Citizen Launches Unite with Blue Collection Featuring Six Sea of Silence Watches; The Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer Is Super Capable; The Nepro Neprosolar Is Here To Stay; RM's Charles Leclerc Watch

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m still puzzled how Nodus can keep their prices so low for the quality they provide. It’s really cool. Also, please welcome our new sponsor to the newsletter, Circula. I’ve been a huge fan of theirs for a while now, and I’m super happy they’re supporting the newsletter, so feel free to check them out via the button above.

In this issue:

• Citizen Launches New Unite with Blue Limited Collection Featuring Six Sea of Silence Watches

• The New Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer Is About As Capable An Adventure Watch You Can Get

• The Nepro Neprosolar Is Here To Stay As A Recreation Of A 1970s Quirky Digital Watch

• Richard Mille Quietly Releases The RM72-01 'Charles LeClerc'

👂What’s new

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Citizen Launches New Unite with Blue Limited Collection Featuring Six Sea of Silence Watches

In 2023, Citizen decided to celebrate World Oceans Day with the introduction of a new Unite with Blue collection, five watches that featured a unique pigment-free structural ink. That means that instead of painting the dials, they got a dynamic range of colors by reflecting light off the surfaces of microstructures that are embedded within the ink. Now, we’re getting a new Unite with Blue collection, this one called Sea of Silence — six watches with deep blue dials with the same pigment-free ink, inspired by the world’s oceans. Also, instead of linking to each of the watches, Citizen has one page where you can see all the new releases.

Starting with the most expensive of the six, we have the awkwardly named Citizen Attesa Satellite Wave GPS UNITE with BLUE CC4075-50L (don’t worry, the names don’t get much better). It’s a behemoth of a watch, measuring 44.6mm wide and 15.6mm thick, made out of Citizen’s scratch-resistant Super Titanium alloy, on a matching material H-link bracelet. On top is a double-domed sapphire crystal and you get 100 meters of water resistance. Underneath the crystal is a faceted dial with really nice shades of blue and purple. Inside is the Caliber F950 Eco-Drive movement, which offers satellite wave GPS timekeeping, a chronograph, ultra-fast time synchronization, a perpetual calendar, world time functionality, and the ability to run for up to five years on a full charge. The watch is limited to 2,400 pieces and priced at $1,995.

Moving on to the other Attesa model in the lineup, the Citizen Attesa Radio-Controlled UNITE with BLUE CB0288-65L. It’s a slightly smaller, slightly simpler alternative to the flagship. Still made out of Super Titanium, it measures 40.6mm wide and 10.6mm thick, with a flat sapphire on top and 100 meters of water resistance. You get a simpler blue dial with large applied silver hour markers and three hand time indication. Inside is the Caliber H145 Eco-Drive movement, which features radio-controlled timekeeping, along with world timer functionality and a perpetual calendar. Priced at $1,195, the watch is limited to 2,000 pieces.

Next is my favorite, the Citizen Promaster Dive E365 UNITE with BLUE BN1025-08L. Since it’s based on the recently announced Promaster Dive E365, it measures 46mm wide and 16.3mm thick, with a dark blue insert in the unidirectional timing bezel surrounding the flat sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 300 meters. It has the same very cool blue dial and inside is the Eco-Drive Caliber E365 movement, which offers time-and-date functionality with the ability to run for up to an entire year on a full charge. The watch is limited to 4,500 pieces and priced at $750.

The last of the models intended for men, is the Citizen PCAT Radio-Controlled UNITE with BLUE CB5874-81L. Made out of stainless steel, it measures 43mm wide and 12mm thick, with a flat sapphire crystal, a matching stainless steel bracelet and 100 meters of water resistance. Inside is the Eco-Drive Caliber E660 movement which has radio-controlled timekeeping, world timer functionality, a perpetual calendar, and the ability to run for three years on a full charge. Priced at $650, it’s limited to 5,500 pieces.

Moving on to the two women’s models, first we have the Citizen xC Radio-Controlled UNITE with BLUE ES9490-95L. Again, made out of Super Titanium with a domed sapphire crystal, it measures 27mm wide and 8.2mm thick, with a 50 meter water resistance. This has my favorite dial of all, with the same blue base, polished Roman numerals and four asymmetrically set lab-grown diamonds in the bottom left. It makes it look like the dial has bubbles rising up to the surface. Inside is the Eco-Drive Caliber H060 movement which features radio-controlled timekeeping, a perpetual calendar, world timer functionality, and the ability to run for three years on a full charge. The watch is limited to 1,200 pieces and it’s priced at $1,095.

And last, we have the Citizen L Mae UNITE with BLUE EM1060-87L. It’s made out of stainless steel, measures 29.5mm wide and 8.3mm thick, with four lab-grown diamonds set into the bezel right next to crown, which, itself, has a synthetic blue sapphire at the tip. The blue base of the dial gets four lab grown diamonds as hour markers in the cardinal spots. Inside is the Eco-Drive Caliber E031 movement, the simplest of the bunch, with a time-only display and six months of battery life on a full charge. It’s limited to 2,000 pieces and priced at $625.

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The New Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer Is About As Capable An Adventure Watch You Can Get

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the Nodus Sector Deep and I was impressed not just with the build quality of the rather affordable dive watch, but also its potential. Hey, I won’t be diving to 500 meters, but the watch gives off an impression that it could easily take the depth. Now, we’re getting a new version of the Sector Deep, one that gets even more useful for your upcoming adventures — this is the new Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer which pairs the chunky case and 500 meter water resistance with a GMT functionality. I like it a lot.

The new Sector Deep Pioneer is technically identical to the original Sector Deep. It comes in a matte stainless steel case that measures 38mm wide, 13.6mm thick, and with the 47mm lug-to-lug. On top of the case is a black DLC coated bezel that measures 4mm wider than the case, overhanging it. The bezel is a story in itself, operating in 120 clicks, and using ball bearings instead of click springs, and it’s different to the original Sector Deep — instead of a combination 60 minute scale on the outer ring and 12-hour scale on the inner ring, this new one gets the 60 minute scale on the outside and a new compass scale on the inner one, sinceAthe hour scale has been moved to the dial. All of the scales on the dial are lumed, and Nodus is good at lume. Water resistance remains at 500 meters.

There are two versions of the Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer available, the Forge with a black dial and red accents, and the Admiral with a blue dial and light blue accents. The dials have the chunky hour markers that glow a bright blue at night, and keep the same broad arrow hands. Both dials have a skeletonized new hand that points to the full 24-hour GMT scale around the centre of the dial, red on the Forge and blue on the Admiral. There’s also a peripheral day/night indicator minute scale.

Inside, you will find the NH34 which is essentially the GMT version of the NH35 found in the standard model. It has a 41-hour power reserve and Nodus regulates the movement to get accuracy of +/- 10 seconds. Both watches come on one of the best bracelets at this price point, with the NodeX tool less micro-adjustable clasp.

The new Nodus Sector Deep Pioneer duo will go on sale on Wednesday, May 21st, at 9:00AM Pacific Time. Shipping starts on Friday, May 23rd. Price is set at $625, solidifying Nodus as a maker of some of the best bang-for-buck watches out there. See it on the Nodus website.

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The Nepro Neprosolar Is Here To Stay As A Recreation Of A 1970s Quirky Digital Watch

For quite a few months last year, George Bamford, the watch customizer and designer, couldn’t stop talking about Nepro. He showed up on quite a few watch podcasts, fawning over the defunct watch brand, going so far to get in contact with the founding family of the brand. It was pretty much clear that he was working on something with them. And in June, Bamford London released the limited Neprosolar, a simple black watch with a display and some very nifty features. Following that timed release, the Daniel Spadini, the CEO of the family owned-company Alatron SA that supplies watch parts to other manufacturers and owner of the Nepro brand, built on the Bamford London release to bring the Neprosolar to the market as an unlimited release.

The watch has a very unique look, more like a bracelet than a watch. Well, that’s mostly because it is a bracelet whose loop is broken up with a slight change in shape to hold the display and solar panel. That part measures 36.2mm wide and about 11mm thick. The entire thing is made out of stainless steel and the most prominent part of the watch is the display which is a red OLED. The watch has two buttons: one on the left to set the watch; another on the right to control the display. A touch of the right button illuminates an hour and minute display, a second touch shows the day and month, a third shows the power reserve. The display is programmed to sleep after 4 seconds, but that can be adjusted to 10 seconds or be set to always on.

Above the display, which is angled towards up towards the wearer, is a mirrored solar cell. The battery is also very interesting and varies greatly on your usage. Set the watch to always on and keep it in the dark and it will deplete in 10 hours. Keep the watch in the dark and with the display off, and the battery will work for three years. But in regular use, the battery is expected to last about 500 days and it takes the battery 20 hours to recharge from zero.

The Nepro Neprosolar is available for pre-order right now, with deliveries starting at the end of May. Oh, and the watch comes in a really cool metal cylinder. The watch is priced at €736, without tax. This is certainly a niche product, but I love that it exists. See more on the Nepro watch website.

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Richard Mille Quietly Releases The RM72-01 'Charles LeClerc'

We knew that it would be a good season for Formula 1 watches, as pretty much every major watch F1 sponsor has released some sort of limited or regular edition inspired by the race and the drivers. And you can buy a lot of them. This new one, quietly released by Richard Mille during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, isn’t as accessible as some of the other ones. This is the new Richard Mille RM72-01 made for Charles Leclerc.

The watch takes on the form of the RM72-01 we’ve seen before, meaning a tonneau shaped case that measures 38.4mm wide, 11.68mm thick and with a 47.34mm length. The watch is made out of quartz TPT, but this time it’s white with red stripes and sides, as an homage to the flag of Monaco, where Leclerc is from. On the side is a black rubberized crown which has a pattern to make it look like it’s a tire twisting under acceleration. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The dial is fully skeletonized, with a black base and three sub-dials outlined in red and white, the same colors as the case. There are no hour numerals, and on the 24 hour totalizer you can see the number 16 highlighted in blue, with a different font, one that’s used by Ferrari for their driver numbers. Of course, Leclerc uses the number 16.

Inside, and visible from the front and back is the RM calibre CRMC-1, a flyback chronograph with 30-minute and 24-hour totalizers, running seconds, and a column-wheel control system and double tilting pinion clutch system. The movement also features a function indicator to show the position of the crown and a date aperture at 7 o’clock. The movement beats at 4Hz, with a cupro-beryllium (CuBe) freesprung adjustable mass balance, and a 50 hour power reserve. The rotor is made out of platinum and it’s set on ceramic bearings. The watch comes on a white rubber strap.

The new Richard Mille RM72-01 Charles Leclerc is supposedly limited to 150 pieces and priced at $300,000. I would tell you to check out the Richard Mille website, but it’s still not up there.

⏲️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 piece from Politico does a deep dive into America’s greatest espionage mystery. It really is a rollercoaster of betrayal and double turns, covering the second best modern era of espionage.

• As someone who lived in New York for college, and now living in Europe, I’m not as affected with Trumps various escapades. But one of them deeply disturbed me. Not because of what Trump did, he will do exactly what we expect him to do, but rather by the response. A few months ago, Trump threatened to take away $400 million from Columbia university in federal funding if they bow down to him. And like the lowest of the low garbage, Columbia caved instantly, despite their 14 billion endowment, which makes the federal funding a drop in the lake. New York Magazine has an in depth account on how Columbia became the cucks of academia. I’m glad I chose NYU over them.

• For Broadcast, the magazine of Pioneer Works, Elise Cutts tells the story of Marie Tharp, a geologist and oceanographer whose groundbreaking work mapping the seafloor transformed our understanding of the earth—and helped spark a scientific revolution. Tharp’s discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge played a pivotal role in shifting geological thought, leading to the acceptance of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Chinese watchmaking is becoming very, very interesting.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk