IWC's Pitch Black Ceratenium Portugieser Chrono; The Raymond Weil Millesime Gets Tuxedo Dials; Sinn's White Dial 144; The Sanblasted And Black Gold Kudoke 3 Nocturne; The Rose Gold Krayon Anyday

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. All I’m going to need from you today is to come together and buy the Krayon Anyday for me. Thank you.

In this issue

• IWC Uses Black Ceratenium To Create A Pitch Black Portugieser Chronograph

• Raymond Weil Gives Their Millesime Small Seconds 39mm A Trio Of Tuxedo Dials

• Sinn Teams Up With German Non-Profit Sporthilfe For A Very Different 144

• The Kudoke 3 Nocturne Gets A Sandblasted Dark Case And A Black Gold Dial

• The Krayon Anyday, Which Gives You A Full Month At A Glance, Now Comes In Rose Gold

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Your Next Watch, Week 69: An Affordable Omega, My Perfect Rolex; A Groovy Bulova; And An Impeccable Movado

👂What’s new

1/

IWC Uses Black Ceratenium To Create A Pitch Black Portugieser Chronograph

Despite really trying to like them, I could never get into the IWC Portugieser. I am equally as uninterested in the vast majority of black cased watches. And yet, here we are, looking at an all black IWC Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium IW371631 that has me thinking — maybe I do like Portugiesers and black watches?

The base of the watch remains unchanged, with the shape and size I always found a bit awkward. The case still measures 41mm wide, 13mm thick, with a 48m lug-to-lug. It’s not a gigantic watch, but it appears larger thanks to the thin, unmarked bezel that allows the domed crystal to extend all the way to the edges of the case. On the side you get mushroom pushers and a simple crown. The novelty for this case is the material.. The case, crown, pushers and caseback are all made in matte Ceratanium. This is IWC’s proprietary material that is a special titanium alloy that is fired at high temperatures in a kiln, giving it ceramic-levels of scratch resistance. It also gives the watch a very dark look. Water resistance is pretty miserable at 30 meters.

The darkness of the case continues on the dial, which has not just a matte black base, but also black sub-dials, hour markers, printing and hands. The hands and the hour markers have a polished finish, to make them at least a bit visible on the black background. At 12 o’clock is a 30 minute counter and at 6 o’clock is the running seconds display. I have to be honest, I barely managed to read which is which on the photo, which certainly means that this will not be the most legible dial in the world. Must be why i like it so much.

The all-black design of the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium continues on the dial, with its matte black base and black printings. Even the hands and hour markers are black – thankfully with a polished finish, to bring a bit of contrast in certain angles. Indeed, while visually consistent with the rest of the watch, this all-black dial isn’t the most practical as there is not a single touch of contrasting colour. Sure, this watch looks cool, but legibility isn’t its main strength.

Inside, also nothing new, it’s the calibre 69355, which beats at 4Hz and has a 46 hour power reserve, with a column wheel and vertical clutch system for the chronograph. It’s made by ValFleurier and features a double-pawl winding system. The watch comes on a black rubber strap with a Ceratanium pin buckle.

The new IWC Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium is limited to 1,500 pieces, priced at €14,800. See more on the IWC website.

2/

Raymond Weil Gives Their Millesime Small Seconds 39mm A Trio Of Tuxedo Dials

It could be due to the fact that it’s a relatively new collection — despite the huge number of watches already in it — but the Raymond Weil Millesime isn’t mentioned enough when it comes to cool dress watches that are relatively affordable. They make it in two sizes, chronograph setups, moon phase complications and a small seconds options. Now, expanding the collection, we might have gotten the best version of the Millesime Small Seconds 39mm — three watches with fantastic tuxedo dials.

On the outside, there is zero change. It’s still a stainless steel case with a brushed and polished finish, measuring 39mm wide and 10.25mm thick. Sure, not the smallest of watches, especially for one going for a dressy look with a Calatrava-like case, but a lot of that thickness is due to the box-shaped sapphire crystal, so it should appear thinner. The crystal is surrounded by a stepped bezel, out back is a sapphire caseback and you get 50 meters of water resistance.

What’s new are these fantastic dials. They are all tuxedo-style, drawing inspiration from the Art Deco period, with contrasting chapter rings that hold the lumed Arabic numerals. Around the perimeter is a minutes railroad track. There are three color options — a cream with a black ring, a blue with a black ring and a pretty fantastic deep red with a white hour ring. You get the classic Millesime crosshairs, but it’s not painted on. Instead, it’s engraved into the dial. The central hour and minute hands are brushed and filled with lume, while at the 6 o’clock is a small seconds.

Inside is a very familiar movement, the Sellita SW261-1, which is just a SW200 with a small seconds display. That means it beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve, and the movement is customized with a W-shaped weight. The watches come on leather straps that complement the chapter rings, and there is a steel bracelet option.

The new Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds 39mm Tuxedo Dials are available now, priced at €2,250. See more on the Raymond Weil website.

3/

Sinn Teams Up With German Non-Profit Sporthilfe For A Very Different 144

While there are plenty of Sinn watches that we might lust after, it’s the 144 that will certainly be one of the more recognizable ones. That’s because it uses the same hooded-lug case as the 1970s Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph I, with the same black treatment, black dial and 7750 chronograph movement sub-dial setups. It’s an iconic look that Sinn still makes to this day. But, when you see a watch like this Sinn 144 made in partnership with the Deutsche Sporthilfe, a Germany non-profit foundation, established to support elite and up-and-coming athletes, you see how radically a watch can change with just some color tweaks.

It starts with the case, which is no longer black but silver, with a bead blasted finish. It still has the hooded lugs and measures 41mm wide and 14.1mm thick. You get sapphire crystals on front and back, and on the side is a screw-down crown. The watch is water and pressure resistant to 200 meters, and like many Sinn watches, it’s also low pressure resistant, since it’s supposed to be used by pilots.

The dial is where this version stands out the most. It is extremely rare to see a 144 with a non-black dial, and when it’s given a stark white dial, it’s very much eye-catching. Surrounding the dial is a sloped flange with a 60 minute scale and the values of the Sporthilfe foundations written in the first quarter — "Performance. Fair Play. Togetherness." This has the familiar 7750 movement setup, which means a 12 hour counter at 6 o’clock, running seconds at 9 o’clock and a 30 minute counter at 12 o’clock. At 3 o’clock is the Sinn logo and date aperture, while right underneath it is the Sporthilfe pyramid logo. The hour and minute hands are black, filled with lume, the central chronograph hand and the two chrono counter hands are bright red, and the running seconds hand is gold colored.

And just like I said, inside is a movement that’s based on the ETA 7750, but it’s not the 7750. Instead, it’s the Concepto-made C99001, a clone of the legendary chronograph. It beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. The watch comes on an H-link steel bracelet that has the same blasted finish.

The new Sinn 144 Deutsche Sporthilfe is limited to 300 pieces and it’s priced at €3,990. See more on the Sinn website.

4/

The Kudoke 3 Nocturne Gets A Sandblasted Dark Case And A Black Gold Dial

There are many independent watchmakers out there that are deserved of our attention and praise. So many. But I kind of try to keep a top 10 list of my personal favorites. And among possibly my top 5 indies, you’ll find Kudoke, the German indie brand led by Stefan Kudoke. The Kudoke 1 and 2 were very cool, but my favorite has to be the Kudoke 3, which splits up the dial into two halves and tells time with a triple-scale hour display. That lower plate of the dial always served as a great canvas for decorations, like it was done in the incredible Kudoke 3 Flakes. The new Kudoke 3 Nocturne gets and all black treatment, while keeping that very cool setup and textured black dial.

On the outside, things remain very familiar. You get the same stainless steel case that measures 39mm wide and 19.8mm thick. While previous versions came in either precious metal cases or polished steel, this case gets a fully sandblasted finish which gives it a dark look.. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded by a stepped bezel, and on the size is an onion style crown that’s also sandblasted. You won’t go diving with this, but the 50 meter water resistance is welcomed.

The setup of the dial is also very familiar — the three-scale hour display of Kudoke 3 is applied to the lower frosted level, while on top is an upper dial plate with a minute black gold treated ring on the periphery. The upper dial plate has a galvanic black finish. Time is still read via the three-arm hour hand pointing to its triple scale, with each arm of different length. Minutes are told via the polished steel hands with an infinity symbol tip, pointing to the chapter ring, while the hours are done with the two smaller hands.

Inside, you’ll find the Kudoke Kaliber 1 which is based on the very cool Habring2 A11. it beats at 4Hz and has a 46 hour power reserve. This version gets a rhodium-plated movement with the “Flakes” engraving, which gets tiny fragments cut out of the surface for an absolutely incredible look. Kudoke will offer this option across the HANDwerk range at an extra cost. Call me crazy, but the cost of €2,990 doesn’t sound crazy for a movement that looks like this. The watch comes on a black suede leather strap.

The new Kudoke 3 Nocturne is limited to just 20 pieces, priced at €12,574, without tax. The watch is still not up on the Kudoke website, but keep an eye out for it.

5/

The Krayon Anyday, Which Gives You A Full Month At A Glance, Now Comes In Rose Gold

I have criminally overlooked the very cool indie Krayon. In fact, in the past three years, I think I only mentioned it once, and that was with the fascinating Anywhere watch that allows the wearer to calculate sunrise and sunset times anywhere in the world. It is obviously a very complex, very expensive watch. In order to appeal to a broader audience, Krayon introduced the Anyday watch. Sure, it’s a bit more affordable, but it’s definitely not for the masses. Krayon’s idea of a simpler watch gives us an incredible pointer-date complication that gives you an overview of the full month at a glance, letting you know which dates are a weekday and which are the weekend. Deceitfully simple, but very impressive. Now, the Anyday comes in a rose gold case, with a two tone grey dial.

The case is simple and elegant, made out of polished 18k rose gold. It measures 39mm wide and 9.5mm thick, with sapphire crystal on top and bottom. The crystal is held down with a rounded smooth bezel, and the one character flourish comes from the stepped lugs. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The dial is also new for this edition and comes in a two-tone anthracite setup. The center is a darker grey with a y-motif guilloché pattern and applied Y-shaped rose gold indices that are faceted with brushed and polished finishes. Surrounding that is a lighter grey track that has cutouts for the date numerals, and this is where the special stuff happens. The date is indicated with the crescent-tipped hand that is hidden under the middle part of the dial. But you’ll also notice that you get five grey dates, followed by two gold dates. Oh, yeah, it does exactly what you think it does. It’s a complication that updates every month to show you the weekdays and weekends, basically giving you the whole month at a glance, if you need to tell on which days a particular date falls. Pretty cool. It will need some adjustment over the year, but only in the five months that don’t have 31 days.

All of this is possible thanks to the in-house calibre C032, a hand wound movement that has two cams that drive the complication: a smaller one that accumulates energy over 24 hours to enable instantaneous date jumps at midnight, which is always cool, and a larger snail cam that turns once every 31 days to change the month setup. The movement beats at 3Hz, with a 72 hour power reserve. Decorations include waves on the mainplate, bevels and mirror-polished edges. The watch comes on an anthracite lizard leather strap, closed with a rose gold pin buckle.

The new Krayon Anyday Rose Gold is available now and doesn’t seem to be limited. Price is set at CHF 98,000. See more on the Krayon website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Your Next Watch, Week 69: An Affordable Omega, My Perfect Rolex; A Groovy Bulova; And An Impeccable Movado

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

• NASA plans to deorbit the International Space Station sometime around 2030, using a billion-dollar US Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) to sink and position it above a remote part of the southern Pacific Ocean. The USDV will then move the ISS into the lower atmosphere. Most of it will burn, but some of it will fall into the sea. These steps, writes Rebecca Heilweil, compose the best-case scenario for this gargantuan task. In this piece, part of Wired’s “Things Fall Apart” series, Heilweil details what could go horribly wrong.

• Be warned: there is a disturbing video clip in this piece, of three orcas kidnapping a humpback whale calf. It’s an uncomfortable watch, but isn’t this what orcas really are—whale killers? Jason Colby, the son of a commercial fisherman and a former fisherman himself, has had many close encounters with orcas and is well-placed to confront that question. Yet the piece ultimately becomes less a study of the whales than of us. Killer whales or orcas? The answer depends on the era and culture doing the looking.

• Elsa Pearl explores our innate fear of snakes and the almost-always dire fate of rattlesnakes who pop up across American literature for Oxford American, as she recalls her own encounters with timber rattlesnakes on her Appalachian homestead. Feeling horrible after killing a large snake near a storage shed, she knew she needed to adjust her approach when three more appeared in its place, basking in the sun. Would it be possible, she wondered, to create an environment for peaceful coexistence with her deadly-but-docile storage shed denizens?

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I love this dude, and I love beef jerky.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk