Rolex Does A Bit Of A Rugpull On Us With A Non-Perpetual; And New Watches From Citizen, echo/neutra And MeisterSinger

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. It feels so good to be writing these things again. In case you didn't see yesterday's issue, the first one in over a month, and have been wondering what happened, you can read the whole story here.

Celebrating the fact that we are back and trying to rebuild the newsletter, I'm running a discount on annual or monthly paid subscription that will get you my new publication, The Caseback, a weekend long-read email magazine, in return.

Also, do excuse any bugs and mistakes I might make as I'm getting used to this new system. For example... I just deleted a whole article on one watch just as I was getting ready to publish this issue... So I'll have to make that up tomorrow. Sorry.

👂What’s new

1/ Rolex Surprises Everyone With the Perpetual Padellone, An Annual Calendar Moonphase Tribute To A Legend

Usually, when Rolex releases something on a random Tuesday and not at one of the big shows (actually, just Watches & Wonders), it's going to be something big. This release we got yesterday is big, even though it cuts some corners, not just for Rolex, but also for Milan Design Week, where the new Perpetual Padellone was introduced. Good for MDW, but I'm a bit annoyed with this watch. First, I'm annoyed with the name. Despite being called the Perpetual Padellone it is absolutely not a perpetual calendar. Despite what Rolex might tell you, it is an annual calendar watch. Which brings me to the other annoying thing, the price. But more on that later. The good thing about the new Perpetual Padellone is its look. It's a handsome watch, which makes sense since it pays direct homage to their reference 8171, a 38mm triple calendar moonphase made between 1949 and 1953 in roughly 1,000 to 1,200 examples. Its Italian nickname means "big frying pan," and you can kind of see it. This new version combines the Perpetual 1908 case with the Land-Dweller's movement tech, so let's dig in.

The case is 39mm wide and 12.2mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 45mm, so essentially the 1908 footprint with extra height for the calendar. You can choose between 18k Everose gold or 950 platinum. Every surface is polished, and both the fluted bezel and sapphire crystal are domed. Rolex doesn't do what their competitors do and put all the calendar operations into the crown. Instead, you get four recessed correctors on the flanks for month, date, moonphase, and day that require a tool to operate. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The layout follows the original: a date track around the edge with a central pointer, day and month windows at 12, and a moonphase at 6. Everose models get an Intense White dial and platinum gets Ice Blue, both with a matte grained center and a satin-finished raised date track. The blue date pointer has a tiny crescent moon at the tip. The 3 and 9 numerals are applied, the indices are faceted, the an hour hand has a circular tip, and a the minute hand is pencil shaped. They are all done in rose or white gold, matching the case color. The moonphase uses a blue enamel disc with meteorite moons.

Inside is the in-house calibre 7190, built on the Land-Dweller's calibre 7135 with the silicon Dynapulse escapement, beating at 5Hz with a 66-hour power reserve and Superlative Chronometer accuracy of -2/+2 seconds a day. That's a very cool movement, objectively. What's not cool is the annual calendar module. I mean, the module is cool in itself, as it adds only two parts to the date mechanism, a carrier finger and an annual lever, and the month programming is cut into the back of the month disc. It's not cool that the watch kind of baits you with the Perpetual name, as you have to correct it once a year, at the end of February. Both metals come on alligator straps (brown for Everose, black for platinum) with green calfskin lining and a Dualclasp. The Everose model is also offered on the seven-link Settimo bracelet with a concealed Crownclasp.

The Rolex Perpetual Padellone joins the permanent collection. And here we come to the next disappointment. The Everose on leather (ref. 53505-0002) is priced at CHF 52,500, the Everose on the Settimo bracelet (ref. 53505-0003) is priced at CHF 64,800, and the platinum (ref. 53506-0002) is priced at CHF 59,000. That's an outrageous amount of money for an industrially made annual calendar, regardless of the brand and material. See more images here on the watch on the Rolex website.

2/ Citizen Brings The Longer Tsuyosa 60 Power Reserve To The Smaller 37mm Case

Citizen's Tsuyosa has been a massive hit since it was introduced four years ago. And it's obvious why. It's a simple, relatively affordable integrated-bracelet sports watch. It came with some drawbacks, but nothing that would be a deal breaker. One of them could have been a bit of a short-ish power reserve. Citizen fixed that on the 40mm variant with the Tsuyosa 60, and now the same movement is coming to the 37mm case.

The case is well known, 37mm wide, 11.5mm thick, with a compact lug-to-lug of roughly 43mm. It's steel, with an option of a gold colored case, brushed with polished accents, with the barrel profile, raised bezel and crown tucked in at 4 o'clock. A flat sapphire crystal sits on top, with a date magnifier that could have been left off, and there's a display caseback on the back. Water resistance is 50 meters, enough for hand-washing and rain.

The dials have a stamped guilloché-style pattern that's makes the watch punch above its price bracket. Applied markers and hands have plenty of lume, and the date sits at 3 o'clock. There are three references: NK0030-51E with a black dial, NK0030-51X in a mint green, and NK0032-56A with a silver dial, gold-colored case and bracelet, and gold hands and markers.

Inside is the in-house Citizen calibre 8310, an update of the calibre 8210 from the original Tsuyosa. It beats at 3Hz, hacks, and now has a 60 hour power reserve, 20 more than before. Claimed accuracy is -20/+40 seconds a day, which is not great, but these watches often preform way better than the claimed accuracy. The movement is decorated with rhodium plating, blued screws, an openworked rotor and stripes across the main bridge. The old three-link bracelet is gone, replaced by a jubilee-style steel bracelet with brushed outer links, polished center links and a concealed butterfly clasp.

The Citizen Tsuyosa 60 Automatic 37mm joins the permanent collection at €379 in steel with a black or green dial, and €429 for the gold-plated version. See more photos here and the watch on the Citizen website.

3/ echo/neutra Brings Back the 1956 Chrono GMT in Cappuccino and Purple

Most of the attention echo/neutra gets goes to the Rivanera, its small titanium take on a rectangular dress watch. But I fell for the Italian brand back when they made divers, GMTs and ceramic pilot's watches. That's why I always kind of wanted one of their 1956 watches. Most particularly, the 1956 Chrono GMT, which put a chronograph and a second time zone into a good looking vintage watch. The watch has since disappeared from the collection, but echo/neutra is bringing it back in two fantastic new colors – Cappuccino and Purple.

The steel case is familiar and measures 40mm wide and 14.8mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 46mm and 20mm wide lugs. Some of that height comes from the heavily domed sapphire crystal, but this is still a tall watch no matter how you look at it. The front and sides are brushed, with a wide polished bevel running down the lugs, making this look way more expensive than it is. A fixed ceramic bezel has a telemeter scale, the solid caseback has a large "1956" stamped in the middle, and water resistance is 100 meters.

Cappuccino pairs a brown dial with lighter brown sub-dials, indices and hands, and uses turquoise for the GMT hand and the seconds accents. Purple gets a deep wine shade, close to burgundy, for the dial with black sub-dials, pink-purple hour and minute hands (how cool are those?), and red for the GMT and seconds. Like previous variants, you get the 30-minute counter at 12, the 12-hour counter at six, and the running seconds and day/night indicator together at nine.

Inside is the hand-wound Sellita calibre SW532M b Elaboré, beating at 4Hz with a 62-hour power reserve. Cappuccino comes on a light brown suede strap with turquoise stitching, while Purple comes on a deep purple leather strap, both with a steel pin buckle.

The echo/neutra 1956 Chrono GMT goes on sale today, September 16th at 6PM CET and it's priced at €1,970. See a lot more photos here and the watches on the echo/neutra website when the watches go live.

4/ MeisterSinger Takes Its Single Hand Down Route 66 For The Highway's 100th Birthday

MeisterSinger is kind of famous right now for their one gimmick – telling time with one hand. You would imagine that it would get a bit tired by now, but nope, they still manage to come up with original concepts, even with the limitation they imposed on themselves. They also have a bit of a history doing car-themed watches, including a VW T1 one and a Jaguar E-Type one. Now, they're going a bit meta, celebrating 100 years of Route 66 and tying in with another icon of Americana, the Ford Mustang. This is the new MeisterSinger Edition Route 66.

Since this is a watch based on the MeisterSinger No.03, the stainless steel case doesn't change much. It's still 43mm wide and 11.5mm thick, with sapphire crystals on top and bottom. The top crystal is surrounded by a thin polished bezel and the crystal on the back has a print of the Route 66 shield and an engraved individual number. Water resistance is 50 meters.

The dial takes its cue from the Ford Mustang's wheels. A matte black base engraved with concentric circles sits beneath a second layer of six silver-white spokes. At the top of the dial is the MeisterSinger logo on an oval plaque and the Route 66 emblem sits in the lower half of the dial. Around the perimeter is an hour/minute scale that looks a bit like a speedometer with a combination of white and red markers and double digit numerals. There's a lot going on here. Maybe a bit too much? Which is kind of ironic, since this is a watch with one hand.

Inside is the Sellita SW200, a very familiar automatic beating at 4Hz with a 38-hour power reserve. It's reliable and cheap to service, but that power reserve is really getting a bit old. The strap is made out of black vintage saddle leather with red stitching to match the hand's tip, closed with a pin buckle.

The MeisterSinger Edition Route 66 (ref. ED-ROUTE66) is limited to 100 pieces and it's priced €2,390 including VAT. Each watch comes in a Route 66 desert-scene box with a 1:18-scale red Ford Mustang Convertible. See more photos here and the watch on the MeisterSinger website.

⚙️Watch Worthy

• A review of the Bell & Ross BR-X3 Patrouille De France
• Hands on with the Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone
• A review of the Autodromo Group C Turbo Sport

⏲️End links

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• What do privilege and accountability look like for an AI agent on the wrong side of the law? Evan Ratliff rounds up a collection of challenging cases in which AI agents have functioned as co-conspirators in criminal acts, offered courtroom statements on behalf of deceased victims, and perpetrated deeds that, for humans, are considered to be illegal. Legal teams have already sought to seal their clients’ chats with AI agents, likening the exchanges to conversations with an attorney. Ratliff’s feature is an omnibus, and you’ve likely encountered one or two of his stories via other outlets. Here, the concerns he gathers together reveal the breadth of challenges facing the American legal system.
• Jake Edmiston, a business reporter for the Toronto Star, thinks highly of his mustard chicken recipe. So when one batch goes over like a lead balloon, he checks his namesake ingredients and finds that his usual glass pot of Maille Dijon Originale is extraordinarily spicy—a fact he confirms, good reporter that he is, by conducting a blind test with a professional taster. In no time, Edmiston is on the floor of one of Canada’s largest mustard mills, trying to stay dry and avoid mustard dust burns(!), and peppering Unilever, Maille’s owner, with questions. This isn’t exactly a case for Benoit Blanc, but Edmiston’s investigation takes a few surprising turns and drops some serious knowledge on glucosinolates on the way. Every ingredient is in harmony here.

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