Our Favorite British Dive Watches Come From Bremont
Featuring the Bremont Supermarine collection and more.
Originally published on HODINKEE, October 22nd 2021
Bremont was back in the news this week, revealing a set of three limited-edition watches featuring the British company’s most impressive step yet toward realizing its long-held goal of reviving industrial watch manufacturing in the United Kingdom.
Right now, you can register your interest in any one of the three Longitude Limited Edition watches, which we’ll be receiving a little later this year. In the meantime, we wanted to point your attention in the direction of what is one of the company’s most popular current collections – the Supermarine.
The Bremont Supermarine S300 And S500 Collection
Although it incorporates a number of elements associated with vintage design, Bremont’s flagship dive watch collection, the Supermarine, is as forward-thinking as it gets. The unique three-piece Trip-Tick case hosts a top section with hardened steel that is virtually scratch-proof. The bezel is scratch-proof ceramic, the crystal hardened; it’s almost impossible to hurt this watch. More than a few HODINKEE team members own and abuse these divers, and each one looks brand-new to this day.
But even if you never go into the water with one of these watches, it’s a very capable style statement. The softened colorway and the slightly darker color of the hardened steel contribute to a warm retro vibe that’s great with casual wear. However, this watch is very adaptable to different kinds of straps, should the inclination strike, and we’ve seen it dressed to the nines on black alligator, looking battle-ready with a nylon NATO, as well as sitting stately on the included steel bracelet.
Available in 40mm, with (S302) and without (S301) GMT function, or in a larger 43mm case profile that’s tested to 500 meters of water resistance (compared to 300 meters in the S300 line), there’s an option out there for any type of sport watch lover.
The Bremont Project Possible Special Edition
What Nepalese mountaineer Nims Purja accomplished with his acclaimed Project Possible is beyond our comprehension. It seems truly impossible, if we’re honest. Nims summited fourteen of the world’s highest peaks in just seven months and broke six world records doing so.
Bremont celebrates his achievements with this sporty special edition 43mm certified chronometer GMT. Even without that association, this watch is one of our favorites from England’s Bremont. The aviation-grade Ti 6-4 titanium case keeps it light, even on the bracelet, and the warm aesthetic of titanium is complemented by the bronze bezel and dark blue colorway.
The perfectly matched ceramic bezel insert is inlaid with a gold timing scale and luminescent pip, a color combo picked up by the gold-plated hands against the blue dial, which features the Project Possible logo. The watch feels at once sporty and elegant, a combination perfectly suited to the explorer lifestyle.
This is a watch with a big story, and it’s one that will keep looking great year after year due to the exceptional durability of all the materials used. With only 300 produced, this one is sure to become a collectors’ item in the decades to come.
The Bremont Argonaut Azure
The Argonaut represents Bremont’s fearless dedication to developing a distinct aesthetic, one that differentiates the British company from their counterparts in other parts of the world. Few of their watches are as unique as the Argonaut, a watch designed to serve Bremont’s official relationship to Her Majesty’s Royal Forces, the seal of which is featured on the solid stainless steel caseback. And while all of that is impressive, it’s the durability and great looks that have us swooning over the Argonaut Azure.
At 42mm, this watch is a great size for a diver. It’s large, but never unwieldy. The colorway is lively and fun, the shimmering blue dial framed by a light blue internal rotating timing bezel with orange and white accents. That bezel is controlled by the crown at four o’clock, a less common but equally functional approach to the dive bezel. Interestingly, internal rotating dive bezels are not required by ISO standards to be unidirectional, meaning that you can twist this one in any direction. Anyone who has ever overshot the mark with a unidirectional bezel knows how great a bidirectional bezel can be.
Legibility is easy with the bright orange minute hand against the blue dial. A glance, even in the worst lighting conditions, tells you exactly what you need to know and fast. That orange hand correlates to markings on the bezel itself, unifying the dive-time information, while the orange rubber strap – one of the most robust and stylish on the market – unabashedly announces this watch’s sporty nature.
Unlike many other Bremont watches with three-piece cases, the ones they’ve developed for Her Majesty’s Royal Forces use a more traditional two-piece case. The exceptionally hard stainless steel is virtually dent- and scratch-proof, and it provides 300m of water resistance for the most demanding underwater conditions.
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