Seiko Claims The Pepsi Name With An Official Collaboration With The Drink; Citizen's Fantastic Four Titanium Zenshin; MeisterSinger's 24-hour One Hander; And A Beautiful Celebration For Kudoke

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It’s too hot to think about watches, isn’t it? Maybe a refreshing drink would help…

In this issue

• Seiko Grabs The Opportunity And Teams Up With Pepsi For A Duo Of Watches That Can Actually Use The Name

• Citizen Releases A Fantastic Four-Themed Zenshin In Super Titanium

• MeisterSinger Keeps Doing Their Own Thing With A New 24-Hour Edition

• Sincere Fine Watches Celebrates 20 Years Of Kudoke With A Beautiful Collaboration

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watch School Wednesday: Scratches That Tell a Story; The Legacy of Watch Repair Marks

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Grabs The Opportunity And Teams Up With Pepsi For A Duo Of Watches That Can Actually Use The Name

Watch collectors have this compulsion to give nicknames to pretty much every watch they get their hands on. Some names are obscure, while others are so prevalent that they might as well be official names. Sure, Rolex will not sell you a GMT-Master II Pepsi, but other watch collectors will point out that they do love your Pepsi, since that’s the nickname given to the red and blue bezel combination. Wile the community was free to give out these nicknames, we just got a new release from Seiko which could be one of the marketing moves of the decade — Seiko partnered up with Pepsi on a duo of 5 Sports watches for the first official Pepsi watches. These are the SRPL99 anf SSK047 limited editions.

Let’s start with the simpler of the two, the SRPL99. It comes in the smaller of the new SKX cases, which means that the stainless steel case measures 38mm wide, 12.1mm thick, with a 44mm lug-to-lug. On top is a hardlex crystal, surrounded by a unidirectional rotating bezel with blue metallic insert that has a red patch from 12 to 20, to match the Pepsi colors. The crown sits at 4 o’clock, out back is a transparent caseback with the Pepsi logo and water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial gets a silver base with blue outlined markers and hands, both lumed. At 3 o’clock is a day and date aperture, and at 6 you’ll find the Pepsi logo. Inside, you won’t be surprised to find the calibre 4R36 which beats at 3Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a 3-link steel bracelet. The new Seiko 5 Sports x Pepsi Limited Editions SRPL99 is limited to 7,000 pieces, goes on sale in September and is priced at €380. You can see it here.

Then, we have the SSK047, which is a GMT version of the Seiko 5 Sports. It comes in a stainless steel case that measures 42.5mm wide, 13.6mm thick, with a 46mm lug-to-lug. The case gets a black coating, which, in combination with the 24 hour bezel split into blue and red down the middle, matches the modern black Pepsi cans with the classic logo. The crown once again sits at 4 o’clock and water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is black, the hands and applied markers are outlined in blue with lumed materials inside. The GMT hand is bright red with a lumed arrow tip. Inside, you’ll find the calibre 4R34, which has a caller-style GMT function, with the same 3Hz beat rate and 41 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a Pepsi-branded silicone strap. Price is set at €540. It also goes on sale in September, limited to 7,000 pieces. See more on the Seiko website.

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Citizen Releases A Fantastic Four-Themed Zenshin In Super Titanium

Movie and watch crossovers are quite the popular thing, from sub $100 Timex watches all the way all the way to mid six-figure AP watches with Marvel characters. So you can easily have your pick. The latest of the movie-watch crossovers comes as a mashup of one of the more popular movies of the summer, with one of the most popular watches of the past few years. This is the new Citizen Zenshin Fantastic Four edition made to mark The Fantastic Four: First Steps movie.

We’ve seen the Zenshin model from Citizen before. Essentially, it’s the Tsuyosa, but done in titanium. And this Fantastic Four edition keeps the great shape and size of the regular Zenshin. That means that it’s made out of Citizen’s proprietary Super Titanium, which has their Duratect surface-hardening coating. The watch measures 39mm wide, just 10 mm thick and with a 44mm lug-to-lug. It has an overall brushed finish, with polished bevels on the lugs and fixed bezel on top that holds down the sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The entire Fantastic Four: First Steps connection happens on the dial. The base of the dial has an icy blue shade, surrounded by a grey and blue perimeter that has dots on the grey part and hashes on the blue part. You get applied hour indices, paired with the Fantastic 4 emblem at 4 o’clock. But less obvious are the cardinal markers which are each styled after one of the Four members. At 12 you get a wavy emblem for Mr Fantastic, at 3 is the empty square for Sue Storm, at 6 a blaze for the Human Torch and at 9 a rock-themed rectangle to match The Thing. It’s all quite fun.

Inside is the Eco-Drive Caliber J800 which is powered by light, has an accuracy rating of +/- 15 seconds per month and a nine month power reserve on one full charge. It also has the day and date aperture at 3 o’clock. The watch comes on a brushed integrated stainless steel bracelet that closes with a folding clasp.

The new Citizen Zenshin Fantastic Four: First Steps is limited to just 1,100 pieces. The UK website says that it’s sold out, but also says that it’s coming soon, so I’m not sure whether they went on sale or they are already gone. Price is set at $595. See more on the Citizen website.

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MeisterSinger Keeps Doing Their Own Thing With A New 24-Hour Edition

OK, MeisterSinger will forever have a special place in my heart. They are just hilariously consistent with their releases that are all based around their one driving force — make single-handed time telling the universal norm. At least that’s what I think they are doing, because what other reason would there be for dozens and dozens of quirky watches that use just one hand. And good for them, I support them in their fight for one hand dominance. However, the one-hand approach requires so much focus on the hands and dial combinations, and that means you sometimes miss the obvious. For example, I was dead certain that MeisterSinger makes a 24-hour watch. But, alas, they don’t. Last month, they introduced a heavily limited edition of just 25 pieces that told the time with one hand, over 24 hours. Now, we’re getting a broader release of a 24-hour watch. This is the new MeisterSinger Edition 24H with a blue dial.

The Edition 24H is based on the Pangea model, meaning it’s stainless steel, 40mm wide and 10.5mm thick. The case is fully polished and on top is a domed sapphire crystal. On the side is an oversized tapering crown that doesn’t screw down, limiting water resistance to 50 meters.

The dial gets a sunray brushed finish and a blue color, like dials we’ve seen from the brand before, but obviously, the single white hand now makes a full rotation every 24 hours instead of every 12. At 12 o’clock you’ll find the 12 hour marker, while the 24 one sits at 6. The even numbers are applied double digits and done in a gold color, while the odd numbers are printed in white. The peripheral track does not feature the usual 5-minute markings; instead, its fine lines and dots indicate 15-minute increments.

Inside, you’ll find the Sellita SW 330 automatic which beats at 4Hz, has a 56 hour power reserve and is made to spin the one hand once every 24 hours. The watch comes on a cognac-coloured calfskin strap with crocodile embossing.

The new MeisterSinger Edition 24H is available now and limited to 100 pieces. Price is set at €3,190. See more on the MeisterSinger website.

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Sincere Fine Watches Celebrates 20 Years Of Kudoke With A Beautiful Collaboration

In summer, watch news slows down. Which gives me a chance to dig down a bit and see if I missed any interesting releases. And I did miss a significant one in June. In most cases, when a retailer celebrates an anniversary, they will partner with a watch brand for a limited edition. This release we have here is the exact opposite. Sincere Fine Watches out of Kuala Lumpur is not celebrating an anniversary, but the German independent watchmaker Kudoke is. And Sincere is throwing them a party in the form of a limited edition Kudoke 2 SHH Edition. It’s also the first Kudoke 2 to feature the “Flakes” dial, a combination exclusive to Sincere.

Very little is done to the GPHG award-winning Kudoke 2 case. It’s made out of stainless steel and still measures 39mm wide by 10.7mm thick. It’s a polished case with sapphire crystals on top and bottom, and an onion shaped crown at 3 o’clock. Water resistance is decent at 50 meters.

But it’s all about the dial. We’ve seen the Flakes dial recently on the Kudoke 3 Flakes and it’s special for being done with a technique that that removes flakes of material creating a beautiful texture. One that’s unique to each dial. Unlike the 3, the Kudoke 2 gets that texture on the entire base and here it’s done in delicate light champagne rosé hue. The Kudoke 2 has become known for its neoclassical design and a beautiful sky disk at 12 o’clock indicating 24 hours, with a display of day and night. Around the perimeter is a chapter ring for the indexes, paired with infinity-shaped hands.

Inside, you’ll find the in-house Kaliber 1-24H, a manually wound movement that powered both the central 12 hour indicator and the 24 hour moon and sun disc. The movement has been lauded for democratising stunning handmade finishing. It includes a hand-frosted movement bridge, mirror- polished angles, a hand-engraved balance cock, snail- finished barrels, all in a far more accessibly priced package than these crafts are normally associated with. The watch comes on a blue alligator-print bovine leather strap.

The new Kudoke 2 SHH Edition is limited to 20 pieces and available only at Sincere Haute Horlogerie (SHH) boutique at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. Price is set at MYR76,370, which is about €15,600. See more on the SHH website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watch School Wednesday: Scratches That Tell a Story; The Legacy of Watch Repair Marks

Uncovering the history and meaning behind caseback repair marks. 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 this excerpt from This Rare Earth: Building the Dams, Mines, and Megaprojects That Run Our World, Jeremy Thomas Gilmer takes us deep into the unforgiving expanse of Canada’s Northwest Territories, home to the remote Diavik diamond mine. Though well-versed in the fly-in, fly-out rhythm of life here, Gilmer remains enthralled by this stark, icy wilderness and the resilient creatures that inhabit it—a place where beauty and brutality exist side by side. His admiration extends to the people who brave the perilous ice roads, hauling in vital supplies. With vivid, bone-chilling prose, Gilmer immerses readers in an environment as breathtaking as it is unforgiving.

• For Quanta Magazine, Kevin Hartnett profiles Hannah Cairo, a math prodigy who disproved the Mizohata-Takeuchi conjecture—a problem mathematicians have been trying to solve for 40 years. During the pandemic, Cairo, who had been homeschooled, immersed herself deeper into mathematics, discovering a world of endless thinking. “Math became a kind of escape, a space that felt expansive when her daily life was not,” writes Hartnett. After completing the proof, Cairo decided to skip completing high school and attending college—and is instead about to start a doctoral program this fall. Hartnett writes an inspiring story about an exceptional teen.

• How far would you go along with a scammer in the name of research? Upon receiving a recruitment text, Alexander Sammon took on a job, made a “friend,” and attempted to get paid. While it may be something you would never do, I bet you have always wondered about what would happen if you did. So let Sammon take you on this wild ride into the world of scammers . . . or is it even a scam?

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

While I find the ascent of Everest a very admirable accomplishment, I have zero interest in ever even dreaming of attempting it. And yet, YouTube thinks that all I want to do in life is climb Everest. I get 75 videos a day pushed to me of people climbing Everest. Thank you YouTube. This video, however, stood out. It’s almost 5 hours long, which is a feat in itself to put together. But there are plenty of 5 hour long videos out there. But do you know many 5 hour videos that have 5.6 million views!? That’s crazy! Anyway, I’m in hour three of the video right now.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk