Mido's Racing-Inspired Multifort; Norqain's Orange Independence Flyback; More Compact Oris Aquis Pro; Squale Shrinks Down Matic; ArtyA's 35mm Luminity Wavy; A Wild Zenith Defy Skyline Tourbillon

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Look at the watches we have today. What an incredible amount of color. I love days like these.

In this issue

• Mido Releases The Very Racing-Inspired Multifort Chronometer¹ Racer

• Norqain Introduces Orange To The Independence Skeleton Flyback Chronograph

• Oris Walks The Line Of Hyper Extreme Divers With A More Compact Aquis Pro

• Squale Shrinks Down Their Iconic Divers With The Brand New Matic S Collection

• ArtyA Adds A More Compact Lineup To The Luminity Wavy Collection With A Microrotor

• Zenith Continues Celebrating With The Defy Skyline Tourbillon 160th Anniversary In Full Rose Gold

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Your Next Watch, Week 57: And Incredibly Rare Omega, A Cool Jacques Bianchi, A Groovy Longines, And A Classy Omega

👂What’s new

1/

Mido Releases The Very Racing-Inspired Multifort Chronometer¹ Racer

The Swatch Group makes some truly spectacular watches at all price points. Be it a Swatch, an Omega, a Tissot, a Longines or a Blancpain, you are sure to find something to your taste and budget. And still, they have the curveball option. Even if all of these are not enough for you, there’s Mido. Be it a simple diver, a retro-inspired TV or something like the funky Commander 1959, Mido will remain the choice of those who want something a bit different, but also familiar. I, for one, will be getting the spectacular Ocean Star Decompression World Timer one day. Now, Mido is releasing another contender for a cool all-around watch, the Multifort Chronometer 1 Racer.

The Multifort Chronometer 1 Racer is not a tiny watch, as it comes in a stainless steel case made out of three parts, with a black PVD coat, and measuring 42mm wide and 11mm thick, with a lug-to-lug measurement of 48mm. The finish is polished on the top part of the case and the small and simple bezel and brushed on the sides and bottom of the case, just like the bracelet. On top is a sapphire crystal and water resistance is 100 meters.

The case is the same as on all Multifort models, but what’s new is the dial. You get a black base, decorated with vertical Côtes de Genève, surrounded by a minute track that has two coloured rings, blue and orange, a quote of the famous blue, white and orange Gulf colors. You get applied satin-finished and polished indexes coated with Super-LumiNova, diamond-cut and faceted hour and minute hands, with centre groove filled with more white lume, as well as a diamond-cut and faceted orange lacquered large seconds hand. At 3 o’clock is a day and date aperture.

Inside, you’ll find an interesting movement. It’s the Mido automatic Caliber 80 COSC Si, an evolution of the Powermatic 80. It beats at 3Hz, features a silicon balance spring and has a 80 hour power reserve. The movement is also COSC certified and decorated with Côtes de Genève and engraved with the MIDO logo. The watch comes with two straps, a light blue leather with orange printed vertical lines and tone-on-tone stitching, as well as an additional perforated black leather strap. Both close with black PVD-coated stainless steel folding clasp.

The new Mido Chronometer 1 Racer is available now and is qualified as a special edition. I don’t think it’s limited, however. Price is set at CHF 1,320. See more on the Mido website.

2/

Norqain Introduces Orange To The Independence Skeleton Flyback Chronograph

Faithful readers will know I’m not a huge fan of Norqain watches. But it is impressive that this brand that was founded in 2018, albeit with a lot of money and industry support behind it, has made such huge strides. Last year, they did a big thing by introducing their first co-develeoped flyback chronograph movement, done in partnership with AMT SA, the bespoke branch of Sellita. They released it in the Independence Skeleton Chronograph last year and now the watch is getting a new colorway, all done in bright orange.

The watch uses the same case as the rest of the Independence lineup, meaning that it’s made out of brushed and polished stainless steel, and measures 42mm wide with a hefty 49.8mm lug-to-lug. The thickness has increased to accommodate the chronograph movement, from 11.8mm for the time only to 13.9mm for this chronograph. On the right side is a very elaborate crown guard. Water resistance is pretty standard at 100 meters.

The dial is skeletonized to show off parts of the new movement. The top bridges come in black, with orange details on the bridges as well as the rehaut that holds the minute scale. The watches have two sub-dials, arranged vertically — a 30 minute totaliser at 12 o’clock and a running seconds at 6 o’clock. Both the indices and hands are plenty filled with Super-LumiNova.

So, inside is the movement they call the calibre 8k. It’s not, of course, completely made from scratch. AMT used the Valjoux 7750-based Sellita SW500 and modified the hell out of it. They replaced the cam-lever chronograph mechanism with a more sophisticated column wheel and added the flyback function. The watch beats at 4Hz, has a 62 hour power reserve and has COSC certification. The watch comes on an integrated 4-link stainless steel bracelet featuring a folding buckle and micro-adjustment, or an orange textured rubber strap with a pin buckle

The Norqain Independence Skeleton Chrono in orange is part of the regular collection, with the price set at €5,900 on rubber and €6,150 on steel. See more on the Norqain website.

3/

Oris Walks The Line Of Hyper Extreme Divers With A More Compact Aquis Pro

Two years ago, Oris joined in on the train of creating hyper-capable divers that are meant to go to impossible depths, stuff like the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, the Omega Ultra Deep. The Aquis Pro, that’s what it was called, was a wild thing built to go down to 4,000 meters. For perspective, the Titanic lies at 3.8 kilometres. And to do that, it needed a lot of heft behind it. The titanium case measured 49.5mm wide, 23.4mm thick, and 55mm lug to lug. I wonder how many of these they sold. Well, I guess they sold enough, because they are releasing another hard-core diver. This one is a bit less capable, but that also means that it’s a hair more wearable.

Ok, before you dismiss the size of this watch, consider the fact that this is a purpose built watch made for saturation dive work. And as such, it makes so much sense. The watch is made out titanium and measures 49.5mm wide, 16.6mm thick and has a 55mm lug-to-lug. The watch has a black DLC coating and a helium escape valve on the left side. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal surrounded by the brand’s Rotation Safety System (RSS) unidirectional ceramic bezel. The RSS is a locking mechanism for the bezel to prevent accidental movement. You need to pull the bezel ring up to unlock and only then you can rotate it. The black insert has the first 15 minutes graduated with longer indices done in blue. Water resistance is 1,000 meters.

The dial is very similar to the previous 4,000 meter version, which means that you get a blue base with a gradient towards black on the edges. The base also has a wave pattern, with applied indices and broad sword hands filled with Super-LumiNova. There’s also a date aperture at 6 o’clock, in case you need to track how long you have left in the saturation chamber.

Inside, you’ll find the Oris 733 calibre, a movement based on the Sellita SW200-1 automatic. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on an integrated rubber strap, closed with a DLC-coated titanium folding clasp. That clasp has on-the-fly micro-adjust and the Safety Anchor, a hidden hook mechanism that keeps the strap secured even if the clasp is accidentally released.

The new Oris Aquis Pro 1000m is available now, as part of the permanent collection. Price is set at €3,400. See more on the Oris website.

4/

Squale Shrinks Down Their Iconic Divers With The Brand New Matic S Collection

While they aren’t a mainstream household name, Squale has been making pretty cool dive watches for some time. In fact, they just celebrated their 65th birthday last year. But in fact, the brands history dates even before 1959 when founder Charles Von Büren registers the “Squale” trademark to him making diving watches for other Swiss brands. Squale struggled during the quartz crisis, fading a bit but never truly going away. After the retirement of Charles von Büren, the Maggi family which distributed Squale watches in Italy and the former Italian distributors of von Büren watches partnered with one another and in 2005 relaunched the brand. And since then they’ve just flooded the market with cool divers. Most of these divers are oversized watches, built for one purpose — diving. However, that often meant that smaller-wristed wearers were left out in the cold. Well, not any more. At Geneva Watch Days, Squale introduced the first watch in the new Matic-S line, a slimmer, more versatile, watch. Now, at NYC Windup Watch Fair, filled out the collection with new colorways.

The case of the Matic-s has a very vintage shaped case, with just a bit larger proportions than you might expect from a vintage watch. The stainless steel case measures 39.5mm wide, 12.6mm thick (or 13.2mm thick if you include the crystal). Speaking of the crystal, it’s double domed sapphire, surrounded by a uni-directional bezel that has steel inserts done in enamel and a lacquered finish, two of which have a bi-color finish. But more on that later. The case has a brushed and polished finish, the crown sits at 3 o’clock and screws down, just like the caseback. The dimensions of the watch are even more impressive when you consider the water resistance, which is a pretty impressive 600 meters.

There are three colorways to choose from, all of them getting a sunray finish, applied indexes and a rehaut with a minute track surrounding it. They all also have an orange minute hand, with everything having plenty of lume everywhere. The bright blue version is paired with a blue and white insert on the bezel; there’s a black with orange details on the dial and a black and orange dial; and a black with gilt details on the dial, a full black bezel with gold and a gold colored crown.

Inside, you’ll find the ubiquitous Sellita SW200-1 movement that comes in its elaboré grade, beating at 4Hz, with a 42 hour power reserve. Then, there’s the straps, and they’re so incredibly cool. You can get either their HydroLeather Strap, which is a rubber strap with water repellent treated leather inserts, or the equally fantastic rubber strap that has a mosaic texture. Very cool.

The new Squale Matic-S collection is available now, priced at €1,535, with my VAT included. See more on the Squale website.

5/

ArtyA Adds A More Compact Lineup To The Luminity Wavy Collection With A Microrotor

In the grand scheme of things, ArtyA is a tiny brand. Headed by Yvan Arpa, they make exquisite watches, often with sapphire cases, that are quite expensive. And as such, they have a limited audience, which makes sense. What makes less sense — but don’t think I’m complaining in the slightest — is the amount of different models and watches that ArtyA releases on a yearly basis. Most brands of ArtyA’s calibre release about 10 watches a year, if that. But when it comes to ArtyA, they seem to be cranking out watches on a bi-weekly basis. Sure, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but they do put out a shocking number of watches per year for such a small brand. Just a few months ago, they expanded their lineup with the Luminity Wavy Micro-Rotor collection. Not even six months later, the collection is getting an update in the form of a more compact 35mm version of the watch.

You have a choice of either bead blasted Grade 5 titanium or full sapphire cases, both of which have an overall same shape. They measure 35mm wide and 11.45mm thick, with gently curved lugs that help them sit closer to the wrist. While the sapphire versions are naturally scratch resistance, the titanium versions get a DLC coating to bring up the resistance to 1,200 Vickers. And that coating can be either transparent, to show the grey color of titanium, or black. Water resistance on the titanium version is 50 meters, while the sapphire model drops it down to 30 meters.

There are two dial options available. There’s the transparent sapphire dial that gives you a full look at the insides and the movement, paired with brushed and faceted indexes and diamond-cut hands. Then, there’s the very cool version that has a centrally placed piece of round stone — mother-of-pearl or amazonite — that gives it some great color. Both versions have the same small seconds at 12 o’clock, which is really a great position for a small seconds display.

While the smaller Luminity Wavy is powered by a micro-rotor, just like the larger version, it gets its own unique movement. It’s called the calibre AMR-01, a smaller version of the calibre AMR-02. The movement is still an automatic micro-rotor that beats at 4Hz and has a really great 82 hour power reserve. The watches come on nubuck straps, with other straps available.

The new ArtyA Luminity Wavy Micro-Rotor in 35mm is available now, limited to 99 pieces per reference. Prices are as follows: CHF 14,900 for the titanium version with sapphire dial; CHF 17,900 for titanium with stone dial; CHF 34,900 for the sapphire case with sapphire dial; and CHF 37,900 for sapphire case with stone dial. See more on the ArtyA website.

6/

Zenith Continues Celebrating With The Defy Skyline Tourbillon 160th Anniversary In Full Rose Gold

Celebrating 160 years in business is no small feat. So Zenith really is making the best of it, with a whole slew of new releases. Most of them are blue-themed, ranging from regular sports watches, all the way to some pretty unique stuff. Last week we saw the pretty crazy Defy Zero G Sapphire models, and now we’re getting something quite intense. We’ve seen Zenith do their Defy Skyline Tourbillon in steel and ceramic, but this new release takes it over the top. This is the new Defy Skyline Tourbillon 160th Anniversary Edition in full rose gold.

Zenith is not really big on giving doesn’t give much info on the size of the tourbilon Defy Skylines, other than the width of the case which sits at 41mm. In fact, I tried finding real life reviews of the model in steel to figure out the thickness of the watch, but no luck. What I did find is that the watch has a 47mm lenght. The case has an octagonal with a brushed 14-sided bezel with polished facets. This looks great in steel, but even better in rose gold. It’s quite impressive. It also keeps the 100 meter water resistance.

The dial is a bit of a departure from the previous Defy Skyline models which have a grid pattern to them. These ones have a radial pattern, made up of the Zenith four-pointed stars and they all emerge from the tourbillon opening at 6 o’clock. It comes in a really nice shade of red that matches the gold fantastically. The faceted baton-style indexes and hands are rose gold-plated. The tourbillon makes a revolution every 60 seconds and is set in a cage that is shaped like a four-pointed star, with a mirror-polished bridge.

Adding a turbillon to a high-frequency movement doesn’t happen often, but makes perfect sense for Zenith, which has made a name for themselves with fast beating movements. Inside these two watches is the new El Primero 3630 automatic high-frequency manufacture calibre, based on the 5Hz El Primero 3620. It has a 60 hour power reserve and out back you get a openworked star-shaped rotor and a movement decorated with Côtes de Genève stripes arranged in a sunray pattern. The watch comes on a fully gold bracelet with H-shaped links. You also get an additional brick-red rubber strap.

The Defy Skyline Tourbillon 160th Anniversary Edition is available now and doesn’t seem to be a limited edition. However, since the website says the watch is out of stock, I assume this will be available only at Zenith retailers. Price is set at €97,400. See more on the Zenith website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 53: Nivada Grenchen's Forgotten Depth Gauge Watch, The Depthomatic

A mechanical complication that turned a dive watch into a real underwater instrument. 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

• Silent meditation retreats have become so commonplace as to be nearly mainstream. Darkness retreats, though, are an entirely different sort of practice. In a sealed room in a cabin in the woods, a cabin owned by a onetime Riker’s Island chaplain, Chris Colin comes face to face with—well, with nothing. That’s what happens when light disappears for three days. It doesn’t mean you don’t see things, though.

• For the Los Angeles Review of Books, Vanessa Holyoak remembers the house she grew up in, recalling detail after detail of the home she lost to the Pacific Palisades fire in January, 2025. Holyoak confronts losing several years of journals and mulls what remains after the fragile proof of her existence was destroyed by fire. She fears forgetting this beloved and formative place as fallible memory fades. “I want to dwell here, in the dream of the house,” she writes, feeling the cool Saltillo tile underfoot as she surveys the ephemera of her family’s existence, accumulated over 30 years and lost on “one windy night.”

• Caroline Hatchett recalls the early days of her marriage in Miami, Florida, cooking on a budget to help feed her and her law student husband. Hatchett took pride in cooking delicious yet frugal meals, comfort she could not find with a husband deeply devoted to his studies. For The Bitter Southener, Hatchett wonders how she missed out on discovering arroz imperial, a dish created by the Cuban diaspora in Florida, a beloved rice casserole that’s a staple at special occasions and considered the ultimate “carby joy.”

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Did I share this trailer before? Even if I did, here it is again, because Vince Gilligan is back!

Thanks for reading,
Vuk