MICRO MONDAYS: The Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer offers a stylish take on the most useful watch complication
Ricardo SimeI love a good GMT. Who doesn’t? As a guy who works for an Australian watch website, while being based in New York City, there really is no better complication for me. That function has become so important in my daily life that I now analyze and evaluate every single GMT that gets released. All in hopes of finding that one. That one that has all the right specifications, great looking aesthetics and amazing build quality. Brellum has just put forth a worthy contender with the release of the Wyvern GMT Chronometer. It’s an independent brand’s version of an extremely useful complication and here’s my take.
On first glance, the watch seems to skate that fine line between dressy and sporty, yet as you get drawn in, it becomes quite clear where it lies. With almost every surface being brushed, this watch is definitely meant to be sporty. The only polish is used as a trim; providing that light-catching quality many of us love in a watch. The bezel is stepped, in two concave layers and is one of my favourite elements on this case. I also appreciate the 100 metres of water resistance and a thickness of only 10.9mm. (Inclusive of the boxed sapphire crystal over the dial.) Overall, the amount of detailing Brellum manages to fit on this 42.3mm case is quite impressive.
From there, you’ll be hard pressed to miss the dials of the Wyvern. There are three colour options: silver with blue accents, blue with yellow accents and black with red accents. Each features the classic 6/9/12 layout for the indexes, which are all applied and filled with bright Superluminova. At three, you’ll find the date window, which has black on white printing.
As you make your way toward the centre of the dial, you’ll find the main attraction; the GMT function. The hand used for the GMT hours is accented with the same colour that marks the 24 hour marker at 12, which makes it easier to identify the secondary time zone at a glance. The hand is also lume filled, something I feel should be standard on any sporty GMT. It makes it easy to identify that hand in darker settings.
One detail that I also like is how the small lume pips on the inner portion of the dial are designed. All the pips on the day side, 0600 to 1800, have a small dot at their centre, reminiscent of an open eye (awake). The lume pips on the night side, 1800 to 0600, have no dots, which is reminiscent of a closed eye (asleep).
Inside the watch and viewed through the sapphire crystal case back is the calibre Brellum BR-893-GMT. The movement is a COSC-certified, ETA based, 2893/2 GMT movement, thus having “Office” GMT functionality,. This means the GMT hand can be set independently. Furthermore, though ETA based, Brellum has done much to give us a great looking movement. Gevena stripes, blued screws, perlage and a decorated rotor made of 5N gold. It is both a beautiful and capable movement.
In terms of straps, you are given two options. The watch can come on a five-piece bracelet, which features two polished links, sandwiched by three brushed links with the sides of the bracelet being polished as well. The watch is also available on an integrated rubber strap, which reflects the accent colours of the dial. This option continues to bring home the idea that the Wyvern is indeed a sporty GMT.
As a whole, the Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer is a great option for someone looking for a solid GMT. There is also something to owning a fully independent brand that has a model which focuses on very limited production. Not only does that focus mean you get a rare watch in the grand scheme of things but it also means that with the amount of quality control each watch goes through leads to a pristine example. In the end, the collector wins.
Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer Price and Availability:
The Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer is immediately available on Brellum’s website here. On a strap, pricing will be CHF 1995.00 and on a bracelet, it will be CHF 2150.00.
Made in partnership with the Brellum Watches. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.