I walked into the office this morning, and noticed a rather large build up of watches for review, with boxes stacked on-top of each other neatly grazing the wall. An unusual sight for the beginning of summer when watch brands tend to slow down the distribution of review samples. Could there be a reason for this? Perhaps the slowdown in the economy has something to do with it.
Mingling thoughts aside, I’ve been secretly wearing and enjoying the new Bremont Terra Nova with the power reserve, a watch that I recently wrote an introducing article for, and I’ve been yearning to have an actual in-hand look ever since. I wasn’t overly convinced when this watch was first released despite the community hype that it had built up for itself. The watch kind of confuses be in terms of Bremont’s British design language and heritage. It’s a very handsome watch with some neat features we’ll get into below, but I can’t help but feel that it’s a mishmash of notable designs produced from other brands. Having the watch in hand as I type this doesn’t completely change my mind on this concept, but it certainly has enlightened me on some of its aesthetics that can easily be missed by simply going on press images coupled with a description.
Hands-On Initial Impressions
80% of a watch is usually discovered in the first 2 minutes of handling it, followed by the remaining 20% as you wear the watch over the next few weeks. This is the general process I feel ensues for the discovery of most watches. With that said though, sometimes the information you gain from the remaining 20% can be more important and eye opening than the initial 80%.
The second I laid eyes on the new Terra Nova it immediately appeared larger than imagined for me. At 40.5mm, one would expect a fairly compact watch, especially when considering that it has a rotating bezel that usually takes up a significant amount of room around the dial. What’s going on here? Why does my Rolex Submariner 114060 at 40mm look smaller, and Speedmaster’s coming in at 42mm generally appear more compact than this.
The lugs are short but they contribute to the cushion case profile with a pretty chunky looking angular expansion. The crown is oversized as well, which I think looks great, but it does contribute to the overall heftier style of this watch. Now the biggest contributing factor of the larger size appearance of the Terra Nova is actually an illusion, it’s the very large arabic numerals on the dial – an aspect of this watch that completely bypassed me on the press material. While they look good on the watch, and do provide a certain art-deco appeal – the trade off is the illusion of a larger watch.
Wearability and Quality
The overall quality, fit and finish of the watch is excellent, pretty much what you’d expect from the majority of Bremont’s lineup. The watch case, lugs, and caseback are all entirely brushed following the explorer like concept of the watch. The compass bezel gives me big Hamilton Khaki Field Expedition vibes, mainly due to the fact that there just aren’t that many watches out there with a compass function – and considering both of these watches have been released not too far apart time wise.
Since the larger size illusion of this watch is just that, an illusion, it actually does tend to wear very well on wrist. The watch looks larger off wrist when laying on a beside table or any surface, but once placed against the backdrop of your wrist the actual size of the case and remaining features are put into perspective. Actually, the more I wore the watch the more I began to really appreciate it and its quirky set of functions and style.
The power reserve is a great feature to have, some enthusiasts do feel it can be completely useless though and just take up space on the dial. I believe that it simply comes down to a preference of convenience, as it’s nice to know when the watch requires a hand-wind.
Despite all the action happening on the dial it’s all laid out quite well, and makes for an interesting dial to read with all the unique font choices from the arabic numerals to the text above the power reserve, and the Bremont logo. The long sword like hands just add to the mid 20th century style of the watch and really complete the overall look of the watch. It’s elegant but sporty with a rough explorer edge, a watch I can see taking on a nice worn in patina over time. I’ll end this segment by saying that the date wheel at 3’oclock is a touch small in comparison to the rest of the features on the dial, but at least it’s been added considering the type of watch this is.
Movement
The movement is not actually visible through the solid caseback of this watch, and for good reason if you’re planning on actually using this watch for what it was made for: exploring. The last thing you want is to go camping and shatter the exhibition display window on your only wrist companion.
The Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power reserve variant we have here is sporting the Modified Calibre 11 1/2’’’ BE-79AL, which I believe to be a modified ETA. The movement choice kind of explains the fair price tag of 3,700 GBP – with many Bremont watches sporting in-house movements asking much more than this on average.
For more information on this movement, and for the actual case specs and sizing I’d suggest heading over to the official Bremont website here.
Final Thoughts
There’s lots of watch selection out there, but certainly not too many within the British watchmaking domain. If you’re after a watch with great British heritage, that’s above the quality of say a Christopher Ward or Farer, Bremont should be on your radar. Look specifically at this model if you’re searching for a niche explorer type of watch with some pretty uncommon functions like both the compass and power reserve.
Leave a Reply