British brands Fears Watches and Garrick Watchmakers have put their heads together for a brand new collaboration, a hand-finished open heart model aptly named the Fears Garrick.
The Release
The Fears Garrick comes in a fully-polished 42mm case, handmade from 904L stainless steel, with a 49mm lug-to-lug and a 10mm thickness. There is a pull-out crown at 3 o’clock and the case 100m water resistance. The 22mm lugs feature a slight twist that give the case a fluid look, and the convex bezel surrounds a sapphire glass with anti-reflect coating. The reverse features a sapphire glass to display Garrick’s in-house UT-G04 movement. The UT-G04 features 19 jewels, a 45-hour power reserve, and a free-sprung Trinity balance regulated to +5s per day. The movement is rhodium plated with black-polished bridges, hand frosting, and hand-polished screwed chatons.
The dial of the Fears Garrick is made in Germany and features a paper-like matte finish in off-white, with diamond-polished applied numerals coated in “black gold” and a railroad minute track. There is a 10 o’clock sunken running seconds indicator that features a rhodium rim, and a 2 o’clock power reserve indicator with a black and red scale. The handset are laser cut, then beveled, polished, and thermally blued by hand. At 6 o’clock, a wide aperture displays the Trinity balance made of Sircumet, a non-magnetic alloy exclusive to Garrick. The watch is fitted with a handmade blue leather strap.
Our Thoughts
We recently announced the collaboration between Bamford and Bremont, the blending of two vastly different aesthetics into one very stylized watch. The Fears Garrick is at the opposite end of the spectrum: it’s a relatively conservative design from two brands with complementary design languages. For me, it makes more sense, and it certainly appeals to my tastes more. I’ve long admired both Garrick and Fears; the former for its dials that reveal the hand-finished movements without beating you over the them, the latter for its revival of a family brand without relying too heavily on archival designs. This collaboration is the synergy of two great independent British brands.
What’s lovely here is how the brands have managed to blend their signature elements into a cohesive whole. Fears has brought the understated and simple handset and numerals from its Brunswick, while Garrick brings its handmade case and stunning in-house UT-G04 movement. To be sure, the Fears Garrick is essentially a Garrick S3 with a fears dial and handset. Considering both brands use onion crowns, I did find the absence here a bit puzzling, as it would have matched the styling better than the plain ridged crown that was chosen (which is apparently “bespoke”). The balance of the subseconds and the power reserve is well executed, and the massive bridge over the balance is an open heart dial I can get behind (though I’m sure many will mistake it for a tourbillon at first glance). While 42mm may be large for some, concessions must sometimes be made to accommodate such craftsmanship, and I’m fine allowing for the added size here.
Availability
The Fears Garrick is priced at £19,500 including VAT, £16,250 excluding VAT. It is available now via Fears Watches, with delivery expected in December 2022.
