Bristol-based Fears and Netherlands-based Ace Jewelers have come together in a celebration of both British and Dutch cultural heritage with the launch of a new watch together. It’s the Brunswick 38 ‘De Stijl’ Edition, which takes the heritage design of the British watch and presents it with a dial inspired by one of the most famous Dutch artistic movements of all time.
The art of De Stijl is defined by its attention to the deconstruction of art and architecture into its abstracted parts, as represented by primary colours and black, geometric lines. It’s the isolation and compartmentalisation of design and being. The most famous practitioner of the style being Piet Mondrian. Previously I would have been among the many people who are dismissive of its almost arbitrary forms that feel like a primary school child may have produced. But I saw some of Mondrian’s work on loan to the Tate Modern this past weekend (total coincidence) and having spent time with some his compositions I feel like I have approached appreciation closer than ever before.
Bringing the focus to the Brunswick 38 ‘De Stijl’ Edition, Lee Yuen-Rapati, Fears’ Design Manager was given free reign with the dial here. It’s actually a dial that rewards study as much as the works in the De Stijl canon. At a surface level there are the ways in which the square, rectangular forms play with the circular nature of the dial. Most obviously the blue small seconds subdial in its square shape sits juxtaposed with the circular motion of its hand. My favourite detail though is that while the watch has no apparent hour markers or time indication, it is possible to read the time from it.
This is achieved through the specific placement of the black sections of the design. It’s not so simple as there being twelve black squares. Instead, the irregular rectangles and squares are positioned sort of tangentially to the positions of the normal 12 hour markers, sometimes bleeding over from one section of the display to another. It gives the abstract impression of a watch face while also being functional. Now, I’m by no means making the argument that reading the face is easy or precise, but I feel like it’s a design that actively engages with the subject matter of the artistic movement it represents rather than being a lazy imitation or reproduction.
Structurally and horologically, the Brunswick 38 ‘De Stijl’ Edition is identical to previous collaboration watches Fears have produced, such as the Topper. That means a 38mm diameter cushion case that houses the La Joux-Perret D100 automatic movement with manual winding and 60-hour power reserve. If it ain’t broke…
The Brunswick 38 ‘De Stijl’ is priced at £3,550 in a limited edition of 50 pieces. It’s available to purchase through the Fears boutique in Bristol, Ace Jewelers boutiques in London and Amsterdam or the Ace Jewelers online shop. Fears is regarded as very classical brand with, if anything, Art Deco leaning roots, so seeing them tackle such a different artistic style is quite striking. I wonder what they’ll tackle next.
Price and Specs:
More details at Fears.
Fears watches, very stylish, the semi cushion cases and onion crowns just hit the spot, I particularly like the Brunswick range, for me, it’s all about the retro style, so, this new release loses that appeal, as while the link to the artist from an earlier era can be classed as retro style, his work was futuristic as opposed to classical, therefore the Collab with modernistic cubism is not working for me. Ditch this dial and remain true to the Fears classic lines.