New Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT Watches; A Groovy UG Belisar Chrono Moon Phase Skeleton; Baltic's Dash Instruments; Panerai Goes Fully Technical; Arnold & Son's Ultrathin Tourbillon Onyx

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m just a bit sad that Baltic didn’t do a new pass on the Scalegraph for the Tour Auto, but I kind of dig them sticking with their guns to make the dash mounted instruments. Very French of them.

In this issue

• Seiko Adds Two More Colors To The Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT Collection

• The Union Glashütte Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase Skeleton in Steel & Blue

• Baltic Continues To Sponsor The Tour Auto, Now With A Dash Mounted Stopwatch/Clock Combo

• Panerai Goes Fully Technical With The Submersible GMT PAM01495 And Its 3D-Printed Case

• Arnold & Son Returns To The Ultrathin Tourbillon With An Onyx Dial In Red Gold And Platinum

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Adds Two More Colors To The Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT Collection

A couple of years ago, Seiko launched a watch inspired by the 1968 Hi-Beat 300m diver and gave it a GMT movement, a surprising first for a Seiko diver. It was a great looking watch, but people pointed out two major downsides — it had less water resistance than the original from more than 50 years its senior, and used the same impractical clasp while so many other brands moved forward. Late last year, Seiko introduced a new version of the Prospex Diver which fixes these downsides. Now, we’re getting two more colors to add to the Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT collection.

Like most Prospex Divers, this new one is a chunky watch, but not oversized to the point of being unwearable. The stainless steel case measures 42mm wide, 13.3mm thick and has a 48.6mm lug-to-lug. The case has brushed top surfaces and huge polished chamfers on the sides, and the entire surface has a hard coating. On top is a sapphire crystal, surrounded by a unidirectional bezel that has either a green or black insert with a fully graduated 60 minute scale, and the crown sits at 4 o’clock. This is the new Prospex case which has 300 meters of water resistance.

And just like a couple of the Prospex divers we’ve seen recently, these two models don’t come with the expected wave-pattern dials. Instead, both have sunray brushed dials, the HBC001 in a great green and the HBC002 in black. That’s surrounded by a flange that has a very discreet 24h scale. The applied markers get a lot of lume, just like the faceted hands, and it has a sort of light blue appearance on the HBC002. There’s a date aperture at 4:30.

Inside, you’ll still find the calibre 6R54, beating at 3Hz and with a 72 hour power reserve. Seiko claims accuracy of +25 to -15 seconds per day, but these results are usually much, much better. The watch comes on a 3-link bracelet that now has the new micro-adjustment system on the clasp.

The new Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT 300m HBC001 and HBC002 are part of the regular collection, going on sale in May worldwide. Price remains a controversial €1,900. See more on the Seiko website here and here.

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The Union Glashütte Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase Skeleton in Steel & Blue

One of the reasons why it’s so easy to love Union Glashütte is their incredibly wide and often bizarre breadth of their collection. Take, for example, the Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase. Already an interesting watch, made completely different with a new skeletonized appearance.

The original Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase was a chonker of a watch that measured 44mm wide 15.3mm thick. Then last year, we got a smaller, but still significantly large, version, and this skeletonized model is based on the same case. The steel case is 42mm wide and 14.8mm thick. It comes with a brushed finish that has a couple of polished surfaces, including the rounded bezel that holds down the sapphire crystal. Despite shrining in size, it hasn’t lost its recognizable screwed case flanks that give the side of the case a bit of character. Water resistance is still 100 meters.

Then we have a new dial that’s maybe a bit busier, but also more interesting, perhaps. The dial is now cut away in a hexagonal pattern inspired by old car radiator grilles. It shows more of the movement underneath and gives the watch a more technical, industrial look. It has a sloping inner bezel that houses the date ring, Arabic numerals at the cardinal points and a tri-compax setup of sub-dials. At 12 o’clock is the 30-minute chronograph counter with triangular apertures for day and month indications, at 9 o’clock are the running seconds and at 6 o’clock is the moon phase with a gold-coloured moon on a starry blue sky and a 12-hour chronograph counter. All the indices are applied and treated with Super-LumiNova.

Inside is the automatic calibre UNG-25.S1. It’s based on the legendary ETA 7751 chronograph, but heavily modified by Union Glashütte. Apart from adding the moon phase and pinter date functions, they also decorated the movement with a striped ball-bearing rotor adorned with a logo cut-out, perlage on the main plate and blued screws. You can expect a power reserve of 65 hours. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet with a double-folding clasp.

The new Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase Skeleton Steel Blue is part of the permanent collection and is priced at €3,700 including VAT. See more on the Union Glashütte website.

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Baltic Continues To Sponsor The Tour Auto, Now With A Dash Mounted Stopwatch/Clock Combo

The Tour Auto is one of those rallies that you know if you are really nerdy about racing. I learned about it last year, and that’s only because of Baltic’s collaboration with the rally. The Tour Auto is inspired by the Tour de France Automobile, created in 1899 by the Automobile Club de France. It takes almost 300 crews, all driving pre-1985 cars, on a 2000+ kilometer tour from Paris to Nice, with stops at iconic racetracks where the teams will race for real. And last year, for the third time in a row, Baltic, the very French brand, served as the official timekeeper of the race. To mark that occasion, they launched a limited edition Scalegraph, a very cool racing chronograph that was a huge hit for the brand. So, since they remain a sponsor of the event, it was expected that Baltic would release a new version of the chronograph. But oh no, they’re coming out with something way different — a set of stopwatches that you can mount into your pre-1985 rally car. Weird? Sure. Cool? Incredibly.

This isn’t a regular wrist watch, of course, but the set does come with two time-telling devices. What you receive are two identical steel-cased stop-watch-like devices. Both are made out of 316L stainless steel, measuring 60mm wide and 18mm thick. Both have a heavily domed hesalite and casebacks engraved with a route of the race on one and the logo of the race on the other, both with individually numbered engravings out of 300. What you’re esentially getting is a stopwatch powered by a Hanhart manual-winding movement with a “flyback” function and a matching dashclock

Both devices share the same base dial color, inspired by the historic colours of the Tour de France Automobile, which is a very light matte blue. Both also have cream subdials — the stopwatch for tracking the 30 minute timer and the clock for the small seconds.

Inside the stopwatch is the manual wind Hanhart 122 flyback stopwatch movement that has a 6 hour power reserve. The clock gets the manual wind ENLOONG 6497, and despite a cursory Google search, I have no idea what this is. It does have a 42 hour power reserve, though. The timekeepers, of course, don’t come on straps, but they do come with a steel dash mount.

The new Rally Timer Tour Auto 2026 is a limited edition of 300 pieces, available now, priced at €825, without taxes. See more on the Baltic website.

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Panerai Goes Fully Technical With The Submersible GMT PAM01495 And Its 3D-Printed Case

Panerai has been covering a lot of ground at Watches & Wonders 2026. So much, in fact, that I have been missing releases left and right. On one end of their release barrage: historically-inspired Luminor pieces with vintage details and restrained displays. On the other: the new Submersible GMT PAM01495, which shares nothing of that spirit. This is 47mm of contemporary Panerai, going full technical — a 3D-printed titanium case, openworked dial, and a GMT movement with tricks under the hood. I love when Panerai puts effort into their watches

The case is made through a process called Titanium DMLS, which stands for Direct Metal Laser Sintering — Grade 5 titanium powder fused layer by layer, allowing for internal cavities that cut weight significantly versus conventional titanium construction. This is, of course, not the first and not the last titanium 3D-printed watch out there, but it’s still cool. The result is 47mm wide watch, water-resistant to 500 meters, with sapphire crystals on both sides and a matte blue unidirectional ceramic bezel. The case is Panerai's signature cushion-shaped body with the trademark crown protection device — familiar silhouette, unusual construction.

The dial is a grid-like openwork, with large applied hour markers set in a flange around the perimeter. The hands are openworked and luminous. There's a lot going on at the subdial level: hours and minutes centrally, a small seconds at nine o'clock with an AM/PM indicator, a central GMT hand, and a polarised date display at three. This is Panerai's own patented system where the date disc is essentially transparent across the movement, with the number appearing only through the aperture using polarized lenses. It's a clever thing.

Inside is the calibre P.4001/S, automatic, wound by a tungsten micro-rotor. The GMT function is a true traveller's GMT, with the local hour hand advancing and retreating in one-hour jumps independently of the minutes. There's also a seconds reset function via the crown. Power reserve is three days, with an indicator on the caseback. The watch comes on a blue rubber strap, with a black bi-material strap included as well.

The Panerai Submersible GMT PAM01495 is available exclusively through Panerai boutiques from May 2026, priced at €49,000 including taxes. See more on the Panerai website.

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Arnold & Son Returns To The Ultrathin Tourbillon With An Onyx Dial In Red Gold And Platinum

Back in 2023, at Watches & Wonders, Arnold & Son launched the Ultrathin Tourbillon with an opaline dial. This yeah, at the same show, they've released the Onyx version of the Ultrathin Tourbillon in black onyx in both red gold and platinum cases. Onyx is a variety of agate from the chalcedony family, and the dial Arnold & Son has made from it is dark and fathomless in a way that synthetic black dials simply are not.

The case remains unchanged from the post-2022 models: 41.5mm wide, 8.4mm thick including the domed sapphire crystal, framed by a very slim bezel. Those cases can be had in either 18k red gold or 950 platinum, and despite them being fully dress-style watches, they come with 30 meters of water resistance.

The architecture of the dial still mirrors the layout of John Arnold's marine chronometers, with hours and minutes dedicated to a sub-dial at 12 o'clock and the tourbillon aperture sitting at 6. Both sub-dial and main dial are in onyx, but the material is treated differently — the main dial is polished to a high sheen while the sub-dial gets a matte satin finish. The marine inspiration behind Arnold & Son is visible on the tourbillon: the cage that holds it is shaped like a sextant, the double-arrow counterweight represents an anchor, and the yellow gold flying bridge is hand-engraved with plant motifs that echo the decorative work on John Arnold's pocket watches. Framed in a gold or platinum ring matching the case, the tourbillon aperture is the only warmth in an otherwise very dark watch.

The in-house A&S8300 calibre — introduced in 2022 and still measuring just 2.97mm thick — remains one of the thinnest tourbillon movements available. Its 32mm diameter gives full view of the finishing: radiating Côtes de Genève, snailing on the double-barrel ratchet wheels, polished blued screws. Power reserve is 100 hours. Both versions come on alligator straps with folding clasps.

The Arnold & Son Ultrathin Tourbillon Onyx is limited to 8 pieces in red gold at CHF 74,600 and 8 pieces in platinum at CHF 85,400, both prices inclusive of tax. See more on the Arnold & Son website.

⏲️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

• At 21, Rodney Wilkinson was South Africa’s best fencer, but apartheid had already stolen the Olympic stage from him. Decades later, that same blade-hand would help carry out one of the most audacious sabotage missions in anti-apartheid history, a plan that could have killed him, exposed everyone around him, and changed the struggle’s course forever.

• When Jon Krakauer first chronicled the harrowing 1996 Everest disaster in Into Thin Air, he believed his cautionary tale would deter amateur adventurers from seeking out the world’s most perilous peak. Instead, he watched as the mountain became a commercialized obsession, transformed by improved technology and, crucially, a profound shift in power toward the Sherpas who now truly command the slopes.

• Somewhere in the dim bowels of Lincoln Center, Laurie Metcalf huddles with a director, chiseling raw truth from Arthur Miller’s fractured family implosion, her Linda Loman no fragile doormat but a shrewd, furious sentinel. At seventy, the Steppenwolf survivor and TV icon reinvents herself amid Broadway’s treacherous currents, partnering with a once-exiled producer whose shadow lingers. Can a workhorse actress rewrite the rules of loyalty and legacy without breaking?

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Thanks for reading,
Vuk