Seiko Introduces Presage Classic Unglazed Arita Porcelain; Cauny Teams Up With Tadao Ando; Gagà Releases The Labormatic In Azzurro & Champagne; Hublot’s Summer Watch Has Some Great Ceramic Colors

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Good to see Gagà Laboratorio back with some pretty new colors. I saw these live in Geneva a few months ago and they look fantastic!

In this issue:

• Seiko Introduces The Presage Classic Series Unglazed Arita Porcelain SPB497

• Cauny Teams Up With Legendary Architect Tadao Ando For Their Own Take On An Apple Watch

• Gagà Laboratorio Releases The Labormatic Cinquanta In Azzurro & Champagne

• Hublot’s Summer Watch Is The Very Colorful Ceramic Big Bang Unico Summer 2025

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Introduces The Presage Classic Series Unglazed Arita Porcelain SPB497

Over the past five or six years, Seiko has had quite a few beautiful Arita porcelain dials in their elegant Presage collection. Based on the ancient Japanese technique of applying porcelain, Seiko has given us really interesting applications, including different textures and colors. But I’ll go out on a limb and say that their newest release, the Presage Classic Series Craftsmanship Unglazed Arita Porcelain Dial Limited Edition SPB497 (feel free to shorten those names, Seiko), might be the best one yet, with its very different and unglazed take on porcelain.

The SPB497 comes in a stainless steel case that measures 40.6mm wide and 12.4mm thick and has a combination of polished and brushed finishes. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal with an AR coating on the inside, and out back is a see-through caseback. Despite the fact that the crown pulls out, you still get 100 meters of water resistance.

Then, there’s the dial. It’s made from Arita porcelain, but unlike previous releases that featured the same porcelain, this one isn’t glazed. The glazed Arita porcelain dials used to have a slightly textured shiny surface, but this version doesn’t get glazed. That results in a powdery cream coloured dial, that has an even softer texture and a matte finish. Adding detail to the dial, Seiko stamps it with an intricate pattern on the perimeter, interplaying with the gold-colored applied hour markers. The same gold color can be found on the leaf-shaped hour and minutes hands, which are a great contrast with the cream of the dial.

Inside, you’ll find the automatic 6R51, a relatively new movement for Seiko which beats at 3Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. And as Seiko does, this movement isn’t the epitome of accuracy, with a claimed accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day. The watch comes on a black leather strap with a three-part folding clasp.

The new Seiko Presage Classic Series Unglazed Arita Porcelain SPB497 is limited to 1,200 pieces, goes on sale in July, priced at €1,950. See more on the Seiko website.

2/

Cauny Teams Up With Legendary Architect Tadao Ando For Their Own Take On An Apple Watch

There are a fair number of architecture themed watches. Stuff like the Lebond watches and the architecture-inspired Toledano and Chan models. But there’s little doubt that at the very pinnacle of architecture watches is the Bulgari Octo Finissimo designed by the architectural legend, Tadao Ando. It’s a wonderful take on shapes and minimalism, one that hasn’t really been replicated anywhere else. It will also set you back about $20,000, so good luck getting one. But what would you do if you really wanted a Tadao Ando designed watch but only had less than $300 to spend? Well, you would turn to Cauny, a historic but less known Swiss watch brand that has always been known for making accessible watches. Cauny also has a Architects of Time line of minimalist watches made in collaboration with great architects like Souto Moura and Álvaro Siza. For their latest release, they are partnering with Tadao Ando on an apple themed watch.

The watches Ando designed for Cauny come in two sizes and two finishes, but all four feature a pebble-style case made out of steel. You can get it in either a brushed stainless steel finish or a bright apple green colored case. They can be had in either a 31.5mm diameter or a more universal 37.5mm one. On top of both are domed sapphire crystals and you get about 30 meters of water resistance — good enough to survive a slightly vigorous hand washing.

The dials are equally as minimalist as the cases, matching the finishes. Both dials are convex, one with a fully brushed steel finish and the other a polished green finish. Aside from a bit of text at the 6 o’clock position, there’s not much more to these dials, other hand a really nice set of hands — brushed on the steel version, but in a bright white on the green watch — the hour being a thick baton and the minute being actually leaf shaped. Very cool.

Inside, you won’t find a fancy movement at all. Both sizes get a Swiss Ronda quartz movement, the 762 in the smaller and 751 in the larger version. Not much to them, other than the 751 having a slightly longer battery life. The watches come on Italian leather straps, black on the brushed version and green on the green version.

The new Cauny Ando is available now, with pre-orders open until June 20th. Price is set at €198, regardless of the size and finish. See more on the Cauny website.

3/

Gagà Laboratorio Releases The Labormatic Cinquanta In Azzurro & Champagne

One of my favorite watches last year was the duo from Gagà Laboratorio. Founded as a spin-off from the Italian brand Gagà Milano, known for creating wild looking watches, Gagà Laboratorio was so incredibly cool I fell in love with it instantly. Headed by founder Ruben Tomella and legendary tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta and their first two watches are an ode to fantastic design, Italian life (the term Gagà refers to the Dandy or gentlemen-like lifestyle of Italians in the 1920s and 1930s) with a bit of art-deco mixed in. It was so unique it quickly earned a nickname for the style it was creating — gagaism. I reviewed it pretty early on in the life of the brand, and loved it. You can read that here. Now, the brand is updating the Labormatic line with two new dial colour variants — the Labormatic Azzurro and Labormatic Champagne.

While the brand launched with the Cinquanta and the Bauhaus line, this one is based on the Cinquanta. And while they sort of share a case, there are slight differences. One thing is for sure, there’s nothing about this watch is regular. The case is made out of seven parts, measuring 42mm wide and 13.3mm wide, the crown sits at noon and the lugs are unlike any you’ve seen before, curved, stepped and flared. The Azzurro comes with a bottom side of the case that has a grey color, while the Champagne gets a gold colored one. On top is a double domed double-curved sapphire crystal and there’s a flat sapphire crystal out back.

The most significant changes happen on the dial, even though the overall design of the dial. The dials are split up into five segments, with the fifth segment that 12 o’clock acting as the digital display for the hours. Towards the center of the dial you’ll find a minute track — with indices and a hand for the indication on the Champagne and numerals with a square window on the Azzurro — and with a central disc that’s decorated with the Gagà Laboratorio logo rotating to show the running seconds

Despite its seemingly incredible complexity, it’s all powered by a relatively normal La Joux-Perret G100, the same one used by the previous versions. It’s a cool movement with a 4Hz beat rate and a great power reserve of 68 hours. Decorations include Côtes de Genève, perlage and a partially openworked rotor. Both watches come on handmade Safiano leather straps, one grey and the other tan.

The new Gagà Laboratorio Labormatic Azzurro and Champagne watches are available now, priced at CHF 3,900, without tax. See more on the Gagà Laboratorio website.

4/

Hublot’s Summer Watch Is The Very Colorful Ceramic Big Bang Unico Summer 2025

Say what you will, but I’m grooving with the last few releases from Hublot. Last week we had that funky Big Bang MECA-10 Concrete Jungle made out of concrete, and this week we have a new Summer limited edition. Made out of ceramic, the new Big Bang Unico Summer 2025 comes in Gulf Oil’s racing colors and I like it.

Based on the Big Bang Unico, the shape of the case doesn’t change at all from previous versions. The ceramic case gets a micro-blasted texture and orange color, measuring 42mm wide and 14.5mm thick. On top of the case is a sky blue bezel held down with six visible screws, and on each side are two dark blue guards also held down by screws. The bezel surrounds a flat sapphire crystal, and on the right side are the pushers and screw down crown, which gives you 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial is almost fully skeletonized, but with enough surface area left over to reflect the blue and orange color scheme. There’s an orange flange on the perimeter that holds not just the white minute track, but also the large Arabic numerals and indices. Continuing the color scheme are the dial-side movement main plate, bridges and completely exposed date wheel, all done in dark blue, while the 60-minute sub-dial at 3 o’clock is sky blue. The date window is in the 3 o’clock sub-dial.

Inside the watch is the self-winding Caliber HUB1280 Unico Manufacture flyback chronograph movement that can be found inside other models from the current-production series. Running at a frequency of 28,800 (4 Hz) and offering users a power reserve of 72 hours, the 43-jewel Hublot Cal. HUB1280 is a 354-component column wheel-controlled flyback chronograph that places its column wheel on the dial side of its structure to allow users to view its operation through the skeletonized dial. The watch comes with three rubber straps — orange, dark blue and sky blue, all with a white lining — that close with a titanium deployant clasp.

The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Summer 2025 is limited to 100 pieces and priced at €32,600. See more on the Hublot website.

⏲️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

• June 6th was the anniversary of D-Day. This is an account of the “epic human tragedy” that unfolded when Allied troops landed on the shores of Normandy.

• Four years ago, a grad student named David Gimelfarb entered the Costa Rican jungle and simply vanished. What happened?

• During the COVID-19 lockdown, a band of masked robbers terrorized Chicago. It turned out they were just kids. Now, cops say they’ve graduated to smash-and-grab burglaries of stores. Here’s how that’s happened.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

This is part 2 of a two part video, but I posted this one as it goes deeper on RUF history, and that’s really interesting.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk