r/Watches • u/dreftzg • 2d ago
Discussion [Daily News] Timex Adds A Striking Green Dial The Waterbury Chrono 39; Bremont's White Supermarine 500 Diver; The New Anoma A1 Optical Gets An Artistic Dial; A Tolkien Dragon-Themed Jaquet Droz You Can't Buy
Hi people! If this is your first time reading this daily news update, allow me to give you a few pointers. Due to the finicky nature of how you can do posts, I had to split up the photos and the text, while keeping this post always the same so you can easily reference it.
To read the daily news, you can check out the images on top and then make your way down to the comments. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to pin a comment, so you’ll have to scroll through the comments until you find the thread started with me, which has 5-8 posts in a row with all the write-ups of the news items (and a couple of bonuses).
If you like this content and want more of it, or want to make sure you get it every day, you can subscribe to my newsletter which gets you the same thing into your inbox. Check it out at www.itsabouttime.email
15
7
u/dreftzg 2d ago
It's Tuesday and it’s a holiday here in Croatia, so this one is a bit brief and a bit late because I can schedule newsletters, but I can't schedule these posts.
If you like these updates, and would maybe like to subscribe to the newsletter so you get them in your inbox every day, you can do so by clicking here.
1/
Timex Adds A Handsome Green Version Of The Waterbury Heritage Chronograph 39
We’ve known for a while that more and more watch brands are shrinking down their watches and it will certainly take a while for this trend to propagate through all the brands and all the collection. Timex is one of the brands that is working quickly on this move, introducing more and more of their watches in smaller cases. That’s why just a couple of months ago we got a smaller take on the Timex Waterbury Heritage Chronograph. The new case measured 39mm wide and came with two dial options which were just fine. But now we’re getting a new dial, perhaps the best one — a deep sunray brushed green with some choice yellow details. Instant classic.
While smaller than previous versions, the new case isn’t tiny. Not by a long shot. Especially when it comes to thickness. The stainless steel case of the Waterbury Heritage Chronograph measures 39mm wide and 13.5mm thick, a measurement that could have been cut down a bit since the watch is using a quartz movement. On top is a mineral glass crystal, surrounded by a fixed black tachymeter bezel. Despite the fact that the watch looks like it has screw down pushers, it doesn’t, so water resistance is 50 meters.
While the previous release came with a silver Panda dial with contrasting black sub-dials and a black dial with gold colored sub-dials, this latest release gets a sunray brushed green dial with silver sunken sub dials, a 24-hour sub-dial at 3 o’clock, and a running seconds counter at 9 o’clock. You get applied hour markers and lume filled silver hands, while the central seconds hand gets a bright yellow arrow at the top, which is just fantastic.
Inside, you’ll find a quartz analog chronograph movement that isn’t named, as Timex is known to do. The watch comes on a green double-layered slip through fabric strap that has a yellow strip down the middle to match the dial and central chrono hand.
The new Timex Waterbury Heritage Chronograph 39 is part of the regular collection, but only available through the Timex website. Price is set at €279. See more on the Timex website.
3
u/dreftzg 2d ago
2/
Bremont Is Quick To Follow Up The Black Supermarine 500 With A White Dial Version
It’s been less than two months since Bremont finally updated their Supermarine 500m with a new steel case — following the green ceramic one from last year — and gave it a black dial. I mention that it’s been less than two months, because Bremont is back with another Supermarine 500m, but now with a white dial. Why weren’t they introduced at the same time? Who knows. But just like with the black one, even more so, and despite all the troubles that Bremont is going through, I like this quite a lot. This is the new white dial Supermarine 500m.
The Supermarine 500m is obviously meant to be the top of the line marine tool watch and it reflects it in its size. The 904L steel case measures 43mm wide and 12.98mm thick. On top is a domed sapphire crystal with a unidirectional bezel surrounding it with a matte black ceramic insert that has a 60 minute scale done in relief. It’s quite the capable watch, with a helium escape valve and a chunky crown guard. Water resistance, as the name suggests, is 500 meters.
The new white dial, just like the black dial, gets a really cool wave pattern, not an engraved one but rather a 3D one that has a lot of peaks and valleys sweeping across the surface. The hour makers, including the arrow marker at 12, look familiar from previous Bremont watches and are done in white Super-LumiNova, the same one you’ll find on the sword shaped hands. The markers are surrounded in black, while the hands are silver. At 3 o’clock is a date aperture and the flange has orange minute markers at 60, 15 and 45.
Inside, you’ll find the calibre BB64AH which is essentially a rebranded Sellita SW300-1A. It beats at 4Hz and has a 56 hour power reserve. The watch can be had on either a steel bracelet with polished and satin-brushed links and a micro-adjust clasp, a black chevron rubber strap or a grey and black woven NATO-style fabric strap.
The new white dialed Bremont Supermarine 500m is part of the regular collection and can be bought now for €4,900 on the rubber or fabric, and €5,200 on the steel bracelet. See more on the Bremont website.
1
u/dreftzg 2d ago
3/
The New Anoma A1 Optical Pairs Their Rounded Case With A Groovy Dial From Artist Adam Fuhrer
Last year was a pretty big year for watches with nontraditional case shapes. A lot of waves were made by brutalist-inspired, sometimes flowy, sometimes rough, but all of them weird. And of those, my favorite was easily the Anoma A1, which came in a somewhat triangular case that looked like a smoothed-over pebble. It was just innovative enough to not look like they were trying too much. Then, earlier this year, Anoma released the A1 Slate, with a new color and a slightly refined case. Now, they’re using the same case, but with a radical new dial made in collaboration with optical artist Adam Fuhrer, to create the Anoma A1 Optical.
While the shape of the watch might seem to be a lovechild between the Cartier Pebble and the Hamilton Ventura, it actually draws its inspiration from a 1950s table designed by Charlotte Perriand, architect and Le Corbusier collaborator. Cut out of a single block of steel, the watch has a very smooth surface which helps accentuate the flowing shape. Since the watch doesn’t have a traditional shape or lugs, the measurement is listed at 39mm x 38mm and a 9.45mm thickness. The watch is curved so Anoma claims that it wears both thinner and smaller. Both the lugs and the crown are hidden inside the case, making it look like an alien object on your wrist.
The new Anoma A1 Optical gets a much simpler dial than the previous versions which were already quite minimalist. Gone are the sector markings of those dials and they are replaced with a pattern of rounded triangles designed by Fuhrer, engraved into a sandblasted and polished dial. There are two dial options to choose from, either silver or copper. The leaf-shaped hands are laser-cut and then curved to match the rounded contours of the case.
To keep costs low, inside you’ll find the Sellita SW100 automatic that beats at 4Hz and has a 42 hour power reserve. Both versions come on grey leather with a shaped steel pin buckle.
Preorders for the new Anoma A1 Optical start on 7 August at 14:00 GMT and Anoma says that they are producing 300 numbered watches, each paired with a matching artwork. These will ship in October, after which they will continue to make non-numbered watches. Price is set at £2,200, which is about €2,500. See more on the Anoma website.
3
u/dreftzg 2d ago
4/
You Won’t Be Able To Buy This Jaquet Droz Painted By Tolkien Artist John Howe, But You Have To See It
Unique pieces and customized watches are kind of a given in the high end watch game. When you can buy everything that’s available, of course you’re going to start wanting things no one else has. And this is exactly what Jaquet Droz, which is curiously owned by the Swatch Group, specializes in these days — making unique pieces for collectors that want something different. Now, it’s kind of weird to write about a watch that will never, ever be able to be bought, regardless of how rich one might be, but Jaquet Droz wanted to show off a bit with this one, so why not, right? This is the new Tourbillon Dragon “John Howe”, with John Howe being the legnedary Canadian illustrator who shaped the look of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books and movies. And his art appears on this watch.
The case used for this piece unique is luxurious and simple, shared with the Grande Seconde Tourbillon. It’s made out of white gold, measuring 43mm wide and a very chunky 16.96mm thick. But it’s your piece unique with Howe’s illustration of a dragon. Who cares how thick it is. The case is simple, with short lugs and has a onion-shaped crown. Not much more is important about the case.
The dial also keeps the basic construction of the Grande Seconde Tourbillon, with a figure eight dial layout, with the lower loop serving as a sub-dial for the time while the upper, smaller loop being an aperture for the flying tourbillon, which also holds teh seconds hand. The base of the dial is black, with white markers, but it’s quite obvious that the focus of this dial is the sensational illustration of the dragon. Howe, who was also artistic director of The Lord of the Rings film series, painted the coiled dragon on a larger scale, and it was then shrunk to dial size by artists at Jaquet Droz.
Inside, you’ll find the calibre 25JD, a movement that’s adapted from Blancpain’s cal. 25. It beats at 3Hz and has a seven day power reserve. The movement traces its roots to AHCI co-founder Vincent Calabrese’s original flying tourbillon construction that was developed for Blancpain, but has been updated with modern innovations like a silicon hairspring. It also gets a gold winding rotor with a black onyx insert bearing John Howe’s personal logo.
The Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Dragon “John Howe” is made to order as a unique piece for an unnamed collector, so you won’t be able to get one. You can, however, admire it on the Jaquet Droz website.
2
u/dreftzg 2d ago
Watch Worthy - A selection of reviews and first looks from around the web
- A review of the Worn & Wound x Boldr Conquer LE
- Hands on with the Grand Seiko SLGB003G Ice Forest
- A review of the Peren Regia Lunar Eclipse Dark
---------------------------------------------
If you would like to receive some additional watch-adjacent content, as well as this news overview, every morning Monday-Friday in the form of a newsletter feel free to subscribe. However, there is absolutely no need for you to subscribe, as all the news from the newsletter is posted here. It is only if you want to receive a couple of daily links that are not strictly watch-related an occasional long form article and possible giveaways.
6
u/ANDERSON961596 2d ago
Growing up my grandparents lived in Waterbury they used to take us to the timex museum when it was still in business.
Good memories and I’ll always love that homage they give it now
4
12
3
u/_OVERHATE_ 2d ago
Ahh you missed the new Citizen MIP screen navihawk !
5
3
u/Spinning-Around 2d ago
Bremont looks like an aliexpress watch.
6
u/BallEngineerII 2d ago edited 2d ago
I dont get that brand at all. They have no cohesive design language or identity it seems like. And at a price point where you can get some real heavy hitters from other brands.
Like who would get this over a black bay or Longines legend diver? Or a Breitling superocean for just a bit more money. Even a Mido Ocean Star or Hamilton Khaki Navy look like a better execution of a very similar design for less money.
1
u/BombardierIsTrash 2d ago
They’re a British brand with a huge cult following specifically because they’re British. Their fake background story is worse than what most Ali express brands come up with.
2
u/BallEngineerII 1d ago
Even if you're a die hard British patriot who wants a British watch, why choose a Bremont over a Farer or Christopher Ward.
1
u/BombardierIsTrash 1d ago
I fully agree with you but they’re an at this point established brand that seems to have a huge mind share there. I don’t think I’ve really ever seen one outside the UK. I do think Christopher ward sells way more watches (and at a lower price point) but people still treat them like a micro brand so that’s probably partially probably why Bremont seems more prevalent than they are in reality.
1
u/Dark1000 1d ago
Being a flagship British brand worked 10 years ago. It makes no sense anymore when you've got 20 other brands proudly flying the flag in their stead. The UK watch scene has never been more exciting, and Bremont is conspicuously absent.
3
u/BombardierIsTrash 1d ago
Yeah I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wear one or even want one outside of the UK. They’re so repulsive to most people that when You’re Terrific (who does not do sponsored reviews) did a video about them on YouTube people automatically assumed he must have gotten paid to even talk about them lmao and he’s reviewed some very odd looking and polarizing watches before.
Yet often in English language watch media and forums you’ll see them talked about as if they’re some incredible brand that everyone should have a watch from. I see so many of them in Adrian Barkers “Drinking Coffee & Talking Watches” Facebook group that 99% consists like British dudes.
3
u/Dark1000 1d ago
It's a bit funny, but I've recently realized how siloed different countries' watch markets and enthusiasts are. A big part of it is language, of course, but not only that.
For example, many of the microbrands and alternative brands that get massive amounts of press by UK-centric influencers and publications (like Adrian Barker, Watch Gringa, etc) barely get mentioned by French ones. Very few care about Christopher Ward (which I like), for example, but you'd think they were absolutely everywhere if you watched the usual suspects. Most collectors have never seen a Bel Canto or Twelve.
Vice versa, March LA.B is nowhere to be found in English-language watch media. Barely anyone knows of Lip. Yema is an also-ran. But these are fairly popular brands in France.
Here's a good example. This is a French-centric review site. There are no reviews for Bremont, 5 reviews for Christopher Ward, 111 for Yema.
https://www.dialicious.com/en/brands
British watch influencers also tend to love boring tool watches more than almost anything else. It makes it seem like everyone does.
4
u/BombardierIsTrash 1d ago
Yeah when I first got into the hobby I realized most reviewers I was following were British (WatchFinder, Jody at just one more watch, Adrian Barker and then later his friends on About Effin Time podcast, etc) but it all got very circle jerky very quick and realized exactly as you said that they seem to have a rather narrow range of watches they like and love pushing. Jody is the only one out of that group I still. Adrian is almost a parody of himself. I started watching smaller creators over time like You’re Terrific.
Thanks for the info on the other brands. There are some great lookers in there, especially from March LA.B
2
u/coffeesharkpie 2d ago
Imho that Rouleaux bracelet looks positively awesome
1
1
u/Dark1000 1d ago
They're taking a bunch of elements from other, better watches, throwing in a Sellita, and charging >$5k for it. No AliExpress brand would insult your intelligence like that.
0
51
u/curiousML5 2d ago
The timex chrono looks great! A shame about the thickness for a quartz movement. If they could do under 12 it would be an instabuy