The Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar – The Watches Of Podcast

Why the Bristol Brand Went High Horology

Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, managing director of Fears, and Lee Yuen Rapati, the brand's designer, sat down with Collective's head of content, Blake Buettner, at Geneva Watch Days to talk through the Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar. It's the first time the show has focused on a single watch rather than a brand or collection, and for good reason: this is Fears' first perpetual calendar and their first high horology watch built entirely in-house, done within the Brunswick collection, the cushion-cased line that's synonymous with the brand.

Nicholas and Lee walk through how the watch came together: a five-year process that started as an offhand question in 2021, when Fears was a two-person operation, and nearly got shelved more than once before turning into a heavily modified Dubois Depraz movement (Fears' own 55115 designation) with a custom moonphase and leap year indicator. They also get into the design decisions behind the dial, including the "Silver Mink" finish, and the case engineering, built from dozens of 3D-printed prototypes, that keeps the watch at 10.1mm despite the added complication.

The conversation closes on positioning: unlike most perpetual calendars, this one is built for daily wear, with 50 meters of water resistance Nicholas has already tested by accident. It's the debut piece in Fears' new Eminence Collection, limited to around 25 watches a year, and marks a real departure from the $3,000 to $5,000 range that's defined the brand for a decade, a deliberate step into high complication territory that Nicholas and Lee both describe as building without compromise.

The Watches of Podcast from Collective Horology looks at the history, philosophy, personalities, and of course the watches of a different brand on each episode. Also available as video on YouTube. Collective is an authorized retailer of the brands featured on this podcast. You can learn more, and find their watches, at collectivehorology.com.