Yema Does 180, Brings Back Sellita Powered Affordable Watches; MING Says Goodbye To Moonphase; Tissot Brings Back The RockWatch; Nodus Goes Tactical; Ulysse Nardin Masters Silicon, Now In Green

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In this issue

• Yema Does A 180 And Brings Back Affordable Sellita Powered Watches In Four Collections

• MING Says Goodbye To Their Very Cool Moonphase With The 37.05 Lunatic Edition

• Tissot Brings Back The Groovy Rock Watch Made Out Of Jungfrau Granite

• Nodus Goes More Tactical With The New Sector II Field Titanium Tropical Limited Edition

• Ulysse Nardin Does Their Supremely Cool Blast Free Wheel Marquetry In Green

• 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

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Yema Does A 180 And Brings Back Affordable Sellita Powered Watches In Four Collections

People in watch circles love gossiping so you find out a lot of very interesting information. Like, for example, that the French brand Yema has sunk a TON of money into setting up their own movement manufacture in France to mixed results. Well, that might not be fair. The results have been pretty sensational for them. According to people in the know, the new CMM.10 Central Rotor, the CMM.20 Micro-Rotor, and the CMM.30 Tourbillon movements have shown so far to be reliable and — after the huge upfront cost — fairly sensible to produce, while being received very positively by customers. But the problem remained that the upfront cost was pretty extreme. And while I’m sure they would have been happy to keep working with just their in-house movements, they left behind a huge chunk of the market by pricing themselves north of €1,000. Most brands would push forward, regardless of what might happen, but I tip my hat to Yema on this move — they just released the Diver, Flygraf, Navygraf Heritage and Urban Traveller with Sellita SW200 movements, priced under €1,000, which is a price point rarely seen these days for that movement. Kudos.

Starting with the Urban Traveler, it’s one of Yema’s integrated bracelet sports watches that comes in a pretty compact package. It measures 39mm wide and 10.8mm thick, with a flat sapphire crystal on top. Water resistance is 100 meters. You get a choice of blue, brown or silver sunray brushed dials, with a silver chapter ring surrounding it and all three feature lumed applied markers and hands. Inside, like I said, is the Sellita SW200, beating at 4Hz, with a 38 hour power reserve. You can get it for €990, regardless if it’s on a single-link integrated steel bracelet or a color matched FKM rubber strap. See it here.

Moving on to the Navygraf Heritage, it remains familiar, but with some slight tweaks to make it even more accurate to the original. The steel case measures 39mm wide and 10.85mm thick, with a very cool retro double domed heaslite crystal on top. Even cooler might be the unidirectional bezel in epoxy that surrounds it and matches the color of the dial. Water resistance is 200 meters. The dials come in black or blue, baton lumed hour markers and very groovy yellow hands that look sensational on the blue. Inside, you’ll find the SW200 again, but now with a date complication. The watch comes on a steel bracelet with diving extension for €990 or a rubber strap for €890. See it here.

The Flygraf Pilot is obviously their take on the pilot’s watch, but while most pilot’s watches are oversized for easy visibility, this one has banger dimensions — 38mm wide and just 8.8mm thick. That, paired with the double domed sapphire crystal, a brushed and polished bezel and a 100 meter water resistance make this a very interesting watch. You get two dial options with a sector setup in various depths, painted green or black. Inside is the SW200 once again, this time with no date, and it comes on a leather strap for €890 or a multi-link steel bracelet for €990. See more here.

Last, we have the Yema Diver, a much more stylized, but still classic diver when compared to the Yema Superman. It has a Monnin-style case, measures 39.5mm wide and 10.95mm thick, with a sapphire crystal on top and a unidirectional steel diving bezel that’s fully graduated but with no numerals. Water resistance is 200 meters. The dials are retro-styled with broad-arrow hands and cream colored Super-LumiNova, and come in either white or black. Of course, powered by the Sellita SW200 and available on rubber for €890 and steel for €990. See more on the Yema website.

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MING Says Goodbye To Their Very Cool Moonphase With The 37.05 Lunatic Edition

Over the past few years, we’ve seen Ming, the indie-darling brand, going through a wonderfully interesting transformation. From incredibly cool and unique watches that had a few deliverability hick-ups, through inventive award-winning divers, all the way to haute horology. But while they’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with new formats and price points, we’ve also witnessed them dip back into their tried and true classics. While not necessary an absolute icon, the 37.05 Moonphase has been around for almost five years, and now it’s getting a sendoff with a very coolv ersion. This is the new 37.05 Lunatic.

On the outside, you know what’s going on. It’s a classic Ming 37-series case, with the wonderful pagoda style lugs, measuring 38mm wide and 11.9mm thick. The case has a brushed finish with polished details and looks crazy good in real life. There are domed sapphire crystals on the front and on the back of the watch and on the side is a large notched crown. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is a mashup of various Ming models including previous Moonphase and Minimalist watches. The base is a deep black void that’s broken up with a crescent-shaped moon right above the handset that’s surrounded by a disc that has different patterns and luminescence to indicate its current phase of the moon. The hands are taken from the Minimalist and feature Ming’s signature Polar White lume. At 6 o’clock is an aperture for the date, but the entire date disc is faintly visible through the dial for a very cool effect. All of the hour markers are elongated lume plots that are painted on the underside of the crystal.

Inside, you’ll find a very modified Sellita SW288-1. It’s manually wound, beats at 4Hz and has a 40 hour power reserve. It also has skeletonized anhtracite colored bridges with a contrasting rhodium main train bridge. The watch comes on a white FKM rubber strap and Ming’s cool steel tuck buckle.

The new Ming 37.05 Lunatic is limited to 100 pieces, available now and priced at CHF 5,250. See more on the Ming website.

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Tissot Brings Back The Groovy Rock Watch Made Out Of Jungfrau Granite

I’m a great advocate for the designs of the 1980s and 190s to make a comeback. And little by little, they are being recreated. I want to se new takes on 90s Breitlings and IWC and modern interpretations of wild 80s designs. What I didn’t know would make a comeback are the completely bizarre watches from the cocaine-fueled 80s. Stuff like Tissot’s RockWatch. And yet, that’s what we’re getting now, a new take on the RockWatch, a quartz watch that has a case made out of Alpine granite. Now, that’s cool.

We often call fully round cases on watches pebble-shaped, but here, it’s literally pebble-shaped. The case is fully round, measuring 38mm wide and made from a greenish-grey granite taken from the Jungfrau Mountain. It’s a simple looking thing, although I assume it’s not that easy to make. The back is made out of stainless steel and holds the very 80s looking central lugs. On top is a domed sapphire crystal. I can’t see any water resistance rating, but… come on.

The dial continues the theme and is made out of the same granit. Not much else to it. You get simple silver hands and a bit of text — Tissot 1853 at 12 o’clock and Swiss made at 6 o’clock. Inside, also nothing spectacular. You get a 2-hand quartz movement with an end-of-life indicator. The watch comes on a black leather strap.

The new Tissot RockWatch is limited to 999 pieces, all individually numbered, and available now from select Tissot boutiques. Price is set at CHF 1,095. See more on the Tissot website.

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Nodus Goes More Tactical With The New Sector II Field Titanium Tropical Limited Edition

It was just a couple of months ago that Nodus introduced their first titanium watch. This came as a bit of a surprise to me and a lot of other people, as we were all certain that Nodus has been playing with titanium for a while. Well, we were wrong, and the Sector II Field Titanium was actually the first one. Now, the brand is evolving the design with a more mission-ready approach and hides the titanium behind a really sweet shade of Cerakote. This is the new Nodus Sector II Field Titanium - Tropical Limited Edition.

So, the new Tropical Sector II Field Titanium does indeed come in a titanium case, one that measures 38mm wide, 11.7mm thick, with a 47mm lug-to-lug, but you won’t get to see much of it. That’s because the entire surface is covered in a really nice shade of olive green Cerakote, a material that’s easily applied to surfaces and mimics ceramics. On top is a box-style sapphire crystal with a blue anti-reflective coat on the inside, surrounded by a fixed bezel. Water resistance is a standard 100 meters.

Then, the dial. It loses the colors from the original, but keeps the same setup. The central part of the dial features a raised section that showcases the classic twenty-four-hour scale with a distinctive Nodus twist. This elevation is meticulously designed to add significant depth to the dial, creating a visually engaging sandwich-style segmentation. But here, the color is a gradient from a sand to an olive on the edges and ti looks very serious. The matte metallic gradients are contrasted with matte-finished hands and liberal use of BGW9 Super-LumiNova on the hands and the applied numerals.

Inside is the familiar TMI (Seiko) NH38 automatic which beats at 3Hz and has a 41 hour power reserve. Nodus regulates the movement in-house and claims an accuracy of +/- 10 seconds per day. The watch comes on a Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) Hybrid TecTuff rubber strap with a titanium buckle.

The new Nodus Sector II Field Titanium - Tropical Limited Edition goes on sale Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at 9 AM Pacific Time and is limited to 75 pieces. Price is set at $550. See more on the Nodus website.

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Ulysse Nardin Does Their Supremely Cool Blast Free Wheel Marquetry In Green

The line of people ready to make fun of Ulysse Nardin for the Freak is very long. But I really don’t understand that animosity. Not only was the Freak designed by the greatest living watchmaker, Ludwig Oechslin, it’s also an incredible piece of engineering and desigh. However, despite that, UN also makes watches that aren’t the Freak. And when they do, they’re usually pretty mind blowing. Like, for example, this new addition to the Blast collection that serves as a showcase for their incredible use of silicon. This is the new Blast [Free Wheel Marquetry Silicon Green].

No, really, it’s all about the silicon here, and this is an extension of the Blast Free Wheel watch which used a skeleton dial to show off all the silicon inside. The new watch employs a metiers d’art known as marquetry, a traditionally a technique used in woodwork, a form of seamless tiling using thin slivers to create a mosaic-like pattern. However, Ulysse Nardin put their own twist this technique by not using wood but rather choosing silicon. This is a style they first introduced in 2019 with the Freak X.

The silicon marquetry here has a green colourway with various shades and a combination of contrasting matte and mirror surfaces as well as two different thicknesses. It gives it a hyper modern appearance. It’s a cool look emphasized by the futuristic design of the Blast Free Wheel with its 45mm white gold case with pronounced facets and sapphire crystal sides to show off the cool dial.

At 12 o’clock you have the decorated barrel providing a 7-day power reserve, at 3 is the winding wheel, at 4 is the unique power reserve indicator, at 6 is the tourbillon. Along the lefthand portion of the dial are various wheels and gears and lastly in the centre are the hour and minute hands. A complex ode to haute horology. The movement is called the UN-176 Manufacture manual. The new Ulysse Nardin Blast Free Wheel Marquetry comes on a grey rubber strap, secured with a white gold deployant buckle.

The new Ulysse Nardin Blast [Free Wheel Marquetry Silicon Green] is limited to 10 pieces, available only in the US, priced at $155,000. See more on the Ulysse Nardin website.

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

On a crisp Saturday morning at a Paris café, sunlight dances across marble tabletops and green Parisian chairs, painting angular highlights on silver cutlery and fine ceramic mugs. Amid the café’s mix of locals and visitors, a slender wrist emerges from the sleeve of a sand-colored linen blazer — just as a barista sets down a flat white with a practiced flourish. What catches the eye, momentarily pulling it from the bustle and hum, is not a screen or an oversized brand’s logo, but a subtle glint — the Serica 1174 Parade.

The watch itself doesn’t beg attention. Its elliptical, stadium-shaped case feels architectural, echoes of brutalist curves softened into something unexpectedly inviting. There’s no loud logo, no ticking seconds hand to urge one onward — just two elegant, polished leaf-shaped hands that point out the time with restraint. This scene is not pure fantasy; it is precisely the kind of encounter the Serica 1174 Parade was built to create. But how did we get to this moment, and why does this object — partly ancient, partly futuristic, wholly contemporary — carry such meaning? The answer is a journey through minimalism, retro revivalism, and the tangled search for authenticity in a distracted age.

Minimalism, in both art and lifestyle, is less a style than a philosophy — a cultivated response to excess and clutter, born of twentieth-century anxieties and post-war optimism. The roots reach deep: from Kasimir Malevich’s 1915 Black Square — an audacious experiment in elimination — to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s crisp assertion, “less is more,” minimalism reimagines beauty as clarity, paring away until only the necessary remains.

In the visual arts of the 1950s and 60s, pioneers like Donald Judd and Frank Stella rejected noisy abstraction for what Judd called “the thing as a whole, its quality whole, is what is interesting.” Stella, too, distilled his practice to the razor-edged maxim: “What you see is what you see”. Agnes Martin, chasing the infinite within the line, claimed, “Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye, it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection”. Such artistic asceticism found parallels in architecture (van der Rohe’s glass-and-steel rectangles), design, and ultimately, the modern obsession with curating our material lives.

This ethic has migrated, in recent years, from gallery and boutique into the daily rituals of global consumers weary of too-muchness. Marie Kondo’s KonMari method — “keep only those things that speak to your heart” — brings the sensibility of the white cube into the Chaotic Closet, an answer to what Kyle Chayka calls “addiction to accumulation”. Minimalism today is both response to and symptom of a world drowning in options; it is a rejection of “the passion to possess,” as Joshua Becker put it; an assertion that “focus on what’s important” creates “freedom, fulfillment, and happiness”.

This influence on watch design is profound. Watches, once sites of mechanical bravura and at time maximalist ornament, are increasingly canvases for minimalist simplicity. The Serica Parade, with its interestingnshape, unobtrusive dial, and the almost defiant absence of a seconds hand, epitomizes this philosophy — what one reviewer called “a gentler hour, freed from the constant reminder of time passing and never stopping”.

But minimalism is only half the modern mood. If some crave less, many are drawn to the comforts of before. Retro revival culture, now a driving force in fashion, music, and design, is not simply a longing for kitsch. It is a profound, commercially potent nostalgia. In this era, the past becomes not just a reference but a product — what analysts term “emotional currency”. Why? Because as digital everything remixes and accelerates, the known and vetted feels like psychic shelter.

The Netflix hit Stranger Things was not just entertainment; it drove an “80s-era phenomenon” so strong that lumberjack shirts and vintage jackets exploded in popularity. “Nostalgia marketing has become a billion-dollar industry,” one researcher observed, “because nostalgic feelings increase consumers’ willingness to spend”. Pokémon Go’s 2016 sensation was more than gameplay — it was time-travel to childhood for millions. As marketing analysts noted, “Recognizing that nostalgia is the way to any millennial’s heart, the company is taking full advantage”.

Read the rest of this essay here.

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

A single domed sapphire crystal makes up for up 88% of a watch's total manufacturing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. 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

• David Hudnall’s three-part series began with a billboard along the side of Interstate 35 that asked drivers if they were “ready to feel better.” The pitch was for 7-OH, an opioid derived from kratom, a plant from Southeast Asia. Both kratom and 7-OH fall into a class of “federally legal but largely unregulated” products, sold at gas stations and smoke shops. Hudnall, a food and business reporter for the Kansas City Star, finds the local drama—a feud between top officers at CBD American Shaman over the ethics of selling 7-OH—and follows the substance at its center to a private trade show in Las Vegas, where he’s surrounded by sellers looking for their share of a reportedly multi-billion-dollar industry. By part two, CBD American Shaman’s founder, tells Hudnell he is prepared to “go back to prison” over 7-OH. Hudnell’s subjects are as complicated as the products they pitch; you’ll read each part of this one.

• Ben Yagoda’s piece about Henry W. Fowler, the author of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, which served as the The New Yorker‘s spiritual ancestor is just wonderful. Persnickety and permissive in equal parts—in other words, like the best editor you could ever hope for.

• In this reported essay at The Believer, Ash Sanders recounts her time in Bombay Beach, a community on the edge of the Salton Sea, during its annual Biennale, a multi-day festival during which eclectic artists converge and transform the small town into performance art. Sanders’ account is a study of water in the West, a portrait of environmental ruin, and an exploration of what it looks like to create freely in the face of devastation.

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One video you have to watch today

Mate Rimac has been teasing this video for quite some time and it’s pretty fun.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk