that many iterations of it. Which is a shame, because the S in the Freak S doesn’t mean small, it means superlative. These are the best of the best of the Freak models. And here, we’re getting them with beautiful red and turquoise handmade enamel hour discs.

While the case of the Freak S is cool, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening on the dial side. But let’s still cover it. It’s made out of titanium, with a titanium notched and angular bezel used to set the time and a titanium caseback. On top is a domed sapphire box crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides, and these are all things we’ve seen before on the Freak S, including the 30 meter water resistance.

Where things get really freaky, is on the dial. Produced at Donzé Cadrans, an enamel workshop owned by Ulysse Nardin, the dial has a very deep 18k white gold disc treated with enamel in turquoise or a beautiful ruby red. The discs are then treated with guilloché flinqué pattern done by hand, covered with a translucent coat of enamel. Above the enamel discs is the super complicated time telling mechanism. The entire thing looks like a spaceship that rotates once every hour, indicating the minutes, while below it you’ll find a disc that rotates every 12 hours and indicates the hours. The central chunk is an integral part of the calibre UN-251, meaning that 95% of the components of the movement are in motion. That is so cool. The movement beats at 2.5Hz and it has a 72 hour power reserve. The red watch comes with a ballistic white rubber strap, while the blue comes on a grey rubber strap, both with a titanium folding buckle.

The new Ulysse Nardin Freak S Enamel is limited to 50 pieces per color, priced at €163,300. See more on the Ulysse Nardin website.

5/

Louis Moinet Gives Us A Very Green Impulsion Titanium Chronograph Tourbillon

I’m honest when I say that I was never particularly interested in much that Louis Moinet does. No idea why. They never popped off the screen at me, and some of them are very thick. But this year in Geneva I got to try one on for the first time and it was instant love. I can now say that Louis Moinet makes some pretty incredible stuff. And one of them is the Impulsion line of watches, a very modern interpretation of a chronograph tourbillon watch. Now, ahead of Dubai Watch Week, we’re getting an acid green version of the Impulsion Titanium Green. Very groovy.

Like so many (maybe all?) Louis Moinet watches, this one is made out of Grade-5 titanium, measuring 42.5mm wide and a significant 14.75mm thick. There’s a lot going on with this case. It’s faceted, with a satin finish, polished bevels, bead basting and openworked sides that exposed the dark inner frame. Not even the lugs are saved from tinkering, with cutouts on the tops and sides. It’s an incredible thing to behold. There are sapphire crystal on top and bottom with a bezel that is weirdly faceted to match the rest of the case. Water resistance is 30 meters, but I would fear wearing this on a humid day, let alone go swimming with this.

While the setup of the dial remains the same as previous versions, there are some very special details here. First, there’s a deep green chapter ring on the periphery that holds the minute scale with red marks every five minutes. The top part of the dial is smoked sapphire, over which you’ll find the faceted, skeletonized and lumed hour and minute hands, as well as the red chrono hand and the running seconds and 30-minute totaliser. Below that is a plate of carbon fiber that extends beneath the 6 o’clock aperture which has the cage for the tourbillon.

The movement you see partially from the front and more from the back is the Concepto-developed hand-wound calibre LM114 which has a pretty unusual combination of functions, a dial-side, column-wheel monopusher chronograph actuated by the 2 o’clock pusher, combined with a flying tourbillon with an off-centre cage turning once per minute. You can see the chronograph works and horizontal clutch through the dial, which is always really cool. Of course, the movement has twin barrels, giving you 96 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a matching green Louisiana alligator strap closed with a triple-blade folding clasp with fine adjustment.

The new Louis Moinet Impulsion Titanium Green is limited to 12 pieces with price expected to be somewhere around CHF 110,000 without taxes. See more on the Louis Moinet website.

⏲️End links

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• This two-day experiment revealed the astonishing pervasiveness of A.I. in daily life, from facial recognition on smartphones to machine-learning-powered urban services. Like a modern-day hermit, the author navigated a world stripped of A.I., encountering reliance on old-school tools and new awareness of the invisible algorithms shaping choices, comforts, and even simple routines.

• Once a glamorous Dallas socialite, Sandra Camille Bridewell left a trail of mystery, manipulation, and alleged fraud as she shifted identities from society wife to missionary. Branded “The Black Widow” after three husbands and a best friend died in her orbit, her tangled history is a tale of reinvention, suspicion, and the havoc one charismatic woman can inspire.

• Luke May, a real-life consulting detective likened to Sherlock Holmes, cracked one of the weirdest murder mysteries of 1920s Oregon: the fatal stabbing of Ebba Covell. Using his methodical, forensic approach, May uncovered a deadly astrological crime plot orchestrated by a wheelchair-bound uncle who used star charts to time murders, manipulating his impressionable nephew to execute his sinister plan.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Hot Ones remains the best show on the interenet and

Thanks for reading,
Vuk