Nivada Grenchen's First Mecaquartz F77; Atelier Wen And Revolution Team Up; Fears And Ace's De Stijl Brunswick; RZE's Green UTD-8000; MKII Launches Hellion-BAKU; The Most Complicated Blancpain Ever

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. How am I supposed to put together the list of best-of watches of this year when we get stuff like this pretty much every day. The Blancpain is surely impressive, but that Fears… Woah.

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In this issue

• Nivada Grenchen Releases The First Mecaquartz Versions Of The Super Popular F77

• Atelier Wen And Revoltion Team Up On A Dramatic Ancestra Yao

• Fears Teams Up With Ace Jewelers For A Stunningly Cool De Stijl Edition Of The Brunswick 38

• RZE Gives Their Already Cool Digital UTD-8000 A Military-Style Cerakote Coating

• MKII Launches The Hellion-BAKU Tribute Watch With Project Recover

• Blancpain Introduces Its Most Complicated Watch Ever, The Grande Double Sonnerie 15GSQ

👂What’s new

1/

Nivada Grenchen Releases The First Mecaquartz Versions Of The Super Popular F77

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. And for a couple of years, the F77 grew into one of their best selling models. Nivada is now in the process of remaking the entire line with the v2 F77, but we are also getting something brand new — the first ever F77 with a mecaquartz movement.

To fit the mecaquartz, this watch gets a very reworked case. It still keeps the domed sapphire crystal with a Genta-esque octagonal bezel with exposed (and aligned) screws on top, as well as brushed and polished surfaces, but it gets new proportions. The case still comes in stainless steel and now measures 38mm wide and 12.2mm thick. On the side you get two piston-style pushers for the chronograph and water resistance remains 100 meters.

There are three dials available at launch. The grey and the blue feature a basket-weave-like texture, while the black is made out of pressed carbon which also has an interesting texture. You get two sunk sub-dials, the ridiculous 24 hour indicator at 3 o’clock and a 60 minute counter, with a central chronograph hand. The hour markers and Nivada logo are both applied.

Inside, you’ll find the Seiko VK64 meca-quartz chronograph which uses a quartz movement to keep track of the time, and a mechanical movement to run the chronograph. Battery life is 3 years. The watches are available on either a steel bracelet, or a rubber or Velcro canvas strap.

The new Nivada Grenchen F77 mecaquartz watches launch on December 4th, with prices starting at $540. See more on the Nivada Grenchen website.

2/

Atelier Wen And Revoltion Team Up On A Dramatic Ancestra Yao

Some three months ago, Atelier Wen, known for their use of Chinese craftsmanship released the Ancestra which went further than their previous models, with a much dressier case, hand made Grand Feu enamel dial with baguette-cut diamonds, and an interesting movement. It didn’t take long before Atelier Wen would team up with someone for a special edition. And now we have it. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Revolution magazine and the launch of Revolution Arabia, the two came together to release the Ancestra Yao that connects Chinese craft with Middle Eastern aesthetics.

The Ancestra takes its name quite seriously, as it is dripping in Chinese tradition, with homages to French watchmaking. Inspiration for the entire watch comes from the Hongshan Jade Dragon, the very first depiction of a dragon ever recorded, but there are dozens of easter eggs all over this watch and I’ll try to catch as many as possible. While the Perception had a very modern and sharp integrated bracelet design, the Ancestra is the exact opposite — softer and more classic. The case is made out of 904L stainless steel and measures 38mm wide, 11.3mm thick and a comfortable 46mm lug-to-lug. I tried the watch on in Geneva and it wears like a dream. The sculpted lugs are screwed into the case and Atelier Wen points out that the case is very much shaped after the Hongshan dragon. The case has a mixed of brushed surfaces and beautiful polished bevels and sapphire crystals on top and bottom, with the one on top being double domed. The crown screws down and you get 100 meters of water resistance.

The collaboration is focused on the new dial, which gets a hand-worked 925 silver gratté base that has a fabric-like texture. It’s then covered in layers of translucent fumé grand feu enamel that give the dial a look that drifts from a central light sand color to a chocolate color on the outside, which mimic the sand tones of the Middle East. The hour markers alternate between Eastern Arabic numerals and lab-grown baguette-cut diamonds, while the hands are tri-planed and rhodium plated.

Inside, you get that new movement from Atelier Wen, the Calibre EPM03 made by French movement maker Pequignet and customized for Atelier Wen. The movement beats at 4Hz, has a 65 hour power reserve and is wound by a 5N rose gold-plated rotor using the efficient Pellaton winding system. The movement is regulated to an accuracy of +/-2 seconds per day, which is fantastic. It’s also quite beautiful. Not just for its mirror-polished ratchet wheel and balance bridge, but also a stunning three-quarter bridge that has a micro-etching of a Chinese manuscript called Questions to Heaven. I usually dislike text etchings on watches, but this looks incredible. The watch comes on a cream Epsom upper strap with Zermatt lining.

The new Atelier Wen x Revolution Ancenstra Yao started preorders during Dubai Watch Week and will be open until November 27th, priced at €5,100. See more on the Revolution website.

3/

Fears Teams Up With Ace Jewelers For A Stunningly Cool De Stijl Edition Of The Brunswick 38

De Stijl was a Dutch art movement from 1917–1931, meaning "the style" in Dutch. Artist active in the movement, the most prominent of which were Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, used only primary colors — red, yellow, blue — arranged into blocks with intersecting horizontal and vertical lines at right angles. And it’s this style that shows up on the latest collaboration between Fears and Ace Jewelers. You know that I’m a big fan of Ace and their collaboration, but this one, based on the Fears Brunswick 38, is easily among the top five they’ve ever done.

Since this collaboration is based on the smaller version of the cushion shaped Brunswick, a lot is familiar here. The watch has a very nice size and measures 38mm wide, 11.69mm thick and with a 42mm lug-to-lug. The L2L is great thanks to the short lugs, and on the side is an onion crown. Water resistance is 100 meters.

But while I very much like this case, it’s all about this incredible dial. It was designed by Fears’s in-house designer and all-around great guy Lee Yuen-Rapati with one thought in mind — to create a modern De Stijl work. You get the instantly recognizable horizontal and vertical thin lines, as well as the yellow, blue, red, black, and gray boxes you would expect to see on a Mondrian painting. But look close, and you see that parts of the paining are function — the black rectangles serve as hour markers, while the blue square at six o’clock holds the small seconds. The hands are super cool, skeletonized and full black, with a white seconds hand. Fantastic look.

Inside, you’ll find the La Joux-Perret D100, which would be LJP’s version of the Peseux 7001, manual wound with a 50 hour power reserve. The watch comes on black leather strap.

The new Fears x Ace Jewelers Brunswick 38 "De Stijl Edition" is available now, priced at €4,114. See more on the Ace Jewelers website.

4/

RZE Gives Their Already Cool Digital UTD-8000 A Military-Style Cerakote Coating

Earlier this year, one of my favorite microbrands released one of the coolest watches of the year. RZE, the Singapore-based maker of tough — often titanium — great looking watches for a really fair price, released the UTD-8000, their first digital watch, makes perfect sense for a brand that makes unbreakable tool watches. It also came in a titanium case. Now, RZE is releasing the UTD-8000-CKG which gets an incredibly cool, military-insipred green cerakote coating.

This is a tough watch. Its titanium case measures 41mm wide (with a slightly oversized bezel with exposed screws that pushes the overall width out to 42mm) and 13.4mm thick. That thickness is unusual, as quartz watches are often known for being much thinner than their mechanical counterparts. Sure, the movement is. But RZE packed this case with a bunch of tech to make it as durable as possible. The digital module is held in place by a compressible cushion material and there’s a ton of water and weatherproofing measures taken. RZE points out that they tested the watch in the Canadian tundra, exposing it to -30 degree Celsius temperatures for over 24-hours, as well as +60 degree temperatures for an hour, even strapping it to the front of a car to give it a rattle test. And it survived. The case has an olive green Cerakote, a material that’s easily applied to surfaces and mimics ceramics. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The backlit LCD display is part of that rugedness. The UTD-8000 has one of the largest digital displays I’ve seen on this side of a smart watch and it’s divided into three parts. The central part shows oversized digital numerals, the top shows the day of the week and the bottom the date. The displays also show you all the functions — chronograph timer, alarm, hourly chime and format changes such as 12/24 hour time display. The display has a yellow coating over it.

RZE doesn’t specify what movement is inside, but they do say that it has a 3 year battery life and offer a lifetime guarantee on it. The watches comes on an OD green canvas strap.

I have some bad news. The new UTD-8000-CKG is sold out. However, I can’t find any confirmation that this is a limited edition, meaning that it will likely be making a comeback. Price is set at €355. See more on the RZE website.

5/

MKII Launches The Hellion-BAKU Tribute Watch With Project Recover

There are many watch brands out there that capitalize on their military heritage, without any particular military connections. Panerai, for example, has Navy SEAL-themed watches which are very close to being pure cosplay, while brands like Ball will use every single division of the U.S. military to slap on their dials, but when asked to participate in activities that help veterans of these divisions, they will simply say: no, in the most hypocritical way possible. Then, there’s brands like MKII which keep a close link to the military community and actually give back. Now, they’re teaming up with Project Recover, a non-profit whose mission is to locate, recover, and repatriate American service members still missing in action from past conflicts, to release the Hellion-BAKU, a watch that honors the missing members of Underwater Demolition Team-10 — Black, MacMahon, and Roeder — and supports Project Recover.

There’s a lot of inspiration quite obvious right away in the Hellion-BAKU, both from the canteen watch — the U.S. military's first underwater wristwatch, important from the UDT — and the A-11 field watch. It comes in stainless steel, measuring 39mm wide, 13.5mm thick, with a 48.5mm lug-to-lug. The case has a brushed finish, drilled lugs and an oversized crown on the right side. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal, surrounded by a an unmarked steel bezel. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The caseback is also important, as it’s based on a WWII-issued canteen watch from UDT-5, with the "USN BUSHIPS" stamping along with etched markings for "UDT-10" and the production number. Also, the names of Black, MacMahon, and Roeder are also engraved in the center of the caseback.

The dial keeps things very simple, with a couple of important touches. The base of the dial is a flat black, with wider hands that are modeled after hands used on WWII UDT-issued watches. The sweep seconds hand features a lumed tip and an asymmetrical triangle counterweight referencing Project Recover's logo. All of the text and MKII logo are rendered in black on black, for complete minimalism.

Inside is the familiar TMI (Seiko) NH38 automatic which beats at 3Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. It’s regulated in the US, but they don’t say how to what accuracy. The watch comes on a Haveston canvas strap.

The new MkII Hellion-BAKU goes on sale on November 24 at 10 am ET at two price points. You can get the Standard Package, which is limited to 180 pieces, for $649, delivered in a travel case along with a BAKU mission patch and zine — oh those zines, they are sensational — or you can op for the Premium Package, limited to 20 pieces, which gets you a customized Toyo box, a Project Recover x Mk II challenge coin, a Project Recover dad hat, a Balao submarine poster, and the zine, priced at $765. $80 will be donated to Project Recover from the Standard watch and $135 from the Premium Package. See more on the MKII website.

6/

Blancpain Introduces Its Most Complicated Watch Ever, The Grande Double Sonnerie 15GSQ

While this year will most certainly go down as the year of the stone dial, in the higher echelons of watchmaking, another parallel has been happening. A few days ago, Chopard introduced the L.U.C Grand Strike, their take on the Grande Sonnerie. It is an incredible watch that is their most complex watch to date, with a Grande Sonnerie, a Petite Sonnerie, a Minute Repeater and a tourbillon regulator. A watch that took 11,000 hours of R&D over 30 years to complete. Now, It’s Blancpain’s turn to introduce a Grande Sonnerie. The Grande Double Sonnerie 15GSQ is Blancpain’s most complicated watch ever made, featuring a grande and petite sonnerie, a minute repeater, a flying tourbillon and a retrograde perpetual calendar. And as if that wasn’t enough, you can switch between a traditional Westminster chime and an original Blancpain melody composed by musician Eric Singer, the Kiss the drummer and singer. It has two different chiming melodies!

The simplest part of the watch, is of course, the case. But don’t be fooled, there’s a lot going on here. It’s quite large, but it also needs to hold a lot. The case measures 47mm wide and 14.5mm thick, with inspiration taken from the Villeret collection with its stepped dial. Right now, we’ve seen the watch in red and white gold, but Blancpain says there are virtually unlimited customizations available for this model. Not only will you be able to choose the material of the case, but also stuff like the melody that chimes. Speaking of chiming, the case incorporates a membrane attached to the crystal under the bezel which amplifies the sound of the gongs. Despite this complex construction, you still get 10 meters of water resistance.

Just like with the Chopard, there is no actual dial here, but there are more details on the Blancpain. In the center, you get leaf-shaped hands in blackened gold, and the aperture is surrounded by a — at least on the red gold version — sunray brushe black rhodium track that holds polished black gold indexes from 12 to 6 o’clock. From 6 to 12 o’clock it has a 5N red gold plaque that holds the 31 days for the retrograde day indicator and is pointed to with a serpentine-shaped hand. You also get day and month sub-dials with blackened gold hands, but more on that a bit later.

Inside is the Calibre 15GSQ, an absolute beast movement. I’ll list off some of its characteristics, but it will be hard to capture all. First, it beats at 4Hz, with a 96 hour power reserve for the timekeeping, and 12 and 14 hours for the grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie respectively, delivered from twin barrels wound with the same crown, each in different directions. On the back of the movement is a power reserve for each. But the sheer complexity is just astounding. It’s made out of 1,053 components, all made in-house, while 21 patents were filed during the development, 13 of which have been integrated into the final product.

Now, for more details. The pusher at 10 o’clock allows you to activate the minute repeater mechanism to chime the time on demand, while the slide at 9 o’clock switches between grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie and silence modes. At 7 o’clock is the pusher that changes the melodies. The movement integrates a silent magnetic regulator, so there is no background noise perceptible during the chimes. The movement also has a perpetual calendar with day, month, leap-year, and retrograde date indications, integrated into the new movement instead of using a module. Decorations are also as expected on a watch of this caliber — solid gold bridges, hand finished with 135 inward angles, perlage, mirror polishing and straight graining. The watch comes on a brown alligator leather strap.

The new Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie 15GSQ will not be a limited edition, but only 2 will be made per year. Remember how expensive that Chopard was yesterday. Well the Blancpain is CHF 1,700,000. Woof. See more on the Blancpain 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

• This detailed account chronicles the final days of Mussolini and Claretta Petacci during April 1945—from their capture by Italian Partisans to their execution near Lake Como. Amidst mounting resistance and chaotic retreat, it reveals the tense negotiations, guarded movements, and the political complexities surrounding their demise during the collapse of Fascist Italy.

• The closure of Harvard’s New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC) marked the end of a prestigious hub for biomedical research on non-human primates, including crucial HIV and Parkinson’s studies. Tarnished by mismanagement and animal welfare controversies, its shutdown shocked scientists nationwide, dispersed top researchers, and left unresolved mysteries—such as unexplained tamarin deaths—casting a long shadow over primate science.​

• Artificial general intelligence has morphed from a speculative research goal into a quasi‑religious conspiracy narrative driving the entire AI industry. Blending doomsday prophecy, techno-utopian promises, and enormous financial incentives, AGI belief—shaped by figures from Goertzel to Yudkowsky to Altman—distorts policy, concentrates power, and lets Silicon Valley sell a forever‑“almost here” god machine instead of solving real problems.

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Thanks for reading,
Vuk