Oris Updates The ProPilot Date; TAG Heuer's Groovy Las Vegas GP Monaco; A Gold And Black FC Moneta Moonphase; An Art Deco HM 11 From MB&F; Urwerk and UN Come Together; A Stunning Bernhard Lederer

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Dubai Watch Week continues with bunches of releases, but just keep in mind who the clientele is there… These are going to be some very expensive watches in the next few days.

In this issue

• Oris Updates The ProPilot Date For A More Everyday Carry Format

• TAG Heuer Is Back With Another Very Groovy Monaco Chronograph Skeleton For The Las Vegas Grand Prix

• Frederique Constant Renders Their Incredible Classics Moneta Moonphase In Black And Gold

• MB&F’s Latest HM11 Horological Machines Gets An Art Deco Makeover

• Urwerk and Ulysse Nardin Come Together To Create The UR-FREAK

• Bernhard Lederer Takes Their Already Stunning CIC Inverto Even More Perfect

👂What’s new

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Oris Updates The ProPilot Date For A More Everyday Carry Format

Oris is always a bit of a sleeper brand that has a cult following. And through the years they have had their ups and downs, often discontinuing loved models and introducing new stuff and experimenting. Lately, I get a feeling that they are on a path now to completely revamp their collection, and with some interesting stuff. The latest collection to get an overhaul is the new ProPilot Date. Sure, no radical changes here like we saw the other day with the new Omega Planet Ocean, but a more streamlined watch with some very interesting dials.

While the ProPilot has always been best a very edgy watch, with titanium cases and a great fan-blade bezel. These new ProPilot Date use a similar recipe to create a slightly simpler watch. This one is made out of stainless steel, with satin brushed finishes with polished flanks. The dimensions are now 41mm wide, a good 11.7mm and a perhaps too long lug-to-lug of 49mm. The case has a very nice combination of sharp angles and rounded shapes, while the fan-like fluted bezel remains, even if it’s been slimmed down a bit. Water resistance is 100 meters.

There are four dial options available — black, chalk, moss all come in the steel case, while the sand version on the Desert Edition comes in a full carbon fiber case. All of the dials have a grained texture and on the periphery is a raised minute track that extends into the base of the dial at every lumed hour marker. Depending on the color of the dial, you get either silver or black hands, with orange details in a few key spots. Arabic numerals are applied and brushed, all a very light grey, even on the grey dial which might hurt readability but increases the cool factor. Being a date model, there is no 6 o’clock hour marker. Instead, you get a date aperture.

Inside, you’ll find the Oris 733 calibre, a movement based on the Sellita SW200-1 automatic. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve, and has Oris’s custom red rotor. The watch comes on a three-link stainless steel bracelet with the same finish as the case, closed with the brand’s updated LIFT folding clasp, or on a suede leather strap that features a seamless-fit adjustment.

The new Oris ProPilot Date goes on sale in November, priced at $2,350 on the suede strap, $2,550 on steel or $3,500 for the Desert Edition. See more on the Oris website.

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TAG Heuer Is Back With Another Very Groovy Monaco Chronograph Skeleton For The Las Vegas Grand Prix

Last year, before they were even an official sponsor of Formula 1, they were hinting at how hard they are going to at F1 themed watches. One such watch was the TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton in hot pink in time for the second ever race in Las Vegas. Now, on the eve of the third Las Vegas Grand Prix, we’re getting a new variant of the TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton with a very cool purple to blue gradient.

This new Monaco Chronograph Skeleton comes in a case we all know, measuring 39mm wide, 15.2mm thick and with a 47.4mm lug-to-lug. It’s made out of titanium, and it comes in a black DLC coating with a sandblasted surface. A chunky watch it is, definitely not made for every wrist, but made a bit more manageable with the use of titanium. The bevelled sapphire crystal on top remains the same, as does the 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial is skeletonized, but only to a degree. There’s a black base that has x-shaped cutouts to see inside the movement, with those bridges done in a gradneit that starts as purple on top, going down to a light blue on the bottom. The two square sub-dials — 30-minute totaliser at 3 and 12-hour totaliser at 9 o’clock — are done in a dark blue with turquoise hands. The hour and minute hands are silver with painted on lume, while the central chronograph hand is lacquered turquoise.

Inside is the in-house automatic Calibre Heuer 02 with a column-wheel and vertical clutch architecture. It beats at 4Hz and has a very decent 80 hour power reserve. Decorations include a black openworked rotor with pink writing and Geneva stripes. The watch comes on a combination embossed black calfskin leather and rubber strap with a DLC-coated titanium folding clasp.

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton is available now and doesn’t seem to be a limited edition. Price is set at €11,400. See more on the TAG Heuer website.

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Frederique Constant Renders Their Incredible Classics Moneta Moonphase In Black And Gold

Despite being owned by Citizen, Frederique Constant almost seems to operate like an indie watch brand. They make a plethora of watches, many that pass under the radar, but also a few dozen that are truly spectacular, not just as watches but also for their incredible value for money. They also make a lot of their movements in house, which is rare for a mid-sized brand. So, when they come out with a new moonphase watch, you would expect that this epitome of a mechanical movement would also be an in house automatic. Perhaps a manual wind. Well, they kind of pulled a fast one on us last year when they released the Frederique Constant Classics Moneta Moonphase collection as it came with a quartz movement with a moonphase complication. It was easily one of my favorite watches of the year. Now, following an update with colored dials, we’re getting one with a gold case and black dial.

The stainless steel case of the Moneta measures 37mm wide, just 7.65mm thick (thank you, quartz) and has a compact 42mm lug-to-lug. It’s a fully round case with super short lugs, which contributes to the short lenght. It’s a simple thing with a tiny onion-style crown, and a fully polished gold PVD finish, just as you would expect from a dress watch. On top is a very thin fixed bezel that holds down the sapphire crystal, but the really interesting bezel is towards the center. Oh, and water resistance is decent at 50 meters.

The dial is a bit set in from the edge, thanks to a very pronounced internal bezel that has a fine coined edge, making it actually look like a flattened coin. Hence, the name. Moneta means coin in several languages, and it looks fantastic, especially in combination with the new black dial. The dial is completely devoid of markers. All you get is a bit of text at 12, gold colored dauphine-style hands and an opening for the moonphase at 6 o’clok.

Inside is a movement they call the FC206 caliber, based on the Ronda 706 quartz that is equipped with a moonphase indicator. It has a 60 month battery life, but otherwise isn’t very special when it comes to quartz movements. The watch comes on a black calf leather strap with crocodile pattern.

The new Classics Moneta Moonphase in gold and black is available now and priced at CHF 1,195, the same as all the other versions. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

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MB&F’s Latest HM11 Horological Machines Gets An Art Deco Makeover

The vast majority of watches are built to be worn on the wrist and tell the time at a glance. But then, there’s a handful that are made to be pieces of art. And it’s the latter that MB&F that likes making, especially in their Horological Machine series. The HM11 is not a new watch, introduced a few years ago under the HM11 Architect name that takes its inspiration from bubble houses, a mid-century trend of building spherical houses with organic shapes that particularly took hold in Switzerland as a rebellion to utilitarian and brutalist architecture before it. Now, the same case shape, with a central hub and four parabolic chambers on the edges, gets brand new inspiration — 1930s Art Deco. It’s subtle, but it’s very nice.

The case is still made out of titanium, measuring 42mm wide and a significant 23mm thick, but that thickness is maxed out on the chambers, and much, much slimmer towards the center. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals, with the top one covering the central hub, and more sapphire crystals on the openings of the four chambers. Within the central part you see the flying tourbillon with arch-like forms. That stands over one of two different plates — a blue dial plate and 3N yellow-gold-toned bridges or a green dial plate and 5N rose-gold-toned bridges.

Then, there’s the four openings. Each of those four has a distinct function. One features a knurled edge with a sapphire glass window and the MB&F battle axe logo in centre. This is the crown of the watch. 90 degrees to the left of the crown is the main time display. It consists of red hour and minute hands with a 12-hour display represented by a series of orbs. Next up from that is the power reserve dial which features a single red hand and five orbs of increasing size that give an approximation of how much power reserve is left. And then, for no reason at all but still cool, a mechanical thermometer in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Inside, you get the exact same movement as the Architect. The movement itself has a 96-hour power reserve and can be wound via two methods. It has an automatic rotor but is also wound by rotating the entire body of the watch while you’re wearing it. How freaking amazing is that? The blue dial comes on a white lizard strap, while the green comes on a beige lizard strap, closed with a grade 5 titanium folding buckle.

The new MB&F HM11 Art Deco is limited to 10 pieces in each color, priced at €215,000, without taxes. See more on the MB&F website.

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Urwerk and Ulysse Nardin Come Together To Create The UR-FREAK

It’s really not that often that you see collaborations between two watch brands, especially when those are high end brands that make watches so unique they are hard to mash up. Not to mention that they might be biting into each other’s customer bases. The one high-end collaboration that I can think of that wasn’t with a retailer but another watchmaker was the Moser and Studio Underd0g, but that was a mix of high and low. Well, we’re about to find out what happens when two high-end, highly unique, watchmakers come together. This is the UR-FREAK, a collaboration between Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk that merges UN’s Freak with Urwerk’s orbital hour satellites. Groovy.

How the hell do you put together two such unique watches. Well, it looks like it’s possible. Made out of sandblasted titanium, it measures 44mm wide and 12mm thick. Or, we can only assume it measures 12mm thick, because the brands describe it to be perceived 12mm thick, whatever that might mean. The case has the Freak ONE round shape, while the fluted titanium bezel is a hint at Urwerk’s angular cases. On top is a domed sapphire crystal. There’s no crown, because the Freak doesn’t use a crown, and the time is set with the bezel. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The dial is where Urwerk takes over, as the dial plate is replaced by a mechanical display that orbits around an exposed silicon oscillator. Three arms hold the domed hour discs that point towards a 60-minute arc on the right of the dial to indicate the minutes. The colorway is all about silvers, blacks and vibrant greens.

Then, there’s the movement. Which of the two brands stepped up to make it? Well, both, as it was developed jointly by UN and Urwerk, and it’s called the calibre UN-241. It uses the UN-240 as the base, and builds on it. It makes sense. The Freak used a fixed bridge to carry the gear train and escapement, but here it’s replaced with the rotating wandering-hour satellite system. It keeps the regulating organ on that central platform, and here it’s a 25% larger silicon oscillator. It beats at 21,600vph, regulated by a variable-inertia balance with four gold weights. The movement has a single barrel, and despite the wild complication of the movement, it seems to be very efficient, which has a 90 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a yellow rubber strap with an additional black rubber strap, equipped with a titanium deployant clasp.

The new UR-FREAK will be made in just 100 pieces, priced at CHF 100,000. I think this is a fantastic watch and I would love to see more brands like this collaborate. See more on the Ulysse Nardin or Urwerk websites.

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Bernhard Lederer Takes Their Already Stunning CIC Inverto Even More Perfect

The Central Impulse Chronometer from independent watchmaker Bernhard Lederer is one of those watches that are hard to criticize. They are just perfect little machines. But like everything, it’s possible to improve, even on greatness. Bernhard Lederer did exactly that in 2013, when they introduced the Central Impulse Chronometer InVerto, in which they completely removed the front side of the watch, covered it with a heavily domed crystal and inverted the movement to show off the stunning movement. Clearly, there’s no getting better than that, right? Oh, there is. This is the new CIC 39 Inverto Titanium. And as the name suggests, this not only comes in a wearable 44mm, it’s also made out of titanium.

The original Inverto came in a steel case with a black DLC coating that measured 44mm wide and 11.5mm thick. This new one is much more compact. The case is made out of grade 5 titanium, and it measures 39mm wide and 10.5mm thick. The low thickness is even more impressive when you consider the fact that the watch doesn’t just have a crystal on the back, it has a hugely domed crystal on the front that curves down to meet the case and give you a look at the side of the movement. But most shockingly, you get 30 meters of water resistance.

There is no dial, obviously, but there’s also not much else. All that you get are a skeletonized and blued hour and minute hands. The rest is all movement. And the movement that you see is the 9019 manual winder, flipped upside down so that you can see the most attractive part of the movement. You see the twin barrels and independent gear trains, each equipped with a 15-second remontoire, or constant force mechanism. You get a beat rate of 21,600vph and a 38 hour power reserve. It’s a beautiful, architectural, thing to behold, with hand-anglage, black polish and circular graining all over the place. Flip the watch over and you see a flat plate with a n intricate engraving that makes it look like a movement. Quite the cool finish. Even cooler is that you get a small seconds display on the back as well. The watch comes on a calf leather or caoutchouc strap.

The new Bernhard Lederer CIC 39 Inverto Titanium is not limited in numbers, but is limited by production capacity. Price is set a pretty unique CHF 152,000. See more on the Bernhard Lederer 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

• For the first issue of Southlands, Anya Groner profiles Wendy Cowan, a woman who was attacked by a black bear in 2024 while walking her dog in the woods of Lunenburg County, Virginia. As she recounts Cowan’s horrific encounter, excruciating recovery, and the surprising aftermath, Groner grapples with what rising bear populations mean for the humans who share space with these apex predators.

• Jennifer Justus honors the unsung heroes of the school cafeteria—the women who fight to feed America’s children. Using the author’s grandmother’s 50 years of service as a backdrop, Justus explores the growing bureaucratic and funding challenges creeping into the kitchen.

• Brightline, which runs along the eastern edge of Florida, from Orlando to Miami, is the first private railroad in the United States. It is also the country’s deadliest rail line. Over seven years of operation, Brightline trains have killed 182 people. The accidents are gruesome and in many cases preventable—lax planning and corporate resistance to safety measures have meant that, on average, Brightline kills one person every 13 days. Among them is Randy Johanson, a deaf man who was walking home from a Winn-Dixie near Vero Beach:

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

On Google Earth, the world’s oceans look like endless blue pixels — but AIS tracking reveals tens of thousands of ships moving across them in real time. Many of these vessels can vanish from view with the push of a button, hiding a global fishing industry that operates in the dark and traps laborers in brutal conditions. This is a good documentary.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk