Horological Meandering

A Short Chat with Giles English and Pictures of the Bremont Watches

 

Just before the dinner event of Bremont-Valiram, met with Giles English, one of the founders of the Bremont Watch for a short conversation and a brief introduction of the Bremont.
Though our Moderator, Andrew H has written about Bremont Watches (see related posts at the top right hand corner), it was my first encounter with the brand.  It was always great to find out more and learn about the brand from the creator-founder himself.

How did Bremont begin?

In 1999 after Giles and Nick's dad passed away from an aviation accident.  After that they chanced upon meeting with Antoine Bremont who is also an aviator and watch-lovers too. Coincidentally, they clicked and that ignited the brothers'passions to venture into both watches and aviation, which their father and themselves are always keen with.

In Bremont press materials, Bremont is introduced in 2007.

The reason to mention as "introduced", was the inception of their watch business was in year 2000.  In the beginning, the brothers thought that within 2 to 3 years time, their first collection should be out.  As their philosophy is to do the things the first right, many rounds of trials and design change iterations quickly consumed the time.

Only in year 2007, Bremont introduced their first series, the ALT 1 and BC-S1 & F1, followed by BC-S2 in 2008.  After which they launched their first limited edition of the EP120 then the MB series.  Recently, they added the Supermarine 500 and according to Giles, at last they have a core collection.

I asked what were the trials or design-changes which had consumed the initial lead-time.

From the start the brothers had decided on a satin-grey finishing case, as they think it has a more luxurious feel.  Getting the satin finish was easy but to achieve both the finishing and the shade of grey they wish proved to be more challenging with the added factor of the hardness coating which could withstand frequent wear and possibly heavy abuse.  They have worked with at least five case manufacturers.  In the end, they found a supplier in England which does aeroplane turbine blade hardening to achieve the required satin-finishing, the right grey shade and a PVD coating which could raise the surface hardness of the case to 2,000 vickers (about three times the hardness of steel itself).

A three-piece case design (which Bremont has trademarked as Trip-TickR ) is adopted consisting of the bezel, caseband and caseback.  The flexibility to mix & match the caseband materials and colours add versatility to Bremont and owners of Bremont watches.  For example, light metal like Aluminium and Titanium could be used for the caseband to reduce weight of the watch, and in future will allow the owners of Bremont to change the colour or material of the caseband or maybe customised engraving too.

Next Bremont equalised the hardness of the anti-reflective coatings on the sapphire crystal to that of the 2,000 vickers case-surface!
It began with 9-layer of anti-reflective coatings on both sides of the crystal for maximum glare reduction.  To attain the 2,000 vickers hardness, a transparent hard-coat is applied over the upper 9-layer of anti-reflective coating. Understand from Giles, the reject rate for hard-coat process is 30% due to bubbles (air traps ) formed after applying the coating.

Next the excited Giles introduced the EP120, Bremont's first Limited Edition, taking inspiration from the formidable Spitfire Mk Vb EP120 aircraft that first flew in 1942 and with 7 'kills'  on a single day in WWII.
Fortunately a friend of theirs owned a Spitfire EP120, and some of EP120’s original parts were saved during restoration and passed to brothers.  They then integrated the metal part from the wing of the EP120 into Bremont’s EP120. 

Where were the metal (from the wing of the EP120) being used on? 

The metal from the wing of the Spitfire Ep120 was used to create the propeller-rotor and the 30-minute Chrono ‘Time of Trip’ sub-dial of the EP120 watch! 


According to Giles, the propeller-rotors were all shaped by hands by a skilled fabricator.  That person had to work for six months to finish the 120 sets of propeller-rotors seemed to hate the assignment (or Giles ) after that .


The " 30-minute Chrono ‘Time of Trip’ sub-dial" , which is an original Spitfire part.




And what other inspirations adapted from the EP120 into the watch?


(1) The crown takes the tyre pattern of the Spitfire EP120.



(2) The hands of the EP120 watch resembled the 'Instrument hands on the Spitfire" !


(3) And the last one is: the strap changing tool resembled the locking hatch of the Spitfire door!


Now some pictures of the Bremont EP120 Watch  ....


Limited number to 120 pieces.
Black DLC treated on hardened steel and titanium case.  Diameter 43mm.



Continuous second-hand in propeller shape.


30 minute Chrono ‘Time of Trip’ at 12 o' clock position.




24 hour UTC function (Red Hand)


3-layer Case. 
The centre-band is of titanium to reduce the weight of the watch.


COSC certified modified 13 ¼” BE-53AE Automatic movement.



Integrated strap design, seamless and beautiful.   However may not be suitable for small wrist as there is a minimum bend radius.





Recess on strap for quick change as the watch comes with 2 sets of straps.




The Packaging of EP120


Straight forward, easy to store packaging. 






The extra set of contrasting straps.


Strap change tool


Proudly "Made in England"




After the introducing the EP120, Giles moved on to the Bremont MB (Martin-Baker) Collection. 

This MB collection is designed and built with Martin-Baker, a leading British engineering company which made fully-integrated escape system for the aviation industry and they are the  number one choice for over 88 air forces throughout the world, with their ejector seats being fitted to over 80 aircraft types.

A combined Bremont/Martin-Baker team has been formed to design and test the MB model.
The objective is to make a watch which is shockproof (to survive very heavy shock (over a long period of time) and the Live Ejection testing), extremely legible with easy readability and anti-magnetic.

The team has done accelerated testings on the watch and discovered after extensive vibration, about 3 screws started to come out.  Then they started to work on an integrated shock dampening movement suspension with soft-iron cage.



He started his MacBook to show the construction of the dampening system and after a while, Giles, promptly removed one of the MB II to show the actual suspension system and Faraday Cage.


Giles removing the caseback of one of the 43mm Bremont MB II.


The solid caseback...


Next to remove the bottom-cover of the Faraday Cage ...


To side-track, this MB II green case-band is off aluminium material.


Exposing the movement suspended ('Floating') on the rubberised mount ....


Giles probe the black substance to demonstrate the elasticity of the elastomer  ...

According to Bremont's study, when a watch dropped or knocked (against a hard surface), there will be at least 3 to 4
movement bounces directly into the movement causing damage/s.

With the elastomer mount, most of the shock was absorbed.


To ensure the dampening effect, a double 'O' ring system is used instead of the screw-in crown.

According to Bremont's Technical Director Peter Robert who has worked thirty years for Rolex (inventor of screw-in crown),
screw-in crown helps to dampen some vibration but it is not preferable as many users tend to forget to screw-in after adjusting.
Thus Bremont chose the double 'O' ring system for their collection with waterproof rating to 100 m.

From the above picture, the rubber mount is secured to the case-band.

The whole dampening rubber mount and Faraday Cage are also adopted in the latest Supermarine 500 collections too.

At this moment, I asked though the watch survived the rigourous tests and ejection seat tests, would the watch be still running
within the COSC spec.

Giles replied, after testing, the watch crystal cracked and hands still working but the slightly out of time.

So the Bremont MB collection has greater chance of surviving after any serious shock but may not be keeping accurate time.


Movement is decorated even though it is fully covered up. 
Please to see such spirit and workmanship.








A few pictures of  Bremont MB II ...


One of the crowns (at 4 o'clock location) is for the adjusting the inner rotating bezel with a 'ball click' locking system.




The second counter-balance weight is shaped as a " Seat Firing Handle".





Note the country printed under the marker '6'.  It is 'LONDON' !

Though movements are Swiss made, the MB Collection is assembled in the London.
Initially, the Brothers thought of printing : "Made in Britain", "Made in England", however the text is just too long and
cluttered the dial.   Thus they chose just "LONDON".


At this point, I enquired what is the total capacity for Bremont.
Giles' reply  was the annual output is 3,000 pieces per year of various models.














Curved strap spring


Several Wristshots









After the MB Collection, Giles introduced the new 42mm SUPERMARINE 500, Bremont's first marine watch which will be launched in November.


I asked Giles, if there was any reason/s to move away from their AVIATION identity, with the introduction of the Supermarine.

He quickly replied, the Supermarine is another British seaplane, namely the Supermarine S6B Schneider Trophy Seaplane and it gave them the idea to build a “amphibious watch”  that was both classical in design and with aviation roots but effective as a diving watch.
Initially planned for 500m water resistant rating, however, after ISO testing, it could pass till 1400m !
However, all first lot of the dials were completed with 500m rating


Supermarine S6B



A few pictures of the Supermarine 50 0 (Prototypes)


The internal construction of the Supermarine 500 is the same as the MB II, including the movement.








The sapphire bezel with markings in Superluminova C5.






The crown protector .








Solid caseback engraved with the Supermarine S6B.




Two wrist shots ....






Some of  the Initial Collections

Bremont ALT1-C

The ALT1-C contains a modified BE-50AE self-winding movement inside a 43mm diameter case. It has a classic chronograph layout with sub-dials at the three and nine o'clock positions and has been designed to offer exceptional visual clarity at a glance. Water-resistant to 100 ATM.





Bremont ALT1-P

The ALT1-P with the BE-54AE movement , with its SuperLumiNova C3 hands and dial markings, internal rotating bezel and three-subdials, and self-winding chronograph movement. Water-resistant to 100 ATM.













Bremont BC-S1 & S2
The BC-S1 or S2 consists of an automatic chronometers BE-36AE movement, based on the ETA 2836 and housed in a 39mm case (for the BC-S1)  and  a 43mm case (for the BC-S2).
.
The BC-S1 or S2 is inspired by some of the original wartime aircraft instruments.  It has a date-date at the 6 o¹clock position, and a 43 mm Trip-Tick® three-piece case hardened to 2000 Vickers.  Waterproof to 100 m (10 ATM), dual anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal (and a crystal case-back)








Bremont BC-F1

Similiar construction to the BC-S1 at 39mm, just that the date window is with a bracket .








Lastly is the latest  200 pieces Limited Edition for the Iconic British motorcycle brand "Norton"

This piece to me seemed to be a misfit, however, in the press release, it seemed to be in line with the brothers' personal
interest in vintage motorcycles and their patriotic support towards British companies.

Some pictures of the Bremont Norton ...





















Thanks to the Valiram team for arranging the face to face meetup with Giles, and Giles, thanks for the time and opening up
one of the MB II.


Kong

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