It’s been a big year for Bremont. The launch of the new Terra Nova concept builds on the company’s existing heritage as an exploration tool specialist. The brand’s new look and exciting additions to the catalog serve to enrich the Bremont universe, adding even more color to a story that has been exceptionally well told from day one.

Perhaps one of the best updates can be found in the tough, compact evolution of the Supermarine family, with updates to the 300-meter line, which includes a new three-hander, a time and date model and a GMT, as well as a quite unexpected, but striking pair of full ceramic iterations of the 500-meter model that stole the show upon their unveiling at Watches and Wonders 2024.

One thing that hasn’t changed in the slightest is the brand’s desire to create watches that are not only “Tested Beyond Endurance,” but also able to live up to the revamped slogan, “Take it Further,” which perfectly outlines the brand’s desire to continue as a leader in the rugged, “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” watch space.

Pushing the frontiers of exploration on earth

The story of Bremont is the story of human perseverance, and one of the brand’s milestone partnerships was with Ben Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere, whose Scott Expedition resulted in a world record for the longest polar journey — one which was undertaken with Bremont’s Terra Nova and Supermarine watches serving as their indispensable timekeeping tools.

Between October 2013 and February 2014, Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere made the first return journey to the South Pole from Ross Island on the same route attempted — more than a century ago — by Sir Ernest Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition, and by Robert Falcon Scott on the Terra Nova Expedition.

At 1,795 miles (2,888km), the Scott Expedition remains the longest human-powered polar journey in history. Saunders and L’Herpiniere set out from Ross Island on October 26, 2013, reached the South Pole on December 26, 2013, and finished their expedition by returning to Ross Island on February 7, 2014.

Evolving the Supermarine

The Supermarine line has always been an important part of the Bremont story. While the brand’s earliest origins were more aviation-oriented, exploring land and sea quickly became a shared focal point of the product portfolio.

Known for extreme robustness and legibility, the Supermarine collection has perhaps experienced the most changes throughout its existence out of all model families. A variety of sizes, thicknesses, and materials have made this collection of would-be indestructible tool watches a joy to collect over the years.

A visually slimmer case, more monochromatic designs that lean into these watches’ versatility, and an entirely new bracelet that cannot help but evoke memories of the golden age of watch bracelet design, are huge positives for this new collection.

The bracelet looks extremely high-end in the 904L stainless steel that Bremont has made the default material for its latest collection. Smartly curated finishes stand side by side with an easy elegance.

There are three versions of the simple three-hander. These models are made from 904L stainless steel, finished with satinated and polished surfaces. At just 40mm in diameter, they wear just as comfortably as their forerunners. Within the 300-meter water resistant case resides an automatic movement with a 50-hour power reserve.

Supermarine 300m and Supermarine 300m Date

For the core Supermarine 300M collection, Bremont has decided to embrace the brand’s more colorful side, opting for two models dressed in either rich royal blue or vivid British green. Both options add a flash of vibrancy to the line, bringing a youthful, sporty character to the collection, reminding us that Bremont, while primarily a producer of tough tool watches, is not averse to pushing the boat out when it comes to aesthetics and surprising us with unanticipated drops.

The key distinguisher of these three-handed pieces is the use of Arabic numerals at three, six, and nine o’clock. The Supermarine 300M Date dispenses with these oversized, hand applied markers in favor of a more often relied upon layout using applied trapezoidal indexes and dots (with the obligatory short-tailed arrow at 12, of course).

The date model comes in two variations. There is a more subdued black model with subtle orange dial accents and a pleasingly quiet white-on-black date window at three o’clock. The stand-out model of the line, however, could be said to be the Supermarine 300M Date Bi-Color, a chocolate brown dialed watch with rose gold accents and a rose gold bezel that looks particularly handsome on the characterful stainless steel bracelet.

Of all the pieces, the Supermarine 300M Date Bi-Color is perhaps the best at showing off the triumph of Bremont CEO Davide Cerrato’s new bracelet design. As with all good releases, it has elements of the familiar blended with the necessary freshness one needs to create visual separation from that which has gone before.

Supermarine 300m GMT

While the Supermarine 300M Date Bi-Color makes an elegant impact, it is the brand-new lineup of Supermarine 300M GMT watches that make the most explosive impression. Three colorful, utilitarian entries to the Supermarine catalog, tested in the extreme environments found in Iceland, these models fill a gaping need in the industry.

Particularly, the red dialed boutique edition — limited to 200 pieces — leaps out thanks to its red and black bezel. As one of the more talked about and sought-after GMT bezel color combinations, it is no surprise Bremont chose to deploy it on the revamped GMT line.

What is somewhat more surprising, however, is the vertical dial gradient. This gives these distinctly practical timepieces an air of refinement that is an unexpected pleasure to see peeking out from beneath the cuff of your Goretex jacket (while being thoroughly drenched as the Icelandic sea attempts to make landfall, no doubt).

There is a blue and black bezel option with a similarly finished dial in blue. The blue dial model is limited to 500 pieces but available online as well as in-store. The only one of the three new releases that will have a home in the core collection is the green and black bezel model, which has a dark green dial. Both the green and blue dial models carry the shades of “peach” (for the GMT hand tip) and orange (for the dial accents) forward into this new line. The red dial, meanwhile, has a more pared-back palette, choosing instead to focus on the colors of red, black and white in pursuit of maximum impact.

All three of these new GMT watches are powered by the BE-93-2AV caliber, which is based on the Sellita SW330-2. It offers 50 hours of power reserve and is fitted with a Glucydur balance wheel and a Nivaflex mainspring.

Supermarine Full Ceramic “Jungle Green” and “Tactical Black”

Bremont’s newfound willingness to lean into aesthetic experimentation leads us neatly into the full ceramic models in both black and green. These new models were not on anybody’s radar. Ceramic, while not a material totally untouched by Bremont in the past, is not what this watchmaker, known more for its creative take on how to deploy traditional materials rather than deep diving into far- out, avant-garde alternatives, has built its reputation upon.

Here, though, we see Bremont flexing its creative muscles. The resulting visuals are unlike anything the brand has ever produced before. It shows comfort in allowing new CEO Davide Cerrato to break loose from the past by harvesting his vast experience in this field.

This is the first mono-block ceramic case ever produced by Bremont. It begins life as ceramic powder. A highly accurate mold, 23 percent larger than the finished watch, is filled with this powder and then subjected to a high-pressure sintering process at 1,450°C.

During this process, the case shrinks to its final dimensions, revealing its final color as it does so. Although a magical process to observe once the final calculations have been confirmed, achieving the desired color takes a lot of research and development and, as with most things in watchmaking — especially the more experimental branches thereof — it is not as easy as one might first imagine. Even the slightest variation in temperature (which itself is eminently possible when dealing with temperatures high enough to melt most metals), can result in color pigment burning and undesirable alterations to the final product.

The last step for the case is surface finishing. For these models, Bremont has chosen to apply a sandblasted finish, which suits the watch’s intended application.

Tested by long-time brand ambassador Aldo Kane, this new take on the Supermarine 500M series certainly stands out from the crowd. With the movement nestled within a lightweight titanium container, this watch is not only a visual treat but also a comfortable model on the wrist. Kane, a specialist in extreme exploration, knows a thing or two about the importance of having the right kit, and he asserts that they have taken on any task thrown at them with aplomb.

These watches, both stealthy and sleek, boast the kind of functionality one would expect from a high-level tool designed for use in the field. With 500 meters of water resistance, a helium escape valve, high-performance lume and the traditional unidirectional timing bezel (in PVD-coated titanium) one would expect to find on a classic dive watch, both the limited edition “Jungle Green” and core collection “Tactical Black” are well appointed to stand up to even the most arduous of missions.

Although measuring 43mm in diameter, both watches wear much smaller due to their relatively demure 13mm heights and the shrinking effect the darker case material has on them visually. Both 22mm-wide strap options (either a quick-release rubber or a Nato strap) are similarly lightweight and low-profile. Closed casebacks go along with the concept of these being tool watches, obscuring and protecting the BE-92AV caliber (a modified SW300-1A).

This wave of new releases, comprising time-only, time and date, GMT and even ceramic pieces, adds more character and diversity to the Supermarine line than ever before, pushing the brand forward, developing its mission, and telling the story in a new and even more dynamic way.

With these new model platforms established and an obvious desire to continue evolving, the future of Bremont, a brand still impossible to ignore, will be a very interesting one indeed.