Fears Watch Company has launched the latest addition to its Brunswick line of hand-built watches: the Brunswick Salmon. Featuring a coppery Salmon dial, this joins the Polar White and Fears Blue dial variants, and is the first Fears watch fitted with new ‘Edwin’ numerals—specially designed for Fears by a horological typographer.
The Bristol based watch brand is also presenting a new Brunswick Midas model for 2020, with an updated dial and caseback.
Back in the 1940’s and 50’s, several special Fears watches were offered with a rich, coppery, salmon coloured dial, and for the Brunswick Salmon Fears has worked with their dial manufacturer to recreate this tone using galvanic coatings of 18ct rose gold and copper.
The surface of the dial features a delicate vertical brushing, applied by hand, which makes each dial unique and allows it to catch the light in a beautiful, subtle way. This effect is complemented by the concentric circle finishing on the sunken sub-seconds, at 6 o’clock.
The new Brunswick Midas features a brilliant silver tone on its dial with golden, applied numerals and matching hands, which, in the right light, creates the illusion of a pale champagne colour.
The watch features a new solid stainless steel caseback, with a spun, circular grained finish; this style of screw down caseback echoes the originals found on rolled gold Fears watches produced in the 1960s and 70s.
At 6 o’clock the dial of each of these watches now proudly states ‘England,’ to acknowledge not only the parts of the watch which are made in the country, but also the fact that every watch is hand built in England. The elegant simplicity of the Brunswick Salmon and Brunswick Midas is born of complexity, and an example of this is the hour markers on the printed minute track, which are in fact micro-pipettes. These tiny renditions of the Fears logo, though too small to see with the naked eye, nonetheless add an appealing yet subtle detail.
These are the first Fears watches to be fitted with the new ‘Edwin’ numerals—named after the founder of the company, they have been specially created for Fears by horological typographer Lee Yuen-Rapati. Having spent time in the Fears archive, absorbing all the different typefaces which Fears has used throughout its history, he created a new typeface that is modern, yet influenced by them. The result is a very elegant, classic set of numerals, with some vintage flourishes.
Each applied numeral has been treated like a jewel: after being cut out with a CNC machine, to a height of 0.5 mm, they are diamond polished and sand-blasted to create a perfectly smooth and matte finish. Each numeral has then been coated in anthracite, lending a subtle, warm and grey finish, which complements the coppery, pink tones of the dial surface. Finally, each one is applied by hand to the dial, affixed by tiny rivets.
The Fears Brunswick Salmon retails for £3,150 inc. VAT and is available from 25th of September 2020. The New Brunswick Midas retails for £4,250 inc. VAT and is available to purchase today with delivery commencing 30th October 2020.
Technical details
Model: Fears Brunswick Salmon
Reference: BS23800A
Case
316L Stainless Steel, 38mm x 38mm cushion-shaped (depth 11.8mm to top of domed sapphire glass). Made in Germany
Glass: Sapphire Crystals to front and back – both with multiple layers of anti-reflective
Lug width: 20mm
Movement
Top-grade ETA 7001, manual winding, 17 jewels, 21,600vph (3Hz) and 40 hr power reserve
Finished with Côtes de Genève and an applied golden Fears ‘Pipette’
Dial
Copper Salmon in 18ct Rose Gold and Copper galvanic colour. Vertical brushing (by hand) to surface, with sunken subsidiary seconds counter at 6 o’clock. CNC milled, polished and sand blasted ‘Edwin’ Arabic numerals, coated in Anthracite and hand applied. Made in Germany
Hands: ‘Fears’ hands – skeletonised, polished and thermally Blued. Made in the UK
Functions
Time with subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock
Warranty
2 Year guarantee from date of purchase
Strap
Fears Bristol Leather Strap – crafted from premium calf leather made in Bristol
Serial number
Individually numbered, sequentially
Retail price
£3,150 inc. VAT
Model: Fears Brunswick Midas
Reference: BS23801
Case
Phosphor Bronze, plated with multiple layers of 9ct Yellow & 18ct Rose Gold
38mm x 38mm cushion-shaped (depth 11.5mm to top of domed sapphire glass)
316L Stainless Steel caseback, with spun ‘grained’ finish
Made in the UK
Glass: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective
Lug width: 20mm
Movement
Top-grade ETA 7001, manual winding, 17 jewels, 21,600vph (3Hz) and 40 hr power reserve
Finished with ‘stippled’ effect and Dual-Gold plated in the UK
Applied golden Fears ‘Pipette’
Dial
Brilliant Silver inRhodium galvanic colour. Vertical brushing (by hand) to surface, with sunken subsidiary seconds counter at 6 o’clock. CNC milled, polished ‘Edwin’ Arabic numerals, coated in Dual-Gold and hand applied. Made in Germany
Hands: ‘Fears’ hands – skeletonised, polished and Dual-Gold plated. Made in the UK
Functions
Time with subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock
Warranty
2 Year guarantee from date of purchase
Strap
Fears Bristol Leather Strap – crafted from premium calf leather made in Bristol
Serial number
Individually numbered, sequentially
Retail price
£4,250 inc. VAT
About Lee Yuen-Rapati
Lee Yuen-Rapati is a multidisciplinary designer from Canada who is currently based in London, UK. After studying at NSCAD University, Lee received a Master of Arts degree in typeface design from the University of Reading. He has provided custom typographic work for brands such as Habring² and J.N. Shapiro. In addition to type design, Lee is also behind the One Hour Watch project which is a series of daily horological drawings. His illustrations have been commissioned by MING, and Roger W. Smith, as well as an international audience of watch collectors.
