An exciting and memorable year for Fears Watch Company has continued today with the launch of a new rectangular shaped watch.
It celebrates the brand’s 175 year history and builds on an exciting year which has also seen a book launch about the watchmakers’ history.
The new Archival 1930 is the first watch in a new Archival family of watches that are proportional re-creations of pieces from the extensive Fears archive using new-old-stock vintage movements.
The Archival 1930 is a re-creation of an Art Deco style rectangular watch Fears made in 1930, which has been re-introduced using new-old-stock movements dating from the 1930s and 1960s.
The case of the Archival 1930 is machined from 316L stainless steel in matching proportions to the 1930 original, simply increased in size slightly to suit modern tastes.
The slim, rectangular case features a curved profile that comfortably hugs the contours of the wrist, while linear graining is used on the case sides and back with the svelte bezel, lugs, and case back bevel featuring a deep polish, adding a subtle contrast.
The Archival 1930 features a ‘Vintage Champagne’ dial with a polished base coated in 18ct yellow gold which shines through as a border, contrasting with the smooth, matte finish of the main dial surface, which is also coated in 18ct yellow gold.
Finally, each Archival 1930 is fitted to a vintage-style handmade Oxblood Red calf leather strap. The bespoke coloured leather used is tanned in Bristol by Thomas Ware & Sons, Britain’s oldest vegetable tanner, the same tannery who created the leather for Fears’ watch straps when the original watch was made in 1930.
Limited to 175 pieces, each watch’s case back is also engraved with one of the years from 1846 up to 2021.
The 175 watches are split into two models to reflect the 136 years the company has been operational (1846 – 1976 and 2016 – present day) and the 39 years when it lay dormant (1977 – 2015). A subtle nod to this part of the Fears heritage.
The first watch, with the founding year, 1846, on its caseback, has been donated to the Bristol Museum for their permanent collection.
The two models differ by the movements that power them, with the two-handed Archival 1930 (136 watches) using a new old stock manual winding movement dating from the 1960s.
While the three-handed Archival 1930 Small Seconds uses a new old stock manual winding movement dating from the 1930s.
Both are movements that Fears used in the past and both of them, having never previously been used, has undergone a full re-build and recondition in the workshop while receiving an upgraded mainspring to enhance reliability.
Commenting on the launch of the new Archival 1930, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, (4th) Managing Director of Fears Watch Company, said: “I am privileged that the 175th anniversary of Fears’ founding has fallen during my tenure as managing director. A significant anniversary like this had to be marked in a special way, which I feel the Archival 1930 captures perfectly.
“The launch of this first watch in the new Archival family is a delightful way of allowing us to pay respect to our heritage and extensive archive, in a more direct way, while not being beholden to it. By recreating this elegant watch that we made in 1930, using original movements from the period, and finding a subtle way to mark the 39 dormant years I feel we’re doing this anniversary justice. The past five years since Fears was re-established have been incredible, with watches bearing the Fears name once again being worn on wrists all around the world and makes me start to think how we might celebrate the 200th anniversary in 2046.”
The Fears Archival 1930 and Archival 1930 Small Seconds are available to order from today, retailing for £3,500 inc. VAT and £3,950 inc. VAT respectively with delivery commencing in October.
