Serica Releases Linen Dial Parades; TAG's Extreme Carrera; Laco Launches Sporty Pilot’s Watch; Dennison's Dual Time Capsule Collection; Elka Teams Up With Ace; Zenith's Sapphire-Cased Defy Zero G

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Wow, this issue is coming out late. I’ve been in back-to-back meetings since the morning. I hope you appreciate it regardless.

In this issue

• Serica Brings Beautiful Linen Dials To The Already Very Cool Parade

• TAG Heuer Gives Us A Very Different, Very Extreme, Version Of The Carrera

• Laco Launches A New Model Line, The Köln, A More Sporty Take On A Pilot’s Watch

• Dennison Goes Very Dark With The Dual Time Capsule Collection II

• Elka Teams Up With Ace Jewelers For The Third TIme On The Smaller Diversity Series II

• Zenith Continues 160th Anniversary With Two Sapphire-Cased Defy Zero G Watches

👂What’s new

1/

Serica Brings Beautiful Linen Dials To The Already Very Cool Parade

For years now, the French independent brand Serica has been creating something pretty special. They somehow manage to create retro designed watches unlike anything you’ve seen before, almost if they exist in a parallel universe and are referencing historical watches on a slightly different timeline. And for years, all of their watches so far have been rugged tool watches — divers, field watches and GMTs. Then last year, they introduced the 1174 Parade, a very familiar but certainly different dress watch that takes on a very unique shape. For a year they haven’t messed with the two dial options they had. Until now, when the Parade gets two very nice linen dials.

Starting on the outside, the designers at the french brand say they have been inspired by the shape of stadiums, an ellipse with straight sides, soft and resolutely modern. But to make it work, they had to keep the stainless steel case compact. It measures 35mm wide, with a pretty incredible thickness of just 8.6mm (with, spoiler, an automatic movement inside) and a great length of 41mm. The fact that there are no lugs just makes the whole package even more wearable. But there’s more to this watch than just the size. For example, the finish. It has a broad flat bezel on top that has pretty pronounced vertical brushing, extending to the case underneath. But then you get these wonderfully polished bevels on both the bezel and the case that create incredible contrast. And sure, this is a dress watch, but that doesn’t mean it’s not capable — you get 100 meters of water resistance.

Moving on to the new dials, they come in either slate blue or tobacco, linen style for a supremely elegant look. To make things even more simple and elegant, the indices are tiny applied spherical hour markers, there are no numerals and no logos. The hands keep up with the minimalism, mirror-polished and domed that have a leaf-sword shape.

Inside, you’ll find the SoProd M100 automatic movement. I have no idea how they managed to fit this into the watch. The movement is 3.6mm thick and the entire package is just 8.6mm thick. You’ll have a tough time finding such a thin automatic watch at any price point, let alone one this low. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve and has Côtes de Genève finishing. The watch comes on a calf leather strap with a alligator-style pattern, tapering from 18mm to 14mm and closed with an incredible “stadium” pin-buckle which is shaped to reflect the bezel of the watch.

The new Serica 1174 Parade Linen is available for order now, with deliveries expected mid-November. Price remains unchanged at €1,490. See more on the Serica website.

2/

TAG Heuer Gives Us A Very Different, Very Extreme, Version Of The Carrera

In the past couple of years, TAG Heuer has done some pretty amazing things with the Carrera. From a somewhat uninspired chrono, they turned it into one of the most exciting chronograph designs in the entire industry, especially with their Glassbox models. But pretty much everything they did was elegant and vintage inspired. It’s almost as if they forgot the Carrera’s wild side. The Carrera Extreme Sport. Don’t worry, they haven’t. Because they just released three new versions of the very expressive watch — a Twin-Time chronograph, a rose-gold chronograph and the Tourbillon Extreme Sport F1 75th Anniversary limited edition.

The Extreme Sport watches come in pretty wild cases with even more intense dial. So, let’s start with the new Twin Time. The case is made out of Grade 2 titanium, with black-PVD hollowed sides and a brushed and sandblasted finish. It measures 44mm wide and 16.7mm thick, with a black and teal 24-hour bezel made from a single block of ceramic. The dial is fully skeletonized, with centrally mounted lumed hands, a skeletonized GMT hand with red lacquer, teal accents, and an open-worked date at 6. The movement you see through the dial is the in-house TH20-02 automatic GMT-chronograph, beating at 4Hz, with a 80 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a teal integrated rubber strap, closed with a titanium folding clasp with micro adjust. Price is set at CHF 8,850. See more here.

Moving to something a bit more precious, we have the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport Rose Gold made out of, you guessed it, 18K 5N rose gold. The same material is used on the fixed tachymeter bezel, and on the side you’ll find the black DLC Grade-5 titanium crown and pushers. You get 100 meters of water resistance. Once again, you get a skeletonized dial, with a grained black centre and black flange, with rose-gold-plated faceted applied markers, hour and minute hands with white Super-LumiNova, openworked azuré chronograph counters at 3 and 9, and the openworked date at 6. Inside is the in-house TH20-00, an integrated automatic chronograph with vertical clutch, column wheel, bidirectional winding, a shield-shaped rotor and an 80-hour power reserve. The watch comes on an integrated rubber strap with a black DLC titanium folding clasp. Price is CHF 21,500. See more on the Tag Heuer website.

Last, a tie-in with the new TAG Heuer partnership with Formula 1, as was to be expected, the Tourbillon Extreme Sport F1 75th Anniversary. It comes in a grade 2 titanium case with an 18K 3N yellow-gold fixed tachymeter bezel on top that has a silver engraving of the F1 logo at 12 o’clock and a silver 75 numeral on the bezel to mark 75 years of the racign organization. The watch also comes engraved with a championship year, one for each of the 75 limited pieces. Again, a skeletonized dial that shows off the in-house TH20-09 tourbillon-chronograph with column wheel, vertical clutch and 65-hour reserve. The watch comes on a black rubber strap with a black DLC coated titanium folding clasp. Price is set at CHF 39,000. See more on the TAG Heuer website.

3/

Laco Launches A New Model Line, The Köln, A More Sporty Take On A Pilot’s Watch

There’s a very specific reason why so many pilot’s watches look very much the same. They have to have large hands, a clean dial and easily readable numerals because they are supposed to be used while flying a plane, obviously. There’s the Type A flieger and the Type B flieger, which differ a bit in complexity, but that’s about it. However, every so often, a brand comes up with a different take on a pilot’s watch. It’s not revolutionary, but a fresh take. Some, like the Circula ProFlight, take things in a more modern direction. Others, like Laco does something else with their brand new Köln collection. This is a very sporty take on the pilot’s watch, and I’m digging it.

The Köln comes in a new size for Laco, which has gone both larger and smaller, but it’s a size that’s fitting for a chunky sports watch. The stainless steel case measures 41mm wide and 12mm thick, with a quite substantial 49.5mm lug-to-lug. It’s a large watch — not like others we’ve seen from Laco — but it very much reminds me sports watches from the 90s. And you know I like that. On top is a double domed sapphire crystal with an AR coating on the inside, and an option to get the coatings on both sides for an extra €100. That’s surrounded by a unidirectional rotating bezel with a cog-like edge and a matte ceramic insert. There are also two finishes to the case — either a brushed finish or a dark sandblasted finish, which Laco does really well. The crown sits at 4 o’clock, protected with guards, and screws down to give you 200 meters of water resistance.

All three versions have the same dial that follows the layout of the type A flieger. It’s a matte black base with bright white and simple Arabic numerals and indexes, all painted with Superluminova C1. You get sword-shaped hour and minute hands, both thermally blued and filled with C1 lume, and a black seconds hand with a lume strip down the middle.

Inside, you’ll find the Sellita SW200-1 movement in its Elaboré grade. You know the stats for this one — it beats at 4Hz and has a 38 hour power reserve. The watches can be had on either a stainless steel bracelet or a black fibertech water repellant strap.

The new Laco Köln collection is available now, priced at €1,190 for the brushed version on strap, €1,240 for the brushed on bracelet and €1,270 for the blasted version on strap. See more on the Laco website.

4/

Dennison Goes Very Dark With The Dual Time Capsule Collection II

Founded in 1874, Dennison was known for being a casemaker for the likes of Longines, Omega and Rolex. They disappeared for years, and then suddenly reappeared some six months ago. And despite the fact that the modern rendition of Dennison has only been around for a couple of months, they give off a feeling that they have been doing what they do for years. A lot of that comes from the timeless design of the new A.L.D. case that renowned designer Emmanual Gueit designed for Dennison. It’s a simple square piece that has enough character to be interesting, but not too much to take away from the dials, which are varied in the collection. And a bit over a month ago, Dennison introduced the best watch of Geneva Watch Days by reviving one of the coolest complications from the quartz era, the twin-display watches. That was the Dennison ALD Dual Time and the brand is now introducing a limited time capsule collection, their second ever, with a very cool dark dial.

The case remains not just familiar, but almost completely unchanged. It still measures 37mm wide, just 6.1mm thick and with a 35.6mm length. The straps are integrated, so that gives it a compact look. On top is a flat sapphire crystal and out back is a snap-on case. However, the one thing that instantly stands out from the original ALD is the fact that it has two crowns, one on each side of the case. More on that later.

The new dials from this capsule collection come with a full base made out of black onyx stone. You still get the two time zones with two sets of hands, and the second time zone sits within a colored circle — red, pink and turquoise. Underneath the colored circle is the simple Dennison logo.

Inside, you’ll find the perfect movement for this watch. Or, rather, movements. Inside is a duo of Swiss Ronda quartz movements which are small enough and reliable enough to power this hoot of a watch. The watches can be had on three strap — a beige leather strap, a black alligator strap or a very fantastic bark-style mesh bracelet.

The new Dennison ALD Dual Time Capsule Collection II is available for order now and will be for the next two weeks. Price is set at €813 for a single watch, or you can get the trio for €2.439. See more on the Dennison website.

5/

Elka Teams Up With Ace Jewelers For The Third TIme On The Smaller Diversity Series II

I think it was 2023 that I first saw the Diversity Series, a collaboration between some of my favorite people in the watch industry — the good guy Hakim El Kadiri from Elka and my dear friend Alon Ben Joseph, CEO of Ace Jewelers. It was a series of watches that all came with the same colored dials with Western Arabic, Eastern Arabic, Chinese or Hebrew numerals. Now, they’re bringing the idea back with the Diversity Series II, based on the recently shrunk down Elka N Series. And it might be even better than the original.

The previous collection came in a beautiful but slightly oversized case that measured 40mm across and looked even larger with the crystal that extended to the very edges. The Diversity Series II uses the recently redesigned N Series case which is made out of 316L stainless steel case, keeps the elegant lugs and compact construction, now measuring 36mm wide, 10.5mm thick, with a 41.1mm lug-to-lug. On top is a chevé-box type sapphire crystal which is quite complicated to produce as it mimics the soft look of plexiglass, while keeping the scratch resistance of sapphire. There’s hardly any bezel around the crystal, giving you once again an expansive look at the dial. Water resistance is not great at 50 meters, but this is not a sports watch.

Then we have the new dials, which, if you know anything about Elka, are sensational. There’s the MN04 which gets a sunray brushed blue base with Hebrew numerals, rendered in SuperLuminova and with a Bauhaus-inspired font. The MN03 comes with a wonderful green sunray brushed dial with white Eastern Arabic numerals.

Inside, you’ll find the automatic La Joux-Perret G101 which beats at 4Hz and has a 68 hour power reserve. Additionally, the movement is regulated in house to an accuracy of +/- 5 seconds per day. The watches can be had on a 7-link stainless steel bracelet or leather straps — blue on blue and brown on green.

The new Ace x Elka Diversity Series II is limited to 50 pieces in each color and priced at €1,843 on steel and €1,802 on leather, both without VAT. The watches can be seen on the Elka or Ace Jewelers websites, or in the Ace Jewelers boutique in Amsterdam and Mayfair, London showroom.

6/

Zenith Continues 160th Anniversary With Two Sapphire-Cased Defy Zero G Watches

Celebrating 160 years in business is no small feat. So Zenith really is making the best of it, with a whole slew of new releases. Most of them are blue-themed, ranging from regular sports watches, all the way to some pretty unique stuff. Just like this duo they just introduced, which uses the Zero G, a patented, gimbal-mounted escapement, and puts it into a Defy model with blue or clear sapphire cases. There’s a lot going on here, and it’s quite something.

We don’t get all that much information on the size of the case, other than it’s 46mm wide. Quite curious, I wonder what they are trying not to say. Sure, 46mm wide is substantial, but the case doesn’t seem overly thick. It might be, but the fact that the case is completely transparent makes it appear thinner. There are two versions of the case, an untreated sapphire or one in a blue, but still translucent, color. Water resistance is 30 meters.

As you can see for youself, there is no dial. Instead, the whole thing is transparent from front and back, with a small lapis-lazuli sub-dial at 12 o’clock, and the entire movement on display. On the hour sub-dial you get faceted, rhodium-plated hands and markers filled in with lume, while at 9 o’clock of that sub-dial is an overlapping small seconds, and a power reserve on the opposite side. From the front, you’ll also see the dramatic star-like bridges in blue and rhodium.

The movement you see from the front and back is the hand-wound El Primero 8812S, which is really nice, but what grabs the most attention is the Zero G module at 6 o’clock, decorated with a laser engraving that gives it a very cool texture. But what is it? Traditional tourbillons average gravity’s effects by constantly spinning. The Zero G takes a different approach, by neutralizing positional errors in real time. That means that the module has a two-axis gimbal so they always stay horizontal. Torque from the barrel is redirected through conical bevel gears and a miniature differential that keep power flowing to the escapement as the module tilts. The movement beats at 36,000 vph and has a 50 hour power reserve. The watches come on a blue alligator strap lined with rubber, closed with a titanium folding clasp.

The new Defy Zero G Sapphire is limited to 10 peices per colro and priced at €220,000. See more on the Zenith website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 52: The Astrolon, Tissot’s Plastic Dream

Inside the short-lived 1971 experiment that changed Swiss watchmaking. 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

• For Noēma, Aryn Baker learns how to use CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genes of zebrafish embryos. Using a microscope and a precision injection rig, she experimented with disabling a gene responsible for eye development. As she notes of the ability to play God, “The process is deceptively simple; the implications are anything but.”

• There’s little more intriguing than an artist who manages not just to move through the world in a way that is pure and unguarded, but to create in a similar fashion. That’s Tyler, the Creator. Once the founder (and loudest member) of provocateur crew Odd Future, Tyler has evolved into one of music’s most consistently interesting auteurs and—as much as I hate the word—multihyphenates. For T’s annual “The Greats” issue, Adam Bradley unpacks the many, many layers of Tyler Okonma.

• About a decade ago, the endangered Houston toad was the closest to extinction than it had ever been. Today, scientists at the Fort Worth Zoo are doing everything they can to help the species survive in the wild. For Vox‘s The Highlight, Christine Peterson reports on the zoo’s complex conservation work—which involves in vitro fertilization, freezing sperm, injecting hormones, and a whole lot of matchmaking—and on the state’s program through which some Texas landowners, in exchange for tax benefits, are helping to create habitats where Houston toads can thrive. The collective effort to save them is “weird, hopeful, kind of beautiful,” writes Peterson, “and it just might be working.”

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