Bremont, the proudly British watch manufacturer that since its founding in 2002 has paid tribute to numerous icons in the United Kingdom’s illustrious aviation history, introduced its latest historically inspired timepiece today: the Bremont Supersonic, a limited edition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the famous Concorde and featuring the brand’s first manual-winding, eight-day movement.
British Airways — which, along with Air France, was one of only two airlines to fly the Concorde, a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, during its heyday from 1976 to 2003 — becomes the latest British heritage organization to partner with Bremont for the launch of a historically significant timepiece, following in the footsteps of Jaguar automobiles, cockpit ejection seat maker Martin-Baker, and others. The watch itself, which incorporates aluminum from a 1970s Concorde plane into its case, becomes the latest in Bremont’s series of special editions enhanced with antique materials representing significant events and institutions in British history, following up such milestone pieces as the 2013’s Codebreaker and last year’s 1918 Limited Edition.
For those not as well versed in aviation history as Bremont’s founders (and avid pilots) Nick and Giles English, the Concorde was renowned for its speed of Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound, which enabled airlines to halve the time of transatlantic crossings. The G-BOAB Concorde “Alpha Bravo,” the third to join British Airways’ fleet, is the model from which Bremont received the metal to enhance all three versions of the Supersonic, in steel, white gold, and rose gold.
The watch’s case, constructed in Bremont’s modular “Trip-Tick” style, measures 43 mm in diameter and 14.56 mm thick. Each case features a decorated inner ring within the exhibition caseback, underneath the sapphire glass, machined from aluminum taken from the Concorde. Adorning each of these rings are vital stats from the aircraft: number and registration, top speed, years of active service, and number of supersonic flights. Another scratch-resistant, nonreflective sapphire crystal in the front covers the sunray-patterned, silvery white dial, which evokes the Concorde’s specially developed, highly reflective white paint job. The blued hour and minute hands on the stainless steel watch, and the blued small-seconds hand on all the models, reflect the British Airways blue on the Concorde’s livery, while a (very) subtle motif of the plane’s silhouette decorates the small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock, which intersects a small, round date window.
Another, more prominent instance of the Concorde’s aerodynamic silhouette can be found in the movement, which Bremont has dubbed Caliber BE-11M, a manual winder with a 21,600-vph frequency and, notably, the aforementioned eight-day power reserve, which is on display in a subdial at 12 o’clock on the dial. Visible through the clear caseback and surrounded by the aluminum ring from the G-BOAB Concorde, the movement’s plate is not only enhanced with côtes de Genève but also forms a cutout silhouette of the namesake aircraft.
The Bremont Supersonic in stainless steel, with blued steel hands and Connolly leather strap in Concorde blue, is limited to 300 pieces and retails for $12,495. The rose gold model, with rose gold hands and indices and brown crocodile strap, is limited to 100 pieces and is priced at $22,495. The white-gold Supersonic, with nickel hands and a blue croc leather strap, is also limited to 100 pieces and sells for $23,995. All three watches will make their world debut this coming Friday at WatchTime New York, America’s luxury watch show. Tickets are still available for October 27, the second day of the two-day event; order yours now!
