All of it type of lined up for me with the Aurora. I had admired Fears for a while, a model that I used to be actively in search of a technique to help from the primary time I met their Managing Director Nicholas Bowman-Scargill. I’m removed from the primary individual to level it out, however Nicholas really is in that “nicest folks in watches” membership. He’s, after all, an excellent ambassador for his model, and the way in which he enthusiastically tells the Fears story whenever you meet him in individual, observe him on social media, or hear him on a podcast, is infectious. However he’s additionally all the way down to earth, approachable, and genuine in a method that I feel actually helps folks connect with the watches themselves.
The Aurora particularly struck me as a particular watch. On the time, it felt like a departure for Fears to make use of mom of pearl in any respect, and the particular execution of the Aurora forces you to rethink what a mom of pearl dial will be. For years, most of us have been conditioned by the watch business to know mom of pearl as a function of watches made for ladies. It’s (often) lighter in colour and, extra importantly, purely ornamental. There’s no useful motive to make use of mom of pearl – it’s a skinny and comparatively delicate materials. It doesn’t make a variety of sense in what we’d usually consider as a software watch. And so like diamonds, gems, and stone dials extra broadly, MOP has been a reasonably area of interest curiosity amongst lovers.
The Aurora’s dial is made up of two items of mom of pearl which are dominated by blue tones, however after all shift dramatically within the gentle and when considered from any variety of angles. The mix of the multi piece dial (with a middle part ringed by an outer sector) and the irrepressibly dynamic slabs of mom of pearl create a dial that feels prefer it’s consistently in movement. The title of the watch is the important thing to its inspiration: the northern lights are definitely a strong reference level. However most of the time once I admire the dial I really feel like I’m taking a look at tropical waters or quickly shifting clouds, or maybe clouds mirrored in tropical waters. The entire reference factors, although, are rooted within the pure world, which after all is smart given the pure materials that the dial is constructed from.
Within the time I’ve owned the Brunswick Aurora I’ve not grown uninterested in the distinctive impact of this mom of pearl dial, and I’ve had loads of possibilities to deal with many different MOP dials within the final 12 months or in order using the fabric has actually caught on. Whereas many mom of pearl dials we’ve seen from manufacturers roughly in the identical pricing tier as Fears look very good and have a ton of allure, I can’t consider one which has such a robust, nearly psychedelic impact. Many manufacturers appear to make use of mom of pearl as a delicate accent, however the way in which Fears makes use of it on the Aurora is something however. It’s as in your face, in a method, because the orange discovered on a Seiko Monster. I’ve discovered that a part of what makes it interesting to me, and a watch I’m completely satisfied to put on daily, is the truth that it’s so daring. I’ve been gravitating extra towards watches that at the very least try and make some type of aesthetic assertion, and that’s one thing the Aurora does extremely properly.
And I do prefer to put on it as a each day driver. Whereas the dial won’t technically complement a lot of what I’d put on daily, the 40mm Brunswick case is extremely snug on my 7.5 inch wrist, and the carrying expertise itself is at all times straightforward. A lot has been made because the Brunswick’s debut of the case’s similarity to that of the Panerai Radiomir. In fact it’s inconceivable to not see the final similarity in form, however I’ve at all times discovered the comparability, and the implication that Fears is someway aping or paying homage to Panerai, to be, how can I put this…kinda dumb. It’s a lazy critique that’s as significant as saying any variety of generic divers are Submariner clones as a result of they’ve round and lumed hour markers. To not point out that trying on the manufacturers themselves, it might be fairly arduous to search out two which have sensibilities extra completely different than Panerai and Fears. I’ll simply depart it at that.
In any occasion, I feel the case is kind of good-looking and evokes a specific amount of magnificence that’s acceptable for a watch with a dial like this. The Brunswick has at all times been positioned as a watch on the sporty finish of the Fears catalog (it does have a screw down crown and 150 meters of water resistance) however that is removed from a burly journey watch. In reality, at this very second it may be the closest factor in my watch field to a “gown” watch, though that’s not the suitable class for it both. It’s comparatively skinny, although, at 11.9mm tall, and has a shorter than anticipated lug to lug because of the cushion case design (46.5mm). I suppose the way in which I’d put it’s that that is the type of watch you may find yourself with for those who walked right into a division retailer within the Sixties and simply wished a watch, not one that might be match for astronauts, racecar drivers, or divers, and never one which requires you to decorate up just like the Monopoly man for it to look acceptable (though I feel he wore a pocket watch…). It’s only a watch with a case that may be worn by regular folks, on a regular basis, and by no means actually look misplaced. Which may appear to be the best idea on this planet, however I’ve a hunch that making a watch that may actually be any watch is on the more difficult aspect. Regardless, the Brunswick case in 40mm is a good instance of do precisely that.
However let’s not child ourselves right here: the first goal of the Brunswick case on this specific occasion is to be a vessel for the mom of pearl dial. The dial is the explanation I like this watch, and I’ve a sense I’d adore it equally if it, or one thing prefer it, got here in a Fears Redcliff or a Fears Arnos case (the latter is definitely a reasonably fascinating thought and one which I hope Nicholas and his group ultimately get to). As a result of the factor about mom of pearl that may’t be understated and that makes this watch so extremely rewarding to put on is that it really appears like about 5 completely different dials in a single. It may possibly seem radically completely different relying on the viewing angle, and naturally the sunshine. I wrote above that the dial jogs my memory, at occasions, of clouds, and there’s a sure poetry to how in darkish environments one will get the impression of storm clouds, however in vibrant daylight it appears to be like like an ideal summer season sky.
Due to the way in which the dial appears to alter on a regular basis, it’s a watch that I’ve loved photographing fairly a bit within the time that I’ve had it. Kat’s pictures right here do an excellent job of showcasing a lot of the dial’s dynamism, however belief me once I say that residing with it for a 12 months reveals far more than be found in any single studio session. As somebody with a rising curiosity in images however nonetheless very a lot an novice hobbyist at very best, I’ve gotten rather a lot out of pixel peeping my pictures of this watch, revealing dial textures, colours, and patterns that I’d by no means see with the bare eye alone. If my images has improved even a bit bit over the course of the final 12 months, I owe at the very least a few of that to this watch, which is each a problem and a pleasure to shoot.
