Tag Archives: Platinum watch

Fears – Bling

As my regular readers will know Fears is one of my favourite British watch brands, they have been an important part of my Grinidgetime journey. I have closely followed their progress starting from my first chat with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill over a couple of beers in 2016, when he proudly showed me the quartz powered Redcliff range. I could not imagine then that only five years later Fears would launch a hand made platinum watch ; a tremendous effort for a small self financing company.

Unfortunately, due to the current restrictions on our social and business lives I was not able to meet Nicholas for a secret preview so we organised a Zoom call. From Nicholas’s description this is a watch I really want to see in the metal and hold in my hands. This is the video he used to show me the watch.

We are now used to the Fears attention to detail, detail and more detail, watches all superbly finished. It looks as though this watch takes this obsession to another level. Each platinum case takes over one hundred hours to shape and polish by the goldsmith Justin Richardson in Canterbury . After the use of platimum there is more “bling” the use of diamonds on the dial and the crown. Personally, before seeing this watch I could not image even considering a watch with diamonds but I must admitt their use on this Brunswick is very indescrete and of course very elegantly done. As these watches are by no means mass produced, there maybe five a year, they can also be made without the diamonds.

The dial is Anthracite Grey, made using a coating of real Anthracite. Each dial is hand finished, involving over 58 processes, and features a contemporary layout with alternating platinum plated Arabic numerals and diamonds. The discreet diamond markers complement the D-colour, flawless diamond set into the Platinum winding crown.

Then the next surprise, the strap. We are by now used to Fears watches offering straps made from traditional materials, even if wool has not tradationally been used on straps. The Brunswick comes with a hand sewn strap, made using Kevlar with contrasting platinum coloured stitching and Fears Blue Alcantara lining. The strap is joined by a platinum pin buckle, whose shape mirrors the silhouette and cross section of the watch’s case.

Turning the watch over we discover the next surprise, a solid caseback in hallmarked platinum. True to form even the hallmark is special.

Continuing a Fears tradition since 1846, the company’s hallmark is the initials of the Managing Director at the time, and so the case and buckle have been marked by the London Assay Office with the initials of Fears’ current Managing Director: “NBS”.

Purely by coincidence whilst writing this post I came another episode of the Scottish Watches podcast in which Nicholas talks about this watch. Listen here http://www.scottishwatches.co.uk/2021/03/26/scottish-watches-podcast-242-chatting-with-nicholas-from-fears-about-the-new-brunswick-pt-platinum-watch/

At this point you need to find £28,200 and visit the Fears website : https://www.fearswatches.com/products/brunswick-pt