Inside Bremont

Crafting the Bremont Supernova

A pursuit of perfection and many years in the making, the Supernova is Bremont’s first integrated bracelet design crafted by its in-house engineers.

A Masterpiece in design and engineering

The stainless steel 40mm Supernova is a contemporary timepiece fashioned in a new Trip-Tick® case which has evolved Bremont’s classic three-piece case construction somewhat through 9 key design revisions to achieve a crisp, exquisitely finished aesthetic with beautiful curves and angles.

A masterpiece in design and engineering, perfecting the case design has been an incredible journey…

 

To create the complex, polished geometry, particularly the curvature of the lug case and varied surface finishes with its intentional facets, Bremont has had to invest heavily in a whole range of tooling and software development to advance new machining techniques and enhance the knowledge base of the brand’s already highly skilled engineering and manufacturing team.

‘The Engine Room’ at The Wing houses over 10 in-house machining workcentres used to manufacture movement and case parts for the Bremont Supernova

 

“Not only have we had the challenges with scaling up the movement production here in the UK, but we have had to further invest in our case finishing to be able to build the new Supernova, whose final finishing transcends the norm of luxury watchmaking. There are very few watch companies able to build high-quality watch cases in-house and it is clear to us why this is so often the situation.” Nick English, Bremont Co-Founder

12 stages of case finishing, including hand-finishing, are involved in the construction of Supernova components, which includes machining accuracy up to 2 microns.

The resulting ergonomic design is sublime to the touch and beautifully plays with light through the contrasting brushed and polished effects found across the case construction and dial. 12 stages of both hand and machine finishing, grinding, and polishing ensure the satin grain and polished facets are flawless across each case layer.

 

The facets that feature under the lugs are an additional signature Bremont detail along with the concentric decoration lines that run around the central barrel and taper elegantly towards the fluted screw down crown which is decorated with a polished enamelled Bremont propeller.

The Trip-Tick® case design is unique to Bremont and is a clear identifier for the brand.

The bracelet itself is an original, tapered design with a t-link construction unique to Bremont, offering a more serviceable bracelet due to the use of fewer parts and fine screws on every link. Beautifully finished in contrasting brushed surfaces and polished facets, the structure is ergonomically tailored to the wrist, once again demonstrating the exacting precision and tolerances with which the Supernova has been engineered. The solid, angular stainless-steel links are highly durable and flow elegantly from case to the branded butterfly deployment clasp featuring the Bremont propeller icon.

All aspects of the Supernova project have pushed the development, knowledge, and expertise of Bremont’s in-house engineering and manufacturing team further than ever before, marking an exciting milestone for the business, and indeed the industry, as it welcomes the H1 generation of watches.

The Supernova is hand-assembled by our skilled watchmakers at The Wing, in Henley-on-Thames.

Part of the H1 Generation

The Bremont Supernova forms a key part of Bremont’s new H1 Generation, a new generation of core collection 40mm timepieces, proudly made in Britain, and powered by a Bremont manufactured movement; the ENG300 movement series.

The ENG300 movement series 

The ENG300 series has been designed and built to Bremont’s unique specifications. To bring this proprietary movement series to fruition, a new manufacturing line for machining base components and T0 assembly was realised at The Wing which required significant investment into new machinery, staff, and training. The ENG300 signals the first time in 50 years that mechanical movements have been built at scale on British shores.

Bremont machines movement parts for its ENG300 series movement at The Wing.

All Bremont watches powered by an ENG300 movement are rigorously tested using Bremont’s H1 Timing Standard, directly comparable to the ISO3159:2009 Chronometer test. Additionally, Bremont is testing the ENG300 series complete with the rotor and complications, in the same facility where the watches are built.

 

Testing the movement with all the complication fitted and operational reduces any potential for variance in performance associated with testing incomplete movements. Testing without date discs and the auto wind mechanism is common practice, however excluding these vital sub-systems was never an option for Bremont.

 

The Bremont H1 Timing Standard not only nods to Bremont’s home in Henley-on-Thames but is also named in homage to Harrison’s first ‘H1’ marine timekeeper that famously sought to solve the problem of measuring longitude out at sea. Historically one of the most prominent observatories for watch testing was the Kew Observatory in England and reinvigorating a British chronometer test is something Bremont has long since been building up to. All ENG300 timepieces come with an extended warranty of 5 years upon registration.

 

This is the most significant launch for us as a business because we have finally been able to scale up our production to be able to introduce the ENG300 movements in core watch collections and invested in our own chronometer testing, it represents a massive step forward for us as a business.” Giles English, Bremont Co-Founder.

 

DISCOVER THE SUPERNOVA COLLECTION

Back to articles