Rado’s Summer Colors For The New 39mm Captain Cook Are Chilly; Oris Introduces New Ocean Green Divers Sixty-Five Chrono; RZE And Vario Team Up; IWC Introduces The Gold Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I saw perhaps the best concert of my life last night. Queens of the Stone Age played a sensational outdoor venue here in Zagreb and I can’t stop vibrating from how much they rocked. There’s a short video at the end of the newsletter that catches part of the atmosphere. Damn…

In this issue

• Rado’s Summer Colors For The New 39mm Captain Cook Are Chilly, In The Best Possible Way

• Oris Introduces A New Ocean Green Color To The Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph 40mm

• RZE And Vario Team Up For The Most Modern Version Of A Trench Watch We’ve Ever Seen

• IWC Introduces The Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34 In Gold

• PAID SUBSCRIBERS: Watch School Wednesday: Engage and Release - A Guide to Chronograph Clutch Designs

👂What’s new

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Rado’s Summer Colors For The New 39mm Captain Cook Are Chilly, In The Best Possible Way

A couple of weeks ago, Rado showed us a very interesting tennis-themed take on their diver, the Captain Cook. But even more interesting than the tennis connection was the size of the watch. It was a quiet announcement from Rado that they will be doing their most popular watch in a mid-sized case measuring 39mm, sitting between their 42mm and 37mm options. That tennis edition was a limited release, but now we’re getting a permanent collection at 39mm with two incredible colors, both very icy blues, each in their own way. Perfect for summer.

The new Captain cook measures 39mm across and 12mm thick, made out of stainless steel. On top is a box shaped sapphire crystal, surrounded by a 120-click unidirectional bezel that has a polished high-tech ceramic insert. Those come in either black or a beautiful light blue, depending on the dial you get. The crown screws down and it guarantees 300 meters of water resistance — pretty great for that thickness.

Then we have the dials. Both of them are domed and come in either a black dial that transitions to a deep blue in the center, or a light blue on the edges transitioning to a white in the center. Both colors seem to mimic marine ice in its various stages. The hour hand has a arrow-shaped tip, with plenty of lume, while the date aperture sits at 3 o’clock with a white disc that has red numerals. The indices are applied and filled with plenty of lume.

Inside, you’ll find the Rado calibre R763 which is, since Rado is part of the Swatch Group, essentially a Powermatic 80. That means that it beats at 3Hz and has an 80 hour power reserve, with a antimagnetic Nivachron. The watch comes on a brushed and polished beads-of-rice stainless steel bracelet with a 3-fold clasp.

The new Rado Captain Cook 39mm duo is available now as part of the regular collection, priced at CHF 2,200. The watches don’t seem to be up on the Rado website just yet, but should be soon.

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Oris Introduces A New Ocean Green Color To The Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph 40mm

When it was launched back in 2015 as a diver with extreme retro influences, the Oris Divers Sixty Five was met with criticism, called gimmicky and came with relatively low water resistance for a diver - 100 meters. However, these critics were in the minority, as the Sixty Five became a huge hit for Oris and it quickly saw new iterations that made it a more modern, but still vintage-inspired diver. Then, a couple of years ago, it got an important update — they shrunk it down to 40mm, making it much more appealing. However, we haven’t seen much from the model since. Well, now, we’re getting a great new color called Ocean Green.

Based on the 40mm version of the Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph, this watch comes in a stainless steel case that measures 40mm wide, 15.6mm thick and with a 48mm lug-to-lug. Wait, before you call me out and ask how is it possible that this is the shrunk down case, keep in mind that the original Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph measured 43mm wide and a whopping 17mm thick. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, surrounded by a unidirectional rotating bezel that has a truly beautiful green aluminium insert. Water resistance is still mediocre at 100 meters.

The dial has a sunray finish and a silvery color, again paired with incredibly cool dark green sub-dials with a traditional bi-compax layout that has running seconds at 9, a 30-minute totaliser at 3 o’clock and no date window. The applied indices and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova.

Inside the watch is the same self-winding Oris 771 movement – based on the Sellita SW 510 – that was in the last release, beating at 4Hz and with 62 hours of power reserve. The watch can be had on a black Cervo Volante deer leather strap, sustainably sourced, with a classic steel pin buckle, or on a stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp.

The new Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph Ocean Green will go on sale soon, priced at €3,750 on strap and €3,950 on steel. See more on the Oris website.

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RZE And Vario Team Up For The Most Modern Version Of A Trench Watch We’ve Ever Seen

The Singapore-based brand RZE has made a name for themselves with highly technical field and sports watches, often with the use of very interesting materials, offered at pretty amazing prices. On the other hand, the Singapore-based brand Vario is best known for their recreations of vintage watches, most notably the military-inspired 1918 trench watch and the 1945 D12 Field watch. Now, the two brands have teamed up in what has to be the most perfect example of each brand bringing their strengths to a collaboration. Name me another collaboration where you can see the distinct style of each of the participating parties. The new Vario x RZE UltraHex Trench is just incredible.

The watch is based on Vario’s smaller 1918 Trench, which, in turn, is inspired by trench watches worn by soldiers in World War I. These were essentially pocket watches with welded on lugs so that they could be attached to leather straps for instant access. The Vario x RZE version measures 37mm wide, 10mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 45mm. While the original Vario version is made out of steel, this one get’s the RZE treatment, which means that it’s made out of sandblasted grade 2 titanium with RZE’s proprietary UltraHex surface coating. On top is a heavily domed sapphire crystal, held down with a thin fixed bezel. The lugs are wire lugs with a fixed design, meaning you’ll only be able to use passthrough straps and a few specialty fixed-bar straps. The crown sits at 4 o’clock, screws down and you get 100 meters of water resistance.

There are three dials to choose from, and all three are very much RZE fair. The first one is a bright yellow enameled in RZE’s signature Medallion Yellow color; the second one is made out of Timascus, which is titanium layered to mimic the look of Damascus steel; while the third one is made out of forged carbon fibre that’s infused with lumed material making it look pretty wild. All of the dials feature a white small-seconds display at 6 o’clock, as well as Arabic numeral hour makers and cathedral-style hands.

The movement inside remains unchanged from the original Vario version, which means that it’s the Miyota Caliber 82S5 automatic. It beats at 3Hz and has a 40 hour power reserve. It’s also decorated with Geneva stripes and gilt finishes. The watches come on bund-style straps, something that I’ve been looking forward to seeing make a comeback. The straps all come in different colors — black on the medallion yellow, brown on the Timascus and grey on the forged carbon — and are made out of crazy horse leather, a type of full-grain cow hide frequently used for horse saddles.

The new Vario x RZE UltraHex Trench are limited editions of 100 pieces per colorway and are on pre-order now. Deliveries are expected to start mid-August. Prices are set at $439 for the yellow and $499 for the other two. See more on the RZE website.

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IWC Introduces The Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34 In Gold

I’m not a huge fan of the Portugieser and Portofino lines from IWC. I get their appeal to some people, but every single one I’ve seen in real life was just so… underwhelming. It doesn’t help that some of the worst people I’ve met wore Portugiesers. However, when the Portofino comes in a small gold case, it gets kind of interesting. What we have here is the new Portofino Automatic Day & Night with a very nice day & night indicator and a 34mm rose gold case. Quite the interesting (unisex) dress watch.

The dimensions here are just great. The fully round watch measures 34mm wide and 8.9mm thick. It’s made out of polished rose gold and has relatively short lugs for what they are. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, surrounded by a plain rose gold bezel, and out back is a closed caseback. Despite this obviously being a dress watch, water resistance is 50 meters, which is very nice.

But while the case is kept pretty simple, the dial is where all the fun happens. The base of the dial is silver plated, which contrast fantastically with the gold plated Roman numeral at XII, applied baton markers and leaf-shaped hands. To make things more extravagant, you get twelve brilliant-cut diamonds on the periphery serving as hour markers. But even better than the diamonds, is the quirky day and night indicator at 6 o’clock, illustrated with a golden sun and crescent-shaped moon.

Inside, you’ll find the automatic calibre 35180, but don’t let that name fool you. What it is, is a modified Sellita SW300-1 which beats at 4Hz and has a 50 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a 16mm taupe calfskin strap.

The new IWC Portofino Automatic Day & Night is available now, priced at €17,500. See more on the IWC website.

PAID SUBSCRIBERS: Watch School Wednesday: Engage and Release - A Guide to Chronograph Clutch Designs

Exploring horizontal, vertical, and oscillating pinion systems that power modern stopwatch complications. Read it here.

⏲️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

• Thomas Kinkade’s paintings “typically feature a cottage or a house of such insistent coziness as to seem actually sinister, suggestive of a trap designed to attract Hansel and Gretel,” Joan Didion once wrote. “Every window lit, to lurid effect, as if the interior of the structure might be on fire.” A recent social-media post from the Department of Homeland Security shared Kinkade’s “Morning Pledge” alongside the words “Protect the Homeland”—a pairing that prompted Sarah Jones to stare into the light and consider the trap. “Kinkade’s work is inescapably ideological.,” she writes. “The point of a Kinkade painting is to comfort, and to quell any uncertainty, which makes it art for strongmen and the crowds they attract.”

• For Texas Highways, Greg Marshall takes his quirky Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Zeus, to the Buda Wiener Dog Races, a genuine Texas Attraction which celebrates all things low rider. It includes a pet parade, a costume contest, live music, and more, all of which is prelude to crowning the fastest wiener dog in all of Buda, Texas.

• It sounds like something straight out of Kafka: After having your identity stolen, you try to get justice, only to be arrested and involuntarily hospitalized. That’s what happened to William Woods. Or, rather, that’s what happened to the man who said he was William Woods. Was he the victim or the thief? You’ll have to read this bonkers story from Charlie McCann to find out.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

You should see how giddy my wife is after this concert we went to last night. The video is a bit rough, but the music was so good.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk