Seiko Is Spring Ready With Pink MOP Cocktail Time; Nivada's Stone Dial F77 Trio; Orient Updates The Stretto; UN And Gumball 3000 Team Up Again; Panerai Goes Back In History With A New Radiomir Set

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’ve noticed that recently there’s been an influx of women subscribers to this newsletter and that’s great. We need more watches that women can wear and that aren’t just smaller and pink/diamond studded. There has to be a better option out there.

In this issue

• Seiko Welcomes A Warmer Season With The Presage ‘Springtime’ Cocktail Time In Pink Mother-of-Pearl

• Nivada Grenchen Gives The F77 A Couple Of Really Nice Stone Dials

• Orient Updates The Relatively New Stretto With A Bunch Of Colors

• Ulysse Nardin And Gumball 3000 Rally Team Up For The Second Time With A Carbonium Dial

• Panerai Will Take You Back In History With Their New Radiomir Viaggio Nel Tempo Experience Set

👂What’s new

1/

Seiko Welcomes A Warmer Season With The Presage ‘Springtime’ Cocktail Time In Pink Mother-of-Pearl

There’s a lot of talk about Seiko lately that could be described as not as complimentary. Prices have shot up, and some models seem to be loosing features, which is extremely rare in the watch business. However, despite it’s somewhat clumsy size, the mineral glass and objectionable bracelet, the Seiko Presage Cocktail Time remains one of their best watches, mostly because of the spectacular dials the line comes with. They really shoot way above their price point. And a new example of this is the new Presage ‘Springtime’ Cocktail Time SRPM06 with a pink mother-of-pearl gradient dial.

Technically, Seiko markets this as a woman’s watch, and I believe that this newsletter needs to have more watches aimed towards women, but this could easily work as a unisex watch. I’ve seen pictures of it on wrist, and it doesn’t look as flashy as it does in the press photos. And despite a lot of people, me included, pointing out that shrinking and pinking is not the right way to go about making a women’s watch, this works very well. The watch comes in the smallest of the Pressage cases, measuring 30.3mm wide and 10.9mm thick. The case has a polished finish and on top is a hardlex crystal, surrounded by a plain concave bezel.

The dial is perfection. Made out of pink mother-of-pearl, it’s not just a uniform pink color. Instead, there’s a vertical gradient with a brighter pink at the bottom, and a lighter shade on top. The pink of the dial is paired with rose gold colored dauphine hands and indexes. At 4:30 is a circular aperture for the date, but the date disc is white. Unfortunately.

Inside, you’ll find a smaller Seiko movement, one that’s not often used, the 2R05. It beats at 3Hz and has a decent 40 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a five-link bracelet that has the two middle links done in the same rose gold.

The new Seiko Presage ‘Springtime’ Cocktail Time SRPM06 is on sale now and it’s a limited edition. But in Seiko world, limited editions aren’t that limited. 9,000 pieces of this watch will be made. The price is set at about €620. See more on the Seiko website.

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Nivada Grenchen Gives The F77 A Couple Of Really Nice Stone Dials

Stone dials are obviously all the rage over the past few months, and I’m very much in favor of the trend. I could live without onyx and tiger eye, but I love it when brands go off-script and find interesting stones. Baltic had a run of several lesser known stones used as dials and those looked amazing. Nivada Grenchen, the revived defunct brand with a simple mission — recreate their most legendary designs with modern specs — has had a couple of really nice stones in their catalogue as well. Now, the stones are making their way to the F77, a remake of their integrated-bracelet sports watch that came out first in the late 1970s.

This quartet is based on the second generation F77 which is more streamlined and reworked for a better wearing experience, thanks to the angled lugs. The case here is made out of stainless, and it measures 38mm wide, 12.2mm thick, with a 46.2mm lug-to-lug. The case has brushed finishes with polished details and on top is a double-domed sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dials are stand out and there are four versions available. The two darker options are actually made out of black meteorite and a dark, dark blue aventurine that shimmers in the light thanks to the copper-toned inclusions. The other two options feature dials made out of lapis lazuli which has brownish striations, and green aventurine which is very dramatic and looks almost eroded. Of course, since these are cut out of actual stone, they are all unique. The hands are faceted and dauphine shaped, and the indexes are silver with lumed dots above them.

Inside the watches is the automatic Soprod P024 which is an alternative to the very familiar ETA 2824-2. It operates at 28,800vph, and has a 38-hour power reserve. The watches can be had on one of three strap options — an integrated stainless steel three-link bracelet, a black canvas strap that has a velcro closure or a black rubber strap.

The new Nivada Grenchen F77 Stone Dial watches are on sale right now, priced at €1,445 on the rubber and canvas straps, and €1,645 on the bracelet. Do note that the lapis lazul is sold out, so you might want to act quickly if you don’t want to lose out on one of the others. See more on the Nivada Grenchen website.

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Orient Updates The Relatively New Stretto With A Bunch Of Colors

Now that we’ve established that Orient is getting better at communication, with their new website and PR onslaught, we can cover a few more of their releases. Today, we have an expansion of the Stretto, which launched last year when the brand was celebrating their 75th anniversary. Introduced into the Contemporary Collection, the Stretto came as a regular Date, a Semi Skeleton and the most interesting of the group, a Day and Night. Now, Orient is releasing five new versions of the Day and Night and it seems like they’re heaving a lot of fun with it.

While Orient might have fixed their communication issues, they haven’t done much to shrink down their watches. The Day and Night still comes in a stainless steel case that measures 41.5mm wide, 13mm thick and has a 48mm lug-to-lug. All of the cases have brushed surfaces with broad polishings on the side and fixed brushed bezels that hold down sapphire crystals. While three of the models have silver bezels, one has a gold colored one, and one has a bronze colored one. Out back are mineral crystals that give you a look at the movement inside. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The Day and Night model is special for its two sub-dials that sit stacked over the middle — the pointer-day display extends towards 10 o’clock, while the day/night indicator that looks like a moonphase stretches out to 4:30. It’s an interesting visual. At 3 o’clock is a date aperture. Then we have the five colors. The standout of the collection is the RA-AK0316L which gets a dark blue base of the dial, orange and turquoise sub-dials and an orange track that sits underneath the silver colored wedge shaped indices. The RA-AK0312S, which is the model with the gold colored bezel, gets a white dial, the RA-AK0313Y is the one with the bronze colored bezel and that gets gets a brown dial, the RA-AK0314E has a green dial and the RA-AK0315L has a blue dial.

Inside, you’ll find the Orient in-house F6B24 movements which beat at 21.600vph and have a 40 hour power reserve. They are all rated to +25/-15 seconds per day. The watches all come on classic three-link bracelets, while the RA-AK0312S gets gold colored details on the bracelet.

The new Orient Stretto Day & Night models go on sale in March. The multi-colored RA-AK0316L is a limited release that will be available only through the spring and summer of this year, and it’s priced at €480. The bronze bezel model has the same price point, the gold one sits at €510, and the rest of the collection will set you back €460. See more on the Orient website.

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Ulysse Nardin And Gumball 3000 Rally Team Up For The Second Time With A Carbonium Dial

The Gumball 3000 was my first experience with hyper-luxurious, wild-partying, rallies. It’s a race started by Maximilian Cooper in 1999, who was inspired by the mythical Cannonball rally across the United States, as a way to get together with a bunch of his rich friends, travel at high speeds and party. A lot. Since then, it has become one of the most famous races in the world, taking on board celebrities and people with incredible wealths, creating a spectacle wherever they show up. Almost 20 years ago, I was a journalist and they were traveling through Zagreb on one of their more notorious rallies. They offered me a chance to spend some time with Cooper and his wife, the wonderful rapper Eve, and boy did I learn a lot about rich people in that short time. Having met the type of person that participates in the Gumball 3000, it came as no surprise last year that Gumball 3000 teamed up with Ulysse Nardin to release a special edition of the Freak X to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rally. Now, they’re coming together again for the second time. This is the Freak X Gumball 3000 Edition 2.

Just like the previous version, this one is also based on the regular Freak X. That means that it comes in a 43mm wide case made out of titanium that has a black DLC finish. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, the back gets a special Gumball 3000 caseback, and you get a personalized side plate with your Gumball team number in orange. Water resistance is 50 meters.

While the previous version used the standard base dial of the Freak X done in black, this one has the base hour disc is made out of Carbonium, a composite material of carbon fiber infused with orange epoxy resin that makes the dial look like it’s cracked revealing orange underneath. For the first time on a Freak X, the minute wheel is framed by an orange Super-LumiNova ring, while the indexes and bridges keep the same white Super-LumiNova as the previous edition.

Inside, and on top of the dial, is the recognizable UN-230 calibre with automatic winding, which is actually used to indicate the hours, while the baguette-shaped one-hour carrousel indicates the minutes. The movement beats at 3Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black rubber strap closed with a black DLC titanium folding buckle.

The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Gumball 3000 Edition 2 is limited to 150 pieces and will be offered to Gumball participants first. If it doesn’t sell out and makes it to the public, price will be €41,000. See more on the Ulysse Nardin website.

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Panerai Will Take You Back In History With Their New Radiomir Viaggio Nel Tempo Experience Set

There are a couple of brands out there that try to make the buying experience something special for the customer. On the higher end they will offer an impeccable boutique experience. On the lower end, they will meet you at fairs and give a very personal touch to the purchase. There are even some brands that will attach an activity or experience to the purchase. But no brand does it as well as Panerai. Just over the last year or two, we’ve seen them sell watches that will get you food and wine tours of Italy, training with military units and a spot on an expedition in Bhutan with explorer Mike Horn. The latest experience they are offering to customers is the Radiomir Viaggio nel Tempo Experience Set, which will take you back in time. Not actually, obviously. But the they will take you to places in Italy that have historic significance to the brand. And it’s a pretty great trip. First, you’ll visit the Florentine boutique which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, after which you’ll follow the route of Italian Navy Frogmen to their coastal training facilities and finally a yacht tour along the Ligurian coast.

But it’s not all about the experience, as you get two watches in this set. Two very substantial Radiomir models. They both measure 47mm wide, they both have the same wire lugs and the same diamond-shaped crown. That’s where the similarities stop and things get really cool. The Radiomir Viaggio nel Tempo Experience PAM01729 comes in a bronze case made of an alloy of pure tin and pure copper to get a distinct patina for each wearer. But even crazier is the Radiomir Viaggio nel Tempo Experience PAM01730 made out of Platinumtech, their proprietary alloy made out of 95% pure platinum with an alloy treatment to increase its hardness and scratch resistance. It’s also a hefty watch that’s 33% heavier than the same version in 18K gold. I can’t even imagine what that feels like.

Each of the models comes with its own dial design, as well. The PAM01729 has a black grained dial with a California setup that sees Roman numerals used on the upper half of the dial and Arabic numerals below. The PAM01730 has a classic Panerai dial with a sandwich construction. The top part has a sunburst texture and cutouts for the Arabic numerals and indexes, with a lumed disc underneath. Speaking of lume, it’s beige on both models, playing on the historic theme of the set.

Even the movements inside are technically different. The PAM01729 uses the P.3000 while the PAM01730 uses the P.3001/10. Sure, they are the same watch with twin barrels that give you a 72 hour power reserve, but the P.3000 has huge plates visible through the caseback and the P.3001/10 is very dramatically skeletonized. The PAM01729 comes on a brown leather strap with beige stitching and a bronze buckle, while the PAM01730 comes on a brown alligator strap with beige stitching and a white gold buckle.

The new Panerai Radiomir Viaggio nel Tempo Experience is only sold as a pair, delivered in a special mahogany case, and they are limited to 30 sets. The watches go on sale in June, the experience will take place between September 15th and 18th, and price is set at €145,000. See more on the Panerai website.

⏲️End links

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• In California's desolate Mojave, a young airman pried open a buried drum of yellow poison, igniting decades of agony, nosebleeds, and VA denials. Frank Vera III's obsessive FOIA crusade uncovers radioactive secrets at shuttered George Air Force Base, rallying sick veterans against a government that dumped toxins—and discarded its own. Hero or conspiracy theorist? The truth lies buried deep.

• In an era of doomscrolling and $1,000 Broadway tickets, a hidden circuit of 20‑seat rooms and bubble-wand miracles is turning close-up magic into the most intimate luxury experience in town. From Brooklyn basements to Midtown shops, world-class magicians are selling not shock twists or high art, but something rarer: paid, collective, childlike wonder.

• Cary Grant and Randolph Scott shared beachside bungalows, late-night feasts, and cheeky fan-mag profiles for a decade—bachelors pooling rent amid whispers of deeper bonds. As Hollywood's queer underground buzzed, their coded domestic bliss sculpted Grant's suave screen icon, blending joy, codependency, and era-defying love. Hidden in plain sight.

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One video you have to watch today

You just have to love Sam Rockwell.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk