Seiko Pays Homage To Tea With Presage Classic Shiracha; Hamilton Teams Up With Call of Duty; BA111OD'S Chapter 4 GMT; Arsène Lippens' Fabric Dials; Compact Lederer Longitudes; AP's Wild RO Jumbo

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I very much want to see more tie-in watches, especially with video games, but I’m not 100% sure that Hamilton gave it their all on this one.

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In this issue

• Seiko Pays Homage To Edo-Era Tea With The New Presage Classic Series SPB529 Shiracha

• Hamilton Pairs Up With Call of Duty Black Ops 7 For A Limited Edition Khaki Field

• BA111OD Pairs A GMT Complication With A Tourbillon In Their Chapter 4

• Arsène Lippens Introduces The Artigianio Collection With Actual Fabric Dials

• Lederer Releases The Compact CIC 39 Longitude In Two Colors

• Audemars Piguet’s Latest RD Model Is A Extra-Thin Royal Oak Jumbo With A Chronograph And Flying Tourbillon

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

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 50: The Wonderful Dancing Hands Of The Seiko 8M35 Yacht Timer

👂What’s new

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Seiko Pays Homage To Edo-Era Tea With The New Presage Classic Series SPB529 Shiracha

The cool thing about being a watch brand the size of Seiko is that you can have as many collections and series as you want. In fact, you can even segment deeper and introduce sub-collections for varying needs. Such is the case with Presage. They have the Pressage Craftsmanship Series that shows off the best of Japanese crafts, Cocktail Time for the more quirky ones, Sharp Edge for the angular cases, Style 60 for the retro inspired watches… Within the Presage line, they also have the Classic line, which makes the most classic of watches. For the latest Classic watch, Seiko takes inspiration from Edo-era tea and REGAL, a high-end Japanese shoemaker. This is the new Presage Classic Series SPB529.

The watch comes in the larger of the two available Presage Classic models, which means that the stainless steel case measures 40.2mm wide, 13mm thick, with a 46mm lug-to-lug. Despite the chunky thickness, Presage Classic watches wear well thanks to a lot of curvature to the case. On top is a dual-curved sapphire crystal, surrounded by a thin coin-edge bezel with a gold tone, while out back you have a see-through caseback. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial comes in a light brown with a gradient effect and it’s based on Shiracha, a shade that was popular among tea masters in the Edo era. The light brown color is paired with gold colored bar-shaped indices and hands and there’s a date aperture at 3 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre 6R55, an automatic that beats at 3Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. It’s a decent movement with an accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day, which is something that Seiko should really address at some point. The strap is sourced from shoemaking overcuts from REGAL and is a beautiful shade of maroon, closed with a three-fold clasp.

The Presage Classic Series SPB529 Shiracha is limited to 3,000 pieces, available now, priced at €1,120. See more on the Seiko website.

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Hamilton Pairs Up With Call of Duty Black Ops 7 For A Limited Edition Khaki Field

I’ve been saying for a while that it would be very cool if we got more watch tie-in projects. Give me movie and book inspired watches. Give me video game watches. Sure, every now and again we get one of those, but the most consistent in the release of movie and video game tie-in watches has been Hamilton. And that’s no surprise, since Hamilton watches have appeared in more than 500 movies since 1932. Only recently have they started placing their watches into video games, resulting in limited edition Hamiltons tied with the Far Cry and Death Stranding franchises. Now, we’re getting the Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Khaki Field Auto 38mm just in time for the release of the new game.

This watch isn’t just a real-world collaboration, as it shows up in the game on the wrist of the character Axel Vermaak, but not a lot has changed. You get a brushed stainless steel case that measures 38mm wide and 10.9mm thick, with a sapphire crystal on top and a polished bezel around it. Instead of an open caseback you get a closed one with the Call of Duty logo engraved into it. Water resistance is 100 meters. On the dial side, even less has changed as you still get the black dial with a sunray brushed center and a concentric pattern on the periphery, featuring 1-12 hours, 13-24 hours and 60 minutes scales. The sword hands are polished and plenty lumed.

Inside, also no changes. It’s the Calibre H-10 which is based on the Powermatic 80, an automatic movement beating at 3.5Hz, with an 80 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a Khaki green NATO strap with steel buckle and leather loops, and gets a special box.

The new Hamilton Khaki Field Auto 38mm Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Special Edition is limited to 5,000 pieces and priced at €925. See more on the Hamilton website.

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BA111OD Pairs A GMT Complication With A Tourbillon In Their Chapter 4

With every new release, BA111OD is proving that they really are conquering the market on expertly-made, Swiss-produced, highly-advanced watches that are sold at prices that really puzzle the market as they shouldn’t be possible. They have made waves by producing the least expensive Swiss made tourbillon – the BA111OD Chapter 4.1, as well as the BA111OD Chapter 4.5 GMT Tourbillon. Their CHPTR_Δ has one of the most interesting ways of moving hands and displaying time, for a crazy low price. And then at Watches and Wonders, they introduced the Chapter 4 Infinity Flying Tourbillon, the best watch of the entire show that brings haute horology to your wrist at a really great price. But they’re not slowing down. Their latest release is the Chapter 4 GMT.

The case of the new Chapter 4 GMT is made out of titanium, with a 5N PVD treatment. The case measures 44mm wide, 12.9mm thick and has a 46mm lug-to-lug. On top sits an expansive sapphire crystal with a very thin bezel around it, and like all other BA111OD watches, this one also has its crown at the 4 o’clock position. Water resistance is 50 meters, which will do just fine here.

The dial is also pretty simple and straightforward, with a sunray brushed grey base and gold hardware, including the applied hour markers, lumed hands and the tourbillon bridge. Speaking of the tourbillon bridge, it sits at 7 o’clock and the tourbillon also acts as a seconds hand. On the diagonal, at 1 o’clock is a small dial for the GMT function that has a grey on grey printed image of the earth and a 12 hour scale for the second time zone.

The movement inside is the in-house hand-wound tourbillon caliber BA.01 that beats at 3Hz and has a 100 hour power reserve. It’s equipped with a variable inertia balance and the GMT complication. It also has 2,000 Gauss magnetic resistance and 5,000G shock resistance. The watch comes on a grey nubuck leather strap with folding clasp.

The new BA111OD Chapter 4 GMT is available for pre order now, limited to 30 pieces. Price is set at €10,900. See more on the BA111OD website.

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Arsène Lippens Introduces The Artigianio Collection With Actual Fabric Dials

Chance encounters and random conversations in front of venues at Geneva Watch Days will introduce you to some pretty amazing stuff. Had I not struck up a conversation with Dries Lippens, it would have taken me much longer to learn about Arsène Lippens. And that would have been a shame. Looking at their website, they’ve made some really interesting watches up to this moment, including a very cool retro-styled chronograph. But their newest release, the Arsène Lippens Artigianio just stops you in your tracks. Like it stopped me in Geneva. It’s incredibly cool.

The watches, three of them, come in fairly simple cases, but with fantastic dimensions and a few choice details. The stainless steel case measures 37.5mm wide, with a 45.5mm lug-to-lug, and a pretty fantastic 9.9mm thick, including the box-shaped sapphire crystal. Holding the crystal down is a pretty great double stepped bezel and the case has brushed and polished finishing. Out back is a closed caseback, one of the selling points of the watch, as the brand offers free engravings of small drawings to personalize the watch. This is inspired by the co-founder’s grandfather, Arsène Lippens, who with a group of friends had a tradition of buying Swiss watches together and then engraving them to be forever immortalized. On the side of the watch is a push-pull crown that gets you 50 meters of water resistance.

But while the case is cool, the dials are stellar. There are three versions of the dial, each made out of an actual piece of fabric. And you can tell. You don’t even have to look too closely at it to notice the fuzz of fabric and it’s incredibly fun. There are three colors to choose from: Como, a blue dial made from denim jeans; Chianti, a tweed-like material made from cotton and bamboo; and Portofino, a turquoise green also made from cotton and bamboo. All of the fabrics come from Italian textiles. Here’s not much more to these dials, other than the brand name and the sharp faceted Dauphine hands.

Inside, you’ll find the familiar Sellita SW210-1b, a manual wind movement that beats at 4Hz and has a 48 hour power reserve. The watches come on tan, blue and brown alcantara leather straps, closed with a pin buckle.

The new Arsène Lippens Artigianio collection is available for pre-order now, with deliveries expected in March 2026. Price is set at a pretty fantastic €1,085. See more on the Arsène Lippens website.

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Lederer Releases The Compact CIC 39 Longitude In Two Colors

Without a doubt, Bernhard Lederer will forever be remembered as one of the most important figures in the watchmaking world. And for good reason. At a time when advancing horology is becoming increasingly more rare, Lederer is pushing things ever forward. To show how unique his Central Impulse Chronometer is, exceeding the standard COSC accuracy certification tests, Lederer created a new watch that will undergo rigorous testing at three prestigious observatories: Besançon in France, Glashütte in Germany, and the Observatoire Chronométrique in Geneva, Switzerland. This is the Triple Certified Observatory Chronometer. Now, the brand is releasing an heir to that incredible watch but in a more compact case. This is the new CIC 39 mm Longitude.

The watch is actually a combination of the existing exterior of the CIC 39mm, and the internals of the Triple Certified Observatory Chronometer, which is just cool. The case is made out of 18k white gold and measures 39mm wide and 10.75mm thick. It’s a very smooth an compact case, with flowing lines and a very thin bezel on top, which gives up a lot of space for the double domed sapphire crystal and a great view of the dials. You even get 30 meters of water resistance.

There are two dial options, a white and a cobalt blue. Both have elegant markings and a sector setup. At the cardinal points. you get applied baton indexes, while the rest are printed. Between 7 and 9 o’clock you get a dramatically sunken small seconds display that cuts into the printed sector markings and time is indicated with beautiful hands that have skeletonized arrow-shaped tips.

But this watch is all about that movement inside. It’s the Calibre 9016, and I don’t have the space here to go on about all of its cool features. It’s hand wound, beats at 3Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. But then you get the unique architecture of the movement: two independent barrels, two independent gear trains, two constant-force mechanisms, and two independent escapement wheels. The balance wheel is flanked by two independent escapement wheels, with the two remontoires d’égalité positioned between the fourth and fifth wheels of the gilded gear trains and within the escape wheels. These remontoires operate every ten seconds, ensuring that energy is delivered every five seconds. As a constant-force mechanism, the remontoire ensures even torque distribution to the escape wheel, which directly impulses the balance. This steady flow of energy helps maintain a more consistent rate and enhances precision. It’s also incredibly beautiful with fine satin-finishing, top and bottom surface graining, bead blasting, hand- polished and beveled edges, inner and outer angles, as well as bridges and the main plate, straight-grained and beveled by hand. The watches come on either brown or blue leather straps.

The new CIC 39 mm Longitude is limited to 12 pieces in each color, for a total of 24 pieces. Price is set at CHF 158,000. See more on the Lederer website.

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Audemars Piguet’s Latest RD Model Is A Extra-Thin Royal Oak Jumbo With A Chronograph And Flying Tourbillon

Audemars Piguet is celebrating 150 years this year and they’re doing all sorts of things to celebrate. Arguably, what everyone was waiting for the most was a birthday-edition of an RD watch. Launched in 2015, the RD (Research & Development) series is Audemars Piguet’s experimental laboratory that pushes what’s possible in watchmaking. They implement new materials, avant-garde designs, innovative architectures and unexpected complications. So far, we’ve gotten four of these watches and now we’re getting the fifth edition, the Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 150th Anniversary. And it just might be the most extraordinary and ordinary RD watch to date.

The most stunning thing of the watch must be its case. It’s made out of titanium and Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG), a rapidly cooled metal that is cooled so fast that its atoms cannot form a crystalline structure, resulting in steel-like strength with a glass-like polish, and it measures 38mm wide and 8.1mm thick. But we’ve seen that exact size and material used before, so why the wonder with the case? Well, AP managed to keep the exact same proportions of the regular automatic watch, while implementing a chronograph with a flying tourbillon. Extremely cool. And to keep things looking as close to the regular RO Jumbo case, it has almost completely flush polished pushers for the chronograph and a push-piece coaxial to the crown and linked to a dedicated column wheel, allowing switching between winding and time-setting modes. You get 20 meters of water resistance, but come on… That’s impressive.

The dial side also keeps thing as subdued as possible, not drawing any attention to itself. That’s why it has the classic blue Petite Tapisserie pattern, paired with white gold luminescent bathtub hands and hour markers, as well as snailed subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock for the 12-hour and 30-minute counters. At 6 o’clock is the opening for the tourbillon. But perhaps coolest is the Audemars Piguet vintage-styled script at 12 o’clock.

Inside, you’ll find the pretty incredible Calibre 8100 that beats at 3Hz and has a 72 hour power reserve. The movement features a chronograph and a high-amplitude flying tourbillon, all fitting in a case that’s just 8.1mm thick. They do this with a novel clutch mechanism that merges the benefits of horizontal and vertical friction clutches, thinner than a traditional vertical clutch, and it also gets a peripheral rotor, with the chronograph mechanism built directly within the rotor’s diameter. The watch comes on a titanium bracelet with BMG links.

The new Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 150th Anniversary is limited to 150 pieces, priced at CHF 260,000. See more on the Audemars Piguet website.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 5303: French Heritage and Modern Mastery in the Dive Watch Tradition

The story of the modern dive watch can’t be told without France. Long before Switzerland became the center of watchmaking, workshops in Paris and Besançon were already shaping the craft. From the 16th century onward, French watchmakers combined function and design in a way that set them apart. Abraham-Louis Breguet’s tourbillon and Cartier’s Tank are milestones, not just of horology, but of culture—examples of how French design has always fused practicality with style.

From the 17th century onward, French makers blended craft with art. Abraham-Louis Breguet’s tourbillon remains a symbol of innovation, but also of elegance. Cartier’s Tank turned the wristwatch into a style icon, proof that in Paris, design mattered as much as mechanics. Even during periods of war and economic struggle, French brands left their mark. LIP became a sign of resistance during World War II. Yema produced robust divers and chronographs that were worn both in service and in everyday life. These weren’t just tools; they were watches that told stories, tied to moments of history and culture.

Among France’s contributions, none has proven more lasting than the dive watch.

The dive watch owes much of its DNA to military need. In the mid-20th century, the French Navy required reliable equipment for divers working under harsh and dangerous conditions. Their missions demanded timepieces that could resist salt water, shocks, and magnetic interference, while still being clear to read at a glance. This pressure drove innovation. The rotating bezel was perfected to time dives. Screw-down crowns and reinforced cases made watches water-tight. Anti-magnetic shielding ensured accuracy near sensitive equipment. Brightly luminous dials made sure the watch could be read in total darkness. Many of these features, now standard across the watch industry, were first developed to meet the demands of military divers.

Read the rest of this essay here.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 50: The Wonderful Dancing Hands Of The Seiko 8M35 Yacht Timer

Exploring the specialized functions that made this watch a sailor's essential tool 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

• Avner Harari—known as Israel’s “Terminator”—spent decades as a mafia hitman before transforming into a Mizrahi balladeer. When his music flopped, police say, Harari reverted to violence, targeting rivals and critics alike. Now, from prison, he’s found viral fame through TikTok, epitomizing the blurred lines between notoriety, crime, and celebrity in modern Israel.

• After decades immersed in Silicon Valley, Mark Lemley’s sense of alignment with tech’s core values fractured in 2025 when he severed ties with Meta, protesting “Zuckerberg’s descent” into right-wing politics and hostile corporate culture. While few peers dared follow him, Lemley now voices a broader unease with the moral compromises pervading America’s once-idealistic innovation class.

• The harrowing 2021 mass shooting that rocked the idyllic Lesslie family compound in Rock Hill, South Carolina, left five dead, including two children. The family’s faith-led journey through grief involved confronting harsh realities about mental illness, C.T.E., and violence, while seeking forgiveness and healing in the aftermath of an unthinkable tragedy.

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One video you have to watch today

Kathryn Bigelow is back with what looks like an incredible movie.

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Vuk