Nivada Brings Back The Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver With A Valjoux 23; Unimatic And Massena Have A New NASA Watch; Mr Jones Dips Into Surrealism IWC Releases Platinum Le Petit Prince Tourbillon

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. These days are my favorite, when I say that every single release is really nice. And at all price points.

In this issue:

• Nivada Grenchen Brings Back The Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver With A Valjoux 23 Movement

• Unimatic And Massena Lab Are Back With A New Take On A NASA Watch, The UT4-SPT “NASA Artemis II”

• Mr Jones Dips Into Surrealism With Dreamy Illustrations And 3D Applied Elements In The Eyecon

• IWC Releases The Big Pilot’s Watch Tourbillon Le Petit Prince In Platinum

👂What’s new

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Nivada Grenchen Brings Back The Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver With A Valjoux 23 Movement

We all know what modern Nivada Grenchen is all about right? In case you missed the dozens and dozens of really cool releases, Nivada is recreating watches from their long and storied past. And that results in some of the coolest watches on sale today. Next up in cue for revival is the Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver, one of Nivada Grenchen's most iconic vintage chronograph that was for years an affordable entry for thousands of collectors into serious vintage chrographs. But instead of just recreating the watch with a modern Sellita movement, Nivada Grenchen sourced new old stock Valjoux 23 VZ movement which they then restored for this purpose. And only 50 peices are available.

The case of this new Chronograph Aviator Sea Diver follows Nivada’s usual approach of creating vintage looking watches with modern construction standards. The stainless steel case measures 38mm wide and 12.95mm thick, which is a rather nice size for a chronograph. Contributing to the vintage look are the drilled lugs, double domed crystals and the overhanging bidirectionally no-click rotating bezels that come in either black with a 60 minute scale or aventurine with global cities. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There are two dial options. You can either opt for the matte black, most faithful to the 1960s version, which has the Nivada Grenchen logo and Chronograph Aviator Sea Diver in white. That’s paired with a red printed regatta countdown track on the 30-minute totalizer and cream colored Super-Luminova in the broad arrow hands and hour markers. About as retro as you can get. But if you want something more modern, you can opt for the aventurine glass that will match the bezel. You get white printing, lume, and blue on the silver subdials for the regatta timer.

Inside, as I’ve said, is the restored Valjoux 23 VZ movement. It beats at 18,000vph and has a 48 hour power reserve. And since it’s a manually wound movement, there’s no rotor to interrupt the view of the movement through the transparent caseback. And it’s quite the cool view, since the Valjoux 23 is a beautiful movement. The black dial version comes on a brown perforated leather strap, while the aventurine dial version comes on a blue leather strap.

The new Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver is limited to 50 pieces, split up into 25 of each, and preorders just opened. Deliveries will happen in two batches, one in July 2025 and the other in September. Price is set at €4,472, without taxes, which is quite the decent price for a vintage Valjoux 23 VZ. Also of note, Nivada Grenchen shops watches from the US for US buyers, so you only have to account for sales tax, and no tariffs. See more on the Nivada Grenchen website.

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Unimatic And Massena Lab Are Back With A Ne Take On A NASA Watch, The UT4-SPT “NASA Artemis II”

A couple of months ago, I wrote about a collaboration between the Italian indie watch brand Unimatic and Massena LAB, a design studio led by William Massena, the Modello Uno U1-SPG “NASA Artemis”, a watch that captured the essence of a new mission to the Moon, which I claimed at the time was one of the best looking NASA-themed watches. I was wrong. The best looking NASA-themed watch is actually the Modello Quattro UT4-SPT “NASA Artemis II”, the second collaboration between Unimatic and Massena LAB. I love this watch.

While the first collab was based on the Modello Uno, the new one uses the Unimatic Modello Quatro case, one that’s a much simpler looking case. It measures 40mm wide, 12mm thick and with a substantial 49mm lug-to-lug, so a bit smaller than the Modello Uno. While simpler in construction, with no insert on the flat bezel on top, is gets the same very cool burnt orange Cerakote coating, which is a ceramic-based coating often used in the aerospace industry. The orange is supposed to mimic the color of the SLS rocket used for the Artemis missions that will take us back to the Moon for the first time in decades. On top is a bezel that gets the same Cerakote coating, and the same can be found on the crown. Water resistance is 300 meters.

The dial simplifies things even more, since this model is a time-only display instead of a GMT. You get a light grey base on the dial with black minute scale on the periphery with slightly orange Old Radium Super-LumiNova hour markers that take the shape rectangles at cardinal positions, a triangle at 12 and circles at all the other positions, all framed in black. The hour and minute hands are also black filled with the same Old Radium lume. The seconds hand has a red tip and the same red can be found on the NASA worm logo at 6.

Inside, you won’t find a mechanical movement, like the previous version, and that’s a good thing. The mechanical movement in that one wasn’t particularly great, but it pushed the price way over €1,000. Instead, you get the Seiko VH31A quartz movement which works better with the tool-like nature of the watch. The watch comes on a burnt orange nylon strap with Cerakote hardware.

The new Unimatic x Massena LAB Modello Quattro UT4-SPT “NASA Artemis II” is, like the previous release, limited, but not in number. The Artemis I was limited to 99 pieces, while this new release is a limited timed release. The order window is open until May 30, 2025, at 11:00 AM EDT, and all orders placed in that window will be delivered. Price is set at a much more affordable €595. See more on the Unimatic website.

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Mr Jones Dips Into Surrealism With Dreamy Illustrations And 3D Applied Elements In The Eyecon

The thing I really like about Mr Jones watches is that you have no idea what’s coming next. And they really do swing for the fences — I can’t think of many other watch brands in which I can find models I equally adore as I do dislike. And that’s a good thing. Mr Jones goes after a broad range of illustrators to fit pretty much everyone’s needs and wants. That’s what makes them cool. Their latest release is called the Eyecon, illustrated by London-based animator David Oku, and takes on a lot of surrealist elements.

On the outside, this will be very familiar. You already know the case. It’s that instantly recognisable Mr Jones case with a round body and spindly lugs. It measures 37mm wide with a 47mm lug to lug and has a 50 meter water resistance. The polished case gives it an almost dark appearance, depending on your surroundings. On top is a sapphire crystal. The watch is mounted on a 18mm wide strap, in this case a grey silicone strap. Water resistance is 50 meters. Inside, you’ll find a Swiss made quartz movement.

According to Oku, the “inspiration came from the idea of perceiving time not just as numbers but as an experience: something vibrant, emotional and sometimes surreal.” The dial has a surrealist-painging-like look, with flat colors and two dynamic hearts on either side of the central eye. This watch marks the first time Mr Jones Watches has experimented with 3D elements in its designs.

The hours are mapped out in a crescent shape represented by a travelling star with 6am starting from the left and 6pm ending on the right. After 6pm, a moon replaces the star with its position marking the hours 6pm to 6am. The white dot in the pupil of the all-seeing eye points out the minutes.

The Mr Jones Eyecon goes on sale at 8AM BST on Friday 30th May with an order window open for 24 hours. See more tomorrow morning on the Mr Jones website.

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IWC Releases The Big Pilot’s Watch Tourbillon Le Petit Prince In Platinum

Earlier this week, I wrote about the blue ceramic Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince IWC Big Pilot’s Watch. What I completely missed is that IWC released another Big Pilot’s Watch at the same time. Sure, it’s missing the complicated perpetual calendar, but it does come in a very luxurious platinum case. This is the new IWC Big Pilot's Watch 43 Tourbillon Le Petit Prince in platinum, and it’s quite something.

Best of all, aside from the platinum the case is made of, is actually the size of this watch. While most watches in the line measure at least 45mm, this one comes in at a much more manageable case that measures 43mm wide and 14.58mm. I’m going to assume they had to shrink the case to be at least somewhat wearable, as a 46mm platinum case could cause shoulder and elbow injury. On the side is the signature oversized conical crown and water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is also kept relatively clean, with a sunray brushed blue base that gets applied Arabic numerals and a triangle with dots at noon, as well as propeller hands, both filled with white Super-LumiNova. The hands and numerals are rhodium plated. At 6 o’clock is a large aperture that shows you the significant flying one-minute tourbillon.

Inside, you’ll find the IWC 82905 which beats at 4Hz and has an 80 hour power reserve. The movement features the flying tourbillon and Pellaton winding. Being the Le Petit Prince special edition, it features the Prince appears on asteroid B 612 surrounded by exotic baobab trees. The watch comes on a brown calfskin strap closed with a platinum folding clasp.

The new IWC Big Pilot's Watch 43 Tourbillon Le Petit Prince in platinum is limited to 150 pieces and priced at €96,000. See more on the IWC 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

• Michelle Orange’s excellent Oxford American piece takes us to the Wheeling Island Hotel, Casino & Racetrack in Wheeling, West Virginia, one of only two active greyhound racing facilities remaining in the United States. There, Orange covers the deep divides between greyhound racing proponents and the lobbyists determined to put an end to a sport they deem cruel.

• “Trash is the hidden foundation of modern civilization,” writes Madeleine Adams. From ancient Rome’s Cloaca Maxima—the first underground sewer—to Eric Adams’s redesigned trash cans in New York City, societies have long invested tremendous effort in making waste disappear. In The Idea of Waste: On the Limits of Human Life, John Scanlan explores trash “as an essential, meaningful, yet often problematic facet of human existence.” In this Baffler review of Scanlan’s book, Adams examines waste not only as physical debris, but also as an ideological construct. If you’re interested in how we relate to both stuff and waste—and their equivalents in the digital world—this thought-provoking read is worth a dive.

• Ian Frazier’s New Yorker feature on the precarious lives of pigeons in New York City. These birds face a number of urban hazards, from predators like hawks and peregrine falcons to the grim fate of “string-foot,” a condition caused by entanglement in string, human hair, and other crud from the city’s countless dirty surfaces. Frazier documents the birds’ daily challenges, and also highlights the compassionate humans around the city who help and rehabilitate injured ones. It’s a curious and compelling piece in which Frazier treats his fragile yet resilient subjects with respect and thoughtfulness.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

This video has been making the rounds on Instagram, so I figured it’s good to post it here. And while some of the insistence of this crew on 70s ladies watches can be insufferable, it’s actually a fun crew of guys that likes watches.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk