The Skinny
- 40mm x 12.9mm
- Stainless Steel case with leather strap
- 100m water resistance
- Grained Black or Blue dial
- Bremont ENG365 movement 65H power reserve silicon escape wheel
- Price £5,995, $7,235, €6,798
Visiting The Factory
Fun fact, it is much more likely to snow at Easter in London than Christmas. Thus I find myself driving through a mighty downpour of rain with Christmas tunes playing on the radio as I head towards Bremont’s HQ, the Wing, just before the festive period. My mission is to catch up with the release of one of Bremont’s new 2022 watches, the 40mm Fury.
If you’ve not visited the Wing I suggest if you’re in Britain for any reason you do so. The chance to spend time in a high-tech modern watch factory with people who are open and friendly should not be missed, plus you’ll see a great collection of watches and aviation memorabilia (those cockpit dials blew me away!).
My journey to Bremont’s factory was inspired by my love for British military watches. The history of the British military is fascinating – not always good, sometimes cruel – but fascinating. Issued watches have long played an important part in British military endeavors. Bremont has drawn on that military legacy since the brand’s inception in 2002, and aviation is truly the driving force behind Bremont.
Bremont’s Biggest Mission
Since the beginning, building their own movement has been a dream of the English brothers who founded Bremont. The solution was to buy the rights to the THE+ K1 movement and set about rebuilding it into something they can call their own.
There has been a lot of talk about what makes an in-house movement and whether we should even care about that when it comes to industrial watchmaking. Bremont’s larger mission, however, is to return industrial watchmaking to England, so building movements on British soil is paramount. England is after all the home of the industrial revolution, and if the watch making here in the land of tea and cake is to sit at the top table, this needs to happen.
Even as a proud Englishman, I don’t expect the British watch industry to compete with the Swiss. I’m not sure I’d want it too. But to maybe one day be mentioned in the same breath as the Germans – well that would be a dream.
Bremont first tested the water with their manufacture movement with the limited edition Longitude model, naming their new movement the ENG300. IN the fall of 2022, Bremont launched their new movement in a whole new range of serially produced watches with much fanfare. Bremont is calling this the H1 series, which so far includes The Supernova integrated bracelet watch, The Audley dress watch, and the watch we are looking at here, the Fury, Bremont’s H1 pilot’s watch.
The movements in the Fury models I tested ran well within COSC specifications (-4 to +6 sec/day). Bremont tests in-house using its own H1 chronometer protocols, which differ from COSC in that the movements are tested inside the watch they’ll ship in. This is conceivably a better standard, as the actual context of the movement is being tested as well, not to mention there’s no need for regulation after installation into the case as there is with COSC. The crown and setting of the watch felt as good as you would hope for in the price point. This is definitely a quality timepiece.
Wearing The Fury
The Fury comes in both a black and blue dial version, both inside a 40mm polished case that uses the Bremont Trip-Tick three-part construction featuring the black PVD scratch resistant case barrel (or mid-case). With a lug-to-lug of 49mm and depth of 12.9mm, the case ticks all the boxes for contemporary watch design, but isn’t a behemoth by any measure. On the wrist I felt it had a bolder presence than the numbers would indicate. The crown helps with this, being an oversized almost onion style, as does the relatively narrow bezel and larger dial.
The case is polished, except the PVD barrel, which gives the Fury a classic formal feel, in keeping with early aviation timepieces. The caseback is open to show off the ENG365 movement, I am never much of fan of an exhibition caseback on a tool watch, but Bremont are proud of their offspring and want you to be too. Also, the ENG365 is not your run of the mill ETA or Selitta, so there’s something unique to see here.
It’s a handsome and clever design using a modular system by which Bremont can reconfigure various components to offer big dates (which use two discs), power reserve gauges (found on the Fury), GMT functionality, and so on. Some modular movements like this can be a little less than lovely to gaze upon, but the ENGxxx movements display handsome bridges cut in-house and featuring red-filled engraving, a skeletonized signed winding rotor, and a nearly unobstructed view of the balance wheel in action (which is so rare). Finishing is exceptional throughout, and it’s fair to say that Bremont’s ENGxxx movements could very well be mentioned along with the Germans, who are known for a level of finishing that defies price-points.
The Fury’s black or deep blue dials are both heavily textured and matte, giving them a no-nonsense toolish appearance. In keeping with the pilot’s watch style, the dial features Arabic numerals 1-11 and an arrow at 12-o’clock, to help you to immediately orient the watch in a dark cockpit. The stepped rehaut adds further depth to the Fury’s dial.
Bremont has included a date on the Fury’s and the matching date wheel makes it subtle. But it is easy enough to read when you look for it – a solid compromise there. The Fury’s sword hands help bring out those vintage military vibes and are nicely proportioned for this, being a little smaller than one would expect. The red arrow tipped second hand adds a splash of color.
That other splash of color comes on the power reserve indicator at 6-o’clock. All the Bremont H1 series watches feature one, but many will argue that a power reserve gauge isn’t necessary on an automatic watch. This doesn’t stop Patek Philippe from including them on autowinders like the Reference 5712 Nautilus, for example, and even our E-o-C Allen has expressed the utility of power gauges on autowinders for people who own and rotate out many watches in a collection.
The Fury does the power gauge very well, however. It is in the style of the sub seconds you would see on a Dirty Dozen military issued watch, and it actually adds something to the dial, almost like a cockpit instrument.
The Fury has lumed hands and quarter hour markers. It’s not the best I’ve seen, but it glowed brightly for several hours.
The leather strap the Fury comes on (color matched to the dial) is of very high quality, and I actually think the Fury is a bit more of a strap monster than Bremont have given it credit for. It would look fantastic on a textured suede for a casual vibe or on a two-piece fabric strap for a military look. You can stick it back on the leather for more of a formal occasion.
British Pride
One extra dial detail that gave this Brit and Londoner a big smile was Made in England on the dial!
There is a level of pride for me that the H1 range from Bremont is made in England, the industry in the UK is going from strength to strength, Fears, Christopher Ward, Bremont and the legend that is Roger Smith leading the way. It’s all got me beaming.
Bremont describes the Fury as ‘A contemporary take on the classic pilot’s watch’ and I do not think that is far from the truth. In some ways this does not feel like a new model, because there is so much Bremont DNA here on display. That’s far from a bad thing, in my opinion. It feels to me this is the watch Bremont have been working towards for two decades, this is the pilot’s watch they have wanted to make and finally they have.