Longines Recreates 60s High-Frequency Legend; The Millesime Moon Phase 35mm; Kollokium Follows Up Projekt 01; BWC's Interstellar Visitor; Maison Boanton's Emblème Pink; 50 Years Of The GP Laureato

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In this issue

• Longines Recreates Their 1960s High-Frequency Legend With The Ultra-Chron Classic

• Raymond Weil Releases The Millesime Moon Phase 35mm Special Edition, Unfortunately Just In Japan

• Kollokium Follows Up The Crazy Projekt 01 With The Wilder Projekt 02 For Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers

• Bangalore Watch Company Takes Inspiration From A Guest To Our Solar System With The New Apogee Visitor

• Maison Boanton Teams Up With Actress Gwendoline Hamon On Breast Cancer Awareness Emblème Pink

• Girard-Perregaux Is Celebrating 50 Years Of The Laureato With A Perfect Evolution

• SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 1174 Parade: Minimalism, Revival, and the New Shape of Watch Authenticity

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watch School Wednesday: The Evolution of Watch Regulation Systems

👂What’s new

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Longines Recreates Their 1960s High-Frequency Legend With The Ultra-Chron Classic

Back in 1967, Longines released their first high-frequency watch, the Ultra-Chron. It was an incredibly simple watch, but in the best possible way. Sharp lugs, great proportions and a fantastic movement, you can still find this watch on eBay and with vintage dealers in spectacular condition and great prices. However, if you are wary of buying a vintage watch, Longines has you covered, because they just released the new Ultra-Chron Classic, a very faithful recreation of the original, in two sizes, with a great movement and fair price.

Longines is really good at recreating their vintage model, something that we’ve seen on their Legend Diver, and they’re doing it again with the Ultra-Chron Classic. It is an almost identical recreation of the original, in the best possible way. There are two sizes available, both measuring 10.95mm thick, with the smaller coming in at 37mm wide, with a 44.6mm lug-to-lug for the smaller and 40mm wide, with a 47.2mm lug-to-lug. I’m sure the general watch buying public will appreciate the larger size, but the nerds will certainly opt for the smaller 37mm version, which is the right choice. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal, surrounded by a slightly sloping bezel. The caseback is closed with the old Ultra-Chron logo. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Don’t expect anything new on the dial, either. It’s a domed silver dial with a sunray brushed finish, the crosshairs of the original, and it gets applied faceted hour markers, filled with black lacquer, just like the original. The same lacquer shows up on the hands. It looks amazing, but it also means you don’t get any lume. That’s quite the decision, and I assume they’ll catch some flack for it, but I dig it. At 3 o’clock is a date aperture, with a white disc inside. At 12 o’clock is the Longines logo, and at 6 o’clock is the vintage Ultra-Chron squiggle.

I love that Longines didn’t stop just at style while recreating the Ultra-Chron. Instead, they gave the watch a true high-beat movement. It’s the automatic Calibre L836.6, first used in the Ultra-Chron Diver. It’s a heavily modified ETA base, exclusive to Longines, that beats at 5Hz and has a 52 hour power reserve. Instead of being COSC certified, it’s certified by TimeLab Geneva and is labelled as an ultra-chronometer. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet, 19mm wide on the 37mm version, and 21mm for the 40mm edition, closed with a micro-adjustable folding clasp; or you can opt for a black alligator strap with a steel pin buckle.

The new Longines Ultra-Chron Classic will be available in October and will not be limited. Price is set at €3,750 on leather and €3,850 on the steel bracelet. See more on the Longines website.

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Raymond Weil Releases The Millesime Moon Phase 35mm Special Edition, Unfortunately Just In Japan

About a year ago, Raymond Weil updated their fantastic Millesime collection by shrinking it down to a very elegant 35mm size. That was a cool move. Then, earlier in the year, they released a very nice Japanese limited edition that had people outside the country drooling for the fantastic dial. Now, Raymond Weil is smashing those two concepts together, while also adding a moon phase complication. This is the new Millesime Moon Phase 35mm, a Japan-exclusive Special Edition made in collaboration with Masayuki Hirota, Editor-in-Chief of Chronos Japan Edition.

This new size for the Millesime really is fantastic. The watch comes in a 35mm wide and 9.98mm thick stainless steel case with satin-brushed caseband, lugs, and bezel, and polished lug tops and bezel bevels. It’s very nice, especially in combination with the retro-inspired box-shaped sapphire. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial continues with the sector setup that has a silver base, interrupted with blue hour and seconds rings. Within the broader of the rings, you’ll find really delibearte fonts on the Arabic hour numerals, while the minute track is slightly inclined, matched with the curved tips of the minute and seconds hand. At six o’clock you’ll find the moon-phase display with a photorealistic moon modeled after NASA data.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre RW4280, which is based on the Sellita 200 series movement. That means it’s an automatic, beating at 4Hz, with a 41 hour power reserve. It’s modified with a new W-shaped rotor embossed with the brand’s initials. The watch comes on a blue calfskin strap that matches the blue on the dial.

The new Raymond Weil Millesime Moon Phase 35mm Special Edition is limited to 100 pieces, and goes on sale on October 11th, at ISHIDA Shinjuku and ISHIDA Omotesando in Tokyo, ISHIDA N43° in Sapporo, and online. Price is set at JPY 462,000, or about €2,650. See more on the Raymond Weil Japan website.

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Kollokium Follows Up The Crazy Projekt 01 With The Wilder Projekt 02 For Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers

Kollokium, a watch brand established by Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer and Amr Sindi, sits very comfortably in my top 10 watch brands at this moment. I’m waiting for some things to play out like I want and I will be buying a Projekt 01, a wild neo-brutalist watch with a tall crystal that gives you a sideways look into the very unique dial made up of pins with lumed tips arranged in different heights to act as markers. It’s a fantastic watch and it came in a large number of colored lume options. But it was clear, with this team behind it, that Projekt 02 was going to be even better. And oh boy, is it. This is the first version of the Projekt 02 which gets a brand new topographical dial made up from stacked plates. This first edition is the Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers edition — what fantastic self reflection here — and now I want this as well.

The Projekt 02 continues the cool brutalist style of the Projekt 1, but in a much slimmer package. It’s still made out of die-cast 316L steel, which gives it a wonderful texture from the casting process and it is a solid monoblock case. It measures 39.5mm wide and has a super interesting thickness. In total, it measures 12.4mm thick, but a lot of that thickness is taken up by the very tall box-style sapphire crystal that, once again, lets you see the dial from the side. Without that crystal, the case measures just 5.9mm thick, and since the transparent crystal won’t add much to the visual weight of the case, this will look good on wrist. The caseback has the stats of the watch engraved in a funky circular pattern, and on the flank you’ll find the designation of the watch — K,P–n°02. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial is… quite something. I thought the Projek 01 pin-style dial was wild, but this takes things steps further. It’s made out of 67 individual plates spread across nine layers, stacked in a way to create a topographical model look. But that’s not all. The plates are hand-painted in white lacquer infused with green-emitting Super-LumiNova, while the metal edges are left unpainted. It’s an incredible look at night. The hour markers are embedded within the pattern, while the hour and minute hands are done in silver with luminous Lichtblock inserts. The seconds hand is done in bright orange.

Inside, you’ll find the ever-more-popular La Joux-Perret G101, an automatic movement beating at 4Hz, with a 68 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a khaki single-piece elastic textile strap.

The new Projekt 02, which Kollokum calls the Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers edition, is limited to 199 pieces, offered first to Projekt 01 Friends & Family and then to existing Kollokium owners. Price is set CHF 3’333.33, while the first publicly available variant is scheduled for Q1 2026 at CHF 3,666.66. See more on the Kollokium website.

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Bangalore Watch Company Takes Inspiration From A Guest To Our Solar System With The New Apogee Visitor

I have a deep appreciation for Nirupesh Joshi and his wife Mercy Amalraj, the founders of Bangalore Watch Company. They left their very successful careers in tech to focus on creating what could be considered the first — but certainly the most successful — microbrand from India. And not just watch microbrand that sells in India, but also to the rest of the world. Their watches are very much inspired by their home country and Joshi’s fascination with aviation and space. That’s reflected in the Apogee, is India’s first space-qualified watch. Now, we have an update to the collection with the new Apogee Visitor with a meteorite dial that takes inspiration from Oumuamua, also known The Visitor, a huge interstellar meteor racing towards our solar system.

The new Apogee Visitor keeps the same helmet-shaped Apogee case which is made out of the brand’s proprietary Cerasteel, which is a steel case with a ceramic coating over it, here in a matte grey color. The case measures 40mm wide, 12mm thick, with a compact 44mm lug-to-lug, thanks to the integrated straps and lack of lugs. It has two steel, knurled crowns, with the one at 2 o’clock operating the internal bezel and the one at 4 o’clock setting the time. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is made out of a slice of the Muonionalusta meteorite, well known for its beautiful Widmanstätten pattern. The meteorite gets a matte black PVD coating, with the BWC logo at 12 and the coordinates for Sriharikota, where all Indian satellites are launched, at 6 o’clock, just above the circular date aperture. Around the dial you’ll find the internal bezel that has 24-hour and 12-hour scales, to track two time zones. The indices are rectangular and applied, treated with C3 Super-LumiNova, just like the hands.

Inside, you’ll find the trusty Sellita SW200-2 which beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black leather strap with white stitching.

The new Apogee Visitor is available now, priced at INR 216,000, which translates to about €2,090. See more on the Bangalore Watch Company website.

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Maison Boanton Teams Up With Actress Gwendoline Hamon On Breast Cancer Awareness Emblème Pink

A couple of months ago, I wrote about Maison Boanton, a relatively new French brand that I instantly fell for. They make some pretty cool watches with a vintage flair and a lot of French heritage in their inspiration. The one that drove me crazy then was the model styled after one of my favorite cars of all time — the Alpine A110. Now, however, they are doing something a bit more serious by teaming up with actress Gwendoline Hamon to design a watch that will support the fight against women’s cancers. To do that, they are releasing a special and limited Emblème Pink Edition.

The case of the Emblème Pink Edition takes on a really nice, and familiar, cushion shape, made out of fully polished stainless steel. The case has great measurements — 40mm wide and 10.9mm thick, with a great lug-to-lug of 44.6, thanks to the very short lugs that use screws to hold the strap. On top is a double-domed sapphire crystal that’s surrounded by a chunky, polished and fixed bezel. On the side is a fluted onion crown, giving the whole watch a very vintage look. Out back is a transparent sapphire crystal and water resistance is 50 meters.

Then, there’s the new dial, done in a velvety lacquered pink, which has a wonderful soft texture. The color is obviously meant to reflect the color chosen for women’s cancer awareness and then the centre of the dial has a wonderful engraved pattern that is inspired by historic seals. The hands are simple leaf shaped and silver in color. Great looking thing.

Inside is the automatic La Joux-Perret calibre G100 which beats at 28,800vph and, despite being an alternative to the ETA 2824 and the Sellita SW200, it has a much more impressive power reserve than the competitors of 68 hours. It’s also easy on the eyes, with Côtes de Genève, diamond-beveled edges, rhodium-plated screws polished then heat-blued and solid tungsten rotor with decorative finish. You get a choice of straps .. either a hand-finished storm grey alligator strap or a bottle green grained calf strap.

The new Emblème Pink Edition is limited to 25 pieces, with 20% of profits being donated to IMAGYN, an organization which is dedicated to prevention, research, and supporting women affected by cancers, championed by Gwendoline Hamon. Price is set at €1,958 on the calf strap and €2,166 on the alligator strap. See more on the Maison Boanton website.

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Girard-Perregaux Is Celebrating 50 Years Of The Laureato With A Perfect Evolution

In 1975, when Girard-Perregaux introduced the Laureato, the model fit into a very interesting niche in the super popular integrated bracelet luxury sports watch, mostly because it launched with a quartz movement. It offered a reach into the world of the AP Royal Oak and the Patek Nautilus, at a more reasonable price. Not cheap, but reasonable. Now, GP is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the model with a very elegant evolution of the design and an inclusion of a new movement. This is the new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty.

The new limited edition comes in a new compact case that’s made out of stainless steel, with a combination of beautiful brushed and polished finishes, with a slightly darker look to the steel than expected. That, paired with the signature octagonal bezel made out of 3N yellow gold is a very nice look. More octagonal shapes can be found on the crown which is also done in 3N yellow gold. The watch comes in a perfectly compact case, measuring 39mm wide and 9.8mm thick. Of that 9.8mm, the midcase measures 5mm, which gives you a really sweet profile. Being a sports watch, you also get 150 meters of water ressitance.

The dial is also familiar, with a grey dial with a Clous de Paris pattern. The indexes and hands are made out of the same 3N gold, and there’s no more GP logo at 12 o’clock. Instead, you get a double index marker. The seconds hand has a counterweight in the shape of the GP double arrow and at 3 o’clock is a date aperture with a color matched date disc inside.

Inside, you’ll find the GP4800 movement we’ve seen recently introduced to Girard-Perregaux collections. The movement beats at 4Hz, has a 55 hour power reserve, with a silicon escapement, a variable inertia balance wheel and ceramic ball bearings. It’s also quite beautiful, with a monochrome look and a gold rotor. The rhodium-plated bridges are decorated with Côtes de Genève and diamond-bevelled edges, while the mainplate is sandblasted. The watch comes on a new integrated bracelet with reworked central links done in 5N gold and shorter stainless steel outer links. The bracelet also has a new clasp with micro adjust.

The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty is limited to 200 pieces, with the price set at CHF 25,000. See more on the Girard-Perregaux.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 8315 GMT: Navigating Travel, Time, and Timeless Design

Airports are noisy places. The smell of burnt coffee mixes with distant announcements calling flights to gates. Electronic displays flicker endless city names: London, Marrakech, Tokyo, Buenos Aires. Travelers pass through, each carrying stories, plans, and questions about where they belong in this vast world. On the wrist of one traveler glints a watch: the Serica 8315 GMT. It’s a modest watch, stainless steel, 39 millimeters in diameter, with a simple maroon dial spared of any branding or date. Its bezel shows day and night indications through a sharp brown-and-white contrast.

This watch says a lot about the user and the times we live in. It is a tool for those crossing borders, a nod to vintage style, and an example of modern minimalism. More than just telling time, it embodies the ways travel, nostalgia, and simplicity shape how people view themselves and the world today. This essay explores how the Serica 8315 GMT illustrates the crossroads of global travel culture, retro revival, and minimalism as design philosophies and lifestyles. Each theme—travel as cultural exchange and identity formation, retro as emotional memory and style, minimalism as a mindful rejection of excess—is deeply meaningful on its own. Together, they highlight a broader cultural moment. This watch acts as a case study that grounds these ideas in a concrete object, reflecting how cultural trends influence and are influenced by everyday possessions.

Travel today is more than a journey from point A to B. It’s about cultural exchange, self-transformation, and increasingly, media influence. The broadening availability of air travel expanded horizons globally but also created new questions about identity and place. Who are we when we are abroad? How does crossing borders change us?

Mark Twain put it simply: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.” The act of seeing different cultures firsthand breaks down stereotypes and fosters empathy. Maya Angelou similarly stated: “...all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die... if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Travel humanizes the “other” and helps people see common humanity despite cultural differences.

Read the rest of this essay here.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watch School Wednesday: The Evolution of Watch Regulation Systems

From ancient curb pins to modern silicon technology. Read it here.

⏲️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

• In her final piece for Eater, Jaya Saxena writes a deep dive on the rise of foodie culture in the US, how modern media and the internet changed how we engaged with food, and how food turned into fandom.

• Set against the rarefied backdrop of Bryn Mawr, Elysia Berman’s story of “Buy Now, Pay Later” debt explores how modern fintech turbocharges the yearning to belong in an affluent world. Addicted to quick credit and TikTok-fueled desire, she amassed $50,000 in debt before reckoning with her financial spiral—a cautionary tale about the costs of chasing the American dream.

• A rare window into the hidden world of New York’s prisons: when the killing of an inmate by guards triggered a statewide officers’ strike, the resulting crisis exposed decades of systemic violence, racial tension, and competing traumas—from those incarcerated to those paid to supervise them. The aftermath is an ongoing battle for reform, accountability, and basic humanity.

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One video you have to watch today

Channing Tatum is also one of those guests that’s perfect for the Hot Ones.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk