Seiko Introduces Heritage Diver’s GMT Seashadow; Circula Revives Vintage Design; Tutima Glashütte's New Patria Titanium; HYT Paris Titanium With 5N Gold; Arnold & Son's Red/Gold Nebula 40 Steel

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Bit of a short one today but I think tomorrow might be a big day! We’ll see if it pans out.

In this issue

• Seiko Introduces The Dark Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT Seashadow SPB534

• Circula Revives A Very Cool Vintage Skin Diver Design For A Limited Edition AquaSport II Original

• Tutima Glashütte Releases The Patria Titanium With Three New Dials

• HYT Paris Their S1 Titanium Collection With 5N Gold And A Red Liquid Time Display

• Arnold & Son Celebrate 75 Years Of Ahmed Seddiqi With A Red And Gold Nebula 40 Steel

• SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 1174 Parade: Minimalism, Revival, and the New Shape of Watch Authenticity

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watch School Wednesday: The Evolution of Watch Regulation Systems

👂What’s new

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Seiko Introduces The Dark Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT Seashadow SPB534

Sure, Seiko has drawn some criticism lately for their pricing, an apparent lack of evolution and perhaps some controversial designs, especially in a time that Citizen is eating up their position as the go-to affordable starter watch. But every now and again, they put out a watch that shows why we love the brand. One such model is the Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT, and especially this new Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT SPB534 Seashadow. There’s just one drawback — it’s a limited model for the European market.

You’ve seen this case before, and it’s perfectly fine. Made out of stainless steel, the case has a coating for extra hardness, a brushed finish with dramatic polishes on the angular lugs. It measures 42mm wide, 12.9mm thick, with a 48.6mm lug-to-lug. On top is a sapphire crystal surrounded with a unidirectional bezel with a black ceramic insert with white 60 minute numerals. The simplicity of the case and bezel is enhanced with a pretty cool two-tone look with a gold colored serrated edge on the bezel. Water resistance is the standard 300 meters.

The dial continues the black and two-tone look, with a black glossy dial that’s accented with gold colored applied indexes, hour and minute hands and all the printed logos and words. The only thing not in black and gold are the stark white lumed inserts on the markers and the hands, as well as the gray 24-hour with an arrow tip that has more white lume.

Inside, a familiar movement, that brings with it its gripes. It beats at 21,600vph and has a very decent 72 hour power reserve. But the downside is the quoted accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day, which is just becoming unnaceptable in a world where we are buying €700 Swiss COSC certified watches. The watch comes on a three-row bracelet with, finally, a quick-setting micro-adjustable clasp extension.

So, the new Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT SPB534 Seashadow is not just limited in number — 500 pieces will be made — but it’s also available only in Europe. Price is set at €1,900. See more on the Seiko website.

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Circula Revives A Very Cool Vintage Skin Diver Design For A Limited Edition AquaSport II Original

You might not know this, but the family-owned German Circula brand has been around for 70 years, which is an incredible anniversary to celebrate. And they’re doing it in style. It all started last month with a very nice mother of pearl version of their vintage-inspired diver, the AquaSport II. Now, we’re getting a different take on the AquaSport II, one that is even more vintage inspired. I’m not kidding. The photo you see above is of the new AquaSport II 70th Anniversary Original LE on the left and the original Circula that inspired the design.

The AquaSport II takes on the best parts of all skin-diver cases. This means you get very short lugs, but in a more modernised and curvy look. Made out of stainless steel, the case measures 40mm wide, 12.6mm thick and, thanks to the stubby lugs, a very comfortable lug-to-lug of 46mm. On top is a 120 click unidirectional rotating diver's bezel, with a black sapphire crystal insert, surrounding a sapphire crystal. The watch has a nice brushed finish with polished edges. The crown has a lumed line running down the middle, matching the lume on the bezel insert numerals. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The dial on this variant takes on the colorway of the vintage Circula model and it’s very cool. It’s a combination of purple and dark blue concentric rings in various thicknesses that give the watch a retro vibe and an almost sector-like setup. Around the perimeter is a flange with a minute track and applied hour markers which are filled with Swiss Super-LumiNova C3 X1, just like the hands.

Previous versions of the AquaSport II came in pretty fantastic colors, including bright orange and yellow shade. But this dial is much more subdued. It’s a slice of natural mother-of-pearl that has iridescent shades of green, blue, violet, and gold. Around the perimeter is a flange with a minute track and applied hour markers which are filled with Super-LumiNova, just like the hands.

Inside the watches is the very well known and familiar Sellita SW200 in Elaboré grade. You know and love this movement. It’s reliable, it’s easily servicable and surprisingly accurate in my experience. It beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The movement is adjusted in Pforzheim to an accuracy of -5/+7 seconds per day. You can have the watch on a black tropic dial or a metal “Jubilee” style bracelet.

The new Circula AquaSport II 70th Anniversary Original LE is available for order now, and only 70 pieces will be made. Price is set at €940 on the rubber strap and €990 with the metal bracelet. See more on the Circula website.

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Tutima Glashütte Releases The Patria Titanium With Three New Dials

Tutima, a heritage watch brand from the iconic city of Glashütte in Germany, is one of those brands I wish would put out way more watches so that I can write about them more. They have a wide range of styles, from vintage to modern fliegers, dress watches and sporty chronographs. I’m particularly fond of their pilot’s watch they developed for the German Air Force and NATO back in the 1980s, the M2 Chronograph. But their dressier watches also shouldn’t be ignored. Stuff like the Tutima Patria, which now gets a new trio of watches, all made out of titanium and with very nice dials.

The watches have a really nice looking elegant case with soft and swooping lugs and made out of polished grade 5 titanium. I think there’s something cool about titanium The case measures 41mm wide and 11.2mm thick. That width might seem substantial, but from all the photos, it seems to wear smaller than the numbers might suggest. On top is a domed sapphire crystal that extends to the very edges of the case, with a discreet bezel around it. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The three new dials are very cool, with their tiny pyramid pattern on the base. You can get them in one of three colors, all of which are very subdued — anthracite, graphite gray, or silver-white. At 6 o’clock is a grooved smalls seconds display, and around the dial are diamond-cut indices, paired with manually finished hands. Both the indices and hands have blue glowing lume.

Inside, you’ll find the in-house Tutima 617 manually wound movement which beats at 21,600vph and has a 65 hour power reserve. It’s a beautiful and impressive movement, with the iconic three-quarter-plate with Glashütte ribbing, beveling by hand as well as its ruby bearings set in screwed gold chatons. The pallet fork, specially manufactured in the Glashütte atelier, transmit the energy of the gear train to the balance, providing the heartbeat of the movement. The watches come on calfskin strapsin black, or on a sheepskin strap in light brown an anthracite.

The new Tutima Patria Titanium is available now, priced at €8,600. See more on the Tutima website.

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HYT Paris Their S1 Titanium Collection With 5N Gold And A Red Liquid Time Display

Last year, HYT — the brand best known for their novel way of telling the time with different colored liquids traveling around a regular dial — teased a new collection. They did so with a super limited S1 Titanium “Japan Limited Edition” that came in a titanium case, integrated bracelet, openworked dial and monochrome colors. Only eight pieces of that thing were made, but it soon morphed into the S1 regular collection. And these crazy HYT watches benefited a lot from the titanium case. After a few rounds of regular titanium releases with interesting DLC finishes, HYT is pairing titanium with gold and a nice contrasting red display.

While the numbers of this watch are huge, keep in mind that these have gotten increasingly more wearable. But still, it measures 45.3mm wide, a ludicrous 17.2mm thick and a completely normal lenght of 46.3mm. OK, to be fair, that thickness is needed for the heavily domed crystal. The case is now made out of 5N gold and titanium that has a black DLC finish, and it keeps the very futuristic look, with hollowed flanks, no bezel on top and with a 5N gold crown integrated into the angular case, with crown guards, positioned at 2:30. You also get 50 meters of water resistance, which is great.

There’s no traditional dial here to speak of. Around the perimeter of the dial opening you’ll find the hour ring that has a silver base with a honeycomb pattern and polished hour numerals. Sitting more towards the center is the borosilicate capillary tube with a red colored liquid inside. The fluid gets shifted around by the two bellows that you can see through the dial at 6 o’clock. They push and pull the two liquids that cannot mix, pointing at the time, and when the colored fluid reaches the end of the capillary, it performs a retrograde motion and returns to its initial position to begin a new 12-hour cycle. To show the minutes, HYT uses a central skeletonized 5N gold satin-finished hand, and the same type is used for the seconds and the power resreve.

All of this is powered by the HTY 501-CM manual-winding movement. It beats at 4Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watch comes with two straps, antracite black rubber and pure black velcro, both integrated into the case.

The new HYT S1 5N Gold Titanium Red is available now and price is set at CHF 76,000. See more on the HYT website.

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Arnold & Son Celebrate 75 Years Of Ahmed Seddiqi With A Red And Gold Nebula 40 Steel

Not even two days ago, I wrote about the Doxa SUB 250 limited edition released for Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, UAE’s leading luxury watch retailer, in celebration of their 75th anniversary. It came in a really cool red and gold color combo. And, as it turns out, it’s not the only watch to come in red and gold, to celebrate the Seddiqi anniversary. Doing the same is this new Arnold & Son Nebula 40 Steel, with a fantastic skeletonized dial.

The Nebula 40 is not a new watch for Arnold & Son. They’ve made quite a few, in different finishes and colors. This particular one is made out of stainless steel and keeps the familiar look — a fully round case with widely spaced and short lugs. The case measures 40mm wide and 9.1mm thick. On top is a domed sapphire crystal that extends all the way to the edge of the case to give you a great look at the dial. Water resistance is exactly what you would expect — 30 meters.

Then, there’s the dial… On the periphery is a garnet red flange with gold finished Eastern Arabic numerals, while the majority of the face of the watch is taken up by the seven dramatic palladium-plated bridges that hold the most important parts of the watch — the winding mechanism, the balance wheel, the small seconds subdial, the first wheel of the gear train, a power barrel, another gear wheel and the second power barrel. All of this sits on another set of bridges that are rendered in gold. In the centre you’ll find two faceted hands and that’s all there is to it.

The movement that’s powering all of this is the calibre A&S5201 which beats at 3Hz and has a 90 hour power reserve, thanks to the twin barrels. The watch can be had on a garnet colored technical fabric strap, a calfskin of the same color or a brushed and polished stainless steel bracelet.

The new Arnold & Son Nebula 40 Steel Ahmed Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Edition is available now, limited to 10 pieces and priced at AED 101,000, or about €23,641. See more on the Ahmed Seddiqi website.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 8315 GMT: Navigating Travel, Time, and Timeless Design

Airports are noisy places. The smell of burnt coffee mixes with distant announcements calling flights to gates. Electronic displays flicker endless city names: London, Marrakech, Tokyo, Buenos Aires. Travelers pass through, each carrying stories, plans, and questions about where they belong in this vast world. On the wrist of one traveler glints a watch: the Serica 8315 GMT. It’s a modest watch, stainless steel, 39 millimeters in diameter, with a simple maroon dial spared of any branding or date. Its bezel shows day and night indications through a sharp brown-and-white contrast.

This watch says a lot about the user and the times we live in. It is a tool for those crossing borders, a nod to vintage style, and an example of modern minimalism. More than just telling time, it embodies the ways travel, nostalgia, and simplicity shape how people view themselves and the world today. This essay explores how the Serica 8315 GMT illustrates the crossroads of global travel culture, retro revival, and minimalism as design philosophies and lifestyles. Each theme—travel as cultural exchange and identity formation, retro as emotional memory and style, minimalism as a mindful rejection of excess—is deeply meaningful on its own. Together, they highlight a broader cultural moment. This watch acts as a case study that grounds these ideas in a concrete object, reflecting how cultural trends influence and are influenced by everyday possessions.

Travel today is more than a journey from point A to B. It’s about cultural exchange, self-transformation, and increasingly, media influence. The broadening availability of air travel expanded horizons globally but also created new questions about identity and place. Who are we when we are abroad? How does crossing borders change us?

Mark Twain put it simply: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.” The act of seeing different cultures firsthand breaks down stereotypes and fosters empathy. Maya Angelou similarly stated: “...all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die... if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Travel humanizes the “other” and helps people see common humanity despite cultural differences.

Read the rest of this essay here.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 51: How Favre-Leuba's 1962 Bivouac Pioneered Wrist-Worn Barometry for Alpine Exploration

Strange tech that never really lived up to its potential. 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 quiet Iowa town in 1993, a chilling murder-suicide shattered the community and left a young boy orphaned. The story explores the tangled web of violence, mental health struggles, and fractured family dynamics behind the crime, revealing how trauma and understanding intertwine in the quest to make sense of senseless acts.

• “What happened when the world’s most powerful man unleashed the world’s richest one on the world’s most complex institution?” That’s the question Wired writers set out to answer by interviewing more than 200 federal workers about the experience of living through DOGE’s upending of the US government. What they found was devastation and chaos, inflicted by ineptitude, arrogance, and ignorance.

• For The Paris Review, Jane Sterns offers some humorous advice for New Yorkers looking for their first apartment, as well as a handy glossary of the true meaning of common terms used to describe real estate.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

In 2005, Steve Jobs offered Intel the chance to power the iPhone. Intel's CEO said no. This is the story of the worst business decision in modern history—and how ARM conquered the world while the king of chips got left behind.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk