Timex Takes Big Step Forward With Atelier Marine M1a; A Manhattan From Fears And Studio Underd0g; Tudor's First Moonphase; JLC's Grey Sector Dial; Stone Dial Czapek Antarctique; New David Candeaux

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Can’t remember the last time I look forward to a weekend as much as this one. It’s raining here in Zagreb and I think I’m going to sleep off the week. In the meantime, how about that Timex, eh?

KIND OF IMPORTANT: I’m looking for someone to help me out with building up the ad side of this newsletter. If you think this is you, drop me a note

In this issue

• Timex Takes A Big Step Forward With The Really Great Looking Atelier Marine M1a

• Fears And Studio Underd0g Come Together For Another Cocktail, A Refreshing Manhattan

• Tudor Introduces Their First Moonphase Watch, The 1926 Luna

• Jaeger-LeCoultre Adds A Really Nice Grey Sector Dial To The Master Control Calendar

• Czapek Gives Their Antarctique Mount Erebus A Trio Of Very Cool Stone Dials

• David Candeaux Introduces The Patent-Filled DC12 MaveriK With A Free Double Balance

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

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: The Environmental Reality of Sapphire Crystal Watchmaking

👂What’s new

1/

Timex Takes A Big Step Forward With The Really Great Looking Atelier Marine M1a

For decades, Timex has dominated the affordable watch game. They make incredibly good looking watches — particularly so in the past few years — at unbeatable prices. True, keeping prices low often means that they had to cut corners somewhere, so some watches might not be equipped with the best of movements and there were particular complaints about the bracelets. Also over the past few years, Timex experimented with higher prices, like in the Giorgio Galli series which brought a much more serious approach to watchmaking to the otherwise affordable brand. Now, they’re giving it another shot with the new Atelier collection. This is the new Timex Atelier Marine M1a with a great look, serious build quality, an interesting movement and price to match.

The case is a combination of a very traditional diver’s watch, with a satin brushed finish, mixed with a very interesting skeletonized side construction that has an iron-plated midcase. I’ve never seen iron-plating before, but it sure does look interesting. On the side are hollow crown guards that match the groove cut into the side and on top is a sapphire crystal with triple-layer anti-reflective coating. That’s surrounded by a unidirectional rotating bezel with a black ceramic insert that has a green lumed 60 minute scale. The insert has a very retro, bakelite-like, look and I love it. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The dial looks simple, but it’s actually quite intriguing. The black base is made out of enamel, surrounded by a brushed metal ring and a sloping flange with a fully graduated 60 minute scale. The circular, rectangular and triangular hour markers cut into the metal ring and are filled with green-tinted lume, just like the faceted hands.

Inside, quite the interesting movement. I’ll admit, this is the first time I hear of the Catena movement manufacture, but from what I gather, they’ve been used in Mathey-Tissot watches for some time. The movement is called the Catena SA100, and seeing how it’s an automatic beating at 4Hz with a 38 hour power reserve, you might already guess that it’s based on the ETA 2824-2 architecture. But, no, it’s not, it’s a completely different setup. Interesting. It’s decorated with Geneva stripes and perlage and supposedly has an accuracy of ±15 seconds a day. The watch can be had on either a three-link stainless steel bracelet with micro-adjust in the hidden clasp, or a black Nitrile Butadiene Rubber strap paired with a butterfly clasp.

The new Timex Atelier Marine M1a is on sale now, with a price that’s way above what you might expect for a Timex — €900 on rubber and €1,000 on steel. But I think it’s worth it. See more on the Timex website.

2/

Fears And Studio Underd0g Come Together For Another Cocktail, A Refreshing Manhattan

One of the best watches of last year, maybe even the last few years, was a collaboration between two very British, but also very different watchmakers — Fears and Studio Underd0g. Fears is known for their very classic and serious watches, while Studio Underd0g is all whimsy, all the time. So, when they came together last year to create the Gimlet, it was absolute perfection. It came with a light green dial that mimics the color of the famous cocktail packed into a very classic Brunswick case. It was also a super affordable entry into the Fears brand, with what is likely their best looking creation. Severely limited, it sold out in minutes. But the cocktails keep pouring, as the two brands are coming together for another drink, this one in time for the WindUp Watch Fair NYC. And of course, the cocktail is the Manhattan.

The watch is based on Fears’ smaller cushion shaped Brunswick. The watch has a very nice size and measures 38mm wide, 12mm thick and with a 43.5mm lug-to-lug. The L2L is great thanks to the short lugs, and on the side is an onion crown. Water resistance is 100 meters.

Just like the Gimlet, the collaboration is on full display on the dial. It ditches the lumed trick of the original, but keeps the incredibly cool multi-layer construction. The base is is a sunburst silver plate with a radial fumé finish, which gives all the texture of the dial. On top of that is a 1mm-thick amber sapphire disc held down by two slotted-head pins, which is where all the color comes from. The transparent disc also has the retro-styled cream-colored printed hour markers that cast a shadow on the base. It’s beautiful.

Inside, you’ll find the manually wound Sellita SW210 which beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a tobacco brown leather strap. leather strap made by The Strap Tailor and closed with a pin buckle that has both Studio Underd0g and Fears branding.

The new Fears x Studio Underd0g The Manhattan is a limited watch, but now they’re making 300 instead of 200 like they did with The Gimlet. The only way to buy one will be during the WindUp Watch Fair NYC, October 17th - 19th, available in a first come, first serve order. Price is set at a pretty spectacular €1,000. See more on the Studio Underd0g website.

3/

Tudor Introduces Their First Moonphase Watch, The 1926 Luna

Day in and day out we think of Tudor as a sports watch brand. And they are, for the most part. I’m sure that the Pelagos and Black Bay collections make up the vast, vast majority of their sales, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t make more elegant watches. For one, there’s the classic Royal, the women’s Claire de Rose model, as well as the elegant 1926 line. It’s the 1926 that Tudor chose to update now with a first for the brand — a moon phase complication. This is the new Tudor 1926 Luna trio.

The case of the 1926 Luna is about as classic as can get and the moon phase complication didn’t mess with the thickness. It measures 39mm wide and 10.1mm thick, and the stainless steel case has a fully polished finish. On top is a domed sapphire crystal, the crown screws down and you get 100 meters of water resistance, which is great for a dressier-type watch.

The new dials come in black with gold-coloured accents, blue with silver details and champagne with blackened details. All three of the dials feature a sunray-brushed finish, Arabic numerals on the even numbers and triangular markers on the odd ones, a date aperture at 3 o’clock and zero lume on the markers and leaf-shaped hands. They all have large circles that hold the moonphase indicator done in contrasting colors.

Inside, you don’t get a Kenissi movement, like pretty much all the other Tudor models. Instead, you get a modified Sellita SW280-1 which beats at 4Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. The movement is adjusted to an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day. All three watches come on a 7-link steel bracelet closed by a folding clasp.

The new Tudor 1926 Luna is available now, priced at €2,630. See more on the Tudor website.

4/

Jaeger-LeCoultre Adds A Really Nice Grey Sector Dial To The Master Control Calendar

There are many, many Jaeger-LeCoultre models that are way more popular than the Master Control Calendar collection. And I kind of get it. There are more interesting complications, the Reverso does wild things with both design and packaging and the Polaris sports watches are just great. But what if you want a reliable, iconic and understated dress watch. Well, I don’t know if you can get much better than the Master Control Calendar. Especially with this very cool new grey dial with some fantastic textures and a sector setup.

The Master Control comes in a simple case and even with a complete calendar complication it keeps a thin profile. The case is made out of stainless steel and measures 40mm wide and 10.95mm thick. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom, and since the crown is a push-pull one, you get 50 meters of water resistance. Not much more to it.

But where there is more to say is on the dial. It looks like a revival of a vintage JLC, but it only looks it. This is an all-new, but retro-inspired, sector dial. It’s made up of a series of sectors in darker and lighter shades of grey and a beautiful grained texture. Around the perimeter is a pointer date scale that has a pretty cool setup — there’s a huge gap between the 15th and 16th date, where the red tipped date hand jumps to not obscure the moonphase display at 6 o’clock. That display also serves as a small seconds, while above the hands you’ll find the two small openings for the day and month indicator. The applied markers, Arabic numerals and dauphine-style hands are all rendered in a silver color.

Inside, you’ll find the calibre 866, an automatically wound complete calendar movement. The movement beats at 4Hz and has a 70 hour power reserve. It’s decorated with côtes de Genève across its bridges and rotor plus countersunk jewels and fine beveling. Being a Master Control watch, it means that it undergoes a six-week testing regime that tests across multiple positions, power levels and temperatures. The watch comes on a calfskin leather strap with a deployant clasp.

Unfortunately, this new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Calendar is a limited edition and only 500 will be made. Price is set at $15,300. See more on the Jaeger-LeCoultre website.

5/

Czapek Gives Their Antarctique Mount Erebus A Trio Of Very Cool Stone Dials

Back in 2020, Czapek & Cie. launched its Antarctique collection, their version of an integrated bracelet luxury sports watch, to great success. Over four years it’s gotten a huge number of variations, including material changes from stainless steel to titanium. But it also took four years for the Antarctique to get a gold version, so last year they introduced the Antarctique Mount Erebus, named after the active volcano on Antarctica that throws out gold from the depths of the planet. Now, the Antarctique Mount Erebus gets a set of stunning stone dials.

On the outside, nothing new. The cases of these three watch measure 40.5mm wide and a svelte 10.6mm thick and there are two options — a 18k rose gold and 18k yellow gold. The gold cases get a brushed finish with a polished details. On the front is a box style sapphire crystal with an AR coating, out back is a sapphire caseback. The crown screws in and gives you 120 meters of water resistance, which I love on a gold watch.

The yellow gold watch comes with a dial made out of a slice of the Gibeon meteorite, with its iconic Windmanstätten pattern, which is acid etched and covered with a translucent green lacquer. The rose gold variants come with either a lapis lazuli dial or a falcon’s eye dial which has a black and orange color. All of the dials have applied indices and hands in a case-matching material, both filled with lume. Since the dials are made out of stone, Czapek also ditched the date aperture.

Inside all three is the same movement, the in-house SXH5 platinum micro-rotor calibre which beats at 4Hz and has a 60 hour power reserve. The watches come on a brushed gold bracelet featuring polished C-links and a rubber strap with a gold deployant buckle.

The new Czapek Antarctique Mount Erebus stone dial variants are limited production, with the Lapis Lazuli and Falcon Eye being made in 10 pieces per year each and the Lapis Lazuli being limited to 8 pieces in total. The Falcon Eye is priced at CHF 62,000, the Green Meteor at CHF 63,000 and the Lapis Lazuli at CHF 66,000. See more on the Czapek website.

6/

David Candeaux Introduces The Patent-Filled DC12 MaveriK With A Free Double Balance

Going into Geneva Watch Days, I knew of David Candeaux. They caught my eye with their “Magic Crown”, which was positioned on the face of the watch at 6 o’clock and was activated — or pulled out — with a push release mechanism. I gave them an approving nod, but maybe dismissed them as a bit of a gimmick. Having met the brand at GWD, I came out as a true believer. I fell deeply in love with the DC1 Titanium and am now trying to figure out how to put together €200k for a watch. In the meantime, David Candeaux just introduced their new watch, the DC12 MaveriK which carries forward some of the coolest details from previous DC watches, while introducing three new patents, including the coveted double balance.

Starting with that cool case, it looks familiar to previous DC models, but with its own twist. The case is made out of titanium that has a satin-brushed and hand-polished finish, measuring 39.5mm wide and 11.7mm thick. Writing that makes it seem like a regular case. But it’s not. It’s fully curved, with the top and bottom running in parallel, asymmetric from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock and symmetric from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Pretty wild. The curved lugs extend from the sides, creating a large gap at either side of the case, but at 6 o’clock the case extends further down to house the magic crown which sits flush against the surface until you press on it and it pops up. Oh, and also, it’s a top-loading case and you get 50 meters of water resistance.

Moving on to the dial, it has a chips-shaped dial made out of nickel silver, with a multi-level construction. At the centre is a central hour disc in white opal, circled by diamond-polished rings and with black pad-printed Arabic numerals. The indexes sit on an angled ring, applied and doen in grey gold. Time is indicated with flame-blued stainless steel hour and minute hands, beveled and hand-polished, while at 12 is an opening that shows the planetary differential with flying satelllite, also acting as a small seconds indicator.

But as cool as the rest of the watch is, it’s all about that movement. The double balance is a holy grail of watchmaking, as it hasn’t exactly been integrated in many movements. But it’s one of the most effective – and most complex – solutions to optimize real-world precision. Two balances, functioning independently yet compensating each other, achieve a radical equilibrium in the service of accuracy But each escapement requires its own energy, and simulations demands can disturb the movement. The classic solution was to move the differential away from the seconds’ train, at the expense of precision. DC does the opposite, and places a flying satellite planetary mounted on a hairspring shock absorber at the core of the seconds’ train. That’s patent number one.

Patent number two is a secured winding system that ensures that energy flows in the correct direction and does not damage the movement. The third patent covers the winding and time-setting mechanism, in which the crown engages either the two mainsprings or the time-setting function, independently and compactly, resulting in more precision robustness, and fluidity. It beats at 3Hz and has a 58 hour power reserve. It’s also good looking, made out of titanium with hand-polished beveled angles and polished chamfers, with mirror-polished, straight-grained, pearling under the cascade bridges, a snow-grained finishing and black-polished screws and pins. The watch comes on a blue handmade rubber strap with a velcro closure.

The new David Candeaux DC12 MaveriK is not limited in number, but only about 10 to 15 will be made per year. Price is set at CHF 98,000. See more on the David Candeaux website. 

SPECIAL FEATURE: The Serica 6190 Field Chronometer: Crafting Legacy Through Adventure and Precision

The dawn breaks over a rugged ridge, a spill of amber light softening the sharp contours of an ancient forest and the narrow path threading between wild ferns and moss. A solitary figure kneels on dew-misted grass, fingers deft and steady closing the flap of a weathered journal. On her wrist sits a modest yet compelling timepiece, its matte enamel dial catching the early light, luminous markers glowing faintly after a night beneath the stars. The watch is the Serica 6190 Field Chronometer.

This watch, with its crisp edges and purposeful design, is a living artifact of contemporary culture’s intricate dance with heritage, exploration, and craft. In the quiet of that morning wilderness, it stands at a crossroads where three powerful but distinct cultural threads converge today: the adventurous spirit demanding raw, self-defining experiences; the indelible imprint of military heritage shaping ideals and aesthetics; and a vigorous revival of craftsmanship deeply skeptical of the disposable, digital age.

Adventure culture is far more than just thrill-seeking or travel; it is a way of knowing oneself and the world, an ethos that indicts the mundane and celebrates the unknown. Its roots extend into the human psyche’s quest for meaning through challenge and transformation. Once the realm of heroic explorers and elite adventurers, today’s adventure culture has democratized, propelled by global connectivity, social media, and growing environmental consciousness. More people than ever seek experiences that transcend tourism, pursuing a deeper engagement with nature and themselves—a phenomenon that scholars have described as involving “cross-boundary learners who discover new selves through serendipitous encounters.” This is not mere escapism but a cultural imperative to live fully, authentically, and consciously.

The accessibility of adventure today owes much to technological advances and shifting societal values. High-performance gear once reserved for specialists now reaches broad audiences, while micro-adventures in urban or semi-remote settings supplement longer expeditions. The rise of “coolcations,” where experience supplants excess, and social media platforms showcasing raw, unfiltered personal narratives have embedded adventure deeply within contemporary identity and aspiration. Adventure culture is increasingly seen as a lens on life, a way to cultivate resilience and presence.

Read the rest of this essay here.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Historical Perspectives: Watches at the Edge of the World, Kon-Tiki and the Eterna Connection

A Voyage of Bold Theories, Epic Seas, and Resilient Watches. 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

• Be prepared to cringe, for Tom Lamont is not afraid to dig deep into the disgusting tales of Britain’s “extreme cleaner,” Ben Giles. Giles has turned Britain’s darkest clean-ups—murder scenes, hoarder homes, biohazard disasters—into a nationwide business. His story reveals both the hidden human toll of such work and the surprising professionalism behind extreme cleaning.

• So you’re a rancher, and your sheep keep getting pneumonia. What do you do? If you’re Jack Schubarth, you implant them with cloned embryos of a bigger, hardier species—like, say, the Marco Polo argali. So what if it lives only in Central Asia? All you need is some DNA and a dream. For New York, Alice Hines tells the tale of Schubarth and his large adult ovine son, Montana Mountain King. Turns out this is only the tip of the ram’s horn; all over the country, startups are cloning and gene-editing their way to all kinds of animals.

• Zackery Nazario died after climbing on top of a moving train in Brooklyn. He was just 15 years old. But why did Nazario get on top of a train in the first place? Callie Holtermann’s reporting dives into the culture of subway surfing—risky stunt videos filmed atop trains—which proliferate on TikTok and Instagram despite being explicitly forbidden. Nazario, who was constantly online, was drawn into this culture. And according to his mother, Norma Nazario, the platforms hosting this content should now be blamed for his death.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Do they really not make stuff like they did before? What a great idea for a video.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk