Seiko Brings Back Their Coolest Watches Ever, The Rotocall; Furlan Marri Does The Cornes de Vache In Blue; An Unusual Mr Jones; An Urwerk Surprise; Angelus And Massena LAB Team Up; Czapek's Plique-à-Jour Antarctique

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I have a huge soft spot for quartz and digital watches from the 80s and 90s, and I hope this is a signal from Seiko that they will start remaking some of their best watches from the era.

In this issue

• Seiko Brings Back One Of Their Coolest Watches Of All Time, The Rotocall

• Furlan Marri Pairs Their Legendary Cornes de Vache With A Classy Blue Dial

• Mr Jones Releases Final Limited Edition Of The Year With The Most Unusual Inspiration

• Urwerk Surprises With Centrally Mounted Hands On The UR-10 Spacemeter

• Angelus And Massena LAB Team Up On The Black Dial Télémètre in Yellow Gold

• Czapek Gives Their Antarctique A Wonderful Plique-à-Jour Dial

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Brings Back One Of Their Coolest Watches Of All Time, The Rotocall

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, this is it. This is my watch of the year and I can’t really be talked out of this one. For months now, I’ve been trying to track down a good example of an original Rotocall, but they all seem to be plagued with issues all over the place. Why a Rotocall? Well, like so many people, I have a thing for space watches. I have the Speedmaster, but I decided to start expanding the space watch collection, and the Rotocall, which was used in the 1980s by astronauts, was surely the next one I was getting. It was just down my alleyway, with it’s incredibly quirky bezel — instead of giving you a bunch of buttons to operate the functions, the Rotocall would have you rotate the bezel until you land on the function you want to actuate, and then operate it with two fixed buttons. I love this thing. And sure, the new Rotocall might not have the charm of a vintage watch, but this is exactly what I wanted — the exact same look, with modern convenience.

The Rotocall comes in a stainless steel case that has a very 80s look, with sharp lugs and great proportions. It measures 37mm wide, 10.9mm thick and has a 43.49mm lug-to-lug. There are three version available, differentiated by the colors used on their bezel — SMGG17 has a yellow and black bezel with an anthracite surround to the display, SMGG19 has a red and black bezel with the same surround, and the SMMG21 gets a grey and blue bezel with a grey surround to the display. Water resistance is a surprisingly good 100 meters — this is what I mean that I want to see more of these digital revivals with modern tech.

There’s not much to this dial that you wouldn’t expect — by default there’s a day/date display in the upper part of the screen and a time display in the bottom part. The watch is powered by the A824 digital quartz module, which haves an accuracy of ± 15 seconds per month. But it’s all about that bezel. It reads time, time set, timer, counter, stopwatch, dual time, daily alarm and single alarm. Twist the bezel until the function you want to activate is in the top position and press away. The watches come with a five-row stainless steel bracelet and a 20mm NATO-style nylon strap.

The new Seiko Rotocall goes on sale in November and doesn’t seem to be a limited edition. Price is announced at about €550. Yo, Seiko, you have sensational quartz and digital watches, please remake more of them! Until then, I’m buying all three of these. See more on the Seiko website.

2/

Furlan Marri Pairs Their Legendary Cornes de Vache With A Classy Blue Dial

Furlan Marri has had a great year reviving some of their original designs with new colors. Next on the docket is one of their original hits, the Cornes de Vache (Bull/Cow Horns), named for their bull horn shaped lugs, as well as resemblance to the legendary Vacheron Constantin watch. Now, this classic gets a really beautiful blue dial.

The new Cornes de Vache actually doesn’t mess much with the case. It’s still made out of stainless steel, measuring 37.5mm wide, 10.5mm thick, with a 46mm lug-to-lug. The case has a great combination of brushed finishes on the sides and polished tops of lugs and bezel. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals, with a very thin bezel around the top one. Water resistance is 50 meters, decent for a watch like this.

Moving on to the dial, it also remains very familiar, albeit with a new color — a really handsome shade of blue. The dial is sector stile with a grained center and a circularly brushed ring on the outside. The indexes are raised, paired with applied silver Breguet style numerals, and the hands are silver colored, curved and domed. It’s all very much as classic as you can get.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret G100, an alternative to the basic time-only offerings from Sellita and ETA, making it easily servicable. The watch has a 68 hour power reserve and a tungsten rotor with a galvanised palladium coating. The watch comes on two straps, both black — one in sand with cream stitching and the other in light blue with matching stitching.

The new Furlan Marri Cornes de Vache in blue is available now, priced at CHF 1,250. See more on the Furlan Marri website.

3/

Mr Jones Releases Final Limited Edition Of The Year With The Most Unusual Inspiration

OK, so by now we know that Mr Jones are the absolute masters at creating what can only be described as art watches. Watches that don’t necessarily do a good job at telling the time, but are incredibly beautiful, while keeping costs funny low. What we don’t point out as much, and we should, is how incredibly diverse their lineup is, from absolute minimalist design watches to very maximalists painting, like that crazy watch they did of a bee on a flower. This new watch sits somewhere in between those two extremes — minimalist from a distance, rich with details up close. This is the new Mr Jones K9 which has the strangest of inspirations for the dial.

I usually breeze through stuff like the case on Mr Jones watches because they use the same case all the time, but this comes in their recently introduced new case. Here, it gets a black PVD coat. This new case is much more traditional, with filled out lugs and made out of stainless steel. It measures 37mm wide and has a 46mm lug-to-lug. has a 50 meter water resistance. Inside is a single jewel quartz movement. The watch is mounted on a 18mm wide strap, in this case a black leather one.

The watch, designed by artist and educator Robin Williamson, is meant to be a celebration of adventures, detours and finding joy in wandering off the beaten path. The initial idea for K9 came when Robin found one of his dog’s baby teeth on the floor. The curved peaks and bright white enamel evoked a glacial mountain range. Then you have two explorers who wander the watch’s surreal landscape which are used to tell the time — the minutes is the person in blue, while the hours is the person in orange.

The new Mr Jones K9 is limited to 300 pieces and available right now. Price is set at £195 / $235 / €235. See more on the Mr Jones website.

4/

Urwerk Surprises With Centrally Mounted Hands On The UR-10 Spacemeter

Picture an Urwerk and I can pretty much guarantee that what you have in your mind will not have centrally mounted hands. That’s because Urwerk has always employed a different approach to time telling, with wandering hours and satellite dials. But you know how I know you don’t picture a watch with traditional centrally mounted hands? Because, as far as I know, they haven’t made one yet. Until today, that is. This is the new Urwerk UR-10 Spacemeter. Also, this watch is the first in the “Special Projects” line, which hints that Urwerk might start doing more unexpected things. Oh, and another thing — the watch in the picture above is upside down, I know. Urwerk could do with a few more press photos.

On the outside, this looks very much like a watch that belongs in the UR-100 collection. The case is made out of sandblasted titanium and steel and measures 45.40mm wide and 7.13mm thick. Thanks to the integrated bracelet, the length of the watch is shorter than the width at 44mm, but that’s without counting the first lugs that surely adds to that length. You still get the crown at 12 o’clock and the case has a octagonal shape with a box-shaped sapphire crystals front and back with almost zero bezel.

There are two colors to choose from for the dial, either black or grey PVD, but that’s the lest interesting part. The more interesting part, the one that would be quite expected on other watches, are the centrally mounted syringe hands hands that point to the painted on Arabic numerals and minute track that sits on the very periphery. But this is still Urwerk, so you get some interesting stuff here. All of the sub-dials, and there’s three of them, have astronomical indications, hence the Spacemeter name. At 2 o’clock, the counter marked EARTH measures every ten kilometres the Earth travels in its daily rotation, in increments of 500 meters. At 4 o’clock, the counter marked SUN advances in 20 km steps, registering every 1’000 km the Earth travels on its solar orbit. At 9 o’clock, the counter marked ORBIT combines both trajectories, thus inscribing every 1,000 kilometres of rotation and 64,000 kilometres of solar orbit on two synchronised scales. Completely useless in the best possible way. I love it.

Inside, you’ll find a movement developed with Vaucher Manufacture with some pretty awesome stuff. First, it beats at 4Hz and has a 43 hour power reserve. Then, there is the surprising hand that circles the central rotor and shows the time on a 24-hour scale. Why? Because they can. It also features a new and patented Dual Flow Turbines system, with two stacked propellers which rotate in opposite directions. The double turbine creates an air flow between the two sets of blades, which slows them down and preserves the mechanism. The watch comes on a sandblasted titanium bracelet.

The new Urwerk UR-10 Spacemeter models are available now, limited to 25 pieces per color and priced at CHF 70,000, without taxes. See more on the Urwerk website.

5/

Angelus And Massena LAB Team Up On The Black Dial Télémètre in Yellow Gold

It might not be a household name today, but Angelus has been making watches since 1891 and were particularly known for their chronographs. The company went way for a while and came back in 2015. Anglus today makes contemporary, well-made sports watches but from time to time they dip back into their rich history for inspiration. And while I was a bit skeptical about the brand to start off, I can now comfortably say that they still haven’t made a bad watch. Most recently, they’ve teamed up with William Massena of Massena LAB, to make a black dial version of their recently released and pretty spectacular Chronographe Télémètre. The changes here are subtle, but just make the whole thing even better.

When they released the smaller Chronographe Télémètre a few months ago, it wasn’t just a shrinking of the case, it was a very subtle but significant redesign, with a more sculptural look and sweeping lugs. The case is now made out of 18k yellow gold, with a brushed finish, with a few dramatically polished sections, and measures 37mm wide and 9.25mm thick. On top is a box-shaped sapphire crystal. Water resistance is not great at 30 meters, but who cares with a watch this beautiful.

The dials is where Angelus nails its retro influence. The dial is domed, with a bi-compax setup that has two snailed sub-dials: 30-minute elapsed timer at 3 and a small seconds at 9. You get applied indices, Arabic numerals at 12 and 6 with a 3N gold finish. The base of the dial gets a black color with a grained centre and satin-finished telemeter flange. Time is indicated with lume filled leaf shaped hands.

Inside, you’ll find an incredible movement. Made by La Joux-Perret, it’s the in-house A5000 integrated manual-winding monopusher chronograph. It features a column wheel and a horizontal clutch, beats at 3Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. It’s beautiful to look at, as it has golden finishes on the mainplate and bridges and palladium for the chronograph components. The watch comes on a black calfskin strap.

Just like the regular Angelus Chronographe Télémètre models, this collaboration with Massena LAB is also limited. But while the previous model came in a generous 15 pieces, this one is limited to just 10. Price is quoted as on request, but expect it to be in the vicinity of the previous gold version which came in at CHF 32,300. See more on the Angelus website.

6/

Czapek Gives Their Antarctique A Wonderful Plique-à-Jour Dial

While luxury integrated bracelet sports watches are becoming a bit overwhelming to the industry, I still find them an interesting canvas to do interesting dials and use interesting materials. I guess it has something to do with the generally repetitive shape of an integrated bracelet watch that allows us to focus on other things. As is evident on this new Czapek Antarctique Plique-à-Jour, a very limited edition with a very cool dial.

On the outside, not much — if anything — has changed. You still get the Antarctique stainless steel case that measures 40.5mm wide and 10.6mm thick with a sunray-brushed finish and a highly polished bezel. On top is a box style sapphire crystal and out back is a flat sapphire crystal to show off the movement. Water resistance is 120 meters.

Obviously, the novelty happens on the dial, which is completely made using the plique-à-jour technique, whose name literally means “letting in the daylight.” This is one of the most demanding forms of enamel work as it requires the layers of coloured enamel be applied into open metal cells with no backing. The enamel is fired at around 900°C, fusing to the metal framework — typically made of gold— but leaving transparent sections that allow light to pass through. The transparency achieved in this dial reveals the inner architecture of the movement beneath. And the enamel here is rendered in beautiful shades of blue and teal, broken up with white gold borders that give it a very organic look.

Inside, you’ll find the SXH7, a skeletonized version of the in-house calibre SXH5, a very familiar movement for Czapek watches. It beats at 4Hz, has a 60 hour power reserve and uses a recycled platinum micro-rotor. Decorations include open ratchets, sandblasted black bridges, bevelling, straight-grained sides, and hand chamfering. The watch comes on an integrated steel bracelet with a choice of polished or brushed center links, with a an additional rubber strap in a choice of many colors.

The new Czapek Antarctique Plique-à-Jour, which is limited to 10 pieces, will be unveiled to the public for the first time at WatchTime New York (October 17-19, 2025. Gotham Hall, NYC). Price is set at CHF 61,200, without tax. See more on the Czapek website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watch School Wednesday: Male vs Female Endlinks: The Small Detail That Changes Your Watch’s Fit

Understanding how endlink design affects comfort and aesthetics. 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

• In a fascinating piece for Popular Mechanics, Jacqueline Detwiler-George discusses the surprising value of glitter as a crime forensics tool. These tiny, sparkly particles have long aided investigators and, as Detwiler-George reports, can be used to solve all sorts of crimes—including murders, abductions, and sexual assaults—that often involve girls and young women. She recounts one brutal crime in California’s Simi Valley, where traces of red, glossy, and hexagonal glitter helped a trace evidence expert identify a killer.

• Jafar Panahi, the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker and Cannes Palme d’Or winner, symbolizes artistic defiance under oppression. Despite arrests, bans, and imprisonment, Panahi continues to expose the realities of life in Iran, blending personal risk and creative innovation. His latest film, "It Was Just an Accident," made under constant threat, captures the courage and tension of contemporary Iranian cinema.

• A massive investigation into First Wap, an obscure surveillance-tech firm, reveals how its global phone-tracking platform, Altamides, secretly enabled authoritarian regimes, private clients, and even criminal networks to pinpoint targets worldwide—including journalists, tech execs, dissidents, and ordinary citizens. Exploiting telecom infrastructure with little oversight, First Wap's shadowy reach exposes the staggering vulnerabilities of the world’s mobile networks.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’m sure that Jamie Oliver is a perfectly fine guy. But the amount of horror that he inflicted on the world of food is immeasurable. And yet, it’s to simple to ignore him. What we all should do is have Uncle Roger rate every single meal he ever put on video. I’ve never seen someone obliterate a professional as well as Roger does to Oliver.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk