Farer Introduces Lissom Dress Collection Inspired By Historic Botanists; Hanhart Adds Nostalgia To 417 ES Heritage Flyback; Brew Releases First Manual Wind Swiss Movement Metric; Two New Grønes

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. You really can’t but love the dials on Farer watches. That said, give me that Grøne, if I have to pick just one.

In this issue:

• Farer Introduces The Lissom Collection Of Dress Watches Inspired By Historic Botanists

• Hanhart Adds Crucial Piece Of Nostalgia To The 417 ES Heritage Flyback

• Brew Releases First Manual Wind Swiss Movement Powered Metric

• The Legendary Dutch Grönefeld Brothers Each Design Their Perfect Watch For Their Accesible Grøne Brand

👂What’s new

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Farer Introduces The Lissom Collection Of Dress Watches Inspired By Historic Botanists

Time and time again, I have said that there is no better brand in the world when it comes to the use of color in watches than Farer. It’s almost effortless how well they mix and match shades. And their colors have been matched with all sorts of watches — from field to diver, from GMT to chronograph. However, they haven’t exactly released a true dress watch collection. They’re changing that now with the new Lissom collection which is inspired by famous British botanists.

The Lissom gets a brand new case, one that I’m not 100% sold on, but would love to see live. What is great about the stainless steel case is the size, which is very good in all dimensions. The case measures 38mm wide, just 7.95mm thick (with the flat sapphire crystal included) and has a very comfortable 42.8mm lug-to-lug measurement. The top of the lugs and the fixed unmarked bezel are polished, while the mid-case is brushed to give some contrast. At 3 o’clock is a push-pull crown, which has a bronze insert with the Farer logo. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Each of the five dials features a satin-finished dial with some great colors and they are all named after notable British botanists: Agnes Arber, Isaac Bayley Balfour, George Forrest, John Lindley, and Daniel Solander. They also share a base, with just differing colors. That means that they all have recessed sub-dial at 6 o’clock for the small seconds, rather modern hands and numerals made out of Lumicast – a mix of Super-LumiNova and ceramic. The colors really are cool. Arber gets a raspberry pink dial with a recessed purple small seconds subdial. Balfour comes in white with a grey subdial and electric blue Arabic numerals (also, this is the only one that has applied numerals filled with lume). Forrest has Farer’s signature colourways, teal and orange. Lindey gets a dark shade of purple with a powder blue subdial. And last is the Solander, a black dial with white numerals.

Inside, you’ll find the hand-wound La Joux-Perret D100 in the top soigné standard. The movement is based on the ETA/Peseaux 7001, which you’ll instantly recognize if you look at the caseback, and beats at 21,600vph with a 50 hour power reserve. Decorations in the soigné standard include polished chamfers, blued screws, and bridges decoration. The watches come on a wide selection of leather straps that work well with the dial colors.

The new Farer Lissom collection is available for pre-order now, with shipping expected on June 12th. See more on the Farer website.

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Hanhart Adds Crucial Piece Of Nostalgia To The 417 ES Heritage Flyback

After World War II ended, and Germany was allowed to build up its military again, the various divisions had a huge need for new equipment. A major part of the equipment were watches. And the first pilot’s chronograph for the German armed forces after the war was the Hanhart cal. 417, still a classic to this day. And not only as a vintage piece, but also as a modern reinterpretation. In 2020, Hanhart released the 417 ES, which was a pretty faithful recreation of the original, down to the red mark on the fluted bezel. While cool, hard core fans had a few choice words for the brand. They really didn’t like the fact that the watch was missing one distinguishing part of the original — a red pusher, a security measure that helped pilots from accidentally resetting the chronograph. Well, Hanhart is fixing that now with the new Hanhart 417 ES Heritage Flyback.

Over the years, Hanhart made many versions of the 417, including cases in two sizes — 39mm and 42mm. And this release comes in both of those sizes. That means you have a choice of a smaller watch that measures 39mm wide, 13.3mm thick and has a 46mm lug-to-lug, or a larger one that comes in at 42mm wide, the same 13.3mm thick and with a 49.75mm lug-to-lug. On top you get the signature fluted bezel with red marker, and a highly dome sapphire crystal. The smaller version comes with a solid steel caseback, while the larger gets a sapphire window. And most importantly, you get a classic pusher at 2 o’clock and a red pusher at 4 o’clock, made out of HyCeram, a hybrid ceramic material. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial appears to be very similar to the previous editions, with one major update — the fauxtina lume on the Arabic numerals and numerals has been replaced with white Super LumiNova. You get a matte black base, two white sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock and a central flyback chronograph hand also done in white.

Inside, you’ll find the AMT5100M, made by Sellita’s high-end division, AMT. It’s a hand-wound chronograph with a column wheel and a flyback function. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 58 hour power reserve. The watches can be had on either a 3-link brushed steel bracelet or on a more classic black leather strap.

The new Hanhart 417 ES Heritage Flybacks are available now and are part of the regular collection. The price, regardless of size, is set at €2,590 on leather and €2,790 on steel. See more on the Hanhart website.

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Brew Releases First Manual Wind Swiss Movement Powered Metric

In the ten years that Brew has been around, it has turned into a textbook definition of a microbrand and became one of the more popular upstart watch brands in the world. Even more impressive, they did it, technically, with only two different watches. Sure, each of those cases got a bunch of iterations, dials and complications, but it’s still very cool. Now, for the first time, Brew is equipping its Metric with a manually wound Swiss movement for what they call their most premium watch to date.

The case of the new Metric Manual Wind remains very familiar. It’s a cushion shape with an integrated bracelet, very inspired by 1970s watches. The stainless steel case remains 36mm wide, but it’s also the thinnest Metric we’ve had so far at 8.5mm. On top is a sapphire crystal, which you expect, but you also get a sapphire caseback to give you a look at the new movement. The finish of the case is also the same, with brushed and polished surfaces. On the side is a screw down crown, but despite this you only get 50 meters of water resistance.

There are two dial options, both of which are very familiar, but also all new. You can get it in a dark blue or a combination of grey and black, with a minute scale on the outer perimeter and a slightly textured central disc. Both versions feature applied “mountain top” indices meant to reflect light in visually interesting ways (which they succeed at) and have a 1970s inspired seconds hand, fluorescent orange on the blue and white on the grey model.

Inside, like I said, is Brew’s first use of a Swiss mechanical movement, and it’s the manually wound Sellita SW210. It’s a well known movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watches, like previous Metric models, come on brushed and polished flat link bracelets that have a folding clasp with several micro-adjust holes.

The new Brew Metric Manual Wind will be made in just a few pieces to start with, but I assume that this is just the start. The blue version is limited to 25 pieces and all sold out already, while the grey is limited to 100 pieces and still available. Price is set at €787. See more on the Brew website.

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The Legendary Dutch Grönefeld Brothers Each Design Their Perfect Watch For Their Accesible Grøne Brand

The Dutch watch scene, while loved in some circles, doesn’t seem to get the respect it so much deserves. Which is really weird, when you consider how impactful it is. Fratello and Monochrome, two of the top five online watch publications are based in the Netherlands. ACE Jewelers from Amsterdam is one of the most prolific drivers of watch collaborations in the market. And then there’s the brands and watchmakers, ranging from affordable but fantastically designed Batavi, through De Rijke, all the way up to Holthinrichs, the incredible Christian van der Klaauw and Grönefeld. They really do have it all. And another band joined the fray last year — Grøne Oldenzaal — a brand that’s not brand new, but rather started by the Grönefeld brothers as an accessible alternative to their higher end creations. It marries their style and attention to detail with off-the-shelf movements for a low four digit price tag. Previously they released just one very limited watch, but now they’re releasing two versions of the Manueel One, each designed by one of the brothers and each with their own personality imbued into the dials.

The case is the same as used on the regular Manueel One, one that takes direct inspiration from the much, much more expensive Grönefeld 1941 Principia, with dramatically scalloped lugs and a conical crown. It has pretty perfect measurements, 38.5mm wide and 10mm thick, including the slightly domed sapphire crystal that is surrounded by a bezel that is domed in between the lugs and concave on the sides. The caseback is engraved with an outline of the city of Oldenzaal, the Grönefeld’s hometown. Water resistance is decent at 50 meters.

Then we have the dials. They share a lot of details. Both have a two-layer construction, with a brushed outer ring with diamond cut edges that holds highly polished diamond-cut batons hour markers. The markers are hand-applied and overhang over the central disc that has a tremblage finish. Then, each brother has a pass at the color. Bart’s One features a salmon base on the dial with blued Alpha-style hands. Tim’s one gets a german silver base on both rings, paired with high-polished steel hands. The brothers say that this perfectly reflects their distinctive identity: one immensely technical and scholarly looking, with the other hopelessly romantic and warm at heart.

While Grönefeld makes some of the most stunning movements in the industry, the Grøne Manueel One is powered by a humble hand-wound Sellita SW210, the same one you will find in the Brew above. By keeping the movement affordable, they can give you a taste of Grönefeld-like watchmaking for a pretty low price. While the movement still beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve, it’s been torque-adjusted for Grøne for a ‘just right’ crown-winding feel that the brothers prefer. The watches come on calfskin leather straps, tan on Bart’s and grey on Tim’s.

The new Grøne Manueel One ‘Tim’s One’ and ‘Bart’s One’ are limited to 150 pieces per edition and go on sale today at 3PM CET. Price is unchanged from the previous release and set at €2,150 without tax. See more on the Grøne website.

⏲️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

• If you partied in Dallas in the 1980s, chances are you spent time at the Starck Club, the legendary hot spot where celebrities, Southern socialites, and queer folks converged under one roof to dance—and take a ton of MDMA. For Texas Monthly, Tom Foster tells the story of Robert Jenkins, a pioneering ecstasy manufacturer and distributor during the ’80s and ’90s, and paints a fascinating picture of Dallas’s pill-popping party scene.

• In this piece for Noema, Matthew Ponsford heads deep into Sherwood Forest to find some of the UK’s oldest trees, such as The Major, who “sprouted from an acorn here at least eight centuries ago.” Ponsford explores how these ancient trees provide vital habitats for diverse species and looks into how arborists are now deploying “veteranization” to younger trees to recreate these habitats as the ancients die out. While the methods of veteranization—basically beating up young trees—are surprising, it could prove key to maintaining biodiversity.

• When Viktoriia Roshchyna was 26 years old, Russia announced the annexation of several regions in Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia, her birthplace. Now, Zaporizhzhia “sits behind the thick fog of an unmoving frontline,” Phineas Rueckert and Tetiana Pryimachuk write for Forbidden Stories. “The zone has become an informational black hole.” In 2023, Roshchyna set out to enter occupied Zaporizhzhia, to report on a network of detention centers where thousands of Ukrainian people have been imprisoned and tortured. She quickly disappeared; a year later, the Russian Ministry of Defense notified Viktoriia’s father of her death in custody.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the Cold War, this is the one video that will answer all of your questions. Could be useful, seeing the times we’re in.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk