Studio Underd0g And Time+Tide Throw Another Pizza Party; Sinn's Titanium 903; Circula Teams Up With Guilloché Legend Jochen Benzinger; More Unimatic 600m Prodivers; Czapek's Different MOP Dials

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. What a lineup of great watches today. Pretty much all things I would easily buy. Also a reminder, I’m starting an F1 fantasy league. You can read about it here.

In this issue

• Studio Underd0g And Time+Tide Throw Another Pizza Party With Unique Flavors

• Sinn Starts Celebration Of 65th Anniversary With A Titanium Version Of The 903

• Circula Teams Up With Guilloché Legend Jochen Benzinger For A Mesmerizing Facet

• Unimatic Expands Their 600m Prodiver Collection With Classic Black And Blue Options

• Czapek Shows Two Very Different MOP Dials In The Promenade Midnight Pearl And Antarctique S Ice Cloud

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Studio Underd0g And Time+Tide Throw Another Pizza Party With Unique Flavors

A bit over two years ago, the very well known watch news website Time + Tide was celebrating its 10th anniversary. To mark that occasion, they had a couple of interesting collaborations. The most popular of the bunch must have been the real life rendition of an April Fool’s Day — a pizza-inspired watch, made in collaboration with the crazy folks from Studio Underd0g. They turned the launch of the watch into a total event, with special instructions on how to order one, and Studio Underd0g founder Richard Benc or Andrew McUtchen from Time + Tide hand delivering each watch. Now, the two are teaming up again for Pizza Party 2.0 to mark the opening of the Time + Tide showroom in New York, the epicenter of good pizza.

Once again, the watch is based on the Studio Underd0g 01 SERIES Chronograph, meaning it comes in a stainless steel case that measures 38.5mm wide, 12.9mm thick and a 44.5mm lug-to-lug. The case has a brushed finish with polished accents, with squared and polished pushers. One is done in untreated stainless steel, while the other gets a black PVD coating. On top is a dramatically domed crystal and the watches are water resistant to 50 meters.

When the two call these pizza watches, they actually mean pizza watches, as the dials feature illustrations of tops of pizzas. There are two versions. The one that comes in the black PVD case is called Burnt Pepperoni and it has a gradient base going from a dark, dark red to a burnt orange. The toppings — pepperoni, mushrooms, and basil that we saw on the previous non-burnt Pepperoni model — are all a bit burned. The other is the Classic Cheese, appropriate for New York City, with a gradient from orange to yellow, standing in for melted cheese, with a slice missing at 3 o’clock. Both versions feature a tachymeter scale on the outside, an oversized 30 minute counter at 3 o’clock and a running seconds at 9 o’clock.

Both watches are powered by the Chinese-made Seagull ST-1901, their versoin of the legendary Venus 175 column-wheel chronograph calibre. It’s known for having almost no bridges, allowing you to see the entire movement, including the lateral clutch column wheel movement in action. Power reserve is a decent 50 hours. The two watches come on Epsom leather calfskin straps, black on the Burn Pepperoni and a tan on the Classic Cheese, made by The Strap Tailor.

Just like the previous version, it will be an ordeal to get one of these. They first went on sale yesterday at the Time+Tide NYC Launch Party. But they will also be available at the Time+Tide Melbourne Launch Party on March 5th, followed by British Watchmakers’ Day on March 7th. After that, the watches will be available from Time + Tide Studios. The price is set at $825 for the Classic Cheese and $925 for the Burnt Pepperoni. See more on the Time+Tide website.

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Sinn Starts Celebration Of 65th Anniversary With A Titanium Version Of The 903

The story of the Sinn model 903 is a great one, as you might already intuit just by their look, which is nearly identical to the Breitling Navitimer. Back in the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was taking a trashing with the skyrocketing of sales of quartz powered watches. Many major brands didn’t survive this era and among them was Breitling, which shut down in 1979, with its assets sold off. Two Swiss companies, Sicura and Sinn, bought the rights to the Breitling Navitimer model, while Sinn, Ollech and Wajs and another company bought up cases and dials that Breitling held in stock. While Sicura continued to produce watches under the Breitling name, owning the rights to the names Breitling and Navitimer, Sinn bought the rights to the Breitling 806 and 809 Navitimer models as well as 500 cases and dials with the intent of making their own pilot’s watch with a logarithmic scale and slide rule function. This gave birth to the Sinn 903 ST B E Navigational Chronograph, a 41mm stainless steel cased pilot watch that reminds us so incredibly of the Breitling. Now, as Sinn is starting its celebration of their 65th anniversary, the 903 is one of the limited edition watches that gets to mark that occasion. This is the new Sinn 903 Ti II Anniversary. And yes, the Ti stands for titanium, which is just so cool.

The case of the 903 remains same in shape, but it’s now rendered in titanium, which is a great material for such a large watch. And it is large, measuring 41mm wide and 14,5 mm thick, with 22mm wide lugs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t track down an official lug-to-lug on the new watch is. I would love to know, as those lugs look like they could be on the long side with their pointy look. The case has a satinized and polished finish. On top and bottom are sapphire crystals, with the top one being surrounded by a silver-electroplated bezel that has a very pronounced coin edge to it. Rotate the outer diameter, and you’ll move the internal bezel that’s protected under the sapphire crystal. The crown screws down and you can get 200 meters of water resistance, which is quite nice for a chronograph without screw down pushers.

The dial of this special edition electroplated in blue, with a sunray brushed finish. It also has silver sub-dials in a tri-compax setup, while the hand applied indices, hands and the 12 numeral are made out of hybrid ceramic luminous elements which make up for some great lume shots. It also has the slide rule bezel with logarithmic scale that can be used to calculate times, distances or fuel consumption done in white.

Inside, you’ll find the La Joux-Perret L110, a column wheel automatic chronograph movement. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 60 hour power reserve.

Inside all three watches is the same movement, the La Joux-Perret L110, a column wheel automatic chronograph movement. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 60 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a five-link titanium bracelet.

Here's something curious. I got the email that the Sinn 903 Ti II Anniversary launched two days ago. It’s also limited to 500 pieces and priced at €3,980. So, with that price and such a large run, it would be reasonable to assume that it would take a while to sell out. Despite that, the Sinn website says that it’s out of stock. I believe that it’s just not on sale yet. See more on the Sinn website.

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Circula Teams Up With Guilloché Legend Jochen Benzinger For A Mesmerizing Facet

I still haven’t gotten over how sensationally good looking the ProSea collection from Circula is. They really know how to get the details right, and on the ProSea, it was the incredible texture on the dial that just grabbed my eyeballs and wouldn’t let go. Couldn’t stop thinking about it for months. Now, Circula is doing it to me again. About a year and a half ago, they launched the Facet line, a very serious, grown-up and good looking collection with a bunch of facets, as the name suggests. The watch was designed by Guy Bove, the former Creative Director of TAG Heuer and overall design legend. Now, they’re teaming up with another legend, Jochen Benzinger, recognized worldwide for his unique expertise and masterful command of traditional guilloché techniques. This is a very unique watch that only a few people will get to own because they are severely limited. This is the new Circula Facet Guilloche LE.

The case of the faced it mighty impressive. It measures an extremely pleasant 38mm wide and 10mm thick. But instead of using a curvy case, this is all about sharp angles and facets. On top is a brushed bezel surrounding a sapphire crystal and as you move towards the case you meet the first sets of polished facets. Moving downwards, the case has the same brushed surface on top with facets cuts into the sides that move towards the lugs and on to the bracelet and their highly polished surface seem to narrow down the look of the watch. While incredibly finished, it’s also a capable case with 100 meters of water resistance.

But oh, that dial. Somewhat surprisingly, it puts the date aperture at 6 o’clock. The tone-on-tone silver dial features a hand-guilloché moiré pattern that radiates wonderfully from that aperture. The more you look at it, the more fascinating the pattern gets, creating an almost hypnotic effect. It’s actually inspired by the three rivers that converge in Pforzheim. Around the dial is a brushed angled flange with cutouts for the faceted applied indices. The hour and minute hands are also faceted and filled with lume.

Inside, you’ll find the La Joux-Perret G100 automatic, which isn’t a clone of the ETA 2824 like the SW200, but rather an interesting alternative. It has the same beat rate of 4Hz, but also a much better power reserve of 68 hours, compared to the 38 hours of the 2824 clones. It has a palladium-plated tungsten rotor. The watch comes on a steel bracelet with strongly faceted sides that can be had on either a butterfly clasp or a tool-free micro-adjusting clasp.

The new Circula Facet Guilloche LE is seriously limited, with only 7 pieces being made, and price set at €5,340. That’s a significant jump from the rest of the Facet collection, but it features a hand made moiré guilloché dial, which makes it quite an attractive package. See more on the Circula website.

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Unimatic Expands Their 600m Prodiver Collection With Classic Black And Blue Options

Last summer, the very cool Italian brand Unimatic took a break from a great line of collaborations to go back to their roots and release another diver. However, while the divers they launched with had 100-200 meters of water resistance, the line they launched was the Prodiver 600. And you can imagine what that meant. It was a meticulously engineered watch made for actual diving, capable of going down to 600 meters. Since then, we got a bunch of cool collabroations again, but now, it’s time for new versions of the Prodiver 600, now in very classic colors — a black and a blue.

Both watches come in surprisingly compact cases. Not small, obviously, but relatively compact for what it is. It measures 41.5mm wide, 13.2mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 49mm. The case has a brushed finish, the lugs are drilled and on top is a 120-click unidirectional bezel with a ceramic insert in either blue or black. The bezel surrounds a domed sapphire crystal with an internal anti-reflective coating. Water resistance is, as the name says, 600 meters. Quite impressive.

There are two models available. The U1S-PD6-B gets a black dial, while the U1S-PD6-RB gets a blue one.They both have dual Super-LumiNova applications, combining white and orange glow for better contrast at night. At 6 o’clock is a small date window with color matched date discs.

Inside both watches is the very well known Sellita SW200-1 automatic that beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. All of the watches come with TPU two-piece quick-release straps color matched to the dial, and you can add a stainless steel bracelet.

The new Unimatic Modello Uno U1S-PD6-B and U1S-PD6-RB are available now, limited to 300 pieces per combination, priced at €1,320 on rubber and €1,420 on the steel bracelet. Keep in mind that this is the price without tax. See more on the Unimatic website.

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Czapek Shows Two Very Different MOP Dials In The Promenade Midnight Pearl And Antarctique S Ice Cloud

While the entire industry is cranking out stone dial watches, Czapek is playing with something different. That doesn’t mean that Czapek hasn’t done its fair share of stone dials — they have, and they were early on in the trend. But it does mean that what they are doing is very, very cool. They’ve teamed up with GT Cadrans, a very well known Swiss dialmaker, to give their Promenade and Antarctique S watches very special mother-of-pearl dials. We’ve seen plenty of MOP dials, but very few done like this.

On the outside, nothing much has changed. The Promenade comes in a brushed and polished stainless steel case that measures 38mm wide, 10.8mm thick, with a 42mm lug-to-lug. On top is a sapphire crystal glassbox, while out back is a flat sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 50 meters. The Antarctique S is Czapek’s integrated bracelet sports watch, also made out of brushed and polished stainless steel, measuring 38.5mm wide, 10.6mm thick, with a 42.8mm lug-to-lug. Again, a sapphire crystal glassbox on top and a flat one out back, with a 120 meters of water resistance.

But we’re here for the dials. The Promenade Midnight Pearl has a sandwich construction with aventurine glass on top, with a Tahitian mother-of-pearl disc underneath. At 4:40 is a small seconds sub-dial and to keep the dial as visible as possible, the arrow-shaped hands and indices at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are all openworked. The Antarctique S Ice Cloud uses a technique known as nacre brouillé, or scattered mother-of-pearl, which sees the white, polished nacre disc get hand applied varnish, creating random cloud patterns. The varnish is blue tinted to mimic the clouds over the Antarctic. You get the recognizable signature faceted indices and the central seconds hand has a red tip.

Inside both watches is the in-house SXH5 automatic movement, beating at 4Hz, with a 60 hour power reserve and wound by an off-centred platinum micro-rotor. The movement has seven bridges, five of which are openworked, decorated with hand-bevelled edges and straight-grained flanks. The Promenade comes on a dark blue Nubuck strap, while the Antarctique comes on an integrated steel bracelet, with an additional integrated rubber stra.

The Promenade Midnight Pearl is limited to 38 pieces, priced at €20,300, while the Antarctique S Ice Cloud is limited to 10 pieces, priced at €25,900. See more on the Czapek website.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS Watches You Might Not Have Seen, Week 65: Pierre Cardin’s Espace Watches At The Intersection Of Couture And Pop Industry

Why don't fashion brand make watches like these any more? Read it here. 

⏲️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

• Jane Ruffino’s reported feature for Wired opens with what is, so far, my favorite piece of magazine art this year. From there, you’re quickly aboard the Maasvliet, the diesel electric ship whose crew is tasked with hauling up thousands of kilometers of TAT-8—the first fiber-optic cable to span the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean, a feat that Ruffino describes as “practically tantamount to human galactic expansion.” An absolute showcase of explanatory writing, Ruffino’s story goes deep on the history and afterlife of the cables that enable digital communication, and grants the many people who manage such infrastructure some welcome visibility.

• “Some people are quiet because they’re afraid of things,” John Danaher, Helena Crevar’s Brazilian jiu jitsu coach, says. “She was quiet because she was industrious.” At 18, Crevar’s diligence and ferocity have made her a formidable opponent, a fighter who has won 98 percent of her matches, many against higher-ranking opponents. In Laura Mallonee’s profile, the same qualities make Crevar a corrective to those in the jiu jitsu world who fixate on the sport as a last bastion for “masculinity.”

• In this weed detective story, Lester Black goes on a year-long hunt for the legendary Big Sur Holy Weed. Did a monk named Perry really create the strain in the 1960s? Black clearly wants the myth to be true, but the world of weed is a hazy one. While it seems the Big Sur Holy weed may be more mythic reputation than a reliably preserved strain, in his fascinating search Black does uncover some plausible contenders — now themselves threatened by heavy-handed modern legislation.

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Anyone want to buy this newsletter for a few million? I really need this Kimera in my life right now.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk