Orient’s New New Daily Wearer AC0F Core Collection Is A Simplified Bambino; Alpina Goes Even More Art Deco; Airain Pays Tribute To 70 Years Of The Type 20; Brellum Adds More Complications; Hermès Updates Its Carbon-Graphene H08 Chrono

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Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Remember those six months when I was living in pain unable to use my arm? Well, it’s back… So bear with me if things get hectic over here.

Also, a note for paid subscribers. I messed up yesterday and repeated the Wednesday post. Sorry about that. This issue has both the Thursday quirky watch and Friday historical long form article.

In this issue

• Orient’s New New Daily Wearer AC0F Core Collection Is A Simplified Bambino

• Alpina Goes Even More Art Deco With The New Europe-Only Alpina Alpiner Heritage Carrée Automatic

• Airain Pays Tribute To 70 Years Of The Type 20 Military Flyback Chronograph

• Brellum Adds More Complications To Their Retro Pandial Power Reserve Chronometer LE

• Hermès Updates Its Carbon-Graphene H08 Chronograph With A Naples Yellow Color

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Historical Perspectives: The Patek Counterfeiter: Watchmaking's First Great Scandal

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 54: The Gruen Airflight And The Art Of The Jumping 24-Hour Display

👂What’s new

1/

Orient’s New New Daily Wearer AC0F Core Collection Is A Simplified Bambino

Over the past couple of years, Orient has had quite the push into Europe, led heavily by their Bambino model line which offers well designed, fairly dressy, reliable watches that can be had at some pretty fantastic prices, especially if you found them on sale. But every now and again, you would hear someone say that they dislike the Roman numerals on the dial, which make them a bit busy. Or that they would want a flat dial. Well, Orient agrees, as they are releasing a sister-collection to the Bambino. (Yes, I am aware that non-Roman numeral Bambino’s exist, bear with me for the sake of story). From what I gather, this will be an european exclusive for right now, but knowing Orient, it’s coming to other market soon. This is the new AC0F Collection.

The fact that we know Orient might also hint at what’s coming next. Orient is known for making 80% perfect watches. That means that 80% of a watch is dream-level, only to be destroyed by the other 20%. And here, it’s the size that’s the problem. There’s a big push in the online watch community for smaller watches, a push that is not reflected in the buying trends of the general public. Whenever a brand offers a 38mm and a 41mm wide watch, it’s the bigger one that will sell more. And bigger watches certainly lend themselves to more sportier purposes, while dressier ones look better small. Enter Orient, running through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, with a stainless steel case that measures 41.6mm wide and 11.7mm thick. Come on, Orient! You had one job. Just make it under 40mm. Even 39.9mm would have been acceptable. The case is polished and brushed, on top is a mineral glass crystal and water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial is where things get better. There are five matte colors available — green, blue, red, ivory and brown — each in a pale, somewhat pastel finish. Gone are the numerals of the Bambino, and they are replaced with applied faceted indexes and Alpha-style hands. The hands come in multiple colors: the red features gold-colored hands, the ivory version is fitted with blue hands, and the remaining three models include silver-tone hands. Around the perimeter is a printed minute track and at 3 o’clock is a date aperture with a white date disc inside. The Orient logo sits at 12 and at 6 is the Water Resistance writing.

Inside, you’ll find their in-house Caliber F6722 automatic which beats at 3Hz and has a 40 hour power reserve and an accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day. The watches come on brown or blue leather straps, closed with pin buckles.

The Orient AC0F European Exclusive Collection goes on sale in Novemeber, only in Europe, priced at £260. See more on the Orient website.

2/

Alpina Goes Even More Art Deco With The New Europe-Only Alpina Alpiner Heritage Carrée Automatic

Alpina did something interesting two years ago. They introduced the Art Deco inspired Heritage Carrée Mechanical 140 Years but in a run limited to 14 white and 14 black watches. It was priced somewhere in the €5,000 range — mostly because of a new-old-stock movement and silver case — and sold out instantly. In fact, the demand was so high, Alpina decided to release it just two months later as a regular edition with a more conventional movement and an acceptable price point. Now, they’re releasing a European-exclusive variant of the Heritage Carrée that is even more Art Deco-inspired.

The case of the watch remains unchanged from the previous variant, measuring 32.5mm wide, 9.71mm thick and 39mm long. It’s made out of polished stainless steel and has two parts, creating a stepped look. On top is a domed sapphire crystal and out back is a flat one. Water resistance is not great at 30 meters, but this not a swimming watch.

Most of the European-exclusives happen on the dial, even though it looks very similar to previous editions. The base is black, with a beige railroad minute track, along with a small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock. This version, however, is much more true to the Art Deco inspiration, with its replacement of the Arabic numerals with pencil shaped markers and the small seconds sitting in a square sub-dial instead of round.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre AL-530, based on the Sellita SW261. This automatic movement runs at 4Hz and has a 38 hours of power reserve. The watch comes on a black Ostrich leather strap.

The new Alpina Alpiner Heritage Carrée Automatic Edition Europe is limited to 100 pieces, which are, as the name suggests, only available in European markets. It is priced at €1,850. See more on the Alpina website.

3/

Airain Pays Tribute To 70 Years Of The Type 20 Military Flyback Chronograph

For some reason, military standards like the Mark 11, the A-11 and the B-Uhr have huge traction among watch enthusiasts, while the Type 20 has fallen a bit behind. The Type 20 chronograph is a pilot’s watch specification originally created by the French Ministry of Defense in the 1950s for military aviators. It required features like a flyback chronograph, high accuracy, and robust construction for use in aircraft cockpits. These watches have been made by brands like Breguet, Dodane, and Auricoste, but we really don’t see much of them these days. One of the brands that’s been keeping the standard alive is Airain, which revived it some five years. Over the years we’ve gotten many versions of the Type 20, but this new one pays homage to the 70 years of the standard. This is the new Airain Type 20 70 Ans.

On the outside, things remain the same, staying true to the standard set fort by the French military. Housed in a stainless steel case Type 20, the watch measures 39.5mm wide at the bezel and 39mm wide at the case and 10.85mm thick, which are some pretty fantastic measurements for a chronograph. Ok, to be fair, the thickness is without the double domed sapphire crystal. And it’s quite a dome, so the total thickness goes up to 14.77mm. Substantial, but it’s crystal on top so you don’t see much of it. Even the lug-to-lug is decent at 47.7mm. Surrounding the crystal is a very cool brushed metal bezel with a 12-hour countdown scale engraved and painted black. You don’t see many of these around, but 12-hour countdown bezels were somewhat common on military and pilot chronographs in the post-war era and were used to track mission time. While the case back screws in, the crown doesn’t so you get 50 meters of water resistance.

The base of the dial gets a very nice Horizon Blue colorway, an important color in French aviation history, offset with very effective Arabic numerals that are outlined in white and have slightly creamy Super-LumiNova BGW9 X1 lume inside, the same that can be found on the hands. It’s a bi-compax setup that has a snailed 30-minute sub-dial at 3 o’clock and a running seconds at 9.

Inside, you get quite a special movement. It’s the calibre AM2, developed by Manufacture AMT in La Chaux-de-Fonds, which is Sellita’s high end division. It’s a very cool movement that’s a hand-wound column-wheel flyback chronograph, beating at 4Hz and with a 63 hour power reserve. The watch comes with on a beige suede strap lined in Horizon Blue.

The new Airain Type 20 70 Ans will be released in initial limited batches, with deliveries expected in early April 2026. Price is set at €3,850. See more on the Airain website.

4/

Brellum Adds More Complications To Their Retro Pandial Power Reserve Chronometer LE

Despite looking like they dropped right out of the 1960s, Brellum is actually a fairly new company, only about eight or nine years old. Which is a great thing, because we get to see how a watch brand builds itself up to multiple different collections. They already have classic racing-style chronographs, pilots watches, a GMT collection, and marine themed chronographs. Now, they’re kind of putting all of it together into one very impressive watch. This is the new Brellum Pandial Power Reserve Chronometer LE.

This is both a large watch and one that needs to be worn to figure out how large it really is. The 43mm width suggests that it’s quite the huge watch, as does the 51.5mm lug-to-lug. The fact that it’s made out of stainless steel doesn’t help, either. But then, there’s the thickness of 15.9mm. Ridiculous, right? Sure, but without the twin box-shaped sapphire crystals, it measures only 11.7mm thick. And pretty much everyone who has reviewed one says that due to majority of the thickness coming from the crystals, it wears much more like a 12 or 13mm thick watch than a 16mm one. The case has a brushed finish with broad polished facets. On top is a black aluminium bezel with a tachymeter scale. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial keeps in line with the panda name, with a white background and four black sub-dials. There’s a lot of functions here, as evident by the four dials. You get a 12-hour chronograph counter at 6 o´clock, a running seconds at 9, a 30-minute chrono counter at 12, and a power reserve indicator at 3, all surrounded by a black track with white minute markings. The markers and hands are diamond-cut and filled with lume, while the central chronograph seconds hand has a red tip. The date aperture is integrated into the sub-dial at 6 o’clock.

Inside is the BR-750RM, which is a decorated Valjoux 7750 movement that has Geneva stripes, blued screws, and a gold-coated rotor. It beats and 4Hz, has a 46 hour power reserve and is COSC certified. The watch comes on a brushed and polished steel bracelet, and you get an additional black leather strap with a deployant clasp.

The new Brellum Pandial Power Reserve Chronometer is limited to 33 pieces and priced at CHF 2,890 without taxes. See more on the Brellum website.

5/

Hermès Updates Its Carbon-Graphene H08 Chronograph With A Naples Yellow Color

Just a few weeks ago, we got a really nice refresh of the Hermès H08 collection. I’ve always liked this watch, a very cool sports watch from a brand you would never expect to make such a laid back sports watch. But we also haven’t seen an update to the H08 Chronograph in a while. That changes now, as we get a new colorway for the H08 Chronograph in a really nice shade of yellow.

The case of the H08 Chronograph remains the same, which just means that it’s still freaking cool. It measures 41mm wide, with a 45mm lug-to-lug. Interestingly, there is no thickness listed… But the size is not the cool part. The cool part is the fact that the case is made out of a carbon-fibre composite infused with graphene powder, with a sunburst satin brushed titanium bezel with mirror-polished chamfers. It’s pretty much sensational. On top and bottom are flat sapphire crystals. On the side is a black DLC-treated titanium crown, with an integrated single chronograph pusher that has a thin yellow ring. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is a very nice combination of brushed and grained circles, almost like a high-tech sector dial, with the outside brushed track holding the hour numerals, the following grained track having yellow markers and the central track holding the Hermès logo. You get two square sub-dials with rounded corners and grained surfaces. More pops of yellow can be found on the sub-dial hands and the central chrono hand. The date sits at a very unfortunate 4:30 position and is well hidden. But once you see it, it messes with everything.

Inside, you’ll find a really nice Vaucher-made automatic calibre H1837, with a monopusher chronograph module on top. It beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. The movement has the brand’s signature H pattern all over the rotor and bridges. The watch comes on a llow rubber strap closed with a satin-finished black DLC titanium folding clasp.

The new Hermès H08 Chronograph Naples Yellow Edition is available now as part of the regular collection, priced at €12,000. See more on the Hermès website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Historical Perspectives: The Patek Counterfeiter: Watchmaking's First Great Scandal

How a forged name at an 1885 exposition led to the legal protections that define the Swiss watch industry today. Read it here. 

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 54: The Gruen Airflight And The Art Of The Jumping 24-Hour Display

I messed up yesterday and forgot to link this here. Sorry. Here it is: How Gruen perfected the pilot's watch just as American watchmaking collapsed. Read it here. 

⏲️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

• It’s easy to think that no one sees more movies than a film critic—though that also means you’ve never met Leo Robson, who as a teenager seemingly spent every free moment in a London cinema. (It’s also easy to think that 15-year-olds don’t care about Dogme 95, but the same exception applies.) For LRB, Robson uses his obsession to examine film criticism through the years, and to place the films of his awakening alongside those that led our most iconic critics to their most entrenched perspectives. It’s not popcorn fare, but it’s also very much popcorn fare.

• “Could baseballs really bend along their path, or was it all a collective delusion?” For Pioneer Works Broadcast, Brad Bolman explores the controversies surrounding the curveball since baseball’s rise in popularity at the end of the 19th century—and what these debates reveal about science, shared reality, and American values. It’s a smart and stimulating read, and especially timely for anyone watching this year’s World Series.

• Who is Keira Knightley? Caitlin Moran finds someone very different from the elegant, classy Knightley we think we know. Knightley survived the emotional turmoil of being a young, famous woman in the early 2000s—barely—disappeared for a while, and then came back stronger. It’s a fun, vivid profile that both introduces you to an older Knightley and leaves you shuddering at what was once considered acceptable as she grew up famous.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Have you ever watches a WhistlinDiesel video? This guy is the future of car videos, I kid you not.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk