Farer Releases New Moonphase Watches; Raymond Weil's Take On The Ellipse; Sinn's Lumed Dial U1 S L; Horage Celebrates 10 Years Of Array; De Bethune's Gold DB28XS; Gérald Genta’s New Gentissimas

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Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. None of the watches we have today are groundbreaking, but I have to admit I like every single one of them. Even the weird Gentas.

In this issue

• Farer Adds Fantastic New Dials To Its Already Great Moonphase Collection

• Raymond Weil Releases The Toccata Heritage, Paying Homage To The Elipse Watch

• Sinn Releases A Very Special Fully Lumed Dial In Their Mega-Capable U1 S L

• Horage Celebrates 10 Years Of The Array, The Watch That Started It All For Them

• De Bethune Gives Their Compact DB28XS Yellow Tones A Very Golden Finish

• Gérald Genta’s Gentissima Urchin Inspired Oursin Gets Black Onyx And Burgundy Colorways

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: How Incabloc, KIF, and Other Systems Protect the Most Vulnerable Parts of a Watch

👂What’s new

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Farer Adds Fantastic New Dials To Its Already Great Moonphase Collection

Last year, Farer introduced a new collection of Moonphase watches. And just like with pretty much every category they dip their toes in, they made the prettiest version of the Moonphase. They featured their iconic cusion case, beautiful colors on the dials and the wonderful huge moon right above the handset. These three watches sold out pretty fast, just like most Farer do, and now they are bringing the original three colors back for another run. Now, Farer is updating the collection with two new variants, the Burbidge Eastern Arabic Edition, named after Margaret Burbidge, a British-American observational astronomer and astrophysicist, and Stratton, named after Frederick Stratton, who was a decorated veteran of the First World War and a noted mathematician and astronomer.

The case doesn’t change for the most part, meaning it’s still the beautiful cushion case that measures 38.5mm wide, 10.5mm thick and has a 43.8mm lug-to-lug, making for a nicely wearable watch. The top of the watch has a highly polished finish, while the sides have what Farer calls the “grain twist” imprint texture. The Burbidge remains untreated in silver, but the Stratton gets a gold PVD coating. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dials are radically different from one another. The Stratton has a dial made out of Eisenkiesel, a variety of quartz veined with iron, giving it a black base striated with gold and brown streaks. That’s paired with a specially developed gold colored Super-LumiNova on the oversized Moon that sits right below 12 o’clock. The hands are also gold, matching the case. The Burbidge Eastern Arabic Edition gets a light blue sunburst finished base, paired with a pink moon and lumed Eastern Arabic script on all the numerals. The hour numerals on both models are made out of Lumicast, a luminous ceramic composite.

Inside is the SW288-1 Ma Elaboré Grade movement, which beats at 28,800vph and has a 45 hour power reserve. It’s even decent looking, with blued screws and bespoke Farer embossed patterned bridge. The watches can be had on a number of leather straps.

The Farer Moonphase Stratton and Burbidge Eastern Arabic Edition are available for pre-order now, with shipping starting in mid-December. Price is set at €1,895 for the Burbidge and €2,125 for the Stratton. See more on the Farrer website.

2/

Raymond Weil Releases The Toccata Heritage, Paying Homage To The Elipse Watch

Raymond Weill has great taste when it comes to recreating some of the most iconic vintage watch shapes. They did it with the Millesime, which was very much inspired by the 1930s. Now, they’re taking on a more contemporary shape, one that has risen in interest over the past several years — the ellipse watch, which we all know and love from the 1970s. It was all the rage for years, with Patek, Universal Genève, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron making their own version. The Toccata has been around for Raymond Weil for a while, a collection based on elegant rectangular or round cases. Now, they’re releasing the Toccata Heritage, their take on the ellipse watch.

Raymond Weil keeps things very simple with the Toccata Heritage Collection, very vintage inspired. It measures 33mm wide, 6.95mm thick and is 38mm long, which makes it pretty fantastic in the classic dress watch size. But beyond that, there’s also a smaller version that measures 31mm wide, 5.1mm thick and 36mm long, that one powered by a quartz movement and with a bezel set with diamonds. The ellipse has stubby lugs at its ends and there are a couple of different finishes. They are all polished, with versions in untreated stainless steel and an option for a rose gold PVD finish. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The dials are as simple as the case, with sunray-brushed surfaces in silver, blue and copper colors, that come in various combinations of cases. Keeping with the simplicity of the dial, you get faceted Dauphine hands for the hours and minutes, a printed minute track and applied, polished hour markers.

Like I mentioned, there are two movements available for the watch. First, it’s a simple quartz movement that just ticks with little flare. The mechanical version is called the RW4100, based on the hand-wound Sellita SW210-1. It beats at 4Hz and has a 45 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on a number of leather straps or a steel multi-link bracelet with a folding clasp.

The new Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage collection is available now and part of the permanent collection. Prices start at CHF 998 for the smallest quartz option on a leather strap, all the way up to CHF 2,158 for the gold PVD quartz option with diamonds. See more on the Raymond Weil website.

3/

Sinn Releases A Very Special Fully Lumed Dial In Their Mega-Capable U1 S L

Sinn is about a serious watch as German watches can get. I mean, they make tool watches for underwater welders, and then they go and make those watches out of actual stainless steel taken from decommissioned German submarines. In most cases, the amount of flourish from Sinn boils down to a choice of dial colors — either black or white. But we love them for it. Especially when they release a watch like the new U1 S L, with a very cool lumed dial.

Just as you would expect, the case of the new U1 S L is made out of submarine steel, with Sinn’s black Tegiment treatment, making it resistant to scratches. The case is quite substantial, measuring 44mm wide and 14.7mm thick, with a sapphire crystal on top with anti-reflective coatings on both sides, surrounded by a fully graduated unidirectional bezel with a 60 minute scale. The black crown sits at 4 o’clock, screws down and is water resistant to 1,000 meters. Sinn is a very German company, so there are norms and standards everywhere — it meets the DIN 8310 water resistance technical requirement, the DIN 8306 diving norm and the EN 250 / EN14143 European diving equipment standards.

Then, there’s the dial. It looks like other U1 models, with a small minute scale and blocky hour markers, all paired with black blocky syringe-type hands. That stands over what looks like a white dial, but is much more. The dial uses a special casting process that incorporates luminous paint into a mould, resulting in a hybrid ceramic dial that is fully lumed. Very cool.

Inside, you’ll find the ubiquitous Sellita SW200-1 movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 4 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on a number of straps — a bead-blasted black stainless steel bracelet with the same hard coating, a rubber strap, a leather strap or a textile strap.

The new Sinn U1 S L is available now, priced at €2,950 on leather and textire, €3,270 on rubber and €3,410 on the steel bracelet. See more on the Sinn website.

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Horage Celebrates 10 Years Of The Array, The Watch That Started It All For Them

I am weary of sharing watches on Kickstarter, as the possibility of the it never being released and the investors getting burned is just too high. OK, it’s not high, but even the smallest of risk isn’t worth it when it comes to me recommending a watch to you. But I’m very comfortable talking about this one, as it’s a Kickstarter from Horage, one of my favorite independent watchmakers. Not only have they done fun stuff like the Lensman photography-influenced watches and moved the needle with their fantastic in-house movements, but they’ve worked a bunch on looking towards the future of watchmaking with stuff like the MicroReg that completely changes the idea of accuracy in mechanical watches. But back in 2015, they started with the Array K1, raising money for it on Kickstarter. Now, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Array, they are going back to Kickstarter with a worthy homage.

On the outside, the watch remains largely unchanged. In fact, this whole thing remains unchanged, because it’s a sort of recreation of the watch that fans of the brand might have missed out of 10 years ago. That means that you get the simple stainless steel case, measuring 39mm wide and 10.7mm thick. It comes in a combination of polished and brushed finishes and it’s a perfect demonstration of how far Horage has come in 10 years — from a fairly basic, but still cool case, to the wild stuff we see today from them. Very cool. It also has 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial also remains largely unchanged. You get a choice between a white and black sloping flange on the outside with printed markers and lumed squares at the hour positions. That’s it you have of the dial, because the rest is completely openworked to show off the movement. You see the brushed mainplate, both date wheels in their entirety and a power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock. The Horage logo and boundary box for the date are both printed on the crystal.

There’s a reason why the original Array had an open worked dial, and why this one has it too. It’s because the K1, despite all the advancements they made later on, is likely the most important movement for Horage. It was their first in-house movement, proving that a small Swiss upstart can make pretty incredible stuff. And by incredible, I mean a custom silicon escapement, which nobody did 10 years ago outside of the major players. The movement beats at 3.5Hz and has a 65 hour power reserve. This 10th anniversary edition gets a commemorative tungsten rotor. The black version comes on a black leather strap, while the white version comes on a white crackle leather strap.

Like I said, the new Horage Array 10th Anniversary Edition is available through a Kickstarter campaign that’s open until November 7th at 12:45pm. It’s also limited to 100 pieces, 50 in each color. So far, 43 have been sold in total. But the best part is the pricing — Horage decided to keep it the same as the original, meaning CHF 1,470, which makes it a pretty incredible deal today. See more on the original Array on the Horage website and for the new version, check out the Kickstarter.

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De Bethune Gives Their Compact DB28XS Yellow Tones A Very Golden Finish

I would like to share something a bit embarrassing. I’ve been reading and writing about De Bethune for years. And yet, it’s only been a couple of months that I figured out that their iconic case actually articulates. I could see that the top and bottom lugs connect at the side of the case, but I always thought this to be a stylistic choice, I had no idea that this was a pivot point that allows the lugs to move and better conform to your wrist. Which is just genius. And kind of silly to not realize earlier. And making it even more comfortable to wear in the past several months has been the introduction of the more compact DB28XS. Now, they’re releasing the DB28XS Yellow Tones, which gets some pretty incredible gold hues.

This DB28XS Yellow Tones comes in a Grade 5 titanium case that measures 39mm wide and 8mm thick. You still get the floating articulated lugs and the crown at noon, as well as the domed sapphire crystal. While previous versions came in untreated titanium, this case undergoes a thermal-oxidation process that turns the case into a very interesting shade of yellow-gold. There’s even a bit of water resistance, even if it is just 30 meters.

The thermal-oxidation process is continued on the dial, where the base and the titanium delta-shaped barrel bridge get the same treatment. The dial also continues the look of the Steel Wheels edition, meaning that you can see parts of the movement, like the twin barrels underneath the top part of the bridge and parts of the interlocking wheel train that drive the hands and other wheels in the movement. The skeletonized hour and minute hands have the same gold colors, as do the spherical hour markers and depressions between the hour markers for the minutes on the peripheral track.

Inside is the manual-winding calibre DB2005, which beats at 4Hz and has twin barrels that give it a 6-day power reserve. It’s a beautiful movement, with a balance made out of blued titanium with white gold inserts and a a lot of mirror polishing. The watch comes on a brown alligator strap, closed by a yellow polished titanium pin buckle.

The new DB28XS Yellow Tones is available now, priced at $115,000. See more on the De Bethune website.

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Gérald Genta’s Gentissima Urchin Inspired Oursin Gets Black Onyx And Burgundy Colorways

Oh wow, I just realized that there are still some watches introduced at Geneva Watch Days that I haven’t covered, so bear with me for a second. When he wasn’t defining the entire watch industry with design icons like the Patek nautilus and the AP Royal Oak, Gérald Genta led his own eponymous brand since 1969. This is the place where he was free to explore his creativity to its limits, with some wild watches as a result. However, the brand was sold to Bulgari, where it stagnated, only to be sold to LVMH two years ago. The conglomerate since announced they will revive the brand as part of their high-end manufacture La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. We’ve already seen them release the prickly Gentissima Oursin, we saw the sequel in the wild opal gemstones and a yellow gold case Gentissima Oursin Fire Opal, and now we’re getting the third installement in the collection, the Oursin 36 Burgundy and the Oursin 36 Black Onyx.

Genta designed the prickly watch in the 1990s, after being inspired by sea urchins he sketched on holiday in Corsica, making it perhaps one of two watches being inspired by the sea urchin. The other, of course, being the Croatian-based Marnaut, which is certainly not as expressive as this. There’s a couple of things that these two models share. First, is the case that measures 36.5mm wide and 9.6mm thick. Second is the movement, which is the Zenith GG-005 Elite automatic, beating at 4Hz, with a 50 hour power reserve. It features a special octagonal gold rotor.

But beyond that, and a similar feel, these are actually very different looking watches. The Black Onyx models comes in a yellow gold case that has a doughnut-shaped bezel with a glass-blasted matte finish and 223 hand-screwed yellow gold spikes tapering in size as they get closer to the dial. Even the crown has polished spikes. The dial, as the name suggests, is made out of black onyx and features 12 gold spiked hour markers. My two favorite details are the fantastic eight-sided faceted sapphire crystal and the black leather Bund-style strap.

Then, we have the Oursin Burgundy which has a glass-blasted case, but instead of spikes, it has 223 polished rose gold beads. The dial has a pinkish-red color with an eight-sided scalloped guilloché pattern. The dot-shaped hour and minute markers are printed with white Super-LumiNova, which can also be found on the gold hands. The watch comes on a burgundy calfskin leather strap.

The new Gentissima Oursin Black Onyx and Gentissima Oursin Burgundy are available now, priced at CHF 29,000 and CHF 27,000, respectively, and both without taxes. See more on the Gerald Genta website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: How Incabloc, KIF, and Other Systems Protect the Most Vulnerable Parts of a Watch

The evolution of shock protection from fragile instruments to daily companions. 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

• With record-low public trust and relentless legal, economic, and technological upheaval, America’s traditional press faces existential threats. This roundtable—featuring leading journalists—grapples with collapsing newsrooms, rising influencer-driven media, and the future of journalism’s democratic role, weighing hard questions about authority, adaptation, and what’s lost if legacy outlets fade away.

• “Could baseballs really bend along their path, or was it all a collective delusion?” For Pioneer Works Broadcast, Brad Bolman explores the controversies surrounding the curveball since baseball’s rise in popularity at the end of the 19th century—and what these debates reveal about science, shared reality, and American values. It’s a smart and stimulating read, and especially timely for anyone watching this year’s World Series.

• In southwest Madagascar, the collapse of coral reefs—due to overfishing, climate change, and poverty-driven migration—has devastated both marine ecosystems and the coastal communities that depend on them for food. Vox’s Benji Jones visits the Bay of Ranobe and finds that traditional conservation efforts have failed in Madagascar because they have ignored the communities’ need to fish—and make a living. Jones highlights a new approach, one that works with the local culture: an artificial reef project that restores habitat while creating more places to fish.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I just watched Poor Thing and Lanthimos has some serious issues. But I like what he’s doing.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk