Mido Introduces New Multifort 8 Two Crowns, Their First Integrated Sports Watch; Ceramic Citizen Attesa Satellite Wave GPS; Louis Erard And GoS Make Damascus Steel Dials; New GP Laureato Skeleton

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Sure, integrates sports watches are becoming way overplayed today. But this one from Mido just might be the one to get and then forget about everything else.

In this issue:

• Mido Introduces The Brand New Multifort 8 Two Crowns, Their Accessible Take On The Integrated Sports Watch

• Citizen Gives The Attesa Satellite Wave GPS F950 New Ceramic Bezels

• Louis Erard Teams Up With Patrik Sjögren of GoS For A Damascus Steel Dialed Regulator

• Girard-Perregaux Releases A Special Edition Laureato Skeleton For The WinteRace

👂What’s new

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Mido Introduces The Brand New Multifort 8 Two Crowns, Their Accessible Take On The Integrated Sports Watch

While some other brands in the Swatch Group have their fair share of experimentation and release of watches that cause some head scratching, it seems that Mido is just coming out with banger, after banger, after banger. Their Multifort TV Big Date oozes 70s cool, and the Ocean Star line is incredible. The Tribute is a great diver, the GMT might be the best looking one on the market for the price and the Decompression Worldtimer is just a breath-taker. But there’s just one major genre of watches that they haven’t exactly been active in, one that’s become so popular in recent years that it’s becoming a meme — the steel integrated-bracelet sports watch. Well, that changes now with the brand new Multifort 8 Two Crowns collection.

Sure, one could argue that Mido didn’t want to enter the integrated-bracelet sports watch market because the also Swatch Group-owned Tissot was making so much money with their PRX collection, but it’s quite obvious that there is very little crossover between these collection. The Multifort 8 Two Crowns is quintessential Mido. And it comes in a pretty perfect size. The barrel-shape case measures 40mm wide, a pretty spectacular 9.5mm thick and a lug-to-lug which measures 44.86mm. Can’t get much more wearable than that for a sports watch. On top is a fixed metal bezel with eight sides cut out of it. The lugs are faceted and there’s a single narrow mid-link to connect the watch to the strap. On the side are two crowns, available in either untreated steel, blue PVD or black PVD, one to set the time and the other to operate the internal 60-minute bezel. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There are three dial possibilities, blue, black or grey, all with a thin striped pattern in the centre. The dial is surrounded by internal bezels that are color mateched, and the hour markers are recessed into the dial. The hands are thin, faceted, polished steel batons and are covered in Super-LumiNova, just like the markers. There’s a date aperture at 3 o’clock with either white or black wheels, depending on the dial colour.

Inside, somewhat surprisingly, you won’t find the Powermatic 80, a staple in the Swatch Group lineup. Instead, you get the extremely thin Calibre 72, which is actually the ETA A31.111, an evolution of the ETA 2892. The movement beats at 3.5Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. Each version comes with it’s own setup of bracelets — the blue dial comes on a blue rubber strap, the black dial with steel bracelet, and grey dial with steel bracelet.

The new Mido Multifort 8 Two Crowns is available for purchase now and priced at €1,190 on rubber and €1,220 on steel. See more on the Mido website.

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Citizen Gives The Attesa Satellite Wave GPS F950 New Ceramic Bezels

Don’t worry, Citizen hasn’t forgotten about the weirdos who love their hyper-advanced GPS-connected high-end quartz offerings. Stuff like the Satellite Wave GPS F950. And while the new addition to the lineup isn’T earth shattering, it’s a very nice watch. The new Citizen Attesa Satellite Wave GPS F950 CC4014-53E and CC4105-69E are updated with brushed ceramic bezel that give us great contrast.

The watches come in titanium cases that are available in either Duratect Titanium Carbide or black Duratect DLC finishes. That means you get either a black or silver case, both of them angular, faceted and very futuristic. They are not small watches, measuring 44mm wide and 13.7mm thick, but they are fairly light thanks to the titanium construction. The case has a combination of tight brushing and near-mirror polishing. On top are flat sapphire crystals, surrounded by the new black ceramic bezel, finished with brushing and polishing, just like the case. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial, Citizen claims, is inspired by “the deep, black hue of unprocessed titanium” and you get applied polished markers and radial grooved sub-dial rings. There are three sub-dials, and they show a lot of functionality — a 1/20th second chronograph, world time, dual time display, light level indicator, power reserve indicator, date display, and a perpetual calendar. The hands are super sharp and polished.

Inside is the brand’s Caliber F950 Eco-Drive movement, which offers the world’s fastest GPS satellite timekeeping signal reception speed of just three seconds. It is powered by a natural or artificial light source and in power saving mode it will last five years. If you get cut off from satellites and can’t get a signal to adjust the time, the movement will be accurate to +/-5 seconds per month. Double Direct Flight technology allows the rapid change to one of 39 time zones in just two steps. The watches come on matching titanium three-link integrated bracelets.

The new Citizen Attesa Satellite Wave GPS F950 CC4014-53E is priced at $2,079, while the black DLC CC4105-69E is priced at $2,228. See more on the Citizen website.

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Louis Erard Teams Up With Patrik Sjögren of GoS For A Damascus Steel Dialed Regulator

At the risk of sounding boringly repetitive, I will declare my strong fondness for Louis Erard once again. They’ve been on an interesting roll these past few years, using their Le Régulateur model as a spectacular platform for some great collaborations. It was a simple regulator setup that allows for maximum creativity. A regulator watch draws its inspiration from clocks and watches from England in the 1700s, and by the late 1800s the regulator clock was common across railroad stations in the United States. This setup separates the hours, minutes and seconds from the same axis and places them at 12, central and 6 o’clock positions, making it easier to spot the precise time. And their latest edition might be the most ambitious to date. They teamed up with fellow indie watchmaker Patrik Sjögren who runs GoS and is particularly known for his use of Damascus steel. The result is a completely different Le Régulateur.

The case of this watch is not just familiar from previous models, it’s also super simple. Made out of stainless steel, it measures 39mm wide, 12.82mm thick and has short lugs for a 45.9mm lug-to-lug. The case is fully polished with a minimalist fixed bezel on top that surrounds the domed sapphire crystal. Out back is partially black-tinted sapphire caseback. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial is all about Damascus steel. It’s forged with multiple layers of steel by Conny Persson and hand-finished by Sjögren, who was given free rein on the design. That’s why he changed all of the hardware on the watch. The two minute and hour hands are now rendered as GoS-characteristic sword shape in bright blue. There’s no more traditional seconds hand. Instead you get a triskelion-inspired small seconds disc at 6 o’clock. The minute segment gets a notched chapter ring and there’s an applied hour around the perimeter.

Inside, no surprises — it’s the Sellita SW266-1 élaboré-grade automatic movement, which has the regulator setup. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve.The watch comes on a really cool black salmon leather strap, and you get an additional grained black strap.

The new Louis Erard Regulator X GoS is available now, limited to 178 pieces and priced at CHF 4,250 without taxes. See more on the Louis Erard website.

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Girard-Perregaux Releases A Special Edition Laureato Skeleton For The WinteRace

We’re way into the temperature double digits (in Celsius, my dear American readers) for weeks now here in Croatia. The trees are blooming, I see people in shorts all the time and we’re not just ready for full blown spring, I assume we will hit summer temperatures very soon. But there are others in Europe who are still living the winter lifestyle. Like the folks over at the WinteRace Cortina, a 460km two-day vintage and modern car rally set in the Italian and Austrian Alps, where there’s still plenty of snow. And as their partner for the 8th time in a row, Girard-Perregaux is releasing a special Laureato Skeleton WinteRace Edition to mark the occasion of the race.

The Laureato is GP’s sportiest watch, so it makes sense that they would use ti for this edition. It comes in black ceramic and measures 42mm wide and 11.13mm thick. The case keeps the familiar barrel shape with a octagonal integrated bezel on top. The entire watch gets a brushed finish for an even sportier look, and like a good sports watch, water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is skeletonized, which suits it just perfectly. Around the perimeter of the dial is a black chapter ring which holds the suspended gold plated indexes filled with lume. Everything else on the dial are the black PVD-treated mainplate and bridges, which feature multiple finishing techniques, including bevelling, sandblasting, traits-tirés, and circular satin finishes. Time is indicated with gold plated and lumed hands, and you can see the mainspring, balance wheel, and pallet lever through the front.

Inside is the GP01800 automatic in-house movement. It beats at 4Hz and has a 54 hour power reserve. It operates with a variable inertia balance, eliminating the need for an index-adjuster. By modifying inertia weights on the balance wheel, watchmakers fine-tune precision while improving shock resistance. The recessed positioning of these weights reduces air turbulence, further refining accuracy. You can see the pink gold rotor and Côte de Genève finishing through the caseback. The watch comes on a black ceramic bracelet.

The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton WinteRace Edition is available now, priced at $52,000. See more on the Girard-Perregaux 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

• Taylor Sheridan is a production machine. In this piece, Stephen Rodrick drills down into his incredible work ethic, and looks at what it is people love about Sheridan’s particular brand of Americana. Not afraid to highlight the fact that “the creator made the savior in his own image,” Rodrick takes a somewhat wry look at Sheridan—a man who created a fictional world out of his own.

• In his 1970 book, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro proposed a wild theory: The story of Jesus was an elaborate allegory for the use of psychedelic mushrooms. Allegro’s thesis was widely rejected, but his ideas reflect a broader interest in the role of psychedelics in spiritual experiences. Today, there is growing archaeological evidence that the use of mind-altering substances must have played a role in the evolution of human spirituality—a “lost history of drugs,” writes John Last, “that shows many centuries of psychedelics’ continuous use, even well into the Christian era.” Last’s essay at The Long Now Foundation is fungi for thought.

• Sam Anderson isn’t the first writer to seek enlightenment by walking. But most writers aren’t Sam Anderson. So when he sets out to retrace the steps of a mysterious 19th-century wanderer, your best choice is to go ahead and read the ensuing story. It’s exactly as humane and affirming as you hope it might be.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I am still very skeptical about Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie, especially because making a good movie about racing is surprisingly difficult, but this trailer looks very good.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk