Citizen's New Wintery Series8 Trio; Mido's TV Big Date In Titanium; Beda'a Venice Inspiration; Aquastar Slims Down Benthos Professional; New MG Benu Power Reserve; A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Duo

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Mido is doing things slowly and quietly, but they’re sneaky. Titanium on the TV Big Date is a genius move.

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In this issue

• Citizen Takes Inspiration From Japanese Cities In Winter For A Trio Of New Series8 Watches

• Mido Does Good And Releases A Titanium Version Of Their Already Cool Multifort TV Big Date

• Beda’a Introduces The Angles Mecaline “Italy”, Inspired By The Grandeur of Venice

• Aquastar Slims Down Their Very Cool Chronograph, Now Called The Benthos Professional

• The Moritz Grossmann Benu Power Reserve Gets A New Grained And Grooved Sector Dial

• A. Lange & Söhne Updates Their Elegant Saxonia Thin With Onyx Dials And Platinum Or Honeygold Cases

• SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 1174 Parade: Minimalism, Revival, and the New Shape of Watch Authenticity

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Your Next Watch, Week 55: The Perfect Bezel; Awesome Patina; A Simple Bulova; And The Lip Dilemma That Needs To Be Solved

👂What’s new

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Citizen Takes Inspiration From Japanese Cities In Winter For A Trio Of New Series8 Watches

Who hurt Citizen? Because they have unleashed their releases on the watch industry with great a great flurry of great looking watches, with decent movements, at completely unbeatable prices. We’ve already established that they are doing pretty well at taking over the sub-500 price range among mainstream brands. They’re also boldly experimenting with design, pushing their high-end stuff to new, cool, levels and deepening their presence in the dive watch market. They also have the Series8, which is just fantastic — a collection of very modern looking steel sports watches with integrated bracelets that shoot way above their price point. The latest release is a broad update to the collection, including two mechanical and one GMT model, inspired by Japanese cities in the winter.

Starting with the outlier of the three, we have the Series8 880 Mechanical NB6035-55H, the only GMT in the lineup. It’s also the busiest of the three. It comes in a steel case that measures 41mm wide and 13.5mm thick, with a dark grey treatment on the case. On top is a bezel that has a yellow gold treatment and a day/night 24-hour scale that’s used with the GMT hand. Water resistance is 20o meters. But where the Japanese winter city theme comes into its own is on the dial, where the base is a frosted texture with a gradient from white to black on the edges, and Citizen claims that this represents snowfall on asphalt roads. You get gold hour markers, gold lumed hands and a black GMT hand with a gold arrow tip. Inside is the familiar Citizen Cal.9054 automatic GMT movement. It beats at 28,800 vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. Citizen claims accuracy of -10 to +20 seconds per day. The watch comes on a matching stainless steel bracelet. The new Citizen Series8 880 Mechanical 'GMT Traveller' NB6035-55H is limited to 1,600 pieces and priced at $1,695. See more on the Citizen website.

Next are the 890 Mechanical NB6062-52P and the 890 Mechanical NB6060-58H, two watches that share case dimensions but different in their colorways. They both measure 42.6mm wide and 11.7mm thick. The NB6060-58H comes in an untreated steel case, while the NB6062-52P gets a gold plated finish. The steel is supposed to represent skyscrapers in a winter’s day, while the gold plated one represents the same buildings when seen at night. Both watches have a sloping internal bezel with a 60 minute scale, the first 15 minutes of which are done in white or black, and operated with the crown at 2 o’clock. The dial is similar to others we’ve seen before, with a fractal design, done in either silver or gold. Inside the watch is the Cal. 9051 automatic movement, which is based on the Miyota 9015. It beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 42 hours. Accuracy is rated at -10 to +20 seconds per day. The watches come on case-matching steel bracelets. The NB6060-58H is limited to 1,200 pieces and priced at $1,395, while the NB6062-52P is also limited to 1,200 pices and priced at $1,495. See more on the Citizen website.

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Mido Does Good And Releases A Titanium Version Of Their Already Cool Multifort TV Big Date

I’m a sucker for Mido. While a large part of their lineup are decent, stylish and mostly traditional looking watches, every now and again they come out with something fantastic. Take a look at the Ocean Star GMT, a fantastic looking watch. Or the Ocean Star Decompression Worldtimer, currently one of my favorite watches on sale. Or the incredible Multifort TV Big Date S01E01 that was unfortunately a very limited edition. They really do know how to make a fun watch. And their Multifort TV is such a great platform. They’ve done them in all kinds of sizes and colors. But there’s obviously more to be done, as evident with their new release — this is the new Mido Multifort TV Big Date in the material we’ve been waiting for — titanium.

Despite the new material, on the outside, the watch remains very much the same — is measures 40mm wide, 11.5mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 46.85mm. It’s unlike most watches out there in terms of proportions, but it’s easy to get used to. The finishing is a combination of brushed and polished surfaces. On top is a flat sapphire crystal, on the right prominent crown guards and water resistance is rated at 100 meters.

The dial has horizontal, recessed grooves, like we’ve gotten used to from the Big Date Multifort, and it’s rendered in a silver-grey color gradient from lighter in the center to darker edges. You get recessed round indices and rectangular markers at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock that are filled with white Super-LumiNova. Of course, at 12 o’clock is the signature big date window with blue date discs and white numerals.

Inside, you’ll find the trusty Powermatic 80, with its shock-resistant and anti-magnetic Nivachron balance spring, 4Hz beat rate and 80 hour power reserve. The movement is equipped with a customised Mido rotor with Geneva stripes. The watch comes on a titanium bracelet with satin-brushed outer links and a polished central link.

The Mido Multifort TV Big Date Titanium is part of the permanent collection, available now and priced at CHF 1,290. See more on the Mido website.

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Beda’a Introduces The Angles Mecaline “Italy”, Inspired By The Grandeur of Venice

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about Beda’a, a Qatari independent watch brand that conquered Geneva Watch Days with the luckiest of handouts to their guests — an umbrella. We were hit with a monsoon-like rainstorm during the show, and since Beda’a was the only brand at the show that gave away umbrellas, they got prime position in the rain. In Geneva, they also introduced an update to their Angles collection, a very cool angle-cased dress watch, buy giving it a mechanical movement. That was the new Beda’a Angles Mecaline, and what we have now is a limited edition of that watch. This is the new Beda’a Angles Mecaline “Italy”, inspired by the grandeur of Venice.

The case remains completely unchanged. There’s a lot of stepped layers here, a sharply angled steel case middle topped by an octagonal bezel, with alternating brushed and polished surfaces. This model is thicker than the quartz version, but the proportions are still impressive. It’s a small watch, 34mm wide, just 6mm thick and with a 37mm lug-to-lug, but it doesn’t wear that small. I guess thanks to the many angles. There’s a sapphire crystal on top, a closed caseback and you get 30 meters of water resistance.

What’s new in the Italy edition is the dial. It’s an ivory colored dial with a really funky geometric lozenge motif, with darkened Roman numerals at 12, 3 and 9 o’clock. At 6 o’clock is a small seconds sub-dial with a railroad track around it and a grained finish inside. The hands look like syringe style hands, also very dark in apperance, but with lume strips.

Inside, you’ll find the ETA 7001 Peseux, a hand wound movement beating at 21,600vph, with a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a Epsom leather strap in tan, matching the dial.

The new Beda’a Angles Mecaline “Italy” is a limited edition of 50 pieces and available now. Price is set at CHF 1,250, without taxes. See more on the Beda’a website.

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Aquastar Slims Down Their Very Cool Chronograph, Now Called The Benthos Professional

I do a list of favorite watches of the year and while it’s a struggle to whittle down all the releases it’s good fun each year. But parallel to that, ever since I started writing this newsletter, I’ve been keeping a separate list. A list of my favorite watches overall, stuff that is on my “to buy” list. And quite high up on that list was the Aquastar Benthos 500, an incredibly cool watch based on a 60s model, that had a specially developed monopusher for a chronograph that didn’t time seconds with the central arrow hand, but rather minutes. Very cool stuff. Aquastar just released an evolution of the 500, following in the footsteps of the H1 and H2 models, which get rid of the cool chronograph function but keep the cool look. This is the Benthos Professional, a much thinner take on the icon.

The Benthos 500 was a chunky watch, measuring 42mm wide, 16mm thick, with a 47mm lug-to-lug. The Professional keeps the exact same width and lug-to-lug measurements, but slims down to 13.9mm thick. Which is appreciated. The case is made out of 904L stainless steel, and you can get it in raw steel or with a black DLC coating. On the right side at 2 o’clock is a screw-down crown, while at 4 o’clock you’ll find a helium escape valve that looks like a pusher. On top is a flat sapphire crystal, surrounded by a black unidirectional 120-click bezel with a ceramic insert that has a 60 minute dive scale. Water resistance is 300 meters, just like you would expect from a watch like this.

On the dial, things very much remain the same, and that’s a good thing. You get a flat black base, paired with rectangular indexes that have metal surrounds and a sloping flange with a checkered black and white minute scale. The metal surrounds match the polished metal rectangular hands filled with Super-LumiNova X1, just like the indices. The seconds hand has a very dramatic orange color and an oversized lumed arrow tip.

Inside, a very familiar, albeit a bit surprising movement. For years now, the Swatch Group hasn’t been that eager to supply their ETA movements outside the group. In fact, they completely stopped selling them. However, the Benthos Professional uses the ETA 2824-2 automatic in its Elaboré grade. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. Benthos regulates the movement in five positions and to an accuracy of ±5 seconds per day. The watch can be had on a ISOfrane VS 1969 strap or, if you opt for the silver version, you can get it with Aquastar’s new beads-of-rice bracelet.

The new Aquastar Benthos Professional is available for pre-order now, with pricing set at $1,290 on rubber and $1,390 on the bracelet during the pre-order window. Once the watch goes on sale, the prices jump to $1,590 and $1,690, respectively. All of those prices are without taxes. See more on the Aquastar website.

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The Moritz Grossmann Benu Power Reserve Gets A New Grained And Grooved Sector Dial

Located in the famed town of Glashütte, Moritz Grossmann is a brand that was revived in 2008 by Christine Hutter from a watchmaking manufacture that died out in 1855 when its eponymous founder died. Since its relaunch, Mortiz Grossmannn has been making very germanic watches, reserved in their style, but advanced in construction. And they do it really well, with some really cool quirks to their watches. For example, for the last ten-ish years, they’ve been making the Benu Power Reserve with a really cool linear power reserve gauge on the dial. Now, that model gets a new dial that gets a sector setup through different textures, as well as wonderful blue hands and numerals.

On the outside, not much has changed, as this remains the same three-part Benu case. You can get this new model in either white gold or rose gold and it measures 41mm wide and 11.65mm thick. It’s a very sleek looking case, with tapered and sloping lugs. On the right side is a conical crown, with a pusher right below it. This is part of Moritz Grossmann’s very cool system of preventing dust getting into the movement. Pull out the crown and it stops the mechanism. But as soon as you let go of the crown it springs back to the 0 position. No matter, you can now use it to set the time. Once you are done, press the pusher underneath the crown and it will restart the movement. Very cool.

This new dial is very cool. Sure, a silver-white dial doesn’t sound extremely exciting, but this one actually is. On the very periphery is a minute track printed in a dark grey, followed by a grooved sector ring that holds beautiful blue numerals and simple hour markers. Moving more inward, you get a grained surface that’s interrupted by the small and recessed seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock and the very nice linear power reserve gauge at 12 o’clock. Here, the bar is done in white and blue, and as the power reserve depletes itself you get more blue in the bar.

Inside, you’ll find the familiar in-house calibre 100.2 which beats at 18,000vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. The movement has a 2/3 German silver plate bridge, Glashütte ribbing, and the balance cock is engraved by hand. The watch comes on a grey Kudu leather strap with blue stitching.

The new Moritz Grossmann Benu Power Reserve is available now, priced at €53,000. See more on the Moritz Grossmann website.

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A. Lange & Söhne Updates Their Elegant Saxonia Thin With Onyx Dials And Platinum Or Honeygold Cases

You have to give it to A. Lange & Söhne, they have one of the more perfect release strategies. Despite the fact that they make some of the most stunning watches in the world, they just send out, without much fanfare, an email that they have some novelties. And the best thing is they always do it ahead of the weekend. No idea why, but it’s a cool move. Their latest release that was announced on Friday was an update to the Saxonia Thin model that now comes with a black onyx dial in cases made out of Honeygold or 950 platinum.

Despite the choice of material, either the warm Honeygold or the crisp platinum, the two watches share the exact same proportions — 40mm wide and just 6.2mm thin, justifying the Thin part of the Saxonia name. The case is made out of three parts, has a satin finish with polished details and sapphire crystals front and back. Despite this clearly being a dress watch, you get a decent 30 meters of water resistance.

Then we have the new dial, made out of Onyx, a gemstone known for its deep, deep glossy black appearance. Lange leaves it minimalist, with their arching logo at 12, as well as rhodiumed gold hands and applied baton markers.

Inside, you’ll find the manufacture calibre L093.1, a movement we’ve seen in the Saxonia Thin before, but it’s no less impressive. It’s just 2.9mm thick, beating at 21,600 with a 72 hour power reserve. It’s finished like you would expect a watch from Glashütte to be. It has the iconic three-quarter plate in untreated German silver with Glashütte stripes, as well as hand-engraved balance cock, the three gold chatons secured by blued screws, and the precisely polished bevels and graining. The watch comes on a glossy black alligator leather strap.

The new Saxonia Thin Onyx is limited to 200 pieces in each material. Price is on request, but expect to pay somewhere in the €45,000 range. See more on the A. Lange & Söhne website.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 5303: French Heritage and Modern Mastery in the Dive Watch Tradition

The story of the modern dive watch can’t be told without France. Long before Switzerland became the center of watchmaking, workshops in Paris and Besançon were already shaping the craft. From the 16th century onward, French watchmakers combined function and design in a way that set them apart. Abraham-Louis Breguet’s tourbillon and Cartier’s Tank are milestones, not just of horology, but of culture—examples of how French design has always fused practicality with style.

From the 17th century onward, French makers blended craft with art. Abraham-Louis Breguet’s tourbillon remains a symbol of innovation, but also of elegance. Cartier’s Tank turned the wristwatch into a style icon, proof that in Paris, design mattered as much as mechanics. Even during periods of war and economic struggle, French brands left their mark. LIP became a sign of resistance during World War II. Yema produced robust divers and chronographs that were worn both in service and in everyday life. These weren’t just tools; they were watches that told stories, tied to moments of history and culture.

Among France’s contributions, none has proven more lasting than the dive watch.

The dive watch owes much of its DNA to military need. In the mid-20th century, the French Navy required reliable equipment for divers working under harsh and dangerous conditions. Their missions demanded timepieces that could resist salt water, shocks, and magnetic interference, while still being clear to read at a glance. This pressure drove innovation. The rotating bezel was perfected to time dives. Screw-down crowns and reinforced cases made watches water-tight. Anti-magnetic shielding ensured accuracy near sensitive equipment. Brightly luminous dials made sure the watch could be read in total darkness. Many of these features, now standard across the watch industry, were first developed to meet the demands of military divers.

Read the rest of this essay here.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Your Next Watch, Week 55: The Perfect Bezel; Awesome Patina; A Simple Bulova; And The Lip Dilemma That Needs To Be Solved

We continue with our exploration of watches we shouldn't spend our money on, but most likely will. Read it here.

⏲️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

• “The book business may be centred in New York, but the logic is pure Las Vegas.” In this essay at The Walrus, Tajja Isen examines the modern publishing industry, the sales “track” metric that can make or break an author’s career, and how it’s harder than ever for writers to sell books right now, unless they “scream commercial” or are guaranteed blockbusters. Isen discusses debuts; book advances; the trickle-down effects on smaller presses; and the impact on the entire literary ecosystem, including readers.

• What “the internet” means to us today is vastly different from what it meant 20 years ago—let alone in 1990, when Tim Berners-Lee dreamed up HTML, URLs, and the rest of the web’s architecture. Now, the father of the web is trying to restore the internet to its founding spirit of openness. Is he too late? Is such a thing even possible? Julian Lucas isn’t sure, but his profile of Berners-Lee at least reminds us what we’ve lost, and what’s at stake.

• Artificial intelligence is permeating every facet of our lives. Health care is no exception. As they once did by scouring WebMD, people are turning to ChatGPT to diagnose themselves. But doctors are using the technology too. Dhruv Khullar examines where the line between help and harm lies when it comes to incorporating large language models into medicine

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’m a big fan of Swiss Army Knives, but all the ones I own have kind of an emotional significance to me, so I’m reluctant to modify them. I have been looking at used SAKs to start playing with them. I have not, however, expected it to be possible to modify one to have a freaking crossbow!

Thanks for reading,
Vuk