Orient Releases First Solar Powered Bambino; Bremont's Turquoise Terra Nova; Traska Proves Incremental Updates Are The Path To Perfection; Hublot Pays Homage To New York City With Concrete MECA-10

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It’s no secret that Traska is a fan favorite brand. But even so, you get surprised by how they do business and have to admire the methodical way they approach developing their watch lines.

In this issue:

• Orient Brings First Solar Powered Movement To The Iconic Bambino Collection For The First Time

• Bremont Teams Up With Exquisite Timepieces For A Turquoise Followup To The Pink Terra Nova 38

• Traska Proves That Incremental Updates Are The Path To Perfection

• Hublot Pays Homage To New York City With Their New Big Bang MECA-10 Concrete Jungle

👂What’s new

1/

Orient Brings First Solar Powered Movement To The Iconic Bambino Collection For The First Time

Despite the fact that Orient as a brand has been around since the 1950s, and it seems that the Bambino has been one of their most important models every since, you might be surprised when I remind you that the Bambino has only been around for a bit longer than 10 years. Released only in 2012, the Bambino has become a staple of not just Orient’s lineup but pretty much every solid collection out there. And in those 13 years, the Bambino has come in many sizes, colors and movements inside. Now, for the first time however, the Bambino is getting a quintet of references with solar quartz movements, something that only seems like a logical progression.

The outside of the watch doesn’t change all that much and still features some quirky measurements. Despite Orient calling it the Bambino 38, the stainless steel case actually measures 38.4mm wide, 12.5mm thick and has a compact 44mm lug-to-lug. The case has a mix of polished and brushed finishes and on top is a domed mineral glass. The fluted crown at 3 o’clock is a push-pull which gives you a 30 meter water resistance.

There are five dial options reserved for this new solar quartz collection. There are two classic options, the RA-WK0004L which has a black dial and the RA-WK0003G which has an ivory white dial. But there are also three summer season versions, the RA-WK0002E with a pale blue dial, the RA-WP0005P with a pale pink dial, and the RA-WK0001S which gets a white dial with a gold-plated steel case and gilt accents on the dial. But aside the colors, a lot remains very familiar here. It’s a domed dial with applied Roman numerals and dauphine-style hands, a printed minute and second track on the edge and a vintage-style writing that reads “solar powered” under the Orient logo and “Water Resistant” above 6 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the big change. It’s the VS213 solar-powered quartz movement. Fully charged, it has a power reserve of up to six months. And that’s just what it’s all about. The watches come on black synthetic apple leather straps for the two classic colors and all white straps made of the same material for the summer collection.

The new Orient Bambino Solar models are all part of the regular collection and priced at $340 for the stainless steel versions and $365 for the gold colored one. See more on the Orient website.

2/

Bremont Teams Up With Exquisite Timepieces For A Turquoise Followup To The Pink Terra Nova 38

After a lukewarm (at best) reception to the rebranding, introduction of new models and turning away from pretty much everything that built up their brand as a rugged, military-adjacent, quirky British brand, Bremont found itself in trouble. They have since backtracked and brought back some of the military heritage, and experimented with color on the controversial Terra Nova 38. And, somewhat surprisingly, the pink version of the Terra Nova 38 worked quite well. Now, Bremont is bringing more colors to the model, but they’re not doing it on their own. They have teamed up with their longtime U.S. retail partner Exquisite Timepieces for a turquoise version of the Terra Nova 38.

On the outside, this is the same Terra Nova 38 that kicked up all the controversy. Made out of stainless steel, the tonneau shaped case measures 38mm wide, 10.7mm thick and has a 44mm lug-to-lug. Those are pretty good proportions and the combination of soft curves on the unmarked sloping bezel and sharp short lugs is interesting. On the right side is an oversized crown with the new Bremont Wayfinder logo. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Then, there’s the dial, an extreme departure from the black, grey and white variants of previous versions, matching the pink version we saw late last year. This one keeps the matte surface, as well as the railroad track on the outside and polished and faceted hour and minute hands. The base of the dial gets a bright shade of turquoise and instead of painted on numerals, they are made out of solid blocks of white SuperLuminova, which is actually a great look. Despite Bremont shrinking the logo and brand name when compared to previous editions, there’s a lot of text on this dial, with three lines of black text at 6 o’clock.

Inside, no surprises. With the redesign, Bremont gave up on creating their own movements so they’re using the tried and true Sellita SW200. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a great looking steel bracelet with Y shaped links.

The new turquoise Bremont Terra Nova 38 Exquisite Timepieces is limited to just 100 pieces and priced at $3,450. See more on the Exquisite Timepieces website.

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Traska Proves That Incremental Updates Are The Path To Perfection

Traska is a super interesting watch brand. Not only do they make some legendarily well made watches, they also established themselves as sort of microbrand royalty. They are one of the benchmark brands against which all new brands are measured, which is a really good place to be. But Traska is not a brand that’s just content sitting up there, not moving forward. That’s why every so often, when they restock their most popular models, they push design and production tolerances just a step forward, turning their collections into an ever evolving string of releases. Which is just cool. Over the next two weeks, Traska is bringing back their Commuter, Summiteer, and Freediver collections for their fifth, sixth, and seventh iterations respectively, with some really great updates.

First, let’s cover all the new stuff that the three collections share. All three shine much brighter at night, thanks to Grade A BGW9 lume. According to Traska, this shines 52% brighter than their previous lume after 10 hours of darkness. Traska also upgraded the crystal, or more accurately, its transparency thanks to a new anti-reflective treatment applied to the underside. And last, all the bracelets get quick-release spring bars, making for a quick strap change. I’m actually surprised I haven’t noticed earlier that they lacked this, but great move.

The first of the collections that’s making a comeback is the Commuter, which went on sale two days ago, Sunday, June 1. The Commuter is a super-simple watch with baton hour makers and hands, with an optional date aperture, that comes in two sizes and a handful of fantastic colors. In 36mm, you can get the watch in Carbon Black, Arctic White, Cypress Green, and Steel Blue, while the 38mm version comes in Slate Black, Sterling Silver, Oxblood Red, and Adriatic Blue.

Next Sunday, June 8, Traska is releasing an update to the Freediver, their take on the classic dive watch. It’s a steel-cased watch that measures 40.5mm, 11.9mm thick including the crystal, with a 200 meter water resistance. You get the usual lacquer dials — Charcoal Black, Arctic White, and Hunter Green, but also, a new color. Called Chaoun Blue, Traska’s founder Jon Mack explains that the inspiration comes from his visit to Morocco’s Chefchaouen and the distinct shade of blue used to paint the houses. Looks great.

And last, we have the return of the Summiteer, their vintage-inspired travel and exploration watch, on June 15th. It, too, comes in two sizes, a smaller 36mm and a larger 38mm, both available in Charcoal Black, Midnight Blue, and Oxblood Red. But the Summiteer is also getting a new colorway — Pine Green. It’s a fantastic shade of green that’s well paired with gold colored details on the dial.

For all details on the new Traska releases, including the varied pricing on all the models, check out the Traska website.

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Hublot Pays Homage To New York City With Their New Big Bang MECA-10 Concrete Jungle

In their higher end offering, Hublot has been known not just for creating incredibly cool and complex movements, they’ve been experimenting with materials in the wildest of ways. Some worked better, like their full sapphire watches, some looked cool but were a bit puzzling, like watches made with Novak Djokovic’s game-worn clothes, and some were a bit on the verge of cringe, like the case made from recycled green Nespresso pods. Now, they’re playing with a new material — concrete — fora watch that will be a U.S. exclusive, paying homage to New York City and the brand’s new Fifth Avenue boutique.

OK, to be fair, concrete is not a new material for Hublot, as they’ve made parts of watches out of the material earlier, but those were mostly just bezels. This is the first time that the entire case is made out concrete. It’s not a regular concrete, but rather a fine cement mixed with epoxy resin, with a fiberglass reinforced core, in order to be more fit to be worn on a wrist. But other than the tricky material, it’s pretty much the same as the regular Big Bang MECA-10 watches. That means that it measures 44mm wide and 15.3mm thick. On top is a flat sapphire crystal surrounded by a concrete bezel with six exposed screws. The only non-concrete parts are the titanium caseback, crown and bezel screws. Water resistance is on the level of the sapphire-cased versions, which means that it’s reduced from 100 meters to 50 meters. But even that is awesome, for a watch made out of concrete.

There is no dial, since it’s fully skeletonized, with just a concrete flange that holds the minute scale and floating lumed hour markers. You get wide skeletonized hands with lumed top halfs, and a small seconds at 9 o’clock. At 6, you’ll find a date function and the rest is all movement. At 3 you’ll see the barrel that gives the watch the logn power reserve, a balance wheel visible at 7 o’clock and the rack and pinion system at 12 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the manual-wind Caliber HUB1201 which has pretty incredible finishings, including satin brushings on the parallel bridges and hand chamfering. The movement features regular stuff like a silicon escape wheel, and beats at a relatively standard 21,600 vph, but with an impressive 240 hours of power reserve. The watch comes with two straps — a gray fabric strap with a velcro fastening system and a black rubber strap that’s closed with a folding clasp made from black-finished titanium and ceramic.

The new Hublot Big Bang MECA-10 Concrete Jungle is available now, only in the U.S. and it’s limited to 500 pieces. Price is set at €35,400. See more on the Hublot 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

• On one end, a record-setting 8,000-foot-mountain climber. On the other, a man from a poor village in Pakistan, tasked with setting up the ropes on one of the world's most dangerous summits. Kristin Harila and Muhammad Hassan’s lives could not have been more different, yet on a cold July night on the K2, they intertwined, then forever went their different ways.

• Is the killer behind the 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose? Exclusive revelations by investigators yield the first authoritative account of what happened and who likely did it.

• A 1988 mega-match in Atlantic City oozed with greed, backstabbing, and the worst kind of tabloid journalism. And the people loved it. This is the story of Donald Trump, Mike Tyson, and the fight that defined an era.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I never expected to see a sequel to Happy Gilmore, the movie of my youth. And I never expected the trailer to be this good.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk