I have been meaning to join the regular monthly meetings of the Redbar group in London for sometime but for some reason or another I always had some other commitment. There was no excuse for missing this one . Firstly, it was a presentation of the 2017 range and secondly it was being held 10 minutes walk from my office. I am very pleased I “put myself out” it was a really enjoyable evening.

Bremont had decided rather than attend the SIHH in Basel they would hold their own event in London, which considering the SIHH is a Swiss watch event seems entirely logical and probably a good bit cheaper.

Before attending the event i had already seen quiet a lot of images of the new 2017  Bremont range – I was really looking forward to see the new  40mm S300/301 Supermarine range of diver’s watches. Firstly, because I like diver’s watches and because of their 40mm case size. I felt maybe my thoughts about a move to smaller cases might be proving correct.

However on entering the event the first watches I saw were the new motoring related models made in collaboration with Jaguar and Norton. An additional non-horological item being the new Norton V4 motorcycle looking amazing. Bremont will be making 250 watches for owners of these limited edition bike.

The main event was held on the next floor, which  was were the new Supermarine  and Airco ranges were on display.  I had to wait a little time to get my opportunity to try the watches for myself.

The Supermariner S300 on the leather strap was my favourite of the new collection, the perfect “wear all the time” watch. The size  and weight is perfect, the date window is normal and it is rated to 300m.  If I have a doubt it is that the design is pretty “classic” for the type of watch, I wonder if Bremont could have tried to make it more distinctive without loosing its appeal.  The only difference I can spot between the S300 and the S301 is the use of the numbers 12,6 and 3 on the S300, the S301 relying on batons. Both watches are available on a steel bracelet, a Nato as well as the calf leather shown in the photo above.

The new  40mm Airco range consisting of two watches, the Mach1 and the Mach 2. Both watches have straight forward three handed dial with a date. The difference being in the finish and the position of the date window.

Like the S300/301 these are both very useful and comfortable do it all watches featuring the a 40mm version of Bremont’s Trip-Tick cases. The Mach 2 is proposed as the slightly more formal “officer’s watch”. i hope to get a chance to have a closer look at both of these watches in the future.

But apart from having a chance to chat to other watch enthusiasts openly about watches the highlight of the evening was a quick chat with Giles English, during which we managed  to cover  the challenges of producing these new  40mm watches and the currently difficulty for luxury watches, especially the larger Swiss brands.  As always it is always a great pleasure to meet people that have followed their dream and launched their own watch brand.

I have now broken the Redbar ice, I will definitely make more of an effort to attend future events.