Citizen's Affordable Diver And Everyday Watches; Seiko Celebrates Beams; Lebond's Homage To Gaudi; Vacheron's Deep Red Dialed Titanium Overseas Tourbillon; Audemars Piguet Makes A Serious Move

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Audemars Piguet had a huge release day today. But since these are all very, very expensive watches, I can’t exactly cram them all into one issue, so bear with me as we feature an AP or two a day for the next week. They did some cool stuff!

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 Their Very Affordable Diver And Classic Three-Hander With Great New Colors

• Seiko Celebrates 50 Years Of Beams With A New King Seiko In Black And Gold

• Lebond Marks 100 Years Since The Death Of Gaudi With Watches Styled After His Never-Built NY Skyscraper

• Vacheron Constantin Introduces A Titanium Overseas Tourbillon With Deep Red Dial

• Audemars Piguet Makes A Serious Move With The Neo Frame Jumping Hour 15245OR

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: Gold-Filled, Gold-Plated, Or Solid Gold? What Are The Actual Differences.

👂What’s new

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Citizen Introduces New Affordable Diver And Classic Three-Hander Models With Great Colors

For decades, Seiko was the absolute king of affordable watches. Whenever you needed to recommend an accessible watch to a friend, Seiko was the go-to. The operating word being “was”. Over the past three or four years, Seiko has made a decision to go upmarket. Not just with watches like the King Seiko below that is above 2k or its hyper-capable and well build divers. The Seiko 5 line has also blown up in price. Where you could get a Seiko for 200-400 moneys, they are now 400-700. Luckily, Citizen noticed this glaring opening in the market and slid in with banger after banger. It’s impossible to count the number of models that Citizen currently has under €300 that just blow everything out of the water — from the simple day-date to the Tsuyosa. But they’re not done yet, because 2026 brought us the NJ022 series and the everyday NJ0210 series, both with automatic movements and both with sensational pricing.

Starting with what will certainly be the more popular option, the NJ022 series. This, alongside maybe a couple of Timex models, will be the default entry-level diver. OK, to be fair, this isn’t a true hard-core diver, but more of an everyday sports watch, but I’m certain it can stand up to pretty much anything you throw at it. It’s a very traditional steel watch with not much fanfare to it. It’s 38.5mm wide and 11.5mm thick, which isn’t horrible. But it’s clear where Citizen is cutting corners to get the price so low. You get mineral glass on both sides, no screw down crown and, most problematic, no rotating bezel despite the 60 minute timer on it. Everything else is not an issue. The bezel might be for me. Water resistance is decent at 100 meters.

There are three versions available — a classic black (NJ0221-50E), green (NJ0220-52X), both with matching metallic inserts, and my favorite, the NJ0229-07A which gets a light grey dial, a taupe bezel and a light pink urethane strap. All of the versions have a light texture to the dial, a date aperture at 3 o’clock and lumed markers and hands. Inside, you’ll find the Calibre 8210, which is an automatic movement which beats at 3Hz and has a 40 hour power reserve. It has an accuracy of -20/+40 per day, but like most of these more affordable movements, it performs much better in real life. The silver dial comes on the mentioned pink urethane strap, while the other two come on three row steel bracelets. Price is set at €239 for the urethane strap model and €249 for the steel bracelets. See the watches here.

Then we have the NJ0210 series that Citizen calls the Dress Series, but isn’t really. I would call it more of an everyday watch. Not just for its size, which is 40mm wide and 13mm thick in steel, or its polished bezel (that hold down the mineral glass) and stepped lugs, but more so for its dial. There are three colors available, the NJ0210-05E in black, the NJ0210-13L in blue, and the NJ0210-56A in white. But what doesn’t make it a dress watch for me is the business of the dial, which has an angled inner flange marked with a 60-minute scale and a detailed railroad track next to the hour markers. Almost puts it in field watch territory. You get polished faceted hands that don’t have lume, pointing to Arabic numerals all around. At 3 o’clock is a date aperture. Inside is the same calibre 8210, and you get a choice of a colour-matched leather strap or a 5-row steel bracelet. The new Citizen Automatic Dress Series NJ0210 is priced at €239 on leather strap and €249 on steel bracelet. See more on the Citizen website.

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Seiko Celebrates 50 Years Of Beams With A New King Seiko In Black And Gold

Bringing back the King Seiko was a big deal for Seiko in 2020. Back in the 1960s, the model line was supposed to be the best of Seiko, a watch that would stand side-by-side with Grand Seiko. Maybe even surpas it. Only, it didn’t really work out like that. King Seiko lost its appeal and soon went out of production. Until 2020, that is, when Seiko gave the high end watch one more chance. And that seems to have worked. Now, they’re teaming up with the cult Japanese retailer Beams for a limited edition to celebrate 50 years of the store. This is the new KSK SDKA025.

There seem to be three different case styles to the modern King Seiko line — a cushion shaped one, a slightly curved but pretty sharp case and a much sharper case that we have previously seen on the King Seiko last year. This means you get a stainless steel case that measures 38.6mm wide, 10.7mm thick and has a very nice lug-to-lug measurement of 45.8mm. The case has faceted lugs, flat flanks and a combination of brushed and Zaratsu polished surfaces. On top is a box-style sapphire crystal. I know that this is imagined more of a dressier Seiko watch, but the 50 meters water resistance could be a hair better. To be fair, a lot better.

The collaboration happens on the dial. The watch gets a black dial with a stamped radial pattern which is only visible under certain light. The rays extend from the center of the dial, which I assume is a subtle nod to the Beams name. The black is paired with gold colored faceted hands and applied blocky hour markers. At 3 o’clock is a gold-framed date aperture.

Inside is a movement that many find controversial, the 6L35. People prefer the more popular 6R which has a longer power reserve. But I’ve seen the 6L35 underestimated for quite a while. It’s Seiko’s slimline movement and it’s basically an undecorated version of a movement that Credor uses extensively. It beats at 21,600vph, shortening the power reserve to 45 hours, and Seiko rates the accuracy at -10/+15 seconds per day, which really should be better. The watch comes on seven link steel bracelets, brushed and faceted, and closed with a triple-folding clasp with, you guessed it, no micro adjust.

The new Beams King Seiko SDKA025 is limited to 300 pieces and goes on sale February 6, at 12:30 Japan time. Price is set at ￥440,000 or about €2,380. See more on the Beams website.

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Lebond Marks 100 Years Since The Death Of Gaudi With Watches Styled After His Never-Built NY Skyscraper

There’s a note somwhere on my phone that says: “architecture inspired watches”. Every now and again I get an idea for a watch brand and I jot it down. Not that I’ll ever act on it. And a couple of years ago, I wondered why there wasn’t a watch brand built on the appreciation of architecture. Well, as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one with that idea. Just a year or so after I wrote that note down, Lebond watches launched their first watch. It was made with legendary architect Álvaro Siza who shaped the case after one of his signature square swimming pools, and then attached the straps to one of the corners. It was a sensationally cool watch. They followed that up with a collaboration with another world-renowned architect, 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Souto de Moura and rendered a watch in his minimalist style. That was it, a watch brand that did architectural watches. Only, they made them in collaboration with living legends, which was even cooler.

Turns out, they don’t need to always work with living legend, as they just released a watch that honors the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudi, truly a one-of-a-kind master. Known for his fluid shapes, Gaudi designed a 360-meter skyscraper for New York City in 1908. It is an incredible construction that merges the natural with constructed and it was called the Hotel Attraction. Unfortunately, the building was never built, but Lebond is now giving us a watch that honors this iconic design. This is the new Lebond Attraction.

Now, before you say this watch looks nothing like the building, we’ll get to that. Because it’s my understanding that the case wasn’t supposed to be a direct quote of the building, that happens on the dial. The case does, however, pay homage to Gaudi in general, with a silhouette that mimics a pebble rounded by a stream, a direct nod to Gaudi’s passion for fluid, natural shapes. The same can be said of the pleasantly curved crown on the side, and the domed sapphire crystal. The case also has very comfortable dimensions — 38mm wide, 10.4mm thick and with a 46mm lug-to-lug measurement. Out back is a flat sapphire crystal that has a printing of the original building plans. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The homage to the Attraction comes on the dial, where the dial, hour and second discs represent the top view of the hotel. They are rendered in a brushed texture and two colors — Original, which is a lighter silver, and a Dark, which is a brushed anthracite — alternating in darkness in the layers. Around the perimeter is a white railway track for the minutes that sits on the base dial. Above it is an hour disc that has a white marking for the hand. Above that is a white minute hand, above which is a seconds disc that has no marking — the only way to tell it’s moving is to see the brush pattern of the disc rotate. That’s cool.

Inside is the very familiar ETA 2892-A2 automatic movement which beats at 28,800vph and has a 50 hours of power reserve. The watches come on nappa leather straps in either a light brown or a black.

The new Lebond Attraction is available now, priced at €2,400. But if you still want more Gaudi with your watch, Lebond also made a hand-made solid sapele wood exhibition case, that is a 42cm tall reproduction of the skyscraper, and you can buy that for €1,600. See the case here and the watches on the Lebond website.

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Vacheron Constantin Introduces A Titanium Overseas Tourbillon With Deep Red Dial

The Patek Nautilus, the AP Royal Oak and the Vacheron Constantin Overseas are, at least currently, the holy trio of the integrated bracelet sports watch world. And it might just be me, but it seems that the Nautilus and RO get so much more attention than the Overseas. Which is a shame, because the VC is easily my favorite of the three. More specifically, I think that the VC Overseas Everest Dual Time is one of the best watches ever made. And I haven’t seen a significant release in the collection for a while. Now, VC is updating the titanium Overseas Tourbillon they introduced at Watches and Wonders 2024 with a new, deep, deep red dial.

The steel Overseas is a substantial watch so I would love to handle a titanium version of it. It must change the character of the watch completely. Made out of Grade 5 titanium, the case measures 42.5mm wide and 10.39mm thick. The case has a bit of a tonneau shape, with vertical brushed surfaces and polished flanks. On top is the iconic Maltese cross hexagonal bezel, also made out of titanium, with a polished finish. Sapphire crystals sit on top and bottom, and water resistance is rated at 50 meters.

New for this version is a deep red dial, replacing the deep blue one of the previous version. You get white gold indices and white gold hour and minute hands. Both of those are filled with blue glowing lume. At 6 o’clock is a huge aperture that features the mirror-polished Maltese cross cage and a 1-minute tourbillon, which is also used as a seconds display.

Inside is a very special movement. It’s the in-house automatic calibre 2160 which is just 5.65mm thick, a pretty unusual thinness for an automatic movement. To get that, VC uses a 22k gold peripheral rotor. It beats at 2.5Hz and has an 80 hour power reserve. Decorations include circular-grained mainplate, bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève and hand-beveled tourbillon bar. The movement is hand finished and has the Poinçon de Genève. The watch can be carried on one of three straps — a deep red rubber strap, a white rubber strap and the extremely cool integrated titanium bracelet which has single links formed like one side of the Maltese cross, closed with a triple-blade folding clasp that has a comfort adjustment system.

The new Vacheron Constantin Titanium Overseas Tourbillon in red is available now, priced at a cool €170,000. See more on the Vacheron Constantin website.

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Audemars Piguet Makes A Serious Move With The Neo Frame Jumping Hour 15245OR

For years, decades even, Audemars Piguet has been called a one-model watch company. And people weren’t wrong. Three of the four model lines, up until yesterday, were based on the Royal Oak. So to fix that, in 2019 they launched the Code 59 collection. That was met with lukewarm reception, but eventually improved as an overall collection. Now, AP is introducing the fifth permanent collection, one that’s a complete departure from what they’ve been doing. Lately, at least. This new watch, the Neo Frame Jumping Hour, reaches back into the deep archives, emulating a design of theirs from the late 1920s. And while it’s their take on the jumping hours and guichet watches trend, I believe this could be a major moment for Audemar Piguet. It’s also a great looking watch.

While certainly not a copy of the 1920s model, it takes a lot from it. Mainly, the rectangular case, but also the textured gold sides. The case is made out of 18k pink gold case, with those sides formed into 8 gadroons on each side, and those sides taper into beautiful lugs. The case measures 34mm wide, 8.8mm thick and has a length of 47.1mm. While guichet watches traditionally have metal coverings on top, this one is done in sapphire with a black PVD coat over it. Most surprising is the fact that this watch has water resistance. Sure, just 20 meters, but just enough to not be paranoid that it will get damaged in day-to-day life.

And quite obviously, there’s not traditional dial. What you do have is the mentioned black sapphire crystal, with two openings. At 12 o’clock is a rectangular opening for the jumping hours, and at 6 o’clock is an arched opening for the running minutes. Inside the openings you’ll see matte black discs, titanium for the hours and aluminum for the minutes, with white printing on them.

Inside is the calibre 7122, based on the Calibre 7121 that powers the Royal Oak Jumbo. It’s an in-house made, in-house modified movement that now has an instantaneous jumping hours function. It has the same 4Hz beat rate and just a slightly lower power reserve of 52 hours. The watch comes on a black calfskin strap with a basket-weave texture.

The new Audemars Piguet Neo Frame Jumping Hour 15245OR is available now, as part of the permanent collection, which is great news. Price is set at €64,900. See more on the Audemars Piguet website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: Gold-Filled, Gold-Plated, Or Solid Gold? What Are The Actual Differences.

A simple guide to what is actually on your wrist, how long it lasts, and what you are really paying for. 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

• “A chicken,” David Simon once remarked, “seems like it was brought into this world to be eaten.” Ian Frazier plucks fascinating morsels from the history of the chicken, “the most popular terrestrial vertebrate,” then prepares a ten-piece meal of bird trivia. A casual, tasty snack, served with a side of levity.

• For Slate, Luke Winkie visits a rare sit-down Pizza Hut located in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, to learn more about why the restaurant is receiving visitors from as far away as Florida and Canada. Are people going far out of their way just for a mediocre-at-best food and decor experience that seems to harken back to a simpler time? With more and more Americans ordering their food to go, to the point that many restaurant storefront experiences have been streamlined into a space for a cash register and a take-out counter, it seems people are showing up for more than just a hot slice of nostalgia.

• For two decades, Jill Lepore has been The New Yorker‘s history writer par excellence, examining the nooks and crannies of the past, complicating our relationships with American myth and fact. What a pleasure, then, to see Lepore explore a transformative corner of her own personal history: her time in a communal house in Somerville, Massachusetts, just after the songwriter behind “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” moved out.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

The other day I saw The Rock was on TV which reminded me of my favorite theory — Sean Connery is playing the same character in the James Bond movies and The Rock. It’s a fantastic scenario.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk