Citizen's Ocean-Inspired Promaster Dives In Two Sizes; Porsche Design Adds Titanium Chronograph 1 To Regular Lineup; Stowa's Blacked Out Flieger; A Cool Edox; A Round Bianchet, First For The Brand

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Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Another late edition, but this time it’s not because of work. It’s because I finally got to spend some quality time with the family. So I’m not sorry. Tomorrow, however, Watches and Wonders go full steam. Speaking of, I’m landing in Geneva next Monday and I’m staying until Sunday. Are we meeting up?

In this issue

• Citizen Adds Ocean-Inspired Limited Editions To The Promaster Dive In Two Sizes

• Porsche Design Adds The Chronograph 1 All Titanium To Their Regular Lineup

• The Blacked Out Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon Now Gets Neon Green Details

• The New Edox CO-1 Bezel Lock Automatic Will Gladly Take A Beating

• Bianchet Finally Embraces A Round Case, And It’s Just As Cool As Their Tonneaus

👂What’s new

1/

Citizen Adds Ocean-Inspired Limited Editions To The Promaster Dive In Two Sizes

Citizen's Promaster collection had a strong run in 2025 — the Skyhawk got a new calibre and MIP display, and the Aqualand turned 40. So it's a little surprising to find 2026 opening with something more modest: a pair of ocean-themed limited editions in the Promaster Dive, offered in 44mm and 36.5mm. No new complications, no updated movement. But do we really need that? We get just a dial trick that Citizen is genuinely good at, and a choice of size. Perfectly fine.

The larger ref. BN0167-09W comes in a brushed stainless steel case, 44mm wide, with a unidirectional bezel that has a teal insert and the Promaster's characteristic protected crown at four o'clock. The smaller ref. EO2023-00W runs at 36.5mm in the same stainless steel but gets a rose gold-tone finish, a silver bezel insert with rose gold markings, and a very warm look. Both cases are capped with mineral glass, which is kind of unfortunate, and have 200 meters of water resistance.

The dial on both is the cool stuff happens. Citizen used something they call structural color ink technology — pigment-free, meaning color is created entirely through light interference rather than dye or paint. The result is a blue-to-turquoise gradient that shifts depending on angle and light. It's the kind of thing that photographs poorly and looks better in person. Luminous hands and markers keep things legible in low light, and a date window sits at four o'clock on both. The BN0167-09W has silver surrounds to the markers and the EO2023-00W has rose colored ones.

Inside is Citizen's Eco-Drive calibre E168, a light powered quartz that charges through natural or artificial sources and runs for years without needing a battery swap. The larger model gets a black plant-based BENEBiOL rubber strap; the smaller gets the same material in grey. Both use steel pin buckles matched to their respective case finishes.

The Citizen Promaster Dive BN0167-09W is limited to 8,700 pieces and the EO2023-00W to 3,400 pieces, which is a standardly huge number when it comes to Citizen’s limited editions. Price is set at $495 for both. See the BN0167-09W here and the EO2023-00W here. Unfortunately both websites are US ones, which people from outside the States won’t be able to see. Sorry about that.

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Porsche Design Adds The Chronograph 1 All Titanium To Their Regular Lineup

Last year, Porsche Design brought back the Chronograph 1 1975, the all-titanium version of their original 1972 cornerstone, as a limited edition. Now they're making it a permanent fixture, albeit with an annual production cap of 1,000 pieces. A few small details have changed, including a modern PD logo, "Chronometer Certified" text on the dial, and an open caseback where the 1975 had a closed one, but this watch still scratches a very cool itch.

The case comes in at 40.8mm wide and 14.15mm thick, all in glass bead-blasted titanium. It's not a small watch or a thin one, but the titanium helps with wearability. Likely more than you can imgine. The only reflective surface is the sapphire crystal light. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is pure Porsche Design: deep black with white markings, white hands, and a red chronograph seconds hand. The layout is, of course, very familiar, thanks to the movement used inside. That means counters at 12, 6 and 9’clock, with a day-date at 3 o’clock. Compared to the 1975 Limited Edition, you get the updated PD logo, where the P and D are integrated rather than side by side, and a grey "Chronometer Certified" line just below the dual day-date window. Both changes are easy to miss and neither detracts from the overall look.

Powering it is Porsche Design's WERK 01.240, a flyback chronograph running at 28,800vph with a 48-hour power reserve and COSC chronometer certification. The open caseback is a nice addition over last year's limited edition: the movement itself has black PD-signed bridges and plates, an openworked rotor with the PD logo, and polished steel and gold-tone accents for contrast. The watch comes on a matching glass bead-blasted titanium bracelet with a quick-release system and a micro-adjustable folding clasp.

The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 All Titanium is not limited in absolute numbers, but only 1,000 will be made per year, priced at €7,950. See more on the Porsche Design website.

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The Blacked Out Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon Now Gets Neon Green Details

The whole point of a flieger-style watch is to be laser focused on readability. These watches draw their origin from World War II German pilot watches which needed to be large and readable at a glance to keep track of time for easier navigation. But the time of needing a wristwatch for navigation are way behind us, so brands are free to experiment as much as they want. And yet, we rarely see radical changes to the flieger. Stowa, one of the original flieger brands, seems to have new ideas, and they’re doing them under the Verus name. Just a few months ago, we got the groovy Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon, a completely blacked out watch that defies the point of a flieger, with neon blue details. Well now we’re getting the Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Foxfire, with the same pitch black look, but now paired with an acid green highlight color.

The Verus Black Forest Foxfire comes in a 40mm wide, 10.2mm thick stainless steel case with a 48.6mm lug-to-lug. The watch gets a black coating, starting the descent into darkness. On top is a flat sapphire crystal held down with the tiniest of bezels. Despite this being a pilot’s watch that won’t find its way to much water, you still get 50 meters of water resistance.

The matte black dial gets applied minute indices and Arabic numerals for the hours, but they are all painted gloss black. The black on black really works. But they work even better when paired with the acid green triangle at 12, hour, minute and seconds hands, as well as the (optional) text on the date disc in the circular date aperture at 6 o’clock. The color is inspired by foxfire, a bioluminescent green glow produced by certain fungi on decaying wood, caused by the oxidation of luciferin.

You get a choice of movements inside. You can get it with either the basic or top versions of the Sellita SW200, or the top version of the hand wound Sellita SW210. All of these movements beat at 4Hz and have about a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black leather strap.

The Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Foxfire starts at €1,150 for the basic automatic, with the top-grade automatic and hand-wound version each at €1,300. See more on the Stowa website.

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The New Edox CO-1 Bezel Lock Automatic Will Gladly Take A Beating

When’s the last time you thought of an Edox watch? Doesn’t happen that often, does it? It’s a shame, because Edox has been in the dive watch business since the 1961 Delfin, and the CO-1 line specifically goes back to 2006, when it was developed for offshore powerboat racing. And there are very few things that are cooler than offshore powerboat racing. Now, they’re expanding the CO-1 line with the Bezel Lock Automatic, which is an even more hardcore version of the original sports watch with a very cool little feature.

The CO-1 Bezel Lock Automatic comes in a 42mm stainless steel case, 14mm thick, with a sapphire crystal and ceramic bezel. The watches come in either an untreated steel case or with a black coating, and there is a very prominent slider on the left side of the case done in intense orange on the steel cases and rose/yellow gold on the black cases. Those sliders are the locking mechanism that prevents accidental rotation of the bezel during a dive and it’s one of the better implementations I’ve seen. Water resistance is 300 meters, backed up by a screw-down crown and a helium escape valve.

The dial comes in four options: black, blue, green, and egg-shell. The black cases get the green and a black dial, both with rose/yellow gold details to match the color of the slider. The steel cases get the black, blue and egg-shell colors, with the first two having silver details and the egg-shell having bright orange details. That’s also easily my favorite. The overall layout is straightforward — hours, minutes, seconds, date at 3 o’clock — and everything is covered in Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the SW 200, a Sellita movement that Edox calls calibre 80. It's an honest, reliable choice — no one is going to be disappointed by the SW 200. Strap is black rubber across all references.

The CO-1 Bezel Lock Automatic is available now, priced at CHF 1,750. See more on the Edox website.

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Bianchet Finally Embraces A Round Case, And It’s Just As Cool As Their Tonneaus

It’s not rare to see a brand stick to just one case shape, as long as that shape is round. What is much rarer is to see a brand launch with tonneau shaped cases, with skeleton torubillons inside to boot, and then just continue making tonneau shaped watches. And yet, that’s exactly what Bianchet did. At least until now, with the launch of the Ultrafino Rotondo Flying Tourbillon, their first round watch.

The Rotondo comes in at 39.5mm wide and just 8.9mm thick, which is where the "ultrafino" name obviously comes from. Two versions will be available: titanium at 75 grams including the bracelet, and carbon at 48 grams. Both get 100 meters of water resistance and shock resistance rated to 5,000G, which is an unusual spec to see on a tourbillon. The case integrates directly into the bracelet, and Bianchet's signature rubber gasket under the bezel is still there, with a contrasting color. The case has sharp angles all over, but the round, flat bezel helps keep things round.

There's no dial in any conventional sense. What you get is the movement itself, framed by a case. The automatic UR01 calibre is built around a vertical axis: the mainspring barrel sits at 12 o'clock under a curved bridge, and the flying tourbillon sits at 6 o'clock. The left side of the movement uses a trompe-l'œil effect where what looks like a series of individual bridges is actually one skeletonised train bridge.

The UR01 is a new calibre, derived from the previous movement but reengineered for the round case. It beats at 21,600 vph, offers 60 hours of power reserve, and winds automatically via a full rotor on the caseback. Both versions come on an integrated bracelet in matching material — H-links with faceted middle links tapering to a folding buckle — with a quick-release system and a spare rubber strap included.

The Bianchet Ultrafino Rotondo Flying Tourbillon is priced at CHF 62,500 for titanium and CHF 67,500 for carbon, both excluding taxes. More on the Bianchet 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

• In recent years, fantasy books have started to turn our image of delightful, beautiful winged mini-humans into something much darker and more sexual. But “fae,” as these books often refer to them, first appeared in sinister tales, only becoming more child-friendly in the Victorian era. Neil Armstrong (not that one) traces how the fairy tale has come full circle in this fascinating history piece

• In this Toronto Life story, 22-year-old Kennedy Lashley reflects on how challenging life—academic, creative, social—has been for her generation. They spent their high-school years on Zoom calls during the pandemic and have had to navigate a post-secondary system in disarray, up against underfunding and federal policy changes. The faculty they’d normally look up to are disillusioned, struggling to keep up with changes. Lashley, an animator with a strong support network and a genuine passion for her craft, seems poised for a successful career in the arts (her father is also a longtime artist at Marvel). But for Gen Zers entering creative fields, the job market is bleak—and AI is a big reason why.

• Let’s say you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness, and your doctor gives you a time frame: five years, two years, six months to live. What would you do next? Perhaps you get your affairs in order, spend as much time as you can with loved ones, or tackle a bucket list (as your health permits). What happens, then, when the estimated end date comes and goes? Bruce Deachman speaks with people who have experienced exactly this: people who are frustrated—even angry—to find themselves stuck in a prolonged state of uncertainty, having accepted an ending that hasn’t yet come.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

RZA might be just as an entertaining director as he is musician. This looks fun as hell.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk