Yema Goes Submarine Hunting With a Forged Carbon Navygraf; Laco Shrinks The Frankfurt GMT; Nodus + Raven Bring The TrailTrekker Back; Benjamin James' Deerhurst Regulator; Two New America's Cup Panerai

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Bit of a late one today, but for good reason. My wife is turning 40 this weekend and we’re throwing a massive party tomorrow with a lot of cooking to do. That’s why I’m going radio silence a bit until next week. But no worries, a newsletter is still coming tomorrow, there are some seriously good releases all over the place.

In this issue

• Yema Goes Submarine Hunting With a Forged Carbon Navygraf

• Laco Shrinks The Frankfurt GMT To 40mm But Keeps Everything That Makes It A Cool Watch

• Nodus And Raven Return With A Fourth TrailTrekker, This Time In Forged Carbon And Great Lume

• Benjamin James Follows Up The Fantastic Scarifour With The Deerhurst Regulator

• Panerai Has Two Different Approaches For Their Latest America’s Cup Watches

👂What’s new

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Yema Goes Submarine Hunting With a Forged Carbon Navygraf

Yema has spent the last couple of years bolting its CMM.20 micro-rotor calibre into every dive watch it can, and the results keep getting more interesting. The new Navygraf Barracuda CMM.20, all in forged carbon and red accents, is made with the French Marine Nationale as a tribute to the Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarines and the crews who run them.

The steel case measures 39mm wide, 9.75mm thick without the crystal, with a lug-to-lug of 46mm, which is a pretty wearable size. On top is a unidirectional 120-click bezel made out of forged carbon, with a countdown timer that has the first 20 minutes marked in bright red. This is a nod to the synchronisation procedures submarine crews use to coordinate timed operations. Out back is a caseback that has a fantastic red-tinted sapphire crystal, chosen because submarines run red lighting at night to preserve the crew's night vision, with the insignia of the French Navy's submarine forces. On the side is a screw down crown protected by angular lugs, which gives you 300 meters of water resistance.

The red from the bezel carries on to the dial, which is also made out of forged carbon. The red appears on the Barracuda signature, as well as the fantastic oversized arrow minutes hand. Applied indices and broad hands are filled with Super-LumiNova and, thankfully, there’s no date aperture.

Inside is the calibre CMM.20, designed, made and assembled in Morteau, France, developed with Olivier Mory, with components sourced in France and nearby Switzerland. It beats at 4 Hz with a tungsten micro-rotor, a 70-hour power reserve, and regulation to -3/+7 seconds per day. You have a choice of a black NATO or a steel bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp.

The new Yema Navygraf Barracuda CMM.20 is limited to 400 pieces, available now, priced at €2,249 on the strap and €2,499 on the bracelet. See more on the Yema website.

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Laco Shrinks The Frankfurt GMT To 40mm But Keeps Everything That Makes It A Cool Watch

The Laco Frankfurt GMT has been pretty much universally adored online, except for one problem. It’s pretty large at 43mm, excluding the possibility of a lot of wrists wearing one. Well, Laco just fixed that and this will be a very popular watch, now that it measures 40mm wide, keeping the same stealthy look that won them a Red Dot award for design.

The case is made out of stainless steel, finished in a dark sandblast, 40mm wide, 11.9mm thick, with a 47mm lug-to-lug and 20mm wide lugs. The matte surface is incredibly well done on a lot of these Laco watches. On top is a double-domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides, and the case back is solid with an engraved airplane relief. You get two crowns on the side, with really nice protectors on the case, with one operating the time and winding mechanisms, while the other rotates the internal 24-hour bezel. Both of these crowns screw down, which gets you 200 meters of water resistance.

Two dials are available: black or grey, both matte. Arabic numerals and indices are filled with Super-LumiNova C3, the hour hands are blued, and the GMT hand gets an orange Super-LumiNova tip. The seconds hand has a small stylized aircraft as a counterbalance, which is just fun. Date sits at six o'clock.

Inside is the Laco calibre 330, which is essentially a Sellita SW330-2. It beats at 4Hz, with a 56 hour power reseve. It ships on a water resistance black Fibertech strap, and the box includes a second two-piece nylon strap in orange and grey, a strap-changing tool, and a "Remove Before Flight" keychain, all in an aluminum case.

The new Laco Frankfurt 40 GMT is available now in black (ref. 862187) or grey (ref. 862188) for €1,850. See more on the Laco website.

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Nodus And Raven Return With A Fourth TrailTrekker, This Time In Forged Carbon And Great Lume

Two years ago, two U.S. based indie brands, Nodus from California and Raven from Kansas, teamed up to release one of the most sought-after watches of the year, the TrailTrekker. It was an extremely well build, great looking and fantastically priced GMT that sold out instantly. They followed that up with an icy version and now we’re getting a third variant. This is the new Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker Carbon and that name kind of gives it away — it’s the familiar TrailTreeker with carbon details. But not just carbon… there’s also a bunch of cool lume use here.

The case comes from the Nodus Contrail GMT: 39.5mm wide, 11.8mm thick, steel under a dark grey DLC coating that handles scratches and gives the whole watch into stealth mode. Water resistance is 200 meters. New on this model is the 24-hour bezel which now has a forged carbon insert. Forged carbon is chopped carbon fibre re-bonded with resin under heat and pressure, so each gets unique striations.

Nodus and Rave use the same forged carbon on the dial, and both carbon instances have resin infused with Super-LumiNova, which means the swirl pattern glows in the dark. That’s a super cool look. Hour markers are squares, triangles and tags borrowed from the Raven Trekker, while a date window sits at six. The red GMT hand is the only colour on the watch.

Inside is the Miyota calibre 9075, automatic, beating at 4 Hz, with a 42-hour power reserve. The caseback is solid and stamped with the TrailTrekker caravan. It comes on a steel flatlink bracelet with an FKM rubber strap in the box.

The Nodus x Raven TrailTrekker Carbon is priced at $1,075, and will be available first at the Intersect Los Angeles watch show on July 17th and 18th, with general sale opening July 22nd. See more on the Nodus website.

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Benjamin James Follows Up The Fantastic Scarifour With The Deerhurst Regulator

The quote "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" is widely attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca. And like is often the case with quotes like these, there’s almost zero evidence that Seneca actually said this, but that won’t stop us from using it. And it’s a perfect quote to use when talking about the watch brand Benjamin James. A couple of years ago, they released their first watch, the Scarifour. It is a very cool dressy, sporty, square and small watch that was well design and built. It garnered a fair share of popularity, including a lot from me as I’ve been a fan from the start. Then Patek Philippe released the Cubitus, which prompted the New York Times to feature the Scarifour which was very similar in look, only better, at a much lower price. From then, Benjamin James has been on a fantastic roll. Now, after two years of development, we’re getting the follow-up to the Scarifour. This is the Benjamin James Deerhurst, a pretty wild looking dress-adjacent, neo-vintage inspired manually-wound regulator in a curved rectangular case. It’s a lot, and it’s cool.

The case measures 36mm wide by 42mm long and a pretty fantastic 9.1mm thick, thanks to that manual-wind movement. It’s made out of stainless steel, with deep bevelling on the lugs and a three-row Clous de Paris bezel that gives the whole thing an angular edge against the softer curves of the case profile. It’s a choice that certainly isn’t for everyone, but I love it. You get sapphire crystals on both sides, and water resistance is 50 meters.

Three dial colors are available at launch: Old English White, Burgundy and Denim Blue. All deeply lacquered and polished, with colour-matched subdials recessed and finished in fine concentric rings for a bit of textural contrast against the flat main surface. Small polished dome markers indicate the minute track, matching the handset finish. This being a regulator setup, you get a central hand showing you the minutes, a small seconds at 6 o’clock and an hour display at 12 o’clock. They also use a pretty great custom font for the numerals.

Inside is the Sellita SW266-1 M. It’s manually wound, and since it’s a regulator setup based on the SW200 series of movements, it beats at 4Hz and has a 40ish hour power reserve. You can have the watches on either a metal bracelet or taupe brown or black leather.

Pre-orders for the new Benjamin James Deerhurst open today, 16 July at 5pm BST, with delivery in November. Prices start at £945 excluding taxes. See more on the Benjamin James website.

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Panerai Has Two Different Approaches For Their Latest America’s Cup Watches

The 38th America's Cup will take place in Naples, Italy, with the main Cup Match beginning on July 10, 2027, and the Preliminary Regatta starting in early September. And while there are a few watch brands that are heavily connected with the Cup, I always think of Panerai the moment I think of America’s Cup. That’s because the brand has been a sponsor of the Luna Rossa team since 2019, and has been releasing watches in partnership ever since. We’ve seen Carbotech, titanium, GMTs, chronographs, and a 47mm diver, among others. Now, some time before the start of the Cup, we’re getting two new watches with the same partnership, the Luminor Luna Rossa Chrono PAM01768 and the Luminor Luna Rossa GMT PAM01791.

The chronograph is the more practical of the pair, at least when it comes to sailing. Its case is 44mm wide, made out of steel, with the iconic cushion shape, crown-protecting bridge, and general heft that make a Luminor recognizable across a room. Water resistance is 100 meters The GMT goes the other way, much more wearable at 40mm, which puts it among the smallest watches Panerai has made for this collection, and it is the first Luna Rossa watch to get a metal bracelet. That changes the character quite a bit. It’s also water resistant to 100 meters.

Both dials are silver sun-brushed with red accents pulled from the Luna Rossa team colors. On the chronograph the red shows up on the central chronograph seconds hand, which works with the tachymeter scale printed on the flange to read average speed over a kilometre in either km/h or mph. On the GMT the red is used on the small seconds hand and the arrow-tipped GMT hand, whose shape is meant to echo the yacht's sail. The oversized luminous numerals and sandwich construction are standard Luminor, and they still look great.

The chronograph uses the calibre P.9210, which is an ETA base with a Dubois-Depraz chrono module, beating at 4 Hz, with a 42 hours of power reserve. The GMT uses the P.900/GMT, a ValFleurier-based automatic with a three-day power reserve and a 12-hour second time zone. While the GMT gets the bracelet, the chronograph gets an bi-material grey textile and rubber Velcro strap with a Luna Rossa red stripe, plus a black rubber strap in the box.

The PAM01768 is limited to 500 examples priced at €11,200 and ships in a blue cherry wood box. The PAM01791 joins the regular collection at €11,100. See more on the Panerai 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

• When Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed by the U.S. government, they left behind two sons, ages 6 and 10. All these years later, Robby and Michael are still trying to make sense of what happened. They’ve contended with painful revelations—most notably that, despite the Rosenbergs’ repeated insistence to the contrary, their father was in fact a Soviet spy—and impossible questions. Why, for example, didn’t Ethel cooperate with the government and come home to her sons?

• Parenting isn’t easy, especially when your kids don’t respond to conventional tactics. But Meghan Flaherty has a trick up her gauntlet: a lifelong love of fantasy and role-playing games. To the dungeon—and a quest to unlock her eight-year-old’s sense of self!

• There’s a lot to dislike about the 2026 World Cup. The US’s xenophobic politics, for one: a Somali referee deported before the tournament even began; Iraq’s star player detained for seven hours at O’Hare; visas denied to Iranian staff and an Iraqi team photographer; and the entire Iranian team prohibited from training or even sleeping on American soil. Then there are the compulsory hydration breaks, which fans suspect exist mainly to generate more revenue. And yet, the matches have been thrilling, and the world keeps watching. In this short, sharp dispatch for The Paris Review, Jonathan Wilson—author of Kick and Run: Memoir with Soccer Ball and a fan who’s watched every World Cup since 1962—touches on both the highs and lows of this year’s tournament, from border-patrol nightmare stories to Cape Verde’s incredible run.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

This has got to be the best concert booking of all time. Tiny Desk Concerts made their name with unplugged intimate performances from global superstars. To have a grindcore band go wild among the desks, in what has to be their most well lit performance ever, exposing how old the members of the band are, is just magical.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk