Citizen's 39.5mm Promaster Land GMT Gets New Colors; Mido's Rose Gold Multifort; A Ghost In The Shell G-Shock; Hublot Teams Up With Yamamoto; The De Bethune And LV's Collaboration Is Incredible

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I try to cover as many watches as possible, from the most affordable ones all the way to things we’ll never even see in real life, let alone own. But sometimes, a haute horology watch goes so far you can’t even believe it was made. A 4 million Euro clock/watch is, of course, ridiculous. And maybe shouldn’t even exist. But I’m glad it does.

Also, I want to point out that this weekend is the last chance to buy the Alpina × TRTS Seastrong Diver Extreme. I reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, if you’re interested. I loved it, despite (or maybe because) the fact it was made by my friends from The Real Time Show.

In this issue

• Citizen Expands The 39.5mm Promaster Land GMT Collection With Great New Colors And Textures

• Mido Digs Deeper With The Rose Gold And Black Multifort 8 Two Crowns

• G-Shock Celebrates 37 Years Of Ghost In The Shell With A Special DW‑5600

• Hublot Teams Up With Cult Japanese Designer Johji Yamamoto For An All-Black Camo Classic Fusion

• De Bethune Is Louis Vuitton’s Next Collaborator, And The Result Will Set You Back Millions

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Your Next Watch, Week 65: A Slick Cartier; The Best Sinn You'll See This Year; A Cool Ana-Digi Citizen; And A Longines That Doesn't Need Words

👂What’s new

1/

Citizen Expands The 39.5mm Promaster Land GMT Collection With Great New Colors And Textures

Citizen is such a huge company, it’s almost impossible to keep up with their releases from around the world. Not all of their watches are available everywhere. So, take this release with a grain of sand, because I’m pretty sure that only three of these watches are new and they are available in the US and Asia. But tracking them all down is almost impossible, so your mileage may vary. I haven’t written about the 39.5mm Promaster Land GMT before, which is a major oversight on my part. I think only one of these watches were available before this expansion, however it’s the new colors, combined with the great size, is what makes this a very interesting. So, here’s everything I could muster about the new 39.5mm Promaster Land GMT.

To add to the mystery of this entire release, the Hong Kong site lists the case size as 38.6mm diameter and 13.4mm thick vs the 39.5mm diameter on the Citizen USA site. Those are pretty significant differences, but I like both of those diameters. The Promaster line is known for its 42mm+ sized watches, so this is refreshingly small. Three of the four new releases come in steel cases, while one gets a black coating. On top of all are domed sapphire crystals, surrounded by a (supposedly fixed) 24 hour marked bezel in either silver or black to match the case finishing. On the side is a knurled protected screw down crown that gives you 200 meters of water resistance.

The colors on these watches are pretty great. The BJ7150-09L has a blue textured dial, yellow GMT hand, and nylon strap, the BJ7150-50E has a black dial, red GMT hand, and bracelet, while the BJ7155-05X has a green dial, yellow GMT hand, and a black case and bezel. Last is the BJ7150-50W which has a red dial, yellow GMT hand and comes on a bracelet. All of them feature date apertures at 3 o’clock, oversized numerals at all the positions, except for the cardinal ones that get batons and a triangle at 12. The indexes, numerals and large hands are all filled with lume.

Inside, you’ll find the caliber B878. It’s an Eco-Drive GMT movement which means that it’s powered by light and has a flyer-style GMT complication. The watches come on stainless steel bracelets and nylon straps.

So, the new Citizen Promaster Land GMT is on sale now, but for the love of me, I can’t guarantee where or for how much. All four versions are for sure available in Hong Kong, while I’m fairly certain that only the red one is available in the US. However, I assume they will become available worldwide soon. These are too good to not be able to buy. As for the price, my best guess is they will set you back between $510 and $595, depending what model you get and where. You can see more on the Hong Kong Citizen website or on the US Citizen website.

2/

Mido Digs Deeper With The Rose Gold And Black Multifort 8 Two Crowns

Writing about at least 25 new watches every week, things get a bit blurry. It’s often hard to keep track of what was released when and which line gets which update. For example, I was sure that the Mido Multifort 8 Two Crowns has been around for at least a couple of years. Nope, it launched last year around this time. But since, they’ve released so many updates to the collection that it looks well developed. Just recently, they added another variant — the Mido Multifort 8 Two Crowns in a rose gold colored case with a blue dial.

The Multifort 8 Two Crowns comes in a stainless steel barrel-shape case that measures 40mm wide, a pretty spectacular 9.5mm thick and a lug-to-lug which measures 44.86mm. Can’t get much more wearable than that for a sports watch. Instead of a regular brushed steel case, it now has a rose gold PVD coating. On top is a fixed metal bezel with eight sides cut out of it. The lugs are faceted and there’s a single narrow mid-link to connect the watch to the strap. On the side are two crowns, one to set the time and the other to operate the internal 60-minute bezel. Water resistance is 100 meters.

This version comes with a black dial, once again with a thin striped pattern on it. The dial is surrounded by a color matched internal bezel, and the hour markers are recessed into the dial. The hands are thin, faceted, polished batons, with the same gold PVD coating and are covered in Super-LumiNova, just like the markers. There’s a date aperture at 3 o’clock with a black date wheel.

Inside, somewhat surprisingly, you won’t find the Powermatic 80, a staple in the Swatch Group lineup. Instead, you get the extremely thin Calibre 72, which is actually the ETA A31.111, an evolution of the ETA 2892. The movement beats at 3.5Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black rubber strap that closes with a folding clasp.

The new Mido Multifort 8 Two Crowns in Rose Gold is available for purchase now and priced at €1,220. See more on the Mido website.

3/

G-Shock Celebrates 37 Years Of Ghost In The Shell With A Special DW‑5600

There are a couple of movie scenes that were so impactful to me that I vividly remember where I was when I saw them for the first time. Hell, even when I didn’t see them, they are seared into my memory. I very much remember when my dad asked me to leave the room when we were watching Robocop for the first time and the scene in which Clarence Boddicker and his team turn Alex Murphy into mince meat with their shotguns. I remember the first time I saw the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. And I remember two Anime scenes — the nuclear explosion in Akira and the scene in which The Major drops backwards from the building in Ghost in the Shell. God, I love that movie. This year marks the 37th anniversary of the release of the movie, which is just an incredibly weird anniversary to celebrate. Well, this year there’s a large Ghost in the Shell Exhibition, scheduled to run from January 30 to April 5, 2026, at Tokyo Node in Toranomon Hills. And it’s for this exhibition that Casio is releasing a special edition G-Shock DW-5600 Ghost in the Shell.

The base of the watch is very well known, as it’s the legendary DW-5600. It measures 48.9mm wide, 13.4mm thick and 42.8mm tall. It’s a beefy watch, build out of resin, rubber and plastic to be shock-resistant, water-resistant to 200 meters, and it comes with multi-time-zone time telling, count down timers and stopwatches.

All of the fun stuff happens on the dial. Just below the digital display you’ll see the Ghost in the Shell logo. When you activate the backlight, the display shows the iconic outline of The Major, Motoko Kusanagi, connected to the various cables and lines, an image that was often used for the cover art of the movie.

Since this is a G-5600, you get all the expected tech, like their Tough Solar and Super Illuminator which charges the watch and illuminates it. You get a 48-city world timer, a 1/100-second stopwatch, a countdown timer, daily and hourly alarms and time signals, and both 12 and 24-hour time formatting.

The watch is expected to launch in early March, and I’m not sure if it’s a limited edition or not. Price is set at ¥15,400, which translates to $97. See more on the website of the exhibition in Tokyo Node.

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Hublot Teams Up With Cult Japanese Designer Johji Yamamoto For An All-Black Camo Classic Fusion

I was about 78% certain that the camo pattern was over in fashion. I kind of seem to remember it being all the rage, especially in the early 2010s and especially in funky colors, which would tell me that there’s no way that the pattern is still a thing. However, since my fashion interests stop at Barbour jackets and Clark’s desert boots, I will trust the iconic Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto when he says that camo is still interesting. I’ve always admired his cutting edge creations, I could just never wear them (except for a couple of Y3 shoes, those were awesome). And he is the perfect fashion designer to pair up with Hublot, which is exactly what happened a few weeks ago. This is the Hublot Classic Fusion All Black Camo, and you see why I’m wondering if camo is still a thing.

On the outside, the Hublot Classic Fusion is a really cool watch, whatever you may think of Hublot. It’s made out of matte microblasted black ceramic, with black h-shaped screws holding down the black ceramic bezel and with a black bumper on the left side of the case and a black protected crown on the right. The watch measures 42mm wide, just 10.4mm thick and with a 50.4mm lug-to-lug. On top is a flat sapphire crystal and out back you’ll find a smoked sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The Yamamoto collaboration is most evident on the dial, where it gets a relief embossed dark grey camo pattern. All of the hardware is full black. The faceted indices are matte black, the hands are black plated, the date disc is also done in black with dark grey numerals. The Hublot logo is also done in grey. On the lower part of the dial is Yohji Yamamoto’s signature.

Inside, is a movement that has plagued Hublot for years. It’s the calibre MHUB1110, which is essentially a Sellita SW300-1. It’s a good and reliable movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 50-ish hour power reserve, but it’s still largely an off-the-shelf Sellita with a customized openworked rotor. Nothing wrong with it, but not at this price. The watch comes with a rubber and a fabric strap, both in black, with a deployant buckle.

The new Hublot Classic Fusion Yohji Yamamoto All Black Camo is limited to 300 pieces, priced at €12,000. Lately, I’ve been pointing out how cool Hublot actually is as a brand and how many amazing advancements they’ve made over the years. This is not one of those watches, at this price. See more on the Hublot website.

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De Bethune Is Louis Vuitton’s Next Collaborator, And The Result Will Set You Back Millions

Louis Vuitton, as the crowning brand of the LVMH empire, is most certainly getting very serious about watches. And while I still see some people online say that you shouldn't buy watches from people who make your bags, there is no denying that LV is making incredible watches. They are also intent on pushing independent watchmakers to the very edges of high-horology. And they do that with collaborations with some of the most well known of the bunch. A total of five of these collaborations are expected to happen, and we already previously saw two — the LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie made with Rexhep Rexhepi and the LVKV-02 GMR 6 with Kari Voutilainen. Their latest collaboration happens with De Bethune, especially its co-founder Denis Flageollet. This is the new Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project, a set of wrist watches and a Sympathique (or sympathetic) clock.

Starting with the simpler and more accessible of the two, we have the Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 Louis Varius wristwatch, which ends up being the LV Tambour Taiko and the DB25 GMT Starry Varius smashed together. The case is taken from Louis Vuitton, made by La Fabrique du Temps out of titanium with polished and sandblasted surfaces. The case measures 45mm wide and 14.05mm thick and after LV makes it, it’s sent to De Bethune to get thermally blued, for a spectacular look. The blue titanium case is paired with polished platinum lugs that have bead-blasted interiors. On top is a flat sapphire crystal held down with a tall bezel that has the Louis Vuitton text done in relief on it.

Since the case is a very interesting mix of LV and DB, the same happens on the dial, mashing together the sporty Tambour dial with a lot of celestial inspiration. At the very edge of the dial is an opaline chapter ring that holds blue polished indexes and Tambour-style numerals. Moving more towards the center, you get a sunken spherical day-and-night indicator which is based on the De Bethune’s patented spherical moon-phase construction. The indicator is done in 5N rose gold for the day and flame-blued steel for the night. Further inwards is a date indication that has its own blued arrow-shaped hand, while the time is indicated by faceted, polished blued hands. And finally, at the very center is a blued titanium plate with a Milky Way done in gold pins and gold leaves, spelling out the LV logo.

Inside, you’ll find De Bethune’s Calibre DB2507LV, which is a continuation of the DB25 GMT Starry Varius. Wound by hand, it’s an incredible sight from the caseback, with its V-shaped bridge that makes it look like a prop from Star Trek. In the best way possible. It’s regulated by a blued-titanium balance wheel, while the balance spring has a flat terminal curve for precision. The silicon escape wheel and De Bethune’s proprietary triple pare-chute shock-absorption system are also here for more precision. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 5 day power reserve. The watch comes with two straps, a black leather with blue fabric liner and a cognac alligator strap lined in alligator leather, both closed with a polished blued titanium pin buckle.

The Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 Louis Varius watch is limited to 10 pieces and priced at €375,000. Without taxes.

But that’s almost pedestrian, compared to what we have next, the LVDB-03 Sympathique Louis Varius. Back in the 18th century, one of the rarest and most complex creations to come from the legendary Abraham-Luis Breguet, was the Sympathique or sympathetic clock. Only five were made during his life and it’s a clock that allows for a pocket watch to be inserted into it. The clock then winds the pocket watch overnight, getting it ready for the next day. And since Flageollet was key in creating the modern face of Breguet, the watch brand, it’s a bit of a closed loop to see him create the first modern sympathetic clock.

The new clock could also be seen as an homage to Breguet, the watchmaker, as it is shaped like a marine chronometer, which Breguet was famous for. It has a titanium base decorated with blued meteorite marquetry. From what I gather, it measures 310mm wide, 266mm deep and 260mm tall. On the top part of the clock there’s a central rose gold dome with an engraving of the constellation of Hercules, which opens up and serves as the docking interface for the watch. Surrounding that is a dial made of blued titanium that has a gold Miky Way and uses triangular hands to indicate the time. Surrounding that are 3 separate elements in 5N gold engraved with illustrations done by François Schuiten.

Powering the clock is a movement custom made for this application by De Bethune, key wound, made out of 763 pieces, with two huge barrels and remontoir d’égalité. It beats at 18,000vph and has an 11 day power reserve. When you put the LVDB-03 GMT Louis Varius, the movement of the clock grabs the crown of the watch and winds the watch over the course of 10 hours, with adjustments to the time happening every two hours.

Only two complete sets of the LVDB-03 Louis Varius wristwatch and the Sympathique clock will be made. And they are each priced at €4,000,000. Without taxes. I think this is the most expensive thing I ever wrote about in this newsletter. See more on the De Bethune website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Your Next Watch, Week 65: A Slick Cartier; The Best Sinn You'll See This Year; A Cool Ana-Digi Citizen; And A Longines That Doesn't Need Words

How Ferdinand Alexander Porsche Built an Uncompromising Watch Empire After Being Pushed Out of the Family Car Company. Read it here. 

⏲️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

• At a Tennessee “Harvard of Hellish Violence,” crime-scene trainees exhume real cadavers, map mock murder sites—and learn to hunt corpses with bent coat hangers. As star instructor Arpad Vass pushes grave dowsing and a “quantum oscillator” into real trials and desperate families’ searches, the line between forensic science and junk sorcery dangerously dissolves.

• Post-Trump lawsuit settlement, billionaire Ellison snaps up CBS—installing anti-woke Substacker Bari Weiss to overhaul 60 Minutes amid plunging trust. Her heterodox memos spark fury, a Salvador prison exposé gets spiked, and late-night hosts mock the mogul's White House wooing.

• Dairy Queen teen Dorothy Hoogstraten meets pimp-promoter Paul Snider—flash to Playboy stardom, Hef's harem, Bogdanovich's bed. But as her star rises, Snider's rage festers: rape, shotgun murder, necrophilic desecration. Hollywood's pimps, pornographers, and auteurs feast on her corpse in tell-all exposés and Fosse's slime-soaked Star 80.

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Thanks for reading,
Vuk