Omega Adds Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamasters To The Collection; Unimatic Gets Serious About Divers Once Again; Cuervo Y Sobrinos' New Collection; Montblanc Echoes Vintage With Cupro Aluminium

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Love to see Omega padding those collections. I’m sure that’s going to help. But yo, you people are crazy. You really want that Laco watch. You should see how many people you invited to the newsletter. Amazing work, let’s keep it going. Scroll down to see how you can enter to get one of the best looking watches of the year.

In this issue

• Omega Adds Two More Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamaster Diver 300M Watches To The Collection

• Unimatic Gets Serious About Divers Once Again With The New Prodiver Collection

• Cuervo Y Sobrinos Unveils New Espléndidos Heritage Collection, Named After An Iconic Cuban Cigar

• Montblanc Echoes Vintage With The New 1858 Automatic Date In Cupro Aluminium

👂What’s new

1/

Omega Adds Two More Moonshine And Sedna Gold Seamaster Diver 300M Watches To The Collection

Omega has two ways of introducing new watches. One is linking it to huge events, using the full power of their celebrity endorsements and shouting about the new watches from the roofs so even people who call the brand Omeega instead of Omega hear about the release. Or, they don’t tell a living soul. They don’t update their homepage, they don’t put up social media post, they just add it to the lineup and say good luck finding this. Thankfully, the watch world is full of obsessive maniacs, so the moment these new watches popped up on the website, a Redditor jumped into my inbox to let me know. Thanks! What we have here, after a whole string of tiny updates to the Seamaster Diver 300M collection, are two new additions to the collection, one in Moonshine Gold and the other in Sedna gold.

You know the cases, because nothing changed here. They measure 42mm wide, 13.72mm thick, with a 49.93mm lug-to-lug. You get the familiar lyre lugs, rotating bezel, the helium escape valve at 10 o’clock and a screw down crown. You also get the same 300 meter water resistance. What is new are the materials. One comes in the yellow Moonshine gold with a black ceramic bezel, while the Sedna rose gold gets a grained bezel with a opolished positive relief diving scale.

The dials are also very familiar. The Moonshine gold comes with a black dial, while the Sedna gets a white dial. Both of them feature an engraved wave patter and applied markers that are circular and rectangular, filled with lume. The skeletonized hands are matched to the material of the case. There are date apertures at 6 o’clock, with color matched date windows inside.

Inside both watches is the in-house automatic calibre 8801, which has a solid gold balance bridge and rotor. It beats at 4Hz and has a 55 hour power reserve. The movements are, of course, Master Chronometer-certified. The Moonshine gold version comes on a black rubber strap, while the Sedna gets a brown rubber strap, both closed with material matching pin buckles.

The new Moonshine Gold and Sedna gold versions of the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M are part of the regular collection and priced at €32,300 for the Moonshine and €32,900 for the Sedna version. See the Moonshine version here and the Sedna Gold version here.

2/

Unimatic Gets Serious About Divers Once Again With The New Prodiver Collection

Over the past several months, we’ve seen the Italian indie watch brand Unimatic knock out some pretty amazing collaborations. In fact, the more I think about it, I think they were all collaborations. However, now, it seems that they are going back to their roots. First, we got the Diving Heritage collection a couple of weeks ago, which mixed a bit of vintage inspiration with their iconic minimalist desings. Now, we’re getting the Modelo Uno Prodiver Collection, their most capable divers yet that also includes a beefy titanium one that goes down to 600 meters.

So, starting with the U1-PD3-B and U1-PD3-OR, they come in stainless steel cases that measure 41.5mm wide, 14.4mm thick and have a 49mm lug-to-lug. The case has a brushed finish and on top is a sapphire crystal that’s surrounded by a 120-click unidirectional bezel that has a black matte ceramic insert with a 50 minute scale. The crown screws down and has guards, while the water resistance is a substantial 300 meters. The U1-PD3-B gets a matte black dial, while the U1-PD3-OR has a bright orange one. Both dials have the same setup, with large lumed markers and black hands filled with white luminous material. Inside, you’ll find the Seiko NH35A that Unimatic loves to use, beating at 3Hz, with a 41 hour power reserve. Not the most accurate of movements, but can be fixed easily and cheaply. The watches come on black nylon NATO straps.

But we’ve seen similar watches from Unimatic before. What we haven’t seen is the new U1S-T-PD6-B, which is quite something. It’s made out of Grade 2 titanium, with a matte sandblasted finish. The case measures exactly the same as the steel versions, but it has much different proportions. It has a 3mm double domed sapphire crystal on top. That means that the case is just 12.3mm thick without the crystal. Quite a feat, since the watch is rated to 600 meters of water resistance. On the dial side, it’s identical to the steel version, with a black dial and lumed markers and hands. The one addition is a date aperture neatly integrated at 6 o’clock. Inside, however, a big change. Instead of the Seiko, you get a Sellita SW200 movement beating at 4Hz, with a 41 hour power reserve. This watch also comes on a black nylon NATO strap.

The new Unimatic Modello Uno Prodiver collection is available now, limited to 300 pieces per model. Price is set at €750 for the steel versions, and €1,500 for the titanium version, both without taxes. See more on the Unimatic website.

3/

Cuervo Y Sobrinos Unveils New Espléndidos Heritage Collection, Named After An Iconic Cuban Cigar

Imagine this. There’s a small repair shop in Havana, Cuba that fixes local watches and clocks. They’re growing slowly but steadily, and have become an importer of watches like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Rolex to Cuba, where customers include people like Caruso, Gary Cooper, Hemingway and Einstein. Pretty soon they start making their own watches but they didn’t survive the quartz crisis. In the 1990s, the brand was revived and it’s now based in Capolago, Switzerland and has carved a niche with models that lean heavily on vintage design cues and a touch of Cuban flamboyance. These are very interesting, very niche watches. And after a long while, we’re getting a new collection from Cuervo y Sobrinos. This is the new Espléndidos Heritage collection that comes in two colors and is named after the Cohiba Espléndido, one of the best cigars ever made.

This isn’t the first square watch that the brand has made, but it is likely the most elegant one. It comes the same case as the Vitola model, made out of stainless steel and measuring 35mm wide, a slender 10mm thick and has a length of 47mm. The case has a pronounced curved to it, so it’s likely to hug wrists, and the curvature extends to the sapphire crystal. The case is highly polished and has a small crown on the right side. Water resistance is 30 meters, so fine for everyday use.

You have a choice of two colors — either a black lacquer or a light cream color. The colors show up on the base of the dial which has a cutout framed in either silver or rose gold, depending on the base color. That cutout houses two overlapping dials, with the larger one housing the hours and minutes, and the smaller one a small seconds display and a date aperture. These inner dials are finely textured, with a central clous de Paris-style finish.

Inside, and visible through the opening on the caseback, is the La Joux-Perret G120 automatic movement which beats at 4Hz and has a 68 hour power reserve. The watch gets a custom rotor with a 3N gold-coloured applied Cuervo y Sobrinos logo. The watches come on hand-stitched Louisiana alligator leather straps in either brown or black.

The Cuervo Y Sobrinos Espléndidos Heritage is available now, with the black on being a regular part of the collection, while the cream dial is limited to 82 pieces. The price is set at CHF 3,300 for the black and CHF 3,500 for the cream. See more on the Cuervo Y Sobrinos website.

4/

Montblanc Echoes Vintage With The New 1858 Automatic Date In Cupro Aluminium

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a new release from Montblanc. It was the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec, an incredibly interesting take on an inking chronograph done in a beautiful Parisian green. That’s one side of Montblanc, one that’s based on Montblanc’s ownership of the legendary Minerva watch manufacture. These watches tend to be priced quite high, but often offer incredible value for money. But Montblanc also has its more consumer-facing watchmaking business, one that comes at a much lower price, with an off-the-shelf movement, but still with great looks. One such collection is the 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen, and Montblanc just introduced a new update to it with a vintage-inspired bronze case and dial. This is the new Montblanc 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen Cupro Aluminium.

Despite aluminium being in the name, this watch is not actually made out of aluminium. What it is made out of is cupro aluminium, a bronze alloy that’s more resistant to corrosion. Which is an interesting move because most people get bronze watches to develop a patina on them. I guess this one will just take longer. The case measures 41mm wide and 11.3mm thick, with a brushed finish and polished bevels, as well as curved lugs that make for a good wear. On top is a box-style sapphire crystal surrounded by a bronze bezel with a polished brown ceramic insert with lumed compass markers. The case has a bit of high-tech construction to it, as Montblanc uses its proprietary “Zero Oxygen” technology which puts a seal between the crystal and the case to remove all oxygen from the inside. Montblanc says they do this to reduce chance of fogging up with extreme temperature fluctuations, which is an interesting move. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Matching the bronze of the case is a really nice brown dial that not only has a gradient from a very light to a very dark brown as you move towards the periphery, it also has a grained surface. Complementing the brown are rose gold-plated Arabic numerals and cathedral hour and minute hands, all filled with lume. Around the perimeter is a beige railway minutes track and more rose gold can be found on the frame of the date window at 3 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre MB 24.17, which is essentially a Sellita SW200 which beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a calfskin strap that also has a gradient from a reddish-brown in the middle to a dark brown on the edges. It has off-white stitching and closes with a stainless steel double-folding clasp that has a PVD coating to match the color of the case.

The new Montblanc 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen Cupro Aluminium is available now, as part of the regular collection and it’s priced at €3,900. The watch is not yet up on the website, but should be soon.

5/

Your Chance To Win This Absolute Bomb Of A Watch From Laco

Here we go. Like I promised you last month, I’m teaming up with Laco to celebrate their 100th year anniversary. As part of their celebration, they showed a very special watch, the Laco Frieda. There’s only one catch. You can’t buy one. Instead, Laco is giving away 100 pieces of this special edition watch in their “100 Years – 100 Days – 100 Watches” campaign. And you can get one here. The rules are simple — scroll down to the end of the newsletter, where you’ll find a referral window that says “Share It’s About Time”. Invite your friends to subscribe to the newsletter and for every subscriber you bring, you’ll get a “ticket” that enters you in a draw to win the watch.

This is the first time I’m doing a giveaway with this referral program, so if there are any hiccups and something doesn’t work, let me know and we’ll sort it out asap. The giveaway is open until August 25th, after which I’ll use a random email selector to find the winner and Laco will ship your brand new watch to you! Good luck.

Now, for a bit of info on thw atch. Laco typically names its models after cities or geographical features, but this model breaks tradition. For a good reason, as it’s named after the co-founder, Frieda Lacher. It’s a familiar watch but with a dial that makes it extremely beautiful. The watch comes in a stainless steel case that measure 39mm wide, 11.55mm thick and with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug. The case has a beautiful matte finish and on the side, you’ll find an engraving that reads “Laco 1925-2025”, while the caseback has an engraving of its unique number out of 100. On the opposite side you’ll find the signature deeply grooved onion-shaped crown. Water resistance is 50 meters.

Then, there’s the dial. It’s a classic Type A flieger, which has just the minute track along the edge of the dial and big numerals for the hours. The minute track and numerals are printed in white lume, while the sword-shaped hands are done in black, with white lume inside. But the star here is the base of the dial. Rendered in Laco’s signature red color, it has a sandy texture which makes it very special.

Inside, you’ll find the Laco S2 movement, which is essentially the Miyota 82S0. The movement beats at 21,600vph and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a grey leather strap with red stitching.

Again, scroll down to the end of the email where you’ll find the share button and get to sharing!

⏲️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

• Cryptocurrency turned John Woeltz and William Duplessie into friends. It also allegedly allegedly turned them into military cosplayers who club-hopped their way through New York with a cadre of guards and a seemingly bottomless appetite for drugs. And when Michael Carturan ran from their townhouse in late May, claiming Woeltz and Duplessie had been torturing him for his crypto accounts, it marked the arrival of crypto kidnappings, a.k.a. “wrench attacks,” in New York.

• For the The New York Review of Books, Lora Kelley visits “Dining in Transit” at the New York Historical museum, an exhibit that highlights the fancy food that companies used to attract ship and train passengers before the advent of air travel, as well as the emotional and physical labor that went into serving those aboard.

• In this engaging interview, Jenn Pelly chats with her twin sister, Liz Pelly, about their strong lifelong connections to music, its social and artistic value, the state of music media and music technology, and a world beyond algorithms in which we are more active participants in the music and art we enjoy—versus passive consumers of streaming services. It’s an inspiring conversation centered around Liz’s book on the rise of Spotify, Mood Machine. At the end, they discuss library streaming as a way to encourage more intentional listening and shake up the streaming status quo.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I feel like these WoE watches would benefit from reworking the format of their videos, but it’s always good to see the hometown boys make it big! But hometown boys, I mean the Pink Panthers, they all grew up in the same places I did, and they are likely the most prolific gang operating in Europe right now.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk