Timex Gets Serious About Divers; Citizen Keeps Expanding The 37mm Tsuyosa; Hanhart Makes A Sharp Turn; A Violet 36mm Parmigiani Tonda PF; Roger Dubuis Goes To Japan’s Edo Castle

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. I’m not a fan of obsessing over a price of a watch, but I think there’s going to be an interesting discussion over what Timex did with their new diver. Go at it!

In this issue

• Timex Embraces Serious Divers With The Deepwater Meridian In Titanium, But It’s Going To Ruffle Feathers

• Citizen Keeps Expanding The 37mm Variant Of The Tsuyosa, Now In Gold And Silver

• Hanhart Makes A Sharp Turn With The Square by Square, A Watch Unlike Any They Made Before

• The 36mm Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Gets A Violet Dial, But Only In Singapore

• Roger Dubuis Sends The Knights Of The Round Table On A Visit To Japan’s Edo Castle

👂What’s new

1/

Timex Embraces Serious Divers With The Deepwater Meridian In Titanium, But It’s Going To Ruffle Feathers

Timex has a habit of building more watch than the price suggests, but even they aren’t immune to price creep. Recently, we’ve been seeing them break the €500 mark often, and even go into four figures. But those have usually been limited editions and small experiments. Now, however, we’re getting something interesting. It’s the new Deepwater Meridian 300 HEV, an evolution of the Deepwater Meridian but now done in titanium, with the addition of a helium escape valve. Timex is obviously aiming at Seiko here, with both the format and price. But would you spend almost €1,000 on a Timex diver?

The case is 44mm wide, 15mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 51mm, now made out of Grade 5 titanium instead of steel. That drops weight and improves corrosion resistance. Water resistance climbs from 200 meters to 300 meters, helped by a solid screw-down caseback that replaces the old display back. A unidirectional bezel with a black ceramic insert sits on top, and a brand new helium escape valve sits at 10 o'clock. That’s a move, certainly.

Two dials are available black or pale green. Both have oversized hands and applied markers sized for legibility underwater, and both use Nemoto SG-2200 lume on the hands, markers, and bezel. The green version goes further with a fully lumed dial. With the fully lumed dial it certainly does remind me of another famous affordable diver.

Inside is the Miyota 8215, a 21-jewel automatic running at 3 Hz with roughly 40 hours of reserve. It's not exciting, but it's honest, cheap to service, and hard to kill. The strap is a quick-release UV-resistant HNBR rubber with a pin buckle.

The Timex Deepwater Meridian 300 HEV is available for pre-order now through Timex, with deliveries expected in late November 2026. At €959 for a 300 meter diver with a titanium case and a HEV, even despite the Miyota 8-series movement, it’s not that bad a deal. However, almost €1,000 for a Timex diver in a world where you can get the Deepwater Reef 200 Titanium Automatic with no HEV and just 100 meters of water resistance less (and also a more wearable 41mm) for just over €500 does seem like a tough sell. See more on the Timex website.

2/

Citizen Keeps Expanding The 37mm Variant Of The Tsuyosa, Now In Gold And Silver

The Tsuyosa has been Citizen's instant success story since the moment the first model was released. And no wonder, it’s a good integrated-bracelet sports watch for not much money. The thing is, it was just good, as people wanted a smaller size and a better movement. Recently, they released the 37mm variant, but with the old movement, and a 40mm, but with a new and upgraded movement. Now you don’t have to pick any more, as they’re putting the better movement into the smaller case with the new NK0032-56A.

The case is 37mm wide in stainless steel, here with a full yellow gold-tone coating. Vertical brushing runs across most of the surfaces with a polished smooth bezel. Water resistance is 50 meters, which is fine for a watch built for everyday wear, but 100 would certainly be more welcome.

The dial has the radial three-dimensional texture from the other Tsuyosa 60 models. The base is silver with gold-tone applied markers and matching hands, all lumed, plus the usual date at 3 o'clock.

Inside is Citizen's caliber 8310, an automatic beating at 3 Hz with a 60-hour power reserve. And that’s the main attraction of this release. Previous models came with the caliber 8210 which only had 42 hours of power reserve. You can see the movement through the sapphire caseback, with Geneva stripes, blued screws and a signed rotor. The five-link gold colored bracelet takes its cue from the Jubilee style, alternating brushed and polished links, closed by a butterfly clasp.

The Tsuyosa 60 37mm is available now for $675 through Citizen boutiques and authorised retailers. Quite the price. See more on the Citizen website.

3/

Hanhart Makes A Sharp Turn With The Square by Square, A Watch Unlike Any They Made Before

Hanhart is a German brand you know for pilot's chronographs and fluted red reset buttons, which is why their Aquasphere, a diver released last year, was such a huge surprise. But that was pretty much the same format, in essence. So, imagine the shock when Hanhart casually announced they’re releasing the Square by Square. It comes from a design competition entry — the Dubai Watch Week x Grail Watch contest, where it made the finals in the out-of-the-box shaped-watch category — and it looks like nothing else in the catalogue. Munich designer Marcus Wiedemann pulled proportions and construction ideas from Hanhart's own archive of vintage shaped watches, then reworked them into something rarely seen. Hanhart made six watches, and there’s no indication these will make it to regular production, which they most certainly should. The good news is that they are selling the six.

The steel case is not round, not rectangular, and not quite a cushion. It measures 40mm from 12 to 6, 38mm from 9 to 3, and 10.9mm thick, with a very short lug-to-lug of 32.8mm and short lugs built into the case shape, so it should sit easily on most wrists. Three prototypes get a sandblasted matte case, three a polished one. The sapphire crystal is quite impressive, strongly domed and spilling over the edges of the case. Hanhart says several crystals shattered before they figured out how to make it. Water resistance is 100 meters, and the crown is tucked discreetly onto the side.

The dial is extremely dimensional, tiered, with a deep stepped rehaut framing everythin. Three prototypes come in deep blue with a sunburst finish, three in mother-of-pearl. Applied numerals and indices are done in steel to match the case, precise and technical with no nod to old Hanhart typography. Speaking of typography, these might be the prettiest numerals I’ve seen all year. The hands are skeletonised, multi-faceted, fully polished, and when they meet at 12 they form a long diamond.

Inside is the automatic Sellita SW1000-1 b, a good fit for a slim case, beating at 4 Hz with 18 jewels and a 46-hour power reserve. Strap width is 16mm, with a choice of straps at that narrow lug spacing.

The Hanhart Square by Square is a limited run of six, three blue and three mother-of-pearl, priced at €1,890 including taxes. Great price for a very fun watch. See how to get one on the Hanhart website.

4/

The 36mm Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Gets A Violet Dial, But Only In Singapore

Parmigiani Fleurier keeps mining the Tonda PF for regional exclusives, and with other brands it would get kind of annoying at this point. But the Tonda PF is such a pretty watch that I’ll gladly see thousands of limited variants. This latest is made for Singapore retailer Sincere Fine Watches, using the 36mm variant of the Tonda PF, and comes with a Soft Violet dial.

The case is 36mm wide and only 8.6mm thick, made out of stainless steel with the alternating polished and satin-brushed surfaces that we’ve seen before. The bezel is hand-knurled platinum, which doesn’t convey in pictures how good it looks in real life. Sapphire crystals front and back, screwed-in crown, water-resistant to 100 meters.

The dial has Parmigiani's Grain d'Orge guilloché, a fine barleycorn pattern that catches light and shifts the colour between violet, blue, and lavender depending on the angle. Indices are applied 18ct gold with a rhodium plating, and the delta-shaped hands are skeletonised so they don't fight the dial for attention.

Inside is the in-house calibre PF770, an automatic built specifically to fit this 36mm case, beating at 4 Hz with a 60-hour reserve. Through the sapphire back you see the Côtes de Genève, bevelled bridges, and a skeletonised 22ct rose gold rotor. It comes on a matching steel bracelet with a folding clasp.

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Soft Violet SHH Edition is sold only through Sincere Fine Watches and SHH at Marina Bay Sands and limited to 50 pieces. Price is set at S$37,650. See more on the SSH website.

5/

Roger Dubuis Sends The Knights Of The Round Table On A Visit To Japan’s Edo Castle

Some 16 years ago, Roger Dubuis introduced the Knights of the Round Table watch, and it’s exactly what you think it is. A massive piece of wrist art that also tells time, but primarily serves as a vessel for incredible miniature work that includes 12 knights sitting around a round table. 16 years of anything is impressive, but 16 years of dedication to this craft is just sensational. Now, we’re getting the new Excalibur The Kabuto Legacy which moves the idea to 17th-century Japan, swapping medieval knights for 12 micro-sculpted samurai helmets ringing an abstract Edo Castle. To keep the history straight, the brand brought in Frederik Cryns, the Japanese history professor who consulted on Shōgun. This is so incredibly cool.

The case is 45mm wide and 16.87mm thick, made out of 18k pink gold, with a dramatically fluted bezel that has a sapphire ring under it, and the signature third central lug all present. Water resistance is 30 meters, which is beside the point on a watch like this but worth pointing out.

The 12 helmets are each hand-engraved from 18k pink gold, modeled on real early-17th-century commanders. And each is very recognizable through the details: Tokugawa Ieyasu's fern crest, Honda Tadakatsu's deer antlers, Date Masamune's crescent moon. At the center sits the Edo Castle, built from 17 separate elements in pink gold, black PVD, and deep blue CVD, the blue inspired by the indigo of samurai textiles. The layering and mix of finishes give you plenty to stare at.

Inside is the in-house calibre RD821, an automatic with a central rotor, Poinçon de Genève certification, 172 components, beating at 4Hz with a 48-hour power reserve. The caseback is framed by a blue-coated pink-gold ring laser-engraved with all 12 crests. The watch ships on a blue calfskin strap with stitched leather tiles meant to echo samurai armour, alongside a second strap and a pink-gold folding buckle with quick release.

The Excalibur The Kabuto Legacy (ref. RDDBEX1139) is limited to 28 pieces, and price is on request. Seeing how previous variants hovered at the CHF 300,000 point, expect this one to be there as well. See more on the Roger Dubuis 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

• Emily Wilson is easily the most controversial classicist in the world. Which is an incredibly weird thing to say; who would have thought a classicist could be controversial. Well, she drew the ire of Odyssey fans around the world with her translation of Homer that painted the story and characters in a much different light than previous translations. Nolan hinted during production of his adaptation that a lot of cues were taken from Wilson’s translation. Now, she published her review of the Odyssey movie in the London Review of Books. And if you thought that the fact there is a classicist relevant enough to be controversial was weird, what you might find even more weird is that this review crashed the London Review of Books website yesterday. Wilson panned Nolan.

• Travis Diehl’s feature on “Star Axis,” the half-century project of artist Charles Ross, is transportive, an ideal combination of explanatory and sensory writing. Not all of us will make it to the sparse section of Anton Chico, New Mexico, to ascend the steps of Ross’s pyramid and see the stars reel. For those of us who don’t, Diehl’s piece makes for an elegant consolation prize.

• A finger hovers over “click here,” the promise of pleasure just a tap away—endless feeds, optimized bodies, algorithmic desire. Yet the more we indulge, the duller it all feels. In an age of abundance without satisfaction, genuine pleasure has thinned to a ghost, reshaped by power, profit, and control, even as it remains the thing we cannot stop chasing.

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Lately, I’ve been thinking that the Porsche 928 automatic might be the most underrated car Porsche ever made. Looks like I was right.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk