Alongside the launch of the new Bremont Longitude Limited Edition watches, British watch manufacturer Bremont unveiled their first ever in-house manufacture movement. Dubbed the Bremont ENG300 series, the movement has been created within their freshly built manufacturing and technology centre named “The Wing” which has allowed several components to be made exclusively on British soil.
Interestingly, over 15 years ago, Bremont’s original mission when the business was founded was as follows: “To make exquisitely engineered mechanical timepieces on British soil with the lofty objective of reinvigorating the nation’s horological past, using our adventurous spirit, passion for detail, desire to innovate and dedication to the highest quality of customer satisfaction.” We’re pleased to say that Bremont seems to have done just that with the launch of the Bremont ENG300 movement.
We knew something exciting would come following the news Bremont had launched its own manufacturing and technology centre earlier this year, and our hopes were that an in-house movement was one of them. As everyone knows, the watchmaking industry is almost entirely centred around Switzerland with British watch manufacture having died out almost entirely during the 1970’s. Back then, Britain was home to some of the greatest advances in horology than any other nation and so to revive this legacy, Nick and Giles English, brothers and co-founders of the Bremont brand built “The Wing”.
The Bremont ENG300 Movement
Now onto the movement itself. Interestingly, Bremont has been careful about using the term “in-house” unduly since the new ENG300 Calibre has been released. It is technically a remastered movement based on the K1 calibre from the Swiss firm The+. However, when you learn a little more about what they’ve done with this base, a base that Bremont has acquired the rights to manufacture and re-engineer we should add, you’ll hopefully agree with us that the terminology “in-house” is more than warranted.
The Bremont ENG300 movement boasts several important improvements over it’s K1 base including a silicon escapement redesigned for improved shock resistance and a whole host of replacement components entirely produced at The Wing. These components include the base plate, barrel, balance, automatic and wheel bridges, the former being suitably engraved with the words “Made in England”. Everything beyond that has been admittedly sourced from third parties. Bremont has also certified the ENG300 Calibre themselves using the Bremont H1 Timing Standard, which is similar to that of the ISO3159:2009 Chronometer test.
“We’ve been working for so many years to manufacture a movement in the UK and build the whole process. This is a massive step towards where we want to be. There’s a lot of growth to go and a lot more we want to do. But this is a massive milestone. We are very proud of it.” – Bremont Co-Founder, Nick English.
Onto technical specifications, the Bremont ENG300 movement hosts a total of 22 jewels and a fully tungsten rotor and balance bridge which has been redesigned to evoke the swooping façade of The Wing’s architecture. We’re also promised a decent power reserve of 65 hours and greeted to a series of handsome circular stripe finishing. It’s a beautiful looking movement and the British watch house has assured that these finishings will be just as clear in any future core additions as they are in the new Bremont Longitude watches. With this in mind, the brand have also suggested they will produce around 5,000 of this new movement in the year 2022 alone… so keep your eyes peeled for more Bremont watches coming soon!
