Ten years ago, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill revived Fears, the watch company founded by his great-great-great-grandfather in 1846.
One year into its twenty-first-century incarnation, the independent British watchmaker introduced the Brunswick, a cushion-shaped watch based on an archival piece from the 1920s. It quickly became the brand’s signature case and went on to house a wide range of dials, but a sporty new iteration is the first to boast 200m water resistance.
For much of its existence, the Brunswick collection has contained dress watches and elevated all-purpose designs. Fears first expanded the collection into tool watch territory earlier this year with its debut pilot’s watch, and now it’s hitting the open water.
The new Brunswick 40 ‘Helmsman’ ES is not explicitly a dive watch, but positioned as a tool watch for boating and other aquatic activities. It offers the water resistance, durability and legibility of a diver, but there is no rotating bezel.
Of course, it does bear a subtle resemblance to the Panerai Luminor, one of the most iconic dive watches of all time. But both brands hold equal claim to the cushion case that was popular a century ago, and Fears is clearly charting its own course here.
The ‘Helmsman’ is the first Brunswick to carry Fears’ Endurance Specification (ES) designation, which denotes stronger durability and functionality than the brand’s typical dressy and casual offerings.
