Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Visiting Bremont, Understanding The Evolution and Answering Collectors’ Concerns
The manufacture, the new models, the questions of the logo and Trip-Tick case... It's all there.
Today, for once, we won’t be travelling to Switzerland. We’re heading to a slightly more unusual place, in a country that’s not primarily known for its watchmaking industry. In a little town called Henley, about 30km away from London, is one of the very few large-scale watch brands of the United Kingdom, in fact probably the only one since the closure of Smiths in the early 1970s, it’s of course Bremont. It’s a first for the MONOCHROME team to visit this institution of British watchmaking, and there’s a very good reason for this. Bremont is evolving, it has a new CEO, a new strategy, and new collections – which generated some questions from long-term fans. It’s time for us to discover what is Bremont, where the brand is heading and to answer the collectors’ concerns.
While far from Switzerland regarding the size of the industry, the number of brands, the public recognition or the entire ecosystem, the United Kingdom does have a fairly interesting watchmaking industry. Brands such as Christopher Ward, Anordain or William Wood but also independent watchmakers like Garrick and Roger W. Smith, and of course, Bremont, which is one of the only large-scale brands on the Island. We’ve taken the opportunity of a change at the head of the company to (finally) travel the beautiful English countryside, to discover The Wing, a 35,000 sq.ft purpose-built watch manufacturing facility that enables the manufacturing of Bremont’s watches. And it’s a large place, which includes assembly, testing, quality control and all support activities. But also, as you’ll see in the video, the assembly of specific movements, including the recently presented tourbillon Terra Nova.
But discovering Bremont’s manufacture and its environment was only one the reasons why we travelled to the UK. The main reason for our visit has to do with the appointment about a year ago of a new CEO at Bremont, Davide Cerrato. Bremont has new investors and the founding brothers, Nick and Giles English, have retired from executive positions. Bremont is a brand that is firmly rooted in the UK yet has immense potential for international development – which remains to be done. As such, the brand has a new strategy, and needs to expand. This is the mission of Davide Cerrato.
Things started to materialize at Watches and Wonders this year, which was a first for the brand. Using the international exposure of the show, Bremont presented an entirely new collection of field watches named Terra Nova, as well as a redesigned Supermarine collection, a new take on the brand’s classic dive watch.
Change is always a complex task, internally or towards your fan base. For instance, Cerrato has decided to introduce a new logo for Bremont alongside the new collections. And, looking at the latest releases, some long-term collectors expressed concerns regarding the identity of the brand and design cues such as the classic Trip-Tick case. Fully aware of that, we’re using this in-depth video also to get the answers right from the source, as we’ve asked Davide Cerrato to clarify his position regarding the evolution of Bremont.
And while you’ll be able to hear this in the video, rest assured as the old logo isn’t gone entirely and the Trip-Tick case will remain on certain collections, as well as the connections with military forces – all elements that have made the success of Bremont. For more details, please visit bremont.com.
8 responses
Bremont has collectors??
It’s a different brand now, aka Bremont. Will be interesting to see how things play out. What will happen to the quality as the watches and their designs continue to morph along the lines they seem to be taking now, which have a more “traditional”, more establishmentarian look, if you will. Will quality start to diminish under this new leadership in order to maintain viability, or will he have enough integrity to value a higher standard of practice? Time will tell.
That is funny, I wanted to answer in the same gist as Hubertje but he beat me to it. There is truth in that joke though. I wish Bremont all the luck in the world, because a good manufacturing industry is the lifeblood of any country or society.
But if I wanted something military-looking, the likes of Marathon, CWC, Smiths, Vertex and many, many others have bigger mind-share and more interesting offerings. Similarly, if I wanted a Flieger/Pilot, then Stowa, Laco, Sinn, Damasko, IWC, Fortis, and many, many others come to mind before Bremont does. And I don’t seem to be the only one, as nobody ever recommends them in the advice topics on the forums I frequent.
The new cycle of designs have certainly piqued watch media coverage of the brand, but quite honestly I do not know a single collector on the Dutch forum that owns one. Vertex, sure, but Bremont?
I had never heard of a trip tick case, and now that I have, I still don’t care. I don’t know if that is even a sales factor. Fwiw, any military man I ever spoke to wore a G-shock.
Lastly, what do you have against mentioning Reading? Bremont is located in Henley on Thames, in Reading municipality. “Somewhere close to London” sounds weird. La Chaux de Fonds isn’t presented as “Somewhere close to Bern” either. 🙂
I have never been a fan of Bremont, from the English brother’s BS story about how they founded the brand, to the “adventurous” pricing strategy for watches using the Sellita SW200 and their less than honest “in-house” debacle from a few years ago, Bremont have not been my cup of tea, though I do respect the Martin Baker connection and the trip-tick case is innovative. As far as English watch brands go I much prefer Fears and Speake-Marin. Having said all this I am quite sad about Bremont because a hedge fund and a new CEO, neither of whom care about the brand and what it has done over the years, now have control and are ripping the heart out of the company. The new Terra Nova range is derivative and arguably a rip-off of the Fears Brunswick and several Panerai watches. The new logo and branding is clumsy and bordering on juvenile. The movements have been down-graded to generic Selitta ebauches and while such movements are no doubt reliable etc they are nothing special, the Trip Tick case is being phased out as too expensive (despite Mr Cerrato’s BS) yet Bremont’s “adventure” with pricing continues. Offering a minutes and hours only Terra Nova for £2750 with a 38 hour power reserve Selitta movement is stupid, not least because a field watch without a running seconds hand is actually useless. If you were stupid enough to buy one and use it in the field you could not “synchronise watches” or time anything with it so it just becomes an ugly and expensive piece of male jewellery. As a retired Royal Air Force officer there is nothing in the Bremont line (now or in the past) that would tempt me to use one of their watches on active duty. I always wore my Omega Seamaster Professional 36.25mm or Planet Ocean 42mm Cal.2500 for most active duty tours but if I was going anywhere “sporty” I would take the G-Shock. For HQ duty stations I used a first generation Aqua Terra Cal.2500. Also, I never wore any Seamaster with Black Tie or No.5 Mess Kit, for that I had a couple of vintage time only watches, a De Ville and a Constellation (pre-Manhattan). Had Bond been “Wing Commander Bond RAF” rather than “Commander Bond RN” the Bond watch would have been a De Ville or a Constellation.
so Bremont has gone from hilariously overexpensive warmed over Breitling to hilariously overexpensive warmed over Omega. i wish them all the luck they deserve.
Capital C Crap
“…. rest assured as the old logo isn’t gone entirely and the Trip-Tick case will remain on certain collections, as well as the connections with military forces..” In other words: the new tailor allows the emperor to occasionally wear his old undergarments. This in the hope to shut up anoying little boys who were addressing the obvious, the emperor is in the nude.
Interesting that basically none of the “critiques” above mention the new product in any detail. It’s either generic malarkey or at best impressions about the new offerings. Nothing like “I spent a day, or tried them on and found that…”. I agree that the TN 38 should have had running seconds. I like the design – case and dial. And both the 38 and 40.5 are incredibly comfortable on the wrist. Visibility is great, and the price is much closer to Oris, Longines, Fears (in fact generally below Fears, another brand I like). Overall, they are competitive as far as luxury watches go. It’s a pity, nothing here with a few exceptions offers anything or any insights about Bremont watches or its overall strategy.