You Want This Oris Big Crown Calibre 113 Even If You Don't Need It; Doxa Brings Back The 750T; Frederique Constant Expands QP Line; Laurent Ferrier's Classic Tourbillon; Historic L.Leroy Returns

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It’s been an exciting day at Geneva Watch Days, I saw some incredible stuff. Things I won’t touch again, like the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 2, but also stuff like the Louis Erard Fil d’Or I wrote about yesterday. Hear me when I say, this is one of the best watches of the year and photos really can’t do it justice. I have a video of it on my Instagram that shows how the dial interacts with the light. You’ve never seen something like this before, trust me.

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In this issue

• Oris Releases The New And Very Colorful Big Crown Calibre 113 With Business Calendar

• Doxa Brings Back The 750T To The Regular Collection With All The Colors You Would Want

• Frederique Constant Quickly Expands Perpetual Calendar Manufacture With New Colors

• Laurent Ferrier Celebrates Independent Creation With The New Classic Tourbillon In Teal

• Historic L.Leroy Brand Returns With The Clever Osmior Bal du Temps Tourbillon Minute Repeater

👂What’s new

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Oris Releases The New And Very Colorful Big Crown Calibre 113 With Business Calendar

There are watches out there that you need, but don’t want. Watches that you certainly need and want. Watches that you don’t need and absolutely don’t want. Then, there’s this new Oris Big Crown Calibre 113 with a full business calendar. You really don’t need this. But trust me, you really, really want this.

The new Big Crown Calibre 113 comes in a surprisingly large case that looked big even on me. It’s a stainless steel case that measures 43mm wide, 13.5mm thick and has a lug-to-lug of 50.5mm. The domed sapphire and soft curves of the case help make it appear smaller. Water resistance is 50 meters, which is just fine.

But while the case is pretty simple and not attention grabbing, the dial is the exact opposite and I’m in love with it. The base of the dial is rendered in a mint green with one of the best dial textures I’ve seen in ages. That’s paired with sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock that are done in a hot pink that just perfectly works with the mint. Around the perimeter you’ll find the 52-week calendar, pointed to with a pink arrow. The day aperture is at 12 o’clock, the date at 6, and the small seconds sit at 9 o’clock. At 3 o’clock is a non-linear power reserve that becomes more precise as the mainspring unwinds. Very cool.

Inside, you’ll find the incredible Oris Calibre 113, a hand-wound in-house movement beating at 21,600vph, with a staggering 240-hour. Sure, a 10 day power reserve is not unusual, but this comes from a single barrel. The movement has a full business calendar, including date, day, month, and week of the year. The watch comes on a multi-link stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp, but I think this will best look on a mint or hot pink strap.

The new Oris Big Crown Calibre 113 goes on sale in September, priced at CHF 6,350. See more on the Oris website.

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Doxa Brings Back The 750T To The Regular Collection With All The Colors You Would Want

A couple of weeks ago, Doxa celebrated Clive Cussler’s birthday, as they are known to do, with a limited edition SUB 750T that I drooled over. I missed it, of course, but a question lingered in my mind: why can’t we get that SUB 750T case, which was shrunk down from the old SUB 750T, with one of the signature Doxa dial colors. Well, now we can.

The case is a dream, a revival of the iconic SUB 750T. The 750T was among the more robust offerings from Doxa, and it still is. Which is obvious from the dimensions. The case is 45mm wide, which sounds substantial, but thanks to the helmet-style case it has a rather reasonable lug-to-lug of 47mm. But what’s most impressive about its size is the thickness, which measures 11.95mm. That doesn’t sound particularly thin, but when you consider the water resistance of 750 meters, it’s incredible. The case gets a combination of brushed and polished surfaces and on top is a saw-tooth bezel that has a black no-deco scale followed by a black 60-minute scale.

Then, we have the dials. Nothing extravagant here, and that’s the point. After the great Cussler watch, what we get now are standard Doxa dial colors, and that means Professional orange, Sharkhunter black, Searambler silver, Caribbean blue, Divingstar yellow, Aquamarine blue, Whitepearl white, and Sea Emerald green. The colors are paired with lume printed hour markers, cream colored on the Professional, Sharkhunter and Searambler, and white on the other ones.

Inside the watch is a very familiar and reliable/easily servicable Sellita SW300-1 automatic movement, which beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watch comes on a beads of rice bracelet closed with a folding clasp that has a diving suit extension, and you get an additional orange NATO strap with a central black stripe.

The new SUB 750T collection is available now, priced at $2,750 on rubber and $2,790 on steel. See more on the Doxa website.

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Frederique Constant Quickly Expands Perpetual Calendar Manufacture With New Colors

Earlier this year, Frederique Constant released what will go down as one of the best watches of the year. It was a shrunken down Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture with a new 40mm case and a brand new in-house movement. It came in steel with an incredible salmon colored dial. We all knew that more versions would be released, but hardly anyone believed that day would come so fast. But boy, are we glad it is. We’re getting three new versions of the Frederique Constant Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture with different case materials and dial colors.

On the outside, at least when it comes to dimensions, nothing has changed. The case still measures 40mm wide and 12.2mm thick, with new slender lugs and a polished finish. On the side is an onion crown and on top is a broad smooth bezel. There are sapphire crystals on top and bottom and you even get a 50 meters of water resistance, really not something you expect from a lot of perpetual calendars. What’s new is that the watches can now be had in either steel or in a 18k yellow gold.

The dials keep the same setup as previous perpetual calendar versions — you get a sub-dial at 3 for the date, month and leap year at 12 and days of the week at 9 o’clock. At 6, you’ll find a crescent-shaped opening for the moon phase indicator. When it comes to colors, the steel case is paired with either a sunray brushed blue or a very nice silver, while the gold cased version gets an onyx dial and gold toned markers and hands. I’ve handled all of them, and the onyx dial is just the deepest black you can imagine.

Inside is the sam calibre FC-776 we saw introduced in April. Frederique Constant prides itself in creating their own in-house movements, and this one is no different. It’s a major upgrade to the old movement since it gets 72 instead of 38 hours of power reserve, while beating at 4Hz and decorated with perlage and Côtes de Genève, with a openworked rose golden-coloured rotor. The gold limited edition is fitted with a black alligator strap with a gold clasp, while the steel versions come on blue leather straps closed with steel folding clasps.

The new Frederique Constant Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture variants are coming soon, with the gold version being limited to 37 pieces. The price is just incredible, for a Swiss-made perpetual calendar. The steel versions keep the price of CHF 9,995, while the gold version is priced at €29,995. See more on the Frederique Constant website.

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Laurent Ferrier Celebrates Independent Creation With The New Classic Tourbillon In Teal

In 2010, Laurent Ferrier, one of the most prominent indie watchmakers we have today, released one of their most prized watches, the Classic Tourbillon. It couldn’t get much better than that. A simple and elegant case, incredible finishes and a hidden tourbilon made for an amazing watch. Now, the brand is paying homage to that release with a new Classic Tourbillon, this time with a teal green dial.

The case of the watch remains unchanged, which is only a good thing. The pebble shape of the case and the gently domed crystal, along with the super elegant lugs give this watch a wonderful flowy look, which contrasts the heaviness of the material. It’s made out of 950 platinum, which certainly means some heft when you take into account that the watch measures 41mm wide and 12.5mm thick, including the crystal. On the side is a wonderful fluted ball-shaped crown and out back is a sapphire caseback, which you obviously need considering the whole tourbillon situation. But more on that a bit later. Water resistance, by the way, is 30 meters.

All new here is the dial, as it comes in a very pretty teal. The base is made out of white gold, covered with Grand Feu enamel. That’s paired with super long white Grand Feu enamel Roman numerals and a sky blue Grand Feu enamel minutes track. An incredible combination. Time is indicated by white gold Assegai hands and at 6 o’clock is a small seconds display. Now, if this is the Classic Tourbillon, where is the tourbillon aperture? There isn’t one. To keep things simple and classic, the tourbillon is only visible from the back. I love that.

The movement that powers the watch is the manually wound calibre LF619.01, made in house and with little fuss but impeccable finishes. It beats at 21,600vph and has an 80 hour power reserve. At 6 o’clock of the movement you’ll find the head-to-tail mounted double balance spring tourbillon escapment, while the entire movement is finished in dark ruthenium, with straight graining on the bridges. The watch comes on a green alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone Alcantara lining, closed with a platinum buckle.

The new Laurent Ferrier Classic Tourbillon In Teal is available online only and priced at CHF 195,000. See more on the Laurent Ferrier website.

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Historic L.Leroy Brand Returns With The Clever Osmior Bal du Temps Tourbillon Minute Repeater

L.Leroy is one of those brands that you either adore or never heard of. Despite being 240 years old, they have had their ups and downs. In the 18th century, they created marine chronometers, high complications and clocks for the French court, only to go under, before being revived Festina Group’s Miguel Rodríguez in 2004, to mixed reactions. Getting a neo-vintage L.Leroy right now might be one of the best bangs for your buck, but I’m not sure how long that will last since L.Leroy is now back with a much more serious approach and a price to match. This is the new L.Leroy Osmior Bal du Temps Tourbillon Minute Repeater.

This is a very classy watch. It comes in a barrel shaped case with slightly downturned lugs, available in 18k 5N red gold, platinum, or grade 5 titanium. It measures 43mm wide and 13.8mm thick, including the domed sapphire crystal that’s held down by a simple bezel. That sounds quite large, but I’ve tried on the titanium version and it fits like a dream. The case is immaculately finished, with mirror-polish and satin surfaces, and on the left side of the case is a pretty standard repeater slide. Water resistance is 30 meters, but please don’t go swimming with this.

The dial is fully openworked, with just a hint of color. Around the perimeter you’ll find the minute and hour ring that’s finished in anthracite with gold numerals for the red gold case, blue with white numerals for the platinum and rhodium silver with black numerals for the titanium version. Each also gets different colored hands — gold on gold, rhodium on platinum and blue on titanium. Speaking of hands, as you might have noticed, there is only one central hour hand, while the minutes are conveyed by the gongs of the repeater. Very cool. At 6 o’clock you’ll find the one-minute flying tourbillon.

Inside, you’ll find the hand-wound calibre L601SQ, developed in Geneva exclusively for L.Leroy. They don’t disclose who makes the movement, but we’ll find that out soon. It’s an incredible movement, with a quite restrained look for what it is. It beats at 21,600vibrations/hour and has a pretty incredible 90 hour power reserve from a single barrel. The movement’s finishes include a is finished with a rhodium-plated frosted main bridge with polished bevels, perlage, circular graining and mirror-polished screw heads. The watches come on hand-stitched black alligator straps.

The new L.Leroy Osmior Bal du Temps will be a limited production and the price is on request. However, they did tell me that the titanium model starts at CHF 225,000, and the price only goes up from there. See more on the L.Leroy 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

• When Banksy visited New Orleans a few years after Hurricane Katrina, the artist left 17 murals behind, sprinkled across the city. One piece on the exterior of a biker bar, Boy on a Life Preserver Swing, had been spray-painted over and then reduced to rubble after the bar was demolished. Ronnie Fredericks, a dump truck driver, went to the site to collect the cinderblocks that made up the mural and stored them for years until he found an opportunity—and an art-loving New Orleans hotelier—to bring the artwork back to life. Ivy Knight writes a delightful Oxford American story about three people who come together to restore a Banksy.

• Nearly 20 years ago, Michelle Vanek disappeared while climbing Holy Cross, one of “Colorado’s most iconic fourteeners.” The trek was considered a nontechnical but particularly arduous climb, especially for a novice. For 5280 Magazine, Heather Hansman reports on how a day trip went horribly wrong, turning into the “largest search for a missing hiker in Colorado history,” and why it took nearly two decades to solve the mystery.

• Stephanie Krzywonos takes us on a fascinating tour of color throughout history, telling the origin stories of colored pigments such as ochre, Tyrian purple, mummy brown, Prussian blue, and more. But this Emergence Magazine piece is about much more than simply color—in each of her essay’s vignettes, Krzywonos explores stories of extraction, violence, and death.

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Thanks for reading,
Vuk