Nivada Bids Farewell To Mk1 F77 With Stone Dials; Baltic's Cool Regatta Timer; Unimatic's Modello Due GMT; FC's New Moon Phase; A Purple 36mm Parmigiani Tonda; Chopard's Wonderful Straw Marquetry

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Baltic really knows how to tug at my heartstrings, because I adore regatta timers.

In this issue

• Nivada Grenchen Says Goodbye To The Mark 1 F77 With A Quartet Of Stone Dials

• Baltic Turns Their Already Very Cool Scalegraph Into A Regatta Timer

• Unimatic Adds A GMT Function To Their Simple Modello Due

• Frederique Constant Adds A Moon Phase To Its Classy Classics Carrée Collection

• The Steel And Gold Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Gets A Deep Purple Dial

• Chopard Does The L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Straw Marquetry In Two More Colors

• 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/

Nivada Grenchen Says Goodbye To The Mark 1 F77 With A Quartet Of Stone Dials

Despite being founded in 1926, and being one of the legendary Swiss watch manufacturers, Nivada Grenchen has had a tough time during the quartz crisis and went under. However, in recent years, watch entrepreneur Guillaume Laidet has brought the brand back and is churning out hit after hit. Today’s Nivada Grenchen is doing something pretty smart - they are going through their incredibly rich back catalogue and recreating them with modern sensibilities and materials. One of these watches is the F77, a recreation of an integrated bracelets steel sports watch first released in 1977. Just before summer, we got v2 of the F77 with a new and slim case, but it took some time to exhaust all of the planned v1 F77 models. Launching soon, we have the last series of v1 F77 models, a very special quartet with some pretty cool stone dials.

These being the v1 models, they are the slightly larger cases. But don’t worry, they still have pretty great proportions. The steel cases measure 37mm wide, 11.65mm thick and with a 45mm lug-to-lug. The case has a great vertically brushed finish with polished facets and polished sides. On top is a domed sapphire crystal with a Genta-esque octagonal bezel with exposed (and aligned) screws (well, bolts, but you know what I mean). Three of the watches have all steel cases, while one has a gold PVD finish on the bezel.

But it’s all about the dials. Stone dials are quite popular these days, with some being better than others. And these are the better ones. You get the usual suspects — green malachite, tiger eye that comes in either steel or bi-color cases — and then you get the cool one — green aventurine. That one is particularly interesting because the vast majority of aventurine dials use aventurine glass, which is just blue glass with bright inclusions. But there’s also aventurine stone, and this is it. it’s a beautiful thing that’s green and white in the best possible way. The indexes are applied and polished, while the hands have the same finish with tiny strips of lume in it. The bi-color version has gold colored hands and indexes.

Just like all the other F77 watches, this one gets the Soprod P024 automatic movement. This is Soprod’s version of the legendary ETA 2824, which means it beats at 28,800 vph and has a 38 hour power reserve. It also comes on the integrated stainless steel bracelet that the entire collection is known for. The bi-color version also gets gold colored middle links.

The new Nivada Grenchen F77, the last of the v1 series, is limited to 75 pieces each, all numbered editions. The watches go on sale tomorrow, October 23rd at 4PM CET, priced at €1,445 without tax. See more on the Nivada Grenchen website.

2/

Baltic Turns Their Already Very Cool Scalegraph Into A Regatta Timer

I have an irrational obsession with regatta timers. These are specialized watches created for yacht racing, and they have a special countdown feature, typically set in five-minute intervals, to help sailors precisely time their approach to the start line during a race. These intervals align with standard race start procedures, ensuring an optimal launch when the race begins. What you end up is a very cool chrongoraph with bright colors to help track the five minute segments. There aren’t a lot of these models around, so I’m happy to see any new releases in the genre. And the latest one comes from Baltic, one of my favorite French brands. Based on their already cool Scalegraph chronograph, this is the new Scalegraph Transat Café L'or - Limited Edition.

The stainless steel case measures 39.5mm wide, a hefty 14.1mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 47mm. Sure, this is a thick watch, but there are two things that should be noted. That’s including the double domed sapphire crystal and it has a very, very interesting side profile that seems to help with cutting down on visual thickness with a bowl-like shape. Check it out on their website. Around the crystal is an aluminum blue bezel that has a Tachymeter scale on it, but a very smart Tachymeter scale. It’s graduated in knots over 1/10th nautical mile, allowing the skipper to measure the average speed a sailing boat could achieve. Water resistance is a comfortable 100 meters.

The dial gets a light grey grained finish, with a white 60 minute scale on the outside. It’s a bi-compax setup, both framed with metal rings, with a running seconds displayed at 9. The 3 o’clock sub-dial is oversized, giving it the big-eye look. It is azure-finished and graduated in reverse over 15 minutes, with a minute detailed scale for the last 5 minutes. AT 12 you get an applied Arabic numeral, while all the other hours are indicated with applied horizontally oriented batons. The hands are dauphine shaped, polished and filled with Super-Luminova, while the central chrono hand and big eye totalizer hand are rendered in a bright orange.

Inside is the very familiar and robust Sellita SW510-M, a mechanical hand-wound chronograph movement. It beats at 28,800 Vph and has a respectable 60 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a beads of rice bracelet, along with a beige rubber tropic-style strap.

The Baltic Scalegraph Transat Café L'or - Limited Edition is a limited edition of 200 peices and will go on sale on Thursday, October 23, at 4PM CET. The price is set at €1,750 without VAT. See more on the Baltic website.

3/

Unimatic Adds A GMT Function To Their Simple Modello Due

Unimatic has been busy working on many, many collaborations over the past several months. But during that time, they kind of put their regular models on the back burner. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, as it gives us some really cool watches. Now, they are updating their Modello Due, their take on a classic field watch. They’re adding a GMT movement to it, making it even more capable. This is the new Unimatic Modello Due U2-GMT.

On the outside, don’t expect many, if any changes. The watch still comes in a brushed stainless steel case that measures 38mm wide and 12.7mm thick, with stubby lugs that should give you a good lug-to-lug. On top is a domed sapphire crystal surrounded by a fixed steel bezel. On the side is an oversized crown and water resistance is pretty great at 300 meters.

The dial keeps the simple theme going, with an all black base, with the familiar white printed lumed markers, circular and square, with a triangular marker at 12 o’clock. Around the perimeter is s sloped flange that has a 24 hour scale. All of the hands are black, with white lumed segments — full on the hour and minute hands, covering the tip on the seconds hand, and a white lumed arrow on the GMT hand.

Inside is the automatic Seiko NH34A which beats at 21,600vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. It’s not the most accurate thing in the world with a rating of -20/+40 seconds per day, but Seiko often underestimates their accuracy a lot. The watch comes on a charcoal TPU rubber strap.

The new Unimatic Modello Due U2-GMT is limited to 300 pieces and is available for pre-order now, with deliveries starting on December 15th. Price is set at €850, without tax. See more on the Unimatic website.

4/

Frederique Constant Adds A Moon Phase To Its Classy Classics Carrée Collection

We have all witnessed the incredible roll that Frederique Constant has been on for a good few years now. They’re remaking entire collections into hits and doing well by bringing their in-house movements with interesting complications to relatively affordable levels. But it’s easy to forget that FC has a huge catalogue of watches. So, while we love their world timers and three-hand classics, it’s easy to forget about some of their more niche offerings. Stuff like the Classics Carrée, their take on a rectangular dress watch. Well, here’s a reminder straight from the brand, as they are releasing the Classics Carrée Automatic with a moon phase.

Despite looking much chunkier, thanks to its rounded case, the Classics Carrée Automatic really is compact. Made out of stainless steel, it measures 30mm wide, 42.3mm long and only a slightly portly 10.51mm thick. The finish of the watch is mostly polished, which might add to the visual thickness, but it looks nice. On the side is an onion-shaped crown, and there are crystals on top and bottom of the case. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The dial continues with the Art Deco influence, available in two colors — silver and blue. The base of the dial has a sunray brushed finish, while in the center of the dial is a square herringbone stamped guilloché pattern. The hour markers are faceted and pointed to with dauphine-style hands. At the bottom of that square is a semi-circular opening for the moon phase, with a dark blue sky and silver moon and stars.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre FC-333. While Frederique Constant is well known for their in-house movements, this one isn’t. It’s based on the Sellita SW280, a moon phase version of the ubiquitous SW200, beating at 4Hz, with a 38 hour power reserve. The watches come on black or navy-blue calfskin leather straps embossed with an alligator scale pattern.

The new Frederique Constant Classics Carrée duo is available now, priced at CHF 1,695. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

5/

The Steel And Gold Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Gets A Deep Purple Dial

I can’t remember the last time we got an update to the 36mm Tonda from Parmigiani Fleurier, despite a strong line of 40mm releases. Well, it looks like it was worth the wait, because the new Steel And Gold Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Deep Ruby was worth the wait.

The 36mm Tonda PF is exactly what most people will think of when they think of Parmigiani. It measures in at 36mm wide and 8.6mm thick. It has the recognisable knurled bezel and teardrop-shaped lugs, with a fantastic mix of gold on the bezel, and on the insides of the lugs. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial has the traditional Tonda PF hand-guilloché barleycorn pattern on the dial, here rendered in a color they call deep ruby, but is certainly a very nice shade of purple. That’s paired with 12 baguette-cut diamonds that serve as indices. It’s a fairly minimalist dial, with a gold applied PF logo and gold skeletonized hands.

Inside all three models is the in-house automatic calibre PF770. It has a 60 hour power reserve and a 22k gold skeletonized rotor. The watch comes on a five link bracelet made out of stainless steel and yellow gold, with a fantastic construction that hides the complexity.

The new steel and gold Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Deep Ruby is available now for €36,400. See more on the Parmigiani website.

6/

Chopard Does The L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Straw Marquetry In Two More Colors

The Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Straw Marquetry Edition combines two complications and design decisions that are among my favorites in the watch world. First, the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 is a jumping hour watch, which is just cool. But even better, they have dials done in marquetry, the art of applying thin pieces of wood, shell, or other materials to a surface to create decorative patterns. Chopard, specifically, uses colored straw and it’s pretty incredible. The latest release builds on this concept with two new cases, a 18-carat ethical yellow gold and white gold, both with honeycomb straw marquetry dials in two colors.

There are two case materials available for this new watch, one in yellow and the other in white gold, both being 18-carat ethically sourced gold. The case measures 40mm wide and 10.3mm thick. 40mm is not small, but the lugs curve and are tapered for a better fit on wrist. The mid case is satin brushed and it has a polished bezel and back. On the front and back are sapphire crystals and you get a decent 50 meters of water resistance.

Then, there’s the dials. They have an ethical-gold base onto which they apply hexagons of dyed, split, flattened, and scalpel-cut Burgundy strap, arranged into a honeycomb motif. Yellow gold is paired with brown straw and white gold gets a grey/black colored straw. Being a jumping-hour watch, there’s only one centrally mounted hand, pointing to the minutes. The hours are displayed in an aperture at 6 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the 98.06-L which has some very cool tricks. Like, for example, the fact that it has four barrels connected in series, with almost two metres of mainspring inside. That gives you eight days of power reserve, combined with a 4Hz beat rate. The jumping hour is actuated with a star-and-cam and a jumper spring that stores energy through the minute and releases it cleanly at the top of the hour. It’s also beautiful, with Côtes de Genève on the bridges, perlage on the mainplate, sharp anglage, gilded engravings, and a power-reserve indicator on the movement side. The watches come on alligator leather strap, a light brown on the yellow gold one and a black one on the white gold.

The new Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Straw Marquetry Edition is very limited — only eight pieces in each material will be made, with a price set at €73,400. See more on the Chopard website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: What Exactly Is A Keyless Work?

Everybody is talking about them, so don't get caught lacking next time. 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 1995, Phil Gyford was 23 years old, living in Bristol, and had given up on trying to be an illustrator. But he was interested in technology and a new thing called the internet, and after he got online, it changed his life. In this essay, Gyford recounts his immersion into cyberspace: using email and accessing the World Wide Web, chatting with people online (and then later IRL), his early brushes with Wired, and making a website.

• Rosie Grant, the creator behind @GhostlyArchive on TikTok and Instagram, has discovered 50 recipes etched on tombstones around the world to date; they are collected in a new book, To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes. In Smithsonian magazine, Michele Herrmann writes about this unconventional practice. But it makes sense—in a time of grief, people often find deep comfort in food. So why not carve a loved one’s favorite recipe at their resting place?

• What is a ghost town? Is it merely an abandoned settlement, a relic of the past, or is it something more enduring? With her road-trip companion, a dog named Woody Guthrie, Lauren Hough drives across Texas to find out. In this Texas Highways essay—which is full of dust, wanderlust, and wonder—Hough encounters the ruins of forgotten places, but also two dreamers determined to bring one such town back to life.

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One video you have to watch today

How are all of you on pens? This is something that’s increasingly becoming an obsession. Perhaps enough to start writing about them? Let me know if you dig pens.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk