Yema Releases Special Flygraf CPA10 With Airborne Commandos; Classic Gold And Green Mido Ocean Star 200C; Namica Brings Back The Shirahama; Glashütte Original's Panda Seventies ‘X’ Chronograph

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Sorry, super busy day today, so we’re very late today. Have a great weekend!

In this issue

• Yema Teams Up With France’s Elite Airborne Commandos For A Special Flygraf CPA10

• Mido Adds The Classic Rose Gold And Green Combination To The Ocean Star 200C

• Namica Brings Back Their Very Colorful, Very Lumed Shirahama Collection

• Glashütte Original Gives Their Seventies ‘X’ Chronograph A Very Cool Panda Dial

• FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Historical Perspectives: Timekeepers of the Old World - How Minerva’s centuries-old craft reshaped Montblanc’s haute horology

👂What’s new

1/

Yema Teams Up With France’s Elite Airborne Commandos For A Special Flygraf CPA10

The majority of releases from Yema we’ve seen from them in the past year or two have been either dive-oriented or everyday sports watches, we’ve seen a huge update to their pilot’s watch collection, the Flygraf, with five new watches. During the hayday of the brand, Yema have worked with numerous French organizations and institutions to create special watches for them to wear, and they continue this tradition now. The French president wears their watch, they make watches for the French military and the French space program. And the latest pilot’s watch release continues this tradition. Yema has teamed up with with the special forces of France’s most elite airborne commandos the Commando Parachutiste de l’Air No. 10 (CPA10) to create the Flygraf CPA10, a reinterpretation of the legendary Type A Flieger.

Since the commandos plan on using these watches on missions, they opted to make them as light as possible. This Flygraf CPA10 is made out of grade 2 titanium and measures 40mm wide, a svelte 9.4mm thick and has a 46mm lug-to-lug. The titanium has a dark shade and the brushing gives it an even cooler look. On top is a 2mm thick double domed sapphire crystal that extends all the way to the edge in an almost glassbox-like setup. On the side is a titanium push-pull crown with an embossed French Air Force logo, and you get 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial comes with a brushed finish and a blue color, engraved with the CPA10 logo engraved tone on tone over the entire dial. You get applied hour markers that are filled with Super-LumiNova BGW9 Grade A that glow blue, just like the polished stainless steel hands, while the number 10 hour marker is filled with Super-LumiNova which gloes white, as an homage to No. 10 in the CPA10. Below the central pinion of the hands, you’ll find the “CPA10 AUTOMATIQUE” text and another applied CPA10 logo”.

Inside is the CMM.10 movement, designed by Yema and made almost exclusively in Switzerland and France. Designed by watchmaker Olivier Mory, this time-only movement has an anti-magnetic Glucydur balance wheel, is regulated to chronometric precision (but without actual certification), beats at 28,800bph, and has a modern 70-hour power reserve. The watch comes on a canvas strap with white stitching.

From what I gather, the new Yema Flygraf CPA10 is not a limited edition and can be purchased now, with shipments starting in September. Price is set at €1.690. See more on the Yema website.

2/

Mido Adds The Classic Rose Gold And Green Combination To The Ocean Star 200C

Mido has been on quite the run lately. They’re updating all sorts of model lines, from retro inspired bangers, to very classic divers. Now, we’re getting a new entry into the Ocean Star 200C collection, their most regular dive watch, but with an interesting and textured dial. This new watch gets a rose gold-colored PVD finish and a green dial and bezel, which is as classic as it can get.

The new Mido Ocean Star 200C has familiar dimensions, and they are quite large. The 200c is their classic mid-2000s diver, before the brand started making smaller watches. The stainless steel case measures 42.5mm wide, 12.3mm thick and it has a 49mm lug-to-lug. The rose gold-colored PVD finish looks really nice, with a brushed finish and polished bevels. On top is a unidirectional bezel that gets the same rose gold-colored PVD finish, with a very classic green ceramic insert with a white 60 minute scale, surrounding a box-shaped sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 200 meters.

The C version of the Ocean Star 200 differs in the dial, which has an engraved wave texture, and the same applies to this release. The base of the dial has a combination of matte and gloss green surfaces. You get gilt lied hour markers and semi-skeletonized hands filled with Super-LumiNov. At 3 o’clock is a day-date window, with white discs inside which kind of mess with the green.

Inside the case is Swatch Group’s Powermatic movement (a.k.a ETA C07.621 or Mido Calibre 80). This evolution of the ubiquitous 2824 now features an antimagnetic Nivachron hairspring, with a regulating organ beating at 3Hz. You get a solid 80-hour power reserve. Somewhat controversially for people who believe that divers can’t be worn on leather, this watch comes on a brown crocodile-style strap.

The new Mido Ocean Star 200C is part of the regular collection and available now. price is set at CHF 1,090. See more on the Mido website.

3/

Namica Brings Back Their Very Colorful, Very Lumed Shirahama Collection

The last time I wrote about Namica, a Tokyo-based watch brand run by a husband-wife team, it was about the Okami, a retro futuristic, extremely geometric and angled, sports watch with a fair price. I liked it a lot, since it proved one of the greatest advantages of being a microbrand — doing pretty much whatever you want in terms of design. And Namica proved that with their first watch, the Shirahama, a more traditional diver that came with incredible matte dials that came in white, blue or pink. I fell in love with it at first sight. But they’re all sold out. Well, worry no more, because the Shirahama is returning with the Shirahama 2 and some tasteful upgrades.

The Shirahama is a very classic diver, at least when it comes to its shape and size. Made out of stainless steel, it measures 40mm wide and a pretty good 11.7mm thick. On top is a unidirectional rotating bezel, with a 60 minute bezel insert that’s split up into two colors, either white and black or white and baby blue. God, I love their colors. The crown sits at 4 o’clock and, of course, ti screws down, so you get 200 meters of water resistance.

Namica takes a lot of inspiration from Neo Tokyo aesthetics that we got to see in Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Neon genesis Evangelion. Think cyberpunk, lots of neon and a neo-noir feel. I mean, the name of one of the colorways is Neo Tokyo, which tells you all you need to know. The dial on that one gets a vertically brushed, fumé purple finish with outlined and lumed circular and pill-shaped hour markers. Sweet. Then, we have Neo Blizzard and Ultra Blue, which come in the familiar matte white and blue, with fuchsia and yellow contrasting details. Last, we see the return of Cherry Blossom, a matte pink dial, which you can get with either the applied markers or calligraphic kanji numerals.

Inside, the Shirahama gets an upgrade. Previous versions had the Seiko NH38, while this new version comes with the Miyota 9039 which will give you a 42 hour power reserve. The watches can be had on either a steel bracelet or a rubber strap.

The new Namica Shirahama 2 launches on August 5th and pre-orders will be open until August 19. Deliveries will start in December. Price is set at $529 on rubber and $675 on the bracelet. See more on the Namica website.

4/

Glashütte Original Gives Their Seventies ‘X’ Chronograph A Very Cool Panda Dial

Watches hailing from Glashütte, including those made by Glashütte Original, have always put the utmost importance on functionality and precision. Watches made in this legendary German town are the pinnacle of watchmaking, a serious affair, with movements that rival and in cases surpass their Swiss counterparts. It’s all very teutonic. And that’s what Glashütte Original bounced agains when they made the Seventies Chronograph, which was a funky, retro, colorful, textured and fun package. It was the opposite of a serious watch. I say was, because their latest release flips back to a more serious take on the Seventies Chronograph. And I don’t mind it. This is the new Seventies ‘X’ Chronograph, with a very cool panda dial. But let me come out with the bad news up front — they are limited to 100 pieces and available only in North America.

On the outside, things look very familiar. It’s a 70s inspired design, with a very retro square shape that was very popular in that decade. Made out of stainless steel, the watch measures 40×40mm, with a thickness of 14.1mm. The case is brushed, with a polished bezel on top, and integrated lugs. Water resistance is 100 meters and you get square pushers surrounding the pointy crown guards.

The dials share the same architecture — a bi-compax setup with a small seconds subdial, a 30-minute timer, along with the iconic panorama date at 6 o’clock and a very nicely integrated 12-hour timer at 12 o’clock. The markers are applied, polished and filled with lume, as are the hands. But the dials have a new, more conservative colorway. The base gets a matte white lacquered finish, contrasted with glossy snailed black sub-dials. The small seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock features an integrated power reserve indicator. At 12 o’clock is the arced 12-hour totaliser that has a black background with white numerals, the same as the oversized date window at 6 o’clock.

Inside both watches is the Calibre 37-02. It’s an in-house designed movement that is a column wheel automatic flyback chronograph, which you can see through the caseback and see the traditional Glashütte stripe finishing. You get a beat rate of 4Hz and a 70 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet and you get an additional rubber strap.

The new Glashütte Original Seventies X Chronograph is limited to 100 pieces and available only from dealers in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. Price is set at $17,900. See more on the Glashütte Original.

FOR WATCH CLUB MEMBERS: Historical Perspectives: Timekeepers of the Old World - How Minerva’s centuries-old craft reshaped Montblanc’s haute horology

How a fading Swiss manufacture became Montblanc’s crown jewel. 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

• Before his mysterious death, Matthew Christopher Pietras donated millions to the Met and the Frick. He was considered one of the most generous men in New York. It was all stolen.

• Once, the Buffelsfontein mine in South Africa employed 18,000 people. But the mine’s closure in 2013 didn’t mean the mining stopped. Instead, an abandoned Buffels became a target for “zama-zamas,” who hunted for gold in its deepest and farthest reaches. This was a world of criminal gangs and hard labor—and it got even more worse when the police stopped letting food in or people out. For The Economist‘s magazine, Liam Taylor tells the horrifying story of exactly what happened.

• Inside a rain-soaked Florida town, artists who refuse to be called “impersonators” gather to channel the spirit of Elvis at a fiercely passionate festival. Meet the diehard performers and devoted fans keeping The King’s electrifying presence alive on small stages—discovering that for these believers, Elvis is gone, but never forgotten, and certainly not finished.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Hey, here’s something to reduce your stress at the end of the week. Nothing dramatic going on in the world of Death Diving.

Thanks for reading,
Vuk