Farer Relaunch GMT Bezel Collection with Returning Favourites and New Designs

Maze Blue

There are a lot of fantastic British combinations out there. Bangers and mash, baked beans and cheese, Farer and GMT complications. Considering that the brand is literally named after the word for traveller, it should be no surprise that the archetypal travel watch function is the brand’s signature. Now they’re releasing a new GMT Bezel collection, reintroducing the series after a two-year hiatus with brand new designs. They’re the Maze III, Crooms III, Maze Blue and Charlton Green.

As is always the case with Farer watches, each of the four pieces in the collection have wildly different details but the same base design. But here they’re actually split further than that as there’s two 40mm versions and two 38mm versions, providing even more variety and choice than normal. The larger models are the third-generation models, so the Maze and Crooms, while the 38mm are the fresh-faced new designs in the Maze Blue and Charlton Green.

Charlton Green

Despite the difference in size, the designs of the Farer GMT Bezel case are broadly the same with classy round shapes, boxed sapphire crystals and sapphire insert bezels. The bezels have a bi-directional rotation allowing you to quickly adjust the time zone you are tracking. The primary update to the collection compared to previous iterations is the new lugs. They are now what are described as ‘ski-slope’ lugs, which means they have a concave curve to them that flicks up slightly at the bottom.

Right, now to break down the four different versions, starting with Maze III. This is one of the classic Farer designs at this point, hence it receiving a third generation. It has a white pearlescent dial with a grid pattern that makes the piece look like maths paper, charting a graph of your travels. The hour markers are dive watch style with applied circles, rectangles and Farer’s arrow at 12 o’clock. It works well because with 200m water resistance, taking your Farer GMT Bezel for a swim is not out of the question. The accent colour is light blue while the GMT Bezel has a day/night split between black and white, it also shows all 24 numbers in its scale.

Crooms III

Next is Crooms III, another returning classic with its burgundy, sunray brushed design. Here the hour markers are swapped out for bar indexes in the majority of positions and Arabic numerals at 9 and 3 o’clock. The bezel is completely black and only displays every other hour as a numeral in the 24-hour scale. I really like this model; it has a richness to its colour that feels dressier and more refined compared to the playful Maze.

Moving to the 38mm models and their brand-new designs, we have the Maze Blue. As you might expect this is a variation on the theme of the Maze III, where the square grid pattern has been swapped for a honeycomb one. The name Blue comes from the blue day/night portion of the GMT bezel as well as the blue GMT hand that points to it. The other accent colour here is bright orange, making it one of the most vibrant pieces in the collection.

Maze III

Last but by no means least is the Charlton Green. It has the same honeycomb pattern as Maze Blue but in warmer cream tone. It also has a unique GMT bezel with dot markers between the Arabic numerals. The facetted hour markers with blue strips down the centre are also unique to this model. The green in its name comes from the teal day/night indication on the bezel. Of the two 38mm models, this is my preferred model, which is shocking because I’m a lover of all things orange. The pale blues and greens mixed with the cream of the dial feels like a truly original colourway that I’ve not seen before.

All four variants of the Farer GMT Bezel collection house the Sellita SW330-2 Top Grade movement, visible through the exhibition sapphire caseback. It’s a really solid movement with 56-hour power reserve, which is great for travel. It’s also weekend proof, just about, so if you put it down on Friday evening it should still be ticking on Monday morning. All four GMT Bezel watches also share a price of £1,350 with an optional £190 steel bracelet based on the 3-link design introduced in the field collection.

More details at Farer.

​Oracle Time 

Read More