You might remember my review of the Hydrium in which I commented on the collecting opportunity offered by this watch from British based brand Isotope. Well now two more have joined the line-up, the Hydrium Pro Nordblad and the Hydrium Nasa.
Hydrium Pro Nordblad
This is the second watch from Isotope developed as a tribute to the achievements of Johanna Nordblad, a the world-renowned ice diver. LIke the previous “Goutte d’Eau version this watch features a blue second hand. Limited to 100 pieces, it is the first of a series of Hydrium Pro watches, exceeding specifications above ISO 6425, the official divers watch certification . The watch case is made of sandblasted 316L stainless steel. All the crystals, including the bezel, are made of sapphire crystal and the movement is a top-finished and regulated Swiss Landeron. If any of these watches remain unsold they are offered at £900 (ex VAT) on the Isotope website
Hydrium NASA
As well as Hydrium collectors, this second officially NASA approved watch, launched on April 15th, should appeal to the many space fans out there.
Apart from the special NASA nato strap what makes this watch stand out is the polymer-ceramic coating, Cerakota that has been applied to the 316L steel case. This coating replicates the texture of the re-entry capsule’s vitally important heat shield. Then there is the NASA logo above the six o’clock position.
This watch is also available from the Isotope website for £825 (ex VAT) includedin this price is an extra grey quick release FKM strap
This watch is limited to 200 pieces, and available to pre-order through www.isotopewatches.com with expected delivery starting in August 2023. Currently priced at £825 (ex VAT) which includes a second grey quick release FKM strap.
Chat GPT and other similar applications have been much discussed over the last few months. It has been presented as an instrument that replace many human’s jobs. I was wondering how it might perform as a watch blogger. So apologies to my fellow Emsworthians but I choose Zero West for my test. I asked the application to “write a review” – this is the result.
I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I don’t have personal experiences and emotions to provide a review of a physical product like the Zero West DB-1 watch. However, I can provide you with some information about this timepiece that you may find helpful in making an informed decision.
The Zero West DB-1 watch is a handcrafted watch that features a unique and eye-catching design inspired by the dashboard instruments of classic sports cars. The case is made of stainless steel and measures 42mm in diameter. The dial is made of brushed aluminum and features a retro-style font for the hour markers and hands. The watch is powered by a Swiss-made ETA 2824 automatic movement, which is a reliable and accurate movement that is widely used in high-end watches.
One of the standout features of the Zero West DB-1 watch is the unique way that time is displayed. Instead of using traditional hour and minute hands, the watch has two rotating discs that display the time in a digital format. This gives the watch a modern and futuristic look while still maintaining a classic feel.
The Zero West DB-1 watch is also water-resistant up to 100 meters, making it suitable for swimming and other water activities. The watch comes with a high-quality leather strap that adds to its overall elegance and sophistication.
In summary, the Zero West DB-1 watch is a well-crafted timepiece with a unique and eye-catching design. Its use of a Swiss-made automatic movement and water-resistant construction make it a reliable and practical choice for everyday wear. While I cannot provide a personal review of this watch, based on its features and specifications, it appears to be a solid choice for those looking for a high-quality and distinctive watch.
On the basis of this bloggers have the edge for the moment. Hopefully I will get my hands on example of the watch to do a human review.
Hot on the heels of their collaboration with Garrick, Fears have announce another, this time with Christopher Ward. Again, both companies being founding partners of the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers.
This jump-hour watch is limited to 50 pieces and available to purchase by Club members of the Alliance with all profits from sales being donated to the Alliance to support its various initiatives.
Differently to the Garrick watch this one features a bespoke 40.5mm Fears case and uses a JJ01 Christopher Ward movement. The movement being developed in house based on a Sellita SW200.
They are making just 50 of these models. They will only be available to Club members of Alliance on a first-come, first-served basis when it is launched.
The ‘Fears Christopher Ward : Alliance 01’ will be available to Club Members to order on Friday 27 January priced at £3950 (inc. VAT).
Well where do I start ? I have not been keeping up for sometime and a lot is going on. It used to be that I would see some news that I could report and now the world of British watches really frothing with news and not just with new brands popping up on Kickstarter actual exciting watches.
So to avoid any risk of favoritism I will treat these items in alphabetical order.
Bremont
Bremont have been working away somewhat separately from the rest of the British watch industry whilst investing heavily in their UK manufacturing facility in Henly-on-Thames. Last year this investment led to the launch of the ENG300 movement which was housed in the limited edition Longtitude which were available for between £15k and £22k which clearly minimised the impact a little. Clearly a company with the vision and ambition of Bremont would not go to the effort of developing a movement just for a limited run watch.
So this October saw the announcement of not one but three new ranges of watch. The Supernova, the Fury and the Audley. To my eye the Fury and Audley are very clearly the style of watch we have come to expect from Bremont. The Supernova offers something different a steel sports watch with an integrated bracelet.
Bremont Supernova
I am not sure the the Supernova brings something new to the watch market, from everything I have seen it will be a very nicely made piece in the spirit of the more well known models from Switzerland. What it does bring is a British alternative which in itself from my point of view is positive. On sale for £7,995 which is more expensive than the usual non-limited edition Bremonts, but looks good value when compared to the better known continental offerings.
Bremont Fury
The 40mm Fury, a re-interpretation of the classic pilots watch, again more expensive than we are used to from Bremont and other similarily styled watch, but again it features the Bremont made H1 certified movement. H1 being the new chronometer timing standard, directly comparable to the ISO3159:2009 Chronometer test.
Bremont Audley
The final watch in the series is the the classic dress watch, named after Bremonts showroom in Mayfair, London. Avilable in steel (£5,995) of rose gold (£14,995).
Christopher Ward
C1 Bel Canto
In my mind Christopher Ward are a company producing very well made watches at very reasonable prices. They have produced some pieces that cause you to look twice, such as the C60 Sapphire. This October they announced the C1Bel Canto, featuring a striking hour. This watch is already listed on the website as “sold out”. Now personally it is not a style of watch that I particularly like but what they produced for the price just seems spectacular value for money. As you can see from the images this is not a watch that will go un-noticed, especially when it starts to chime. I guess we will have to start looking out for them on the used market.
Fears
Brunswick 40Brunswick 49 – bracelet detail
Fears have been super busy. Due to my lockdown induced laziness I have not really covered this year’s news from Fears very well apart from via Instagram posts which is a real shame as Nicholas Bowman Scargill has continued to bring some really interesting pieces to market. After the Garrick collaboration there was the the limited edition for the Californian watch retailer Topper. This watch featured a black or white californian dial and wait for it – a 40mm version of the now established Brunswick case. We then returned to the standard 38mm Brunswick case for the Royal Purple jubilee year celebration. The obvious question is; what else are Fears going to do with the 40mm case? So here we have it the Brunswick 40, a sportier Brunswick on a steel bracelet and with 100m water resistance. A possible “one watch”, sporty and elegant. This new watch is available with a Pink, Silver or Blue dial. The bracelet of course is not an “off the shelf” design and as a secret design “egg” the inside of the butterfly clasp features the “flower of Bristol” , honouring Fears’ home city.
The watches are priced at £3750 for more information go to the Fears website.
If you have looked back on my previous holiday posts on Instagram you notice my bronze Pinion Axis features heavily, this was for two reasons, firstly the robustness of the watch and the effect of the sea water on the case.
With the arrival of my holidays this year I risked producing similar posts all over again. Luckily, I had noticed several images of the Isotope Hydrium range from my friend Jose and it occurred to me that they would make an ideal alternative for the beach. I dropped a note Jose and a loaner arrived, a limited edition very visible Hydrium Burnt Tangerine. A perfect summer colour. The perfect beach watch.
First impressions straight out of the box was – gosh this feels weighty. The perfect sensation for a serious dive watch, this is a tough watch. It comes with a super comfortable quick release FKM rubber strap, so nice in fact that I was not at all tempted to swap it out to experiment with alternatives. Usually,the first thing I habitually play with on dive watches is the bezel. The Hydrium has a robust uni-directional sapphire crystal/stainless steel bezel with 120 clicks, a feature that came in very handy for timing my daily swim.
The Landeron 24 automatic movement is almost completely silenced by the case, giving you almost the sensation of having a quartz watch on your wrist. Landeron is not a name that we are all familiar, the 24 automatic is designed as a replacement for the increasingly difficult to source ETA 2824-2. Then when you turn the watch over you find this really nicely decorated solid caseback. Personally, I not a great fan of display backs especially on dive watches, as you can see this one is a worth turning the watch over for.
Solid Caseback
Of course on of the most important design elements of any watch is the dial and this is where this watch distinguishes itself from other dive watches with the now familiar Isoptope details on the two layered dial, in particular the subtle Isoptope lacrime. Over the dial the is a domed sapphire crystal that I personally much prefer to the flat crystals.
Finally, returning to the strap. Isotope have always given particular attention to straps and this one is finished of with a very solid Isotope branded buckle.
Isotope buckle
Technical Specifications
Micro-blasted case, 316L stainless steel
Case diameter 40mm X 48mm (with lugs)
Height 12.9mm (14.9mm with double domed Sapphire Crystal)
Hydrium Exclusive Stainless steel screw-down case back
Uni-directional sapphire crystal/Stainless Steel bezel with 120 clicks
Anti-reflective crystal sapphire
Screw-down crown at 3 o’clock
Isotope “i” hands and indexes with Super-LumiNova®
Water-resistance 300m / 30 atm / 1000 ft
22mm Quick-release FKM strap with signed micro-blasted Steel Buckle
Swiss Mechanical Movement
Swiss Landeron 24, self-winding
Power reserve 40 hours
28 Jewels, 28800A/h
Accuracy -12/+12 s/day
Decorated + Customised rotor
Cost – £729 (limited to 100 pieces)
The Range
Alongside the Burnt Tangerine Isoptope produced several other versions, the “conventional” Blue Night and two even more individual the Hydrium X “Will Return” and the “The Judge”. Of these only the Judge can be ordered from the website.
Blue Knight“Will Return”Judge
So in conclusion I have to say the Hydrium Burnt Tangerine fitted the brief of “beach/summer watch” perfectly. So perfectly I kept putting off sending it back to Jose, until I was prompted. These watches are selling out quickly so jump now if you want one for next summer.
Whilst I was enjoying a well earned rest I received news of this the latest watch from Schofield watches, the Beater B5 Japanese special edition,limited to 29 pieces.
Beater B5 Japanese Edition
Now the overall design and style of the watch will be familiar to anyone with knowledge of Schofield’s previous watches.
This new Japanese B5 is the prettiest Schofield to date. A muted, blossom coloured dial in a specially textured case similar in finish to traditional Suzuki or Shibuichi items. The case back is traditionally made, in sterling silver and glass enamel we see a scene of an old plum tree, inspired by a Fuchū manhole cover. The watch also comes with a little lapel pin in the same design, again in silver, to wear on your jacket. All new Schofields will now come with a specific pin, designed to be a summary of the watch it accompanies. The strap above is Japanese Plum Canvas, a coarse weave with real depth of colour achieved, naturally, by dyeing with persimmon and plum . The lining is indigo calf. The buckle brushed stainless steel.The strap is plum canvas with a stitch to match the dial.
THE CASE
Schofield is known for its complex case shape which has been improved and refined over the last decad and uses a new media finish we known as Middle-tex. The 44.5mm case is stainless steel with a texture that sits between the vapour-blasted finish and the severe Brutalist finish of some rare Beaters. As well as all this detail the watch has the usual for Schofield 200m water resistance.
DIAL
This is the last dial with this familiar topography, hours at cardinal points including a slash-0 at 12, darts between the numbers and a minute track bordering the stepped level and colour change in the dial. Using Super-LumiNova C3 with a bright green emission, most obvious is the luminescent ring around the outer circumference. The handset features Schofield’s “Sign-of-Life” hand found a coun-terpoise only, indicating time is passing but without the need for precision time-telling. The hands are brushed gold and match the gold ring in the middle of the crown.
The watch is available from the Schofield website.
Only one final thought. When I first saw the descrption of this watch I thought it might use a Japanese movement which might also have meant a lower cost. I must ask Giles if they ever considered this.
For me Pinion Watches are one of the “original” British watch brands, one of the first of this re-birth of so many British brands, I first met Piers Berry at the Salon QP in 2013. Piers was a pioneer especially with his early use of bronze watch cases. Followers of my Instagram feed will have noticed my personal Pinion Pure Bronze.
Pinion have quietly developed a range of sturdy military inspired watches with a variety of new and NOS movements. All of the watches are immediately identifiable as Pinion through their distinctive desgn elements. Which with the exception of the 39mm Atom all featured a 42mm case.
With the new Neutron Pinion they break this tradition with their smallest case size yet at 38mm. The main feature of the dial is a guilloche pattern, with the outer edge in a circular brushed finish. This is then electroplated to achieve the dial colouring (black, blue, dusty pink). Raised numerals are machined in brass, polished then electroplated in nickel (silver) before being applied by hand to the dial. The batons are in a contrasting radium hue and are printed and applied with SuperLuminova. The hands are diamond-cut brass in a polished finish. The hour and minute hands also highlight a subtle etched groove in a contrasting matt finish running along their centre. The hands are nickel (silver) plated and filled with Superluminova.
The watch uses the super reliable ETA 2824-2 movement, each movement is regulated by Pinion’s watchmaking team in England over 5 days / 5 positions to a minimum of +/- 5 seconds variation a day to ensure it remains accurate.
Then, a really nice personal touch the Neutron features a circular brushed steel case backthat is engraved and numbered. Now that all engraving is undertaken in-house, means that the watch can be personalised by each customer to include a memorable date, name or phrase at no extra cost.
All three versions ( Black, Blue & Dusty Pink) of the Neutron is available for order at Pinions website for £ 1,200 (inc V.A.T.)
Specifications
MOVEMENT Automatic Swiss made ETA 2824-2. 25 Jewels. Frequency: 28,800 vibrations per hour. 38-hour power reserve. Regulated in-house over 5 days / 5 positions to a of +/- 5 to +/- 10 seconds variation a day CASE Stainless steel. Brushed finish. ø38mm (excl. crown) / 11mm height. Stainless steel crown with Pinion motif. Solid steel case back, engraved and numbered. GLASS Domed sapphire crystal with antireflective coating (inside only). DIAL Electroplated with circular brushed finish. Polished applied numerals. Central guilloche decoration. Batons printed with Superluminova® coating. HANDS Coated brass hands in polished finish with contrasting etched groove (hour, minutes) Filled with Superluminova® (hour, minutes, seconds). WATER RESISTANCE 10 ATM, 100 metres. STRAPS 20mm leather strap with 18mm Pinion steel buckle. 20mm Nylon one-piece strap with steel hardware.
Now he has relocated I do not get many opportunities to meet with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill of Fears, so it was a pleasant surprise when he suggested a coffee as he was in town.
As well as a catch-up he wanted to show me his forthcoming new watch. There have been a couple of teasing images recently on Fears social media postings but I was not sure what to expect. So it was a huge surprise when Nicholas opened his now familiar Globe-Trotter watch case.
The Fears Garrick, a collaboration between Fears and fellow founding member of the Alliance of British Watch & Clockmakers, Garrick. David Brailsford of Garrick and Nicholas cooked up this project over a coffee, hence the projects code name “Costa”. The result is a watch that clearly has the DNA of both of the partners. The overal case shape and exposed balance being very Garrick, the dial detailing being very Fears.
The details:
Case
The elegant Fears Garrick’s 42mm case is made and finished in Garrick’s Norfolk. The curved sides of the polished 904L stainless steel case help the slender watch slip easily under a shirt cuff.
DIAL
The watch features an Old English White dial, with a fine matt texture. Deep glossy black printing is combined with seven lines of blood red on the power reserve display at 2 o’clock. These lines represent the moment when the watch’s main spring has wound down. Across from this display at 10 o’clock is the running
The glossy black printing is combined with seven lines of blood red on the power reserve display at 2 o’clock. These lines represent the moment when the watch’s main spring has wound down. Across from this display at 10 o’clock is the running seconds.
Applied by hand to the dial’s surface are the diamond-cut numerals, produced in the bespoke ‘Edwin’ typeface.
HANDS
The Fears Garrick features the distinctive ‘Fears’-shaped hands, which are hand-finished by a watchmaker, Fears is one of only a handful of British watch brands that construct watch hands in-house, in the UK.
MOVEMENT
Visible through the Fears Garrick’s exhibition case back is the exclusive, manual winding Garrick UT-G04 movement. Based on the Garrick UT-G01 this version features a power reserve indicator at 2 o’clock. Visible from the dial side is a free sprung balance e wheel, made from Garrick’s exclusive alloy Sircumet
SHIPPING IN JULY 2023 The Fears Garrick watch involves a considerable amount of hand-making and hand-finishing and as such they are made in very small batches. They are currently selling watches from a batch which will be shipping in July 2023. Clearly more details are avaible at https://www.fearswatches.com/collections/fears-watch-collection/products/garrick
I intended this blog to be about Brtish watch brands so in theory it should be about watches. So when I received a press release from Giles Ellis of the Schofield Watch Company I was a a little perplexed, should I post something. Well I have relented, I like what Schofield do and they are after all a British watch brand.
As the name suggests, it is a small clock, only 16 cms in diameter . The dials are available in three metallic colours and are printed with extreme precision by watch dial makers. With plain and simple numerals, designed for clarity at distance and modelled on old AEG factory clocks, the hands are plain baton style with the only luminescence in the counterpoise of the seconds hand. The movement is a quartz Seiko sweep seconds. The casework deserves special mention. THis clock is a facsimile of Schofield watches. Limited to 29 pieces in each colour Price is £980 including VAT (UK / free shipping) or £817 (US, Canada, Europe ROW + shipping
This Christmas 2021 was I suspect for many of you, like ours a fairly subdued event. However for me there was an horological highlight, no not not a new watch, my wife thinks it is too difficult to choose, but a watch book. Bringing my watch book collection now to two.
This year the book that doubled my collection was “Elegantly Underestated – 175 Years of the Fears Watch Company”. This very well presented volume gives the background to the company brought back to life by Nicholas Bowman-Scargill in 2016.
Over my time thinking more about watches I have realised that much of the interest in the hobby is about stories. Only though an interesting story can a watch differentiate itself from an apparantly technically identical, or even superior product. Witness a Tudor Black Bay with an ETA movement being more collectable than the current version with an in-house COSC movement. Collectors like to to tell the story about their watch.
However, I am not accusing Nicholas of publishing this book as a cynical myth making marketing ruse, of all the people I have met in the watch world he is the person with the most passion for his company’s heritage it being is so intertwined with his family’s history. The author of the book Jane Duffus, is also the three times great niece of Edwin Fear the founder of the company.
This book is very much written as a history of the company, not a technical description of all the countless watches the company has produced. It explains the lives the lives of the founders and their successors, giving social context to the times they were working in. The history of Fears is also very much intertwinned with that of Bristol, the home of the company. To my mind this actually makes it more readable, so much so that I finished it in one sitting.
