> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.itsabouttime.email/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Seiko Goes Classy, NOMOS Goes Cool And New Watches From Norqain, Unimatic And Angelus - URL: https://www.itsabouttime.email/seiko-goes-classy-nomos-goes-cool-and-new-watches-from-norqain-unimatic-and-angelus/ - Published: 2026-10-09T14:04:46.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T14:04:46.000Z - Author: Vuk Radic - Tags: Daily newsletter Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Have a nice weekend everyone. You'll be getting the first edition of The Caseback, my new weekend magazine tomorrow, and if you like it and want to continue reading it and supporting the regular newsletter, grab a [paid subscription that's discounted](https://www.itsabouttime.email/annual-its-about-time-is-back-discount) until the end of this week. **THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT!** Ever since I moved to this new platform, deliverability of emails has been so-so. Some are delivered to a lot of inboxes, some are routed to people's promotions tabs. In case you haven't been getting your emails, check the promotions or junk folders and move it to the primary. That way you'll always get it. --- ****Help me RUN It's About Time** I write this newsletter on my own, and paid subscribers are what keep it running. If you'd like to support it, you'll also get The Caseback, a weekend magazine with longer writing, every Sunday. ****The paid subscription is discounted for just a few more days, so get it now.** [Support IAT ](https://www.itsabouttime.email/annual-its-about-time-is-back-discount) --- ## 👂What’s new ### 1/ Seiko Goes Classy With A Deep Navy Dial And Orange Accents For the Speedtimer HBJ008 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/10/Seiko-Prospex-Speedtimer-HBJ008-European-Limited-Edition-1-1.jpg) The solar Seiko Speedtimer, regardless of what Seiko does to it, will always kind of be on the short list for best chronographs under €1,000\. That is, until Seiko moves it above €1,000, and don't pretend that won't happen. And it's not just the 39mm steel case, retro racing looks, and a light-charged quartz movement you never have to think about, that make it a good choice. I would say that Seiko's seemingly unending stream of different dial, all of the pretty good looking. This latest one is called the HBJ008 and it gets a beautiful navy blue-and-orange racing combination. Just one problem, for some of you – it's an European exclusive. Nothing changes with the case. It’s still 39mm wide, 13.3mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 45.5mm, in steel with a fixed steel bezel that has a black tachymeter scale. That height is still the Speedtimer’s one real proportion problem, especially since this does not have a mechanical movement. On top is a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside, out back is a screw-down caseback engraved with the edition number, and you get 100 meters of water resistance. Orange is used sparingly against the navy: the central chronograph hand, the small hand at 6, and the lume on the four cardinal markers. Hours and minutes get beige Lumibrite, matching the beige-tipped hands in the other sub-dials, a 24-hour indicator at 3 and running seconds at 9\. The sub-dial at 6 does two jobs, counting up to 60 minutes when the chronograph is running and showing remaining charge on an E-to-F scale when it doesn’t. All three sub-dials are translucent gray because the solar cells sit underneath. The date, white on black, sits between 4 and 5 and that almost ruins the entire dial. Inside is the Seiko calibre V192, a solar quartz, accurate to ±15 seconds per month, with chronograph timing to a fifth of a second. A full charge lasts six months, any light source tops it up, and the seconds hand jumps in two-second steps when it’s running low. The 20mm three-link bracelet is now fully brushed, an improvement over the polished center links on earlier editions, and closes with a push-button folding clasp. There’s still no quick-release and no micro-adjustment, which is a bummer. A tan leather rally strap comes in the box, and I think I like it more. The Seiko Prospex Speedtimer HBJ008 European Limited Edition is limited to 4,000 pieces, priced at €880\. It goes on sale November 1, 2026, at Seiko’s European boutiques and authorized dealers. See [more photos here](https://www.itsabouttime.email/seiko-goes-classy-with-a-deep-navy-dial-and-orange-accents-for-the-speedtimer-hbj008/) and the watch [on the Seiko website](https://www.seikoboutique.eu/fr/en/prospex/13578-mens-prospex-speedtimer-solar-chronograph-limited-edition-hbj008p1.html?ref=itsabouttime.email). ### 2/ NOMOS Gives the Metro Collection an Ice Blue Dial and a Cooler Movement ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/10/nomos-metro-eisblau-1-1.webp) The Metro has always been the NOMOS for people who find the rest of the catalog a little too polite. Designed by Mark Braun in 2014 around the dots and colors of subway maps, it was at the same time very expressive and classic. It was also the first watch, in it's Date Power Reserve configuration, to house the brand’s in-house Swing System escapement. Twelve years later, the collection gets its biggest update in the form of a pale metallic blue dial and a new hand-wound calibre, the DUW 4701, for the Date Power Reserve. On the outside, the Date Power Reserve remains pretty unchanged, which means that it's 37mm wide and 8mm thick in polished steel, with wire lugs and a bezel so narrow the dial fills almost the whole face. There’s a domed sapphire crystal on top, and you get 50 meters of water resistance. The Neomatik 41 Update is the bigger option, 40.5mm wide and 9.1mm thick, with the exact same setup as the smaller watch. The new blue is metallic and pale, closer to frost than sky, and NOMOS has matched everything to it: teal hour dots, white minute dots, grey Arabic numerals. The power reserve indicator still sits off-center just past 12, now a three-color wheel that reads teal when full and white when you need to wind. The logo stays at 9 o’clock, date and small seconds share 6 o’clock, and the rhodium-plated hands are about as thin as hands get. On the Neomatik 41 Update, the date is indicated on a ring around the edge, with two teal markers bracketing the current day. Calibre DUW 4701 is a manual-wind, in-house movement derived from the DUW 4601 in the Tangente 2date, reworked to drive the Metro’s off-center displays. It measures 32.1mm across and 2.8mm thick, runs for 52 hours, and adds a quick-set date. Through the caseback you’ll see a three-quarter plate with Glashütte ribbing, perlage, gold engravings, blued screws and a skeletonized balance cock showing off the blue Swing System hairspring. The strap is black Horween shell cordovan. The Neomatik 41 Update keeps the automatic DUW 6101 with 50 hours of reserve, on a grey woven textile strap. The NOMOS Metro Date Power Reserve in ice blue is ref. 1121, priced at €3,500, and the Metro Neomatik 41 Update in ice blue is ref. 1166, priced at €4,200\. A silver-white Date Power Reserve with the new DUW 4701 is also coming. See [more photos here](https://www.itsabouttime.email/nomos-gives-the-metro-collection-an-ice-blue-dial-and-a-cooler-movement/) and the watches [on the NOMOS website](https://nomos-glashuette.com/en-de/watches/new-releases/metro-ice-blue?ref=itsabouttime.email). ### 3/ Norqain Trades Carbon for Titanium on Three New Wild One Models ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/10/NORQAIN-WILD-ONE-1-1.jpg) While I still don't understand who Norqain makes watches for at these prices, there's no denying that the Wild One is their most over-engineered watch. The movement sits in a titanium capsule, cushioned by rubber and clamped between two layers of Norteq, the brand’s own carbon composite. But while carbon composite is cool, titanium is cooler, which is exactly what this new collection gets: a grade 5 titanium top case, a first for the model line. There are two sizes available. The 39mm skeleton is 11.75mm thick with a lug-to-lug of 45.75mm, which is actually quite sensible. The 42mm versions are 12.3mm thick with a lug-to-lug of 49.4mm, which is also not that bad if you need a larger watch. The bezel and lugs are brushed titanium. Underneath sits a black Norteq back plate, with rubber shock absorbers in grey or mint green showing between the layers. There are flat sapphire crystals on both sides, a rubber-coated screw-down crown, 200 meters of water resistance and a 5,000 G shock rating. A titanium nameplate is screwed to the left flank. Two of the three models get skeleton dials, with bridges cut into a ridgeline of peaks and the indices floating above the movement. Norqain moved the logo onto the flange, which cleans things up. The hands are large and fully lumed: light yellow on the 39mm, mint green on the 42mm. The third watch has a grey iron meteorite dial with the usual Widmanstätten crosshatching, white lume, and grey on every surface, crown included. The skeletons use calibre 4K (NK26/1), an automatic developed with Sellita subsidiary AMT Manufacture. It's always interesting to see this movement since Norqain was so connected to Kenissi from its start. It’s COSC-certified, runs at 4Hz and has been updated to 65 hours of power reserve, up from 41\. The meteorite model gets the Kenissi calibre NN20/1, also COSC-certified at 4Hz, with 70 hours of power reserve and a custom rotor. Each comes on color-matched rubber strap, with a Norteq pin buckle, a titanium pin buckle or a black DLC titanium folding clasp. The Norqain Wild One Skeleton Titanium is priced at €5,950 on the pin buckle or €6,320 with the folding clasp, in 39mm (limited to 400 pieces) or 42mm. The Wild One Meteorite Titanium 42mm is priced at €6,400 with the Norteq buckle, €6,500 with the titanium buckle and €6,770 with the folding clasp. See [more photos here](https://www.itsabouttime.email/norqain-trades-carbon-for-titanium-on-three-new-wild-one-models/) and the watches [on the Norqain website](https://norqain.com/?ref=itsabouttime.email). ### 4/ UNIMATIC Dresses the Modello Quattro GMT in E. Marinella Blue for a Tokyo-Only Run of 100 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/10/Unimatic-U4-GMT-EMJDM-Editorial-01-1.jpg) A Milanese tool-watch brand teaming up with a Neapolitan tie shop sounds like a bit of a stretch, but this is exactly where UNIMATIC shines. The Modello Quattro is UNIMATIC’s military-style GMT: matte, fixed-bezel, tough. E. Marinella, on the other hand, makes the blue silk ties that are particularly well known as wedding ties. So, when the two team up, you get something extremely interesting. The bad news is that only 100 exist, and you’ll need a Japanese address to buy one. The brushed 316L steel case is 40mm wide, 13.8mm thick (or 14.1 if you include the crystal) with a lug-to-lug of 49mm. I told you it's a chunky watch. The bezel is a fixed monoblock, the lugs are drilled, and on top is a flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the underside. Flip this particular edition over, and you'll see the screw-down caseback with a Marinella tie motif. Water resistance is a very decent 300 meters. The dial is done in a deep Marinella blue with a fine micro-pattern pressed into the print, immitating the pattern on the famous ties. Contrasting the deep blue is a matte white treatment on the markers. The hands are done in blue, but with the same stark matte white lume on them. The reverse-lollipop seconds hand has a lumed white tip and the GMT hand is also done in blue with a white hollow lumed arrow. There's also a well matched date aperture at 6 o'clock. Inside is the NH34A, the Seiko-sourced automatic GMT beating at 3Hz with a bit over 41 hours of reserve. It’s a caller style GMT, meaning the 24-hour hand is set independently, and it's rated at -20/+40 seconds a day. The strap is a blue double-layer nylon two-piece with quick-release bars, UNIMATIC embroidery and brushed steel hardware signed by the brand. The UNIMATIC x E. Marinella Modello Quattro U4-GMT-EMJDM is limited to 100 numbered examples, priced at ¥230,000 before tax, which is about €1,300\. It goes on sale October 9 at 8:00 AM CEST at E. Marinella’s Tokyo Midtown and Tokyo Marunouchi stores and online at floens.jp, which, of course, does not ship internationally. See [more photos here](https://www.itsabouttime.email/unimatic-dresses-the-modello-quattro-gmt-in-e-marinella-blue-for-a-tokyo-only-run-of-100/) and the watch [on the UNIMATIC website](https://www.unimaticwatches.com/products/uwk-u4-gmt-emjdm?ref=itsabouttime.email). ### 5/ Angelus Expands Fantastic Monopusher Collection With Three Chronographe Tachymètre ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/10/Angelus-Chronographe-Tachym--tre-1-1.jpg) For decades, the only place you’d find an Angelus was an auction listing, usually a small chronograph or a Chronodato with a dial that had seen better days. You can still find the vintage examples – and they are not just good looking, they are decently affordable – but you can also go for the new models from the revived Angelus. And it's been going good for the company, as their Chronographe Télémètre took the chronograph prize at the GPHG last year. Now we have the follow-up, the Chronographe Tachymètre that comes as three limited versions, one gold and two steel, in the most compact case Angelus currently makes, with a hand-wound monopusher inside. The case is 37mm wide and 9.25mm thick, made out of either 3N yellow gold or stainless steel. Those are pretty wild dimensions. Sure, this is a manually wound movement, but find me more than a handful of chronographs measuring under 10mm thick. The case band curves continuously between the lugs, and the lugs drop from above and appear to twist as they run down the flanks. A box sapphire crystal sits on top, with sapphire on the back too. Water resistance is 30 meters, which is reasonable for what you get. Each dial is domed, with a grained center, a satin flange and snailed subdials for running seconds and a 30-minute register at three o’clock. The flange has a tachymeter calibrated to base 1,000\. The gold model pairs a gold dial with black sub-dials and flange. In steel you get coral pink with grey accents, or pearl grey with a petrol blue flange and subdials. Applied numerals are black on steel and gold-toned on gold. Inside is the Angelus calibre A5000, manual-winding, 24mm across and 4.20mm thick, beating at 3Hz with 42 hours of power reserve. It runs the chronograph through a column wheel and horizontal clutch. Turn it over and you'll see that the main plate and bridges are gilded, with Côtes de Genève and chamfered edges, while the chronograph works are rhodium-plated so they stand apart from everything else. Straps are calfskin in sage green, sepia grey or steel blue, on a pin buckle in the case metal. The Angelus Chronographe Tachymètre is priced at CHF 18,500 in steel (pink limited to 30 pieces, grey to 50) and CHF 34,600 in yellow gold (limited to 15 pieces). See [way more photos here](https://www.itsabouttime.email/angelus-expands-fantastic-monopusher-collection-with-three-chronographe-tachymetre/) and the watches [on the Angelus website](https://angelus-watches.com/?ref=itsabouttime.email). --- ****Help me RUN It's About Time** I write this newsletter on my own, and paid subscribers are what keep it running. If you'd like to support it, you'll also get The Caseback, a weekend magazine with longer writing, every Sunday. ****The paid subscription is discounted for just a few more days, so get it now.** [Support IAT ](https://www.itsabouttime.email/annual-its-about-time-is-back-discount) --- ## ⚙️Watch Worthy - [A review of the Citizen Promaster JV3000](https://www.ablogtowatch.com/beachcombing-with-the-citizen-promaster-wavetracker-jv3000/?ref=itsabouttime.email) - [Hands on with the Tudor Northflag M9140G1A0U](https://www.ablogtowatch.com/hands-on-with-new-gmt-equipped-tudor-northflag-m9140g1a0u-watch/?ref=itsabouttime.email) --- ## ⏲️End links - For Oakland Review of Books, Stephanie Uchino-Beach writes about getting laid off at an education tech company that transformed into an “AI-first outfit.” As as customer success manager, she acted as a liaison to district administrators, school principals, and teachers. While AI could automate some of her tasks, what about the core responsibilities of her CSM role: building real relationships and understanding an educator’s needs? An AI sees data points, not people. This is a sobering read from a former tech worker living in the Bay Area, and an edtech company [that has gone all in on AI and forgotten about its mission](https://www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/how-ai-replaced-me/?ref=itsabouttime.email) - r/BoyDinnerDiaries is a subreddit where men post photos of their often rather sad-looking meals alongside their most private worries. Zack Hauptman carefully explores this unusual place for community and care, meeting the men who are learning to share more than just what is on their plate. We hear a lot about the “male loneliness epidemic,” so it’s [heartening to glimpse even a small shift in the other direction](https://www.gq.com/story/boydinnerdiaries-subreddit-community?ref=itsabouttime.email). --- ## 👀Watch this That trailer for Elsinore from yesterday had me watching [Andrew Scott's Hamlet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6CLdCl9TB0&ref=itsabouttime.email) (seriously, give it a view) which brought me to this fantastic video of the many actors who have played the most prestigious role in theater powwowing about their experience. --- Thanks for reading Vuk P.S. If you have any questions, suggestions, gripes or anything else, just reply to this email. It comes straight to me and I try responding to everyone.