Anyone remotely familiar with British watch manufacturer Bremont will know that their annual limited edition collections are some of the biggest in the industry. Last year, it was all about their Battle of Britain set and trio of Bremont Hawking watches and the year before that, it was the stunning Bremont H-4 Hercules. And yet the latest Bremont limited edition collection may just be their biggest ever with the new Bremont Longitude trio housing the brand’s first ever manufacture movement.
Earlier this year, Bremont announced the opening of their Manufacturing and Technology Centre “the Wing”. The state of the art facility is the first of its kind in the UK since the sixties and with it, Bremont hoped to keep their entire manufacturing process on home soil. When the news came out, we knew it was only a matter of time before Bremont’s ambition for British-made movements became a reality and with their new ENG300 movement series they’ve done just that. We’ll go into the details of the movement shortly, but for the ENG376 movement inside each Bremont Longitude watch, the brand have done something truly unique by incorporating a piece of original brass from the historic Flamsteed Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London.
As you can probably tell from the name of the collection, the Bremont Longitude Limited Edition watches pay homage to Great Britain’s role in clock and watchmaking. The element of brass from the Flamsteed Meridian line marks the famous position where the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, made his observations to discover Longitude and in doing so forever laid the foundations for accurate timekeeping and navigation. In honour of the Britain’s contribution to time, astronomy and navigation, the Bremont Longitude watch showcases a series of elegant accents inspired by the long-celebrated measurement. Let’s take a look…
The Movement
There’s only one place to begin with a release like this, and it’s the movement. We plan to discuss the engineering of the new ENG376 calibre in more detail, so keep your eyes peeled, but in the meantime, here’s a run down of all its basic technical specifications. The 22 jewelled ENG376 movement was, as expected, entirely created in Bremont’s new headquarters at The Wing, and its stunning architecture is designed to reflect the facility itself with a custom balance bridge, full tungsten rotor and silicon escapement.
Thankfully, the Bremont ENG376 Calibre is put on display through the exhibition case back of each Bremont Longitude Limited Edition alongside the original brass sourced from the FlamsteedMeridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The brass encircles the movement and is engraved with the serial number, limited edition status of each timepiece and the longitude coordinates for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The movement also prides itself on a KIF shock protection, a 65 hour power reserve, rhodium plated bridges and a frequency of 25,200vph.
The Case
The Bremont Longitude is available in three iterations, classic stainless steel, 18ct rose gold and 18ct white gold. Each is engineered using the brand’s Trip-Tick case construction with a scratch resistant PVD treated case barrel, a screw in onion-shaped crown and a 4 screw case back in its corresponding case material. Perfectly sized for any wrist, the cases measure to 40mm in diameter, 49mm in length, 12.5mm in depth and with a lug width of 20mm. The case also boasts domed anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass on the topside and a water resistance of 100 metres for the steel model and a 50 metre resistance in the two solid gold Bremont Longitude watches.
The Dial
Complimenting the differing case materials is a contrasting dial to match. The Bremont Longitude Steel watch opts for a dark grey anthracite dial with nickel plated hands, polished applied Roman numerals and hour markers and a distinct white chapter ring with minutes track. The Bremont Longitude Rose Gold watch isn’t dissimilar hosting the same dark grey metal centrepiece but choosing a matching grey minutes track and rose gold plated hardware. Lastly, the Bremont Longitude White Gold watch elects a crisp white metal dial, a white chapter ring and nickel plated hands.
All three dials feature a stunning raised central globe with debossed longitude lines to cement the collection’s nod to the geographic coordinate as well as a meridian line running from 12 to 6 o’clock and a bold red power reserve indicator. When the watch has it’s full 65 hour charge, the power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock will be in solid red as tribute to the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s red time ball, a visual device that was used during the nineteenth century to give sailors accurate time. The dial of each Bremont Longitude watch also features Superluminova filled hour markers and a big date window at 3 o’clock.
The Strap
Each Bremont Longitude Limited Edition comes with an alligator leather strap with white stitch detailing. The steel and rose gold models choose brown leather while the white gold reference opts for black leather. The straps are finished with a classic pin buckle engineered from their subsequent case material.
Price & Availability
The rose and white gold Bremont Longitude watches are limited to 75 pieces each with the rose gold model retailing at £20,995 and the white gold at £21,995. At a more entry-level price point, the Bremont Longitude in steel retails at £14,995 and is a limited edition of 150 pieces.
You can shop the entire Bremont Longitude Limited Edition collection on the Jura Watches website here or by calling our team on 01335 453453.
