TAG Adds Sand Dial To The Glassbox 39; Seiko Is Crystal-Inspired On The Astron; Autodromo Doubles Down On 80s Turbo Nostalgia; A The Jade Dial Gerald Charles Maestro Ultra-Thin; MB&F Makes A Robot

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’ve been saying for a while that I want a modern, 80s inspired ana-digi watch. Thanks Autodromo!

In this issue

• TAG Heuer Adds A Sand Dial To The Carrera Chronograph Glassbox 39

• Seiko Takes Inspiration From Crystals For The New Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph Dials

• Autodromo Doubles Down On 80s Turbo Nostalgia With An Extremely Cool Ana-Digi

• The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin For The Asian Market Gets A Jade Dial

• MB&F Unveils The Horological Machine No. 12 The Guardian, A Wristwatch That Is Literally A Robot's Head

👂What’s new

1/

TAG Heuer Adds A Sand Dial To The Carrera Chronograph Glassbox 39

The Carrera Chronograph Glassbox has had a busy few years. Blue, panda, reverse panda, purple, teal, black — TAG Heuer has been running through the dial color spectrum like there’s no tomorrow. And I don’t mind it at all. The latest is a European limited edition on the 39mm Glassbox chassis, this time with a sand-colored.

The case is 39mm wide and 13.9mm thick in stainless steel, with a mix of brushed and polished surfaces, a steel crown, and round pump-style chronograph pushers. The defining feature remains the highly domed sapphire crystal sitting flush with the case, unsupported by a bezel, the detail that gave this platform its Glassbox name. A sapphire caseback shows the movement. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is a finely grained sand color, paired with anthracite azuré chronograph registers in a tricompax layout, with counters at three and nine o'clock and a silver-finished running seconds at six. The anthracite tachymeter flange carries the same dark tone as the sub-dials. Rhodium-plated applied markers and hands contrast clearly against the sand, and beige lacquered hands on the counters echo the base color. Date display sits at six o'clock.

Under the caseback is the TH20-00, TAG Heuer's in-house integrated automatic chronograph built on the architecture of the Heuer 02, with column wheel and vertical clutch. It runs at 4Hz with an 80-hour power reserve. The watch ships on a beige perforated calfskin racing strap with a steel folding clasp featuring double push-buttons and an engraved TAG Heuer shield.

The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Limited Edition is limited to 500 pieces for the European market, priced at €7,900. See more on the TAG Heuer website.

2/

Seiko Takes Inspiration From Crystals For The New Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph Dials

The Astron GPS Solar line has been Seiko's flagship technological statement since the original launched in 2012, and the recently redesigned generation got its anniversary release earlier this year. These two new limited editions follow directly from that redesign, keeping the same updated case architecture and adding a new dial concept. Neither the green nor the pink is an understated option, and Seiko isn't pretending otherwise.

The case is made out of titanium, 43.4mm wide, 12.4mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 50mm. A super-hard coating protects the metal, and the new two-piece octagonal bezel contrasts brushed upper surfaces with polished faceted edges. It's a more complex-looking bezel than what the previous generation offered, and it gives the case a sharper profile. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dials feature a pressed motif meant to evoke the natural facets of quartz crystal, distinct from the geometric patterning on earlier Astron dials. The Crystal Green (SSHB05) references green quartz, and the Crystal Pink (SSHB06) takes its cue from rose formations. Applied hour markers and hands carry LumiBrite, and there's a minute track and UTC scale around the outer edge. The sub-dials for the calibre 5X63 sit at three, six, and nine o'clock, which gives the dial a more balanced layout than earlier versions.

Powering both is Seiko's calibre 5X63 GPS Solar movement, which connects to the GPS satellite network to set the correct time zone automatically, making time zone adjustment entirely hands-free. The solar charging gives it a six-month power reserve when fully charged. Functions include dual time, chronograph, date, day, and perpetual calendar. Each watch ships with both an integrated titanium bracelet and a black silicone strap, swappable without tools via Seiko's quick-release system.

The Seiko Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph Crystal Green and Crystal Pink are each limited to 1,200 pieces worldwide, priced at €3,000. Both go on sale in July 2026. See more on the Seiko website.

3/

Autodromo Doubles Down On 80s Turbo Nostalgia With An Extremely Cool Ana-Digi

I’ve always had my eye on Autodromo watches, but never actually owned one. Which is strange, as they sit on the intersection of vintage cars and 70s and 80s nostalgia, two things I’m very much a fan of. I was close to getting a Group C, a digital watch they released a couple of years ago, bot no go. Now, however, it seems that I don’t have much of a choice. You see, Autodromo just released the Group C Turbo Sport, an ana-digi watch. And you know how much I love an ana-digi.

The case is very cool, made out of anodized aluminum with a stainless steel caseback, measuring 38.5mm wide and 11.4mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 40mm — compact enough. It weighs 58 grams. Lug width is 20mm, fitted with an FKM rubber strap with a nylon inlay. Three colorways are available: silver case with gray dial and neon green hands; black case with black dial and pink-red details; gold case with black dial and yellow details. Each has four pushers, with the bottom-right pusher color-coded per model (blue on silver and gold, red on black). Water resistance is 50 meters, which could be better.

The dial gets a background grid pattern that is properly '80s. Up top, the Autodromo name sits below 12 o'clock with "Group C" text at 6 — the latter clearly influenced by Porsche. The digital display occupies the lower portion of the dial and is kept proportionally small, calling back to early LCD odometer readouts on period tachometers. Combined, the analog and digital functions cover three time zones, a daily alarm, a 1/100th chronograph, and 12H/24H formatting.

I have no idea what the movement inside is, and I’m not particularly bothered by it. The watches come on a rubber/nylon strap combination.

The Autodromo Group C Turbo Sport is available now at $450. See more on the Autodromo website.

4/

The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin For The Asian Market Gets A Jade Dial

While not exactly my cup of tea, the Gerald Charles has been doing interesting things with the Maestro 2.0's dial lately. The meteorite version was their first real material play for the model, and now they're following it with something considerably harder to pull off — a jade dial, done for and dedicated exclusively to Asian markets.

The Maestro case is what it always has been: that distinctive rounded octagon assembled from 35 individual steel components, with the stepped, CNC-machined bezel and Gerald Charles' Ergonteq architecture for wrist comfort. Here it measures 39mm wide and 41mm long, just 9mm thick. The polished finish suits it well. The crown has a Clous de Paris texture and a screw-down design, and you get 100 meters of water resistance, which is impressive for something this thin and this dressy.

The jade dial is the new thing about this release, and the technical story behind it is compelling. Jade is harder and more brittle than most stones used in watches, and the specific challenge here was machining it to the exact contours of the Maestro case. The final dial thickness is 0.4mm. Getting there required custom supports, near-zero vibration tolerances, and super slow speeds. The rejection rate on these is high. I assume that Gerald Charles went with a completely uninterrupted surface, no indices and no numerals, for that exact reason — cut down on the risk of dial fracture. Baton-shaped polished hands in silver have white Super-LumiNova with a green tint at night.

Inside is the manufacture Calibre GCA2000. It runs at 4Hz and has a 50-hour power reserve. The bridges get a colimaçon, Côtes de Genève, and perlage treatment, with yellow gold engravings. The central oscillating weight is gold-finished. The white rubber strap has a Clous de Paris texture on top and GC logos on the lining.

The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin Asia Edition is limited to 80 pieces and priced at CHF 23,000. I would say see more on the Gerald Charles website, but it’s not on the website just yet.

5/

MB&F Unveils The Horological Machine No. 12 The Guardian, A Wristwatch That Is Literally A Robot's Head

This is it, boys and girls. This is the wildest watch I’ve seen in Geneva and I couldn’t talk about it while it was embargo. MB&F had so much fun introducing us to this… thing. It was all hush-hush, behind closed doors, quite serious and cloth covered. Until they pulled the cloth back, that is, because that’s when the giggles started. You don’t get to see a wrist watch that comes with a companion robot. And not just a statue of a robot, but the new MB&F HM12 The Guardian actually slots into the robot and becomes its head. It’s wild, it’s fun and it’s serious watchmaking.

The case is Grade 5 titanium, 49.3mm long, 43.6mm wide, and 13.8mm thick. For an MB&F Horological Machine, those numbers are relatively restrained, and the curved profile with articulated upper lugs makes it wear like a dream. Even if it is a bit large, it’s hilarious enough to not mind. Extensive sapphire construction forms the upper section and floods the movement with light from multiple angles; the flying tourbillon is visible from above and laterally through a sapphire window at 12 o'clock. Parts of the case also have colored lume inserts.

The dial, or what could be interpreted as a dial, is very robotic in its look. The jumping hours subdial on the left and the trailing minutes on the right seem to make up the eyes, while the open aperture at 6 o’clock looks like an open mouth that holds one side of a battle-axe-shaped micro-rotor that moves constantly as the watch is worn. The flying tourbillon occupies the brain position above. Then there is the face shield. Yeah, a face shield that’s activated with the crown on the left side of the case. Rotate it and you slide out the metal louvers that slide across the dial to cover or reveal the robot's face. This mechanism is entirely independent of the movement and accounts for over 200 of the watch's components on its own. The shield assembly is mechanically more complex than many complete watches.

The movement is a new in-house calibre built specifically for this watch: 646 components, 86 jewels, jumping hours, trailing minutes, flying tourbillon, double-sided micro-rotor, face shield integration, and 84 hours of power reserve. Flip it over and you see why it’s a brand new movement. Not just because of the shape that matches the case, but also because of the geometry that mimics another robot face on the back. The guilloché on the domed rotor was executed in collaboration with Kari Voutilainen. The watch ships on a Velcro strap.

The MB&F HM12 The Guardian will be produced in three colour editions — green, blue, and purple — each limited to 12 pieces. Price is set at CHF 280.000, without tax. See more on the MB&F 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

• For The New York Times, Rukmini Callimachi reports from a thatched village in Suffolk, England, on the dying craft of long-straw thatching, and the feud it has sparked within England’s small community of “master thatchers.” Drawing on conversations with craftspeople and historians— and time spent alongside a long-straw thatcher—Callimachi explores a simmering debate: long-straw, believed to be England’s original roof material; versus water reed, which is more durable, easier to source, and imported from Eastern Europe and China. With only 20 or 30 long-straw specialists left, the people who can even tell the difference are disappearing, too.

• For some people, the triggers are the sounds of eating—chewing, slurping, crunching. For others, they may be other sounds heard every day. What they share is misophonia, a neurophysiological disorder characterized by two things: a severe aversion to certain sounds, and a struggle to convince others of the severity of their condition. Because misophonia isn’t yet recognized with an official code in either the ICD (International Classification of Diseases) or the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), sufferers can find themselves dismissed by doctors and forced to reshape their lives around a condition the medical establishment has yet to officially name. Sloane Crosley’s illuminating feature examines what misophonia looks like, how debilitating it can be for sufferers and their families, and what treatments are currently available, from CBT and talk therapy to AI-enhanced noise-canceling headphones.

• Utah’s health care providers are being forced to adapt to America’s new reality, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again. Unable to contain the spread of measles—now detected in every health jurisdiction in the state—providers are trying to mitigate harm.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

I’m a bit heavy on the car rotation over the past few days, but I’m not sorry about it.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk