Tudor's Pelagos FXD Chrono Yellow Is All About The Tour de France; Batavi’s Take On The Yach Timer; Elka's Whiskey Dial; De Rijke's Last Miffy; RZE's Summer Urbanists; And New Luna Rossa Panerais

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Super late today, but what an incredible lineup of watches. I think I would like to own every single one. Yes, even the snakeskin one. Finally a watch I can wear with my snakeskin suit without looking like a fool.

In this issue:

• The New Tudor Cycling-Themed Pelagos FXD Chrono Yellow Honors The Legendary Tour de France

• Batavi’s Take On The Yach Timer Brings In Some Pretty Amazing Colors

• Elka Brings Their Amber Whiskey-Themed Dial To The Arinis Dive Watch

• De Rijke Releases Their Last Miffy Watch, And Perhaps Their Best One, In White Ceramic

• RZE Chooses Azure Blue And Bubblegum As Summer Colors For Their Urbanist Field Watch

• Panerai Continues Luna Rossa Partnership With Luminor Tre Giorni and Chrono Flyback Titanio in Matte Grey

👂What’s new

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The New Tudor Cycling-Themed Pelagos FXD Chrono Yellow Honors The Legendary Tour de France

A few years ago, Tudor released some of my favorite FXD models, the Alinghi Red Bull Racing FXD. A lot of people had no idea what the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team was, as most people don’t follow high-end yacht racing. So they expanded to other sports for collaborations as well. Some, like Formula 1, are more popular. Some, like cycling, not as much. But Tudor really is going heavily into cycling, and it makes perfect sense. In 2024, we got the Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono Cycling Edition, while just a few months ago we got the Pelagos FXD Chrono Pink, inspired by the Maglia Rosa, or pink jersey, worn by stage leaders in the Giro d’Italia. Now, we’re getting a new version, one that’s inspired by the most legendary of the cycling races — the Tour de France. This is the new Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono Yellow Limited Edition.

Not much has changed from the Pink edition, which means that it sill uses the same matt-finished carbon composite case that measures 43mm wide and 13.2mm thick, a novelty for these watches as they slimmed down from 14.4mm of the previous version. On top is a fixed bezel with a precision 60-minute scale that surrounds a sapphire crystal, and on the side you’ll find the expected pushers and a titanium crown protected by pointy crown guards. The caseback is also made out of titanium and you get 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial of the watch is nearly identical to the previous Cycling version, only with a new color. The matte black dial gets the same three rings on the rehaut that have a tachymeter scale that’s brought down to a more manageable speed for cyclists. Only the rings are no longer pink, they are now yellow. Other than that, you still get large white Snowflake hands, blocky hour markers, a date window at 6 o’clock and two sub dials that have yellow frames.

Inside, you’ll find the Tudor MT5813. Based on the Breitling B01, it beats at 28,800vph and has a 70 hour power reserve. It has a column-wheel and vertical clutch architecture and it’s COSC certified. The watch comes on single-piece black fabric strap with a yellow stripe down the middle.

While the first Pelagos FXD Chrono Cycling Edition was a special, but not limited, edition, the Pelagos FXD Chrono Yellow is limited to 300 pieces, just like the Pink version. Price is set at €5,550, the exact same as the Pink. See more on the Tudor website.

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Batavi’s Take On The Yach Timer Brings In Some Pretty Amazing Colors

Batavi is one of those brands that way more people should have heard of. They first caught my eye a couple of years ago with their incredible Atelier collection. It was easily the best bang for your buck that you could get in terms of a great looking dial. For an early bird price of under €400, you got an incredible dial that looked like it was hand guilloched (even though it was stamped) and with superb color choices. Now, they’re doing something completely different — this is the new Batavi Marina Chronograaf, all four of them.

The new Marina Chronograaf comes in a new case for Batavi, but with clear vintage inspiration. A fully round case gets sharp and angular lugs, a brushed surface and polished bevels. The steel case measures 38mm wide, with a 46mm lug-to-lug. On top is a heavily domed sapphire crystal, with a flat one out back and on the side are piston-style pushers for the chronograph. Water resistance is 50 meters, which could have been pushed to 100 meters, since this is intended for around-water use.

The dials have a very unique look to them. All of the markings, including the railway minute track on the edges, Arabic numerals, the twin sub-dials and all the text are printed on a sapphire disc that sits between the top sapphire and the dial base. This gives it a unique look, with all the markings throwing shade on the base. It has a running second dial at the 9 o’clock position, a 30 minute counter sub-dial at 3 o’clock, and a sweep second counter mounted centrally. The hands are needle shaped and done in white or black, depending on the color of the dial.

And boy, are there some good color combinations. First, we have the Night colorway which gets a black base, purple chrono hands and a purple, orange and teal colored 30 minute counter. Then, there’s the Sand colorway which has an off-white base, orange hands and an orange, teal and grey counter. The Mist colorway gets a stark white base, black hands and teal lume on the hour and minute hands, as well as on the counter. Last, there’s the Sunrise colorway, which has a gradient from teal to pin, with both of those colors showing up on the sub-dials and Eastern Arabic numerals in black.

Inside, you’ll find the Seagull ST1901, a hand-wound column-wheel chronograph that beats at 3Hz and has a power reserve of 42 hours. It also looks great through the caseback. The watches come on stainless steel bracelets with squared-off links.

The new Batavi Marina Chronograaf went on sale just a few minutes before I published this, and they sell fast. So, good luck getting one. Oh, and interestingly, Batavi developed a perfume to go with each watch. Kind of interesting. The introductory price is set to €599, and goes up to €699 later. See more on the Batavi website.

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Elka Brings Their Amber Whiskey-Themed Dial To The Arinis Dive Watch

This year in Geneva, I spent a lot of time in the iglu outside of Vila Sarasin, the mobile studio in which the fantastic The Real Time Show was recorded by my friends Alon Ben Joseph and Rob Nudds. I hung out there for two reasons. One was because that was the best place to meet all the watchmakers you would want to meet. And the other is that they had a few bottles of TRTS branded Loch Lat whiskey. It was quite the tasty sip, which came as a surprise since the whiskey was made in Le Locle, Switzerland. Not the first place you think of when you think of whiskey. The drink was launched last year as a set with a truly stunning S series Elka watch, a limited series of 25 pieces with an amber colored dial. Why the pairing between Loch Lat and Elka? Well, they’re owned by the same person, Hakim El Kadiri. Now, Kadiri is bringing back the beautiful amber dial, only now it’s set into Elka’s Arinis dive watch.

The fairly new Arinis is a major departure for Elka, who has so far made great flieger and a dress watches, and much more appropriate for a diver. The stainless steel case measures 41mm wide, 11.85mm thick, with a 46.50mm lug-to-lug. On top is a 120-click unidirectional bezel with a black ceramic insert with beige Old Radium Super-LumiNova markings. The bezel surrounds a very vintage-looking chevé box sapphire crystal. The crown screws down and you get 200 meters of water resistance.

The dial takes on the color of whiskey, a deep amber in the centre that gets darker towards the edges. It’s one of the prettiest dial colors I have ever seen. The indices are sticks at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions, dots for the rest and there’s a triangle at 12 o’clock, all filled with Old Radium Super-LumiNova, accented by a white outline. The hour hand is a stylized leaf shape, while the minute is an arrow hand, which might be a bit confusing as they are similar in length and usually the hour hand is rendered as an arrow. Both are filled with lume. You can also choose whether you want a date complication or not.

Inside is the automatic La Joux-Perret calibre G100 which beats at 28,800vph and, despite being an alternative to the ETA 2824 and the Sellita SW200, it has a much more impressive power reserve than the competitors of 68 hours. There a selection of straps you can chose - seven-link grain of rice or Milanese mesh stainless steel bracelets, black tropic rubber or black nylon NATO.

The Elka Arinis x Loch Lat is available now, priced between CHF 1,755 and CHF 1,845, depending on the strap option. See more on the Elka website.

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De Rijke Releases Their Last Miffy Watch, And Perhaps Their Best One, In White Ceramic

If you are by chance, like me, a parent to a little girl, you know all about Miffy. If you are not, all you need to know is that Miffy is cult Dutch cartoon bunny created by Dick Bruna, whose books have sold more than 100 million copies since 1955. Miffy being Dutch is appropriate, since this watch is made by De Rijke & Co, a relatively young Dutch watch brand that was started after it’s owner Laurens de Rijke in 2013 took his fifty year old Vespa scooter for a trip on the Silk Road, covering a distance of 11.000 kilometer. De Rijke released a number of beautiful Miffy watches, but the show is coming to an end as the brand just released the final of the Miffy watches, the Miffy Moonphase ‘Final Edition’ in beautiful white ceramic.

The case remains largely the same, only now it’s made out of stark white ceramic. The 38mm wide and 11mm thick case is made out of two outside parts and one internal that holds the dial, crystal and movement. It also allows you to rotate that internal part by 90 degrees. The case has a polished finish, with a heavily domed sapphire crystal that extends all the way to the edge so there’s virtually no bezel to speak off. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial matches the case with a beautiful matte white lacquer. The hour markers and hour and minute hands are black, with white X2 Super-LumiNova painted inside. The seconds hand is painted in red lacquer, interrupting the black and white scheme. But what truly breaks up the white base is the huge opening for the moonphase in the upper half of the dial, where you have Miffy sitting on a crescent moon, with the entire disc being full of lume.

Inside, you’ll find a Sellita SW288. It beats at 28,800vph and has a 41 hour power reserve. It’s also modified to remove the date function and enlarge the moonphase indicator. The watch comes with a white FKM rubber strap and a red elastic strap.

The new De Rijke & Co Miffy Moonphase ‘Final Edition’ is available now, priced at €3,950, without tax. Before you yell at me that I missed the price because the website says €1,975, that’s the 50% down payment that’s needed before delivery in January of next years. See more on the De Rijke & Co website.

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RZE Chooses Azure Blue And Bubblegum As Summer Colors For Their Urbanist Field Watch

Last year, the Singaporean brand RZE known for their very cool and affordable titanium watches launched a new collection of field watches called the Urbanist. It was equally classic as it was modern, with cases made out of titanium and Cerakote, with a wide variety of colors. Now, they are releasing two new colorways, in time for summer, one called Azure Blue and the other, very aptly, called Bubblegum.

On the outside, no major changes. The Urbanist case remains the same, 36mm wide and 11mm thick, with a refreshingly small 42mm lug-to-lug. The 18mm lug spacing, in a world where we have a lot of 20mm straps, might be the only gripe that will come up regarding its size. Overall it has a field-watch shape with an angular bezel on top that surrounds a sapphire crystal. The case is made out of Grade 2 titanium and comes with the brand’s proprietary UltraHex hardening coat that keeps the natural color of titanium.

The dials are simple, keeping with the overall field watch aesthetic. There’s a bit of texture to them, accentuated by the Arabic numerals which are made out of lume blocks and have depth to them thanks to black outlines. The hands are sword shaped and lumed. The colors are a light teal, called Azure Blue, and a pastel pink that is appropriately called Bubblegum.

While RZE is mostly known for their use of mechanical watches, they have been known to use a lot of quartz as well. However, these were all traditional battery powered quartz movements. The Urbanist gets a Miyota solar powered quartz, which is always the best option when it comes to quartz movements. Also, the email from RZE suggests that these movements will have a lifetime warranty. Both watches come on grey nylon pass-through straps with grey hardware.

The new Azure Blue and Bubblegum RZE Urbanist are available now, priced at €300. See more on the RZE website.

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Panerai Continues Luna Rossa Partnership With Luminor Tre Giorni and Chrono Flyback Titanio in Matte Grey

The America’s Cup is a big deal in the watch world. Omega sponsors the defending Emirates Team New Zealand, Tudor is teamed up with the Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Panerai is working with the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailing team. And while Omega’s Emirates Team New Zealand won last year, Panerai is not giving up on the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team and have announced that they will continue their partnership for the 38th America’s Cup in 2027. And despite the fact that the race won’t start for another two years, Panerai already released the first two co-branded watches, the Luminor Tre Giorni Luna Rosa and Luminor Chrono Flyback Luna Rossa Titanio that gets rid of the blue details of previous editions, replacing them with matte grey dials.

Starting with the Luminor Tre Giorni Luna Rosa, it comes in a familiar Luminor case that measures 44mm wide and is made out of a very specific type of stainless steel, AISI 316LVM – 1.4441 Stainless Steel, a variation of the more common 316L. 316LVM goes through a process called vacuum arc remelting, which removes impurities from the metal. There are a lot of signature Panerai details here — a domed sapphire crystal on top with a fixed plain bezel, and the flip down crown guard. Water resistance is not that great at 100 meters.

The dial is as simples as can get, with a grey base and a sandwich construction with Super-LumiNova X1 painted in the cutouts of the markers and Arabic numerals. At 9 o’clock is the small seconds sub-dial with a bright red hand. Above 6 o’clock is the Luna Rossa name. Inside, you’ll find the calibre P.6000, a manual winding movement with a 72-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a black rubber and grey textile strap with Luna Rossa red stripe. Price is set at $6,900. See more on the Panerai website.

Then, there’s the Luminor Chrono Flyback Luna Rossa Titanio, which, as the name suggests, comes in a titanium case that measures the same 44mm across. Since you have the huge crown guard on the right side, the pushers that operate the chronograph are positioned on the left side of the case, at 8 and 10. Again, water resistance is not great at 100 meters.

This being the Chrono Flyback, the dial is much busier than the Luminor. It still has the same grey base, with red details, but also a lot more. On the sloping flange is a tachymeter scale, while in the centre you’ll find two sub dials — a 12 hour totalizer at 3 and a running seconds at 9 o’clock. The central chronograph hands are cool, with one tracking just the seconds and the other tracking the minutes, one done in all red and the other with just a red tip. Inside is the P.9100 automatic calibre, which has dual barrels powering the chrono system, getting the same 72-hour power reserve. You get the same strap as the Luminor. The new Chrono Flyback Luna Rossa is limited to 150 pieces and priced at $16,400. See more on the Panerai website.

⏲️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

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One video you have to watch today

When you think about it, Owen Wilson is the perfect guest for Hot Ones.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk