Farer Introduces Their Most Conservative Watches Yet, Black On Jade; Timex Teams Up With Fortnite For Six Colorful Watches; March LA.B Expands Unusual AM2 Collection; Ressence Introduces Brand New Simple Collection

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers, hope you eat some good food and watch some good games. Bit of a shorter one today, since there aren’t a lot of releases floating out there. We’re entering December and it will just get slower and slower.

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In this issue:

• Farer Introduces What Have To Be Their Most Conservative Watches To Date, The Endurance Duo

• Timex Teams Up With Fortnite For Six Colorful Watches Inspired By One Of The Biggest Games In The World

• March LA.B Adds Three More Models To Their Unusual Square AM2 Model

• Ressence Introduces The Type 9, A Brand New Collection, Their Simplest One To Date

👂What’s new

1/

Farer Introduces What Have To Be Their Most Conservative Watches To Date, The Endurance Duo 

I’ve repeated it so many times already, but it’s worth repeating once again — you will be hard pressed to find a watch brand that uses color better than the British indie Farer. Not only are their base shades perfectly chosen, they find incredibly cool complementary colors and have created a whole universe of great looking watches in colors you will not find anywhere else. However, every time I write about Farer, I get the inevitable comment: “I love it, I just wish it came in more normal colors”. While Farer has a very loyal following for their incredible colors, there is not an insignificant number of people who prefer plain black and white/silver watches. Well, Farer is now releasing something for them, the Farer Endurance Limited Edition, named after Ernest Shackleton’s famous ship, dark grey all over with accents in jade green and two numeral options.

Farer was pretty adamant about removing color. That’s why the stainless steel wide case gets a gunmetal grey PVD coating made from titanium carbo-nitrate. These are fancy words to say that it has stronger scratch resistance. The case measures 39.5mm wide, a slim 10.8mm thick and a 45mm lug-to-lug. On top is a box-style sapphire crystal, while the rest of the case is fairly simple with short lugs. Water resistance is 50 meters, which is kind of ironic for a watch that was famously a lost sunken shipwreck found only after 107 years after it sank. But to be fair, I doubt they would give it 3,000 meters of water resistance to match the depth of the current site of the Endurance.

The dial keeps the now already Farer-signature sector style construction with a raised central disk surrounded by a lower hour scale ring, but keeps it all dark grey. However, to give it contrast, the central ring has a vertical brushed finish, while the outside ring gets sunray brushing. The only color on the watch are the jade green hour markers, made out of Lumicast, a combination of ceramic and lume. And you can get the watch with your choice of numerals — either wester Arabic or eastern Arabic.

Inside, you’ll find the increasingly more popular La Joux-Perret G101. An alternative to the ubiquitous ETA2824 clones, the G101 beats at 4Hz and gets you a pretty decent power reserve of 68 hours. It’s the soignée edition, which means it has their highest level of finishing, including Côtes de Genève. The watch comes on a pretty cool leather strap, black on top and with a jade green lining.

Like a lot of Farer watches, this one s limited to 100 pieces per version of numerals and priced at €1,085. See more on the Farer website.

2/

Timex Teams Up With Fortnite For Six Colorful Watches Inspired By One Of The Biggest Games In The World

Timex seems to be on one of the hottest rolls we’ve seen in the past few years. They are reviving some of their best models, making new and capable watches that beat out pretty much everything in their price ranges and fixing any mistakes they’ve had in the past. But while actively reinventing themselves, they haven’t forgotten what they are best at — collaborations. The Timex watches made with Peanuts, for example, are some of the most legendary watches from an already iconic watchmaker. For their latest collaboration, Timex has teamed up with Epic Games and the global hit video-game Fortnite.

Let me be up front, I love video games. But at the same time, I have zero experience with Fortnite. I’ve seen the game, I know it’s played by half a billion people around the world (and is the third most played game on the planet), and I know that it’s super fun. And even for someone who doesn’t know anything about the game, it seems that Timex crammed as much fun into these watches as possible.

There are six watches released in the collection, based on three existing Timex model lines. The most conservative of the watches is certainly the Timex x Fortnite MK1 which comes in a black aluminum case that measures 40mm wide and 12mm thick. The dial is all black, but with no hour numerals. Instead, they are replaced with Kevin the Cube Glyphs which glow in purple Indiglo at night. That’s kind of cool. The watch comes on a double layered fabric strap and has a quartz movement inside.

Moving on to more fun watches, we get three watches based on the Urban Pop collection. These watches measure 40mm wide and 12mm thick and are made out of eco-ceramic which is kind of a familiar material, right? It’s made out of a blend of bio-based resin derived from castor plants mixed with ceramic powder, just like the Swatch Bioceramic. Three colorways are available, a Peely skin-themed yellow watch with a face on the yellow dial, a magenta Cuddle Team Leader watch with a matching dial and a Victory Royale-themed cyan watch with cyan dial. All of them come on a color matched textured bio-based resin strap embossed with the Fortnite logo.

And last, there’s the pretty cool duo based on the Q Timex LCA digital watch. Measuring 35mm wide and 10mm thick, the case is made out of yellow or black translucent resin, just like the strap. The LCD display remains the same, just customized with the Fortnite Victory Crown and Supply Llama.

The watches are available for purchase now and they are all priced the same to keep things simple and cheap(ish). Yours for €119. Oh, and I see that Timex is running a 30% off for Black Friday right now, so you could get these watches for a hair over €80. See more on the Timex website.

3/

March LA.B Adds Three More Models To Their Unusual Square AM2 Model

March LA.B is a curious company. Technically, they are based in Los Angeles and Biarritz, an unlikely pairing, and take a huge amount of inspiration from Paris, like for their Mansart collection which is inspired by Place Vendôme. That’s one interesting thing. The other is their use of shaped cases, a wonderful combination of curved squares and sharp facets. Now, they’re expanding the AM2 collection with three new models with some great colors.

The three new watches come in two sizes and two finishes. First, there’s the 39mm wide and 12.5mm thick model which gets an all black case, and then there’s the smaller 36mm wide and 11.32mm thick which can be had in either black or gold DLC. Like all the other AM2 models, it features a crown at 4 o’clock and they all have 100 meters of water resistance.

The dials also keep the same look as the older AM2 versions, but with updated colors. The larger 39m version features an all black dial with a black date wheel at 6 o’clock that has a green numeral for the 3rd date of the month. The smaller versions come with dark green dials with gold details and a black chapter ring on the black watch and a full olive dial with silver details on the gold watch. All the dials have the same striped texture that is signature for the AM2 model.

Inside, you’ll find the La Joux-Perret G100. It beats at 4Hz and has a 68 hour pwoer reserve. March LA.B claims that they get the movements delivered to them undecorated and are then decorated in France You can see the decorations through the green-tinted display back. The watch comes on a DLC coat matching H-link steel bracelet.

The new March LA.B AM2 models are available now and are all priced the same, regardless of the size or dial color — €2,182. See more on the March LA.B website.

4/

Ressence Introduces The Type 9, A Brand New Collection, Their Simplest One To Date

Just the other day I wrote about the pretty incredible Ressence Type 8 with a stunning dial made out of indigo-dyed silk thread. I noted in that writeup that the Type 8 is the simplest of all the Ressence watches which are notorious for the simple complexity, meaning they look simple, but are actually super complex in their operation and construction. Well, here comes Ressence, introducing a brand new model just days later and this is actually their simplest watch to date. This is the new Type 9. But don’t worry, while it is the sleekest and simplest model, it still keeps the very cool ROCS display module which rotates the entire dial to tell the time.

The new watch comes in a very sleek case. It carries on the pebble-like shape of older models, now measuring 39mm wide and 11mm thick. It’s made out of grade 5 titanium, so the whole thing — including the strap — weighs just 39 grams. On top is a domed sapphire crystal and the lugs are super short. Out back is the Ressence special caseback that controls the entire watch, including winding and setting the time. Ressence doesn’t give us a water resistance rating, so I’m going to assume it’s not great.

The new Ressence Type 9 comes in two colors, Grey or Aqua. Surrounding the dial is a fixed brushed bezel that holds the minute scale that’s marked out in 5-minute intervals. The domed dial rotates fully to indicate the time on the bezel with a long teardrop painted hand. The dial has a hour sub-dial which also rotates to point to a brushed hour ring that holds the 3 and 9 numerals and indices for the rest. All engraved markings are filled with blue Grade A Super-LumiNova.

Inside, things remain pretty much the same. It’s the rather pedestrian ETA 2892/2 which beats at 4Hz and has a 36 hour power reserve, the same you could find in all the other Ressence models. But what makes this watch special is the patented Ressence Orbital Convex System, which turns the central power of the ETA into a series of rotating rings and dials. I love that. The watches come on grey synthetic woven straps.

The new Ressence Type 9 Grey will be available at retailers this month while the Aqua edition comes out in February 2025. It is also the most affordable Ressence you can buy, priced at CHF 12,500. Not cheap, but certainly more affordable than the more complex models. See more on the Ressence website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the Raymond Weil Millesime

2/

Hands on with the GPHG Chonometry Prize-Winning Lederer Three-Times Certified Observatory Chronometer

⚙️Watch Worthy

A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like

The Circula Facet is meant to signal something new rather than trying to follow the trends

At first glance, you may see some influence from high horology in its case design, though a closer look will reveal its unique nature. Every typically hard edge has been faceted with roughly every other surface switching between brushing and polishing. This elevated look is especially apparent when you look at it side-by-side compared to the ProTrail model from Circula. You will notice similar design cues, but there has been a new level of attention to detail applied to this tentpole piece highlighting the fact that the Facet is not only filling a gap in the collection but driving the brand forward.

Read the whole review on Worn and Wound

⏲️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 choice faced by the families in Susan Dominus’ piece is the definition of impossible; how do you rip apart two families after a careless mistake at the IVF clinic led to two moms carrying, birthing, falling for, and raising the other’s genetic child? Are they supposed to just exchange the children they grew to love, despite not sharing DNA with them?

• Is “influencing” a real job, a creative pursuit? Are unboxing videos art? Are vibes intellectual property? The answers to all these questions is a resounding “Maybe?” But Gifford v. Sheil aims to change the answers to “Yes!” Mia Sato walks us through the ins and outs of two Amazon influencers with very similar, Kim Kardashian-inspired aesthetics — neutral, monochrome, clean — whose similar feeds and videos are putting copyright law to a very 21st-century test.

• OnlyFans gives women the chance to earn money by making porn. Sex traffickers also use the platform to abuse and exploit them, say police and prosecutors. The accused range from social media influencers to cash-hungry boyfriends. “I don’t think I’ll ever be fully healed,” said one victim.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I love discovering new watch brands. I also love extreme close up of beautiful watches. Thankfully, this video has both.

-Vuk