The British watch firms Bremont and Bamford Watch Department have once again joined forces to create a luminescent limited-edition Supermarine GMT, the Bremont Bamford Aurora (US$5,450).
Distinguished by its otherworldly glow, Aurora is the sequel to 2022’s sold-out S500 Bamford Special Edition cloaked in black DLC, or diamond-like coating, accented with bright blue Super-LumiNova.
Both pieces fuse Bremont’s flagship dive watch with the bold aesthetic flair of Bamford Watch Department, a London-based customization firm that produces creative limited editions with a number of prestige brands, including TAG Heuer, Chopard, and Franck Muller. The first collaboration between the two brands grew out of the longstanding friendship between Bremont Co-Founders Nick and Giles English and George Bamford.
When Davide Cerrato took over as Bremont CEO in 2023, his primary goal was to refocus the aviation-linked brand on a broader theme of “adventure exploration” with sporty tool watches for land, sea, and air.
To that end last fall, Bremont unveiled its redesigned Supermarine S502 dive collection with a 24-hour unidirectional bezel and simplified dial design, drawing the eye to the central key functions of the watch for enhanced legibility.
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Limited to 500 pieces, the new Aurora takes inspiration from an imagined adventure of hiking through rugged, unfamiliar terrain to get a glimpse of one of the world’s great spectacles, the aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. And the timing is spot on as 2024 is expected to deliver the most spectacular aurora viewing in two decades, as it marks the solar maximum when the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
The 43mm Aurora features a GMT function, a 50-hour power reserve, water resistance down to 500 meters (50 ATM), an automatic helium escape valve and fortified shock protection. Its black DLC-coated stainless-steel Trip-Tick case is fitted with a unidirectional rotating 24-hour bezel featuring a polished sapphire inset. The bi-colored bezel serves as a day/night indicator, enhanced with luminous vibrant green Super-LumiNova that echoes the natural phenomenon’s captivating dancing ribbons of light in the night sky.
The “California” dial mixes Arabic and Roman hour numerals with indices and a triangle at 12 o’clock. Built using a layered sandwich-style construction, the dial consists of a solid disc of luminous material covered with a top plate that is cutaway in the shapes of the hour markers to reveal the glowing lume underneath. The bi-level structure adds depth and dimension while enhancing readability. Green Super-LumiNova also lights up the matte black hour and minute hands, while the matte black GMT hand is tipped with a gloss green Super-LumiNova pointer.
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On the reverse, the DLC-coated case back is decorated with a rendering of the Supermarine seaplane that inspired the original Supermarine dive watch from 2009, offering a nod to the brand’s aviation roots. Bremont named the collection for the 1930s aircraft company that produced the first Spitfire prototype, the Type 300, an icon of British aviation from World War II.
“I have always been fascinated by the challenge of creating a timepiece that is as compelling in the dark as it is in the light,” Cerrato said in the news release. “Working with George, I am thrilled that we have achieved a luminous show which mirrors the magic and spectacle of the aurora borealis.”
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