INTRODUCING: The Bremont Jaguar E-Type 60th Anniversary Chronograph.

Thor Svaboe

Finally, after a five-year hiatus, my inner petrolhead is awakened from its slumber, and by a watch! I will not bore you with my younger days of owning British sports cars from the Triumph GT6 to a Lotus Elan to a lovely series 1 Jaguar XJ6 from 1970 with dark blue leather seats. But one glance at the Bremont Jaguar E-Type 60th Anniversary Chronograph and I’m getting a delicious sense of deja-vu. I can almost smell the petrol and Connolly leather.

I’ve got both family and past in the UK, so I do feel a little bit less objective than I should. But come on, how can you not get slightly patriotic about the Brits with their new focus on watchmaking profiled in our stories here. Bremont are well known for their intrinsically British offerings, ultra strong steel cases, and handsome tool watches – an oft-abused term (not by me, surely?), but here it honestly rings true. The Bremont team will this week inaugurate their new factory and showroom and are a big part of bringing watchmaking pride and scale back to the green isles of Great Britain.

Here we have two unashamedly proud British chronographs with a large dollop of petrol-infused inspiration from motorsport. They’re delivered in two classic E-Type colours found on many of the mythical flat floor series 1 versions of the long-bonneted sports car. This is the very car that Enzo Ferrari proclaimed as the most beautiful in the world, celebrated here in two Pantone colours. These are found on the vintage-pure tachymetre bezels and hand stitched rally straps, evocatively named ‘Flat Out Grey’ and ‘Drop Everything Green’.

For anyone over a certain age, the monochrome look of these matte black stepped dials have a clear inspiration from the Smiths intrument binnacle in any mid-last century Jag and especially the E-Type roadster and coupe. They are satin-finished in a greyish black with crisp white print for the markings and Arabic numerals. You don’t even have to have a petrolhead past to appreciate the intrinsic details, but for some of us they will bring back memories of the days when freedom was a road trip in a classic roadster. From the small black cup in the centre of the hands, to the clear nod to a Jaguar RPM-counter in the 9 o’clock register, all the clues are here without being a pastiche. Instead, the sharp drafting skills of the Bremont design team has come up with what can only be described as pure sporting intent.

 

There is a calm purpose to the monochrome dial, offset by the cheeky RPM redline marker on the 9 o’clock register, while the date sits balanced at 6 o-clock. The lollipop seconds hand has a fresh red and white pop, and the choice of cool grey and rich green for the aluminium bezels and rally straps makes choosing between the two difficult. The curved and bevelled lugs are muscular and, yes, you might even catch a glance of the cat-like stance of the Jaguar E-Type in the purposeful dynamic of the case details. The chronograph pushers are ergonomically large, while the almost monolithic crown has the familiar tread pattern of a Dunlop racing tyre.

Behind the sapphire crystal case back we have a drilled spoke Jaguar steering wheel as the rotor, slowly twirling to reveal parts of the modified Calibre BE-50AE, a Glucydur balance bullet-proof automatic with a 42 hour power reserve, Anachron balance spring and Nivaflex 1 mainspring.

The Bremont calibre sits safely within the Trip-Tick case, which is as ergonomic as it is durable through Bremont’s hardening process. A 200m depth rating will further convince you that this is a damn tough sports watch.

These two new Bremont Chronographs also come as part of a very special package. Each limited edition set comes in 60 pieces, including Bremont’s first ever rally timer, integrating a stopwatch and a clock with sub-seconds. These are mounted on an engine turned back-plate which can be displayed on an elegant desktop stand, or yes, fitted to your Jaguar. Every box set also comes with a unique driving experience hosted by Jaguar Classic, with the opportunity of putting classic E-Types through their paces at Jaguar’s Fen End facility. My only challenge now is figuring out how many watches to sell in order to have a classic sportscar in my garage once again.  

The Bremont Jaguar E-Type 60th Anniversary box set, price and availability:

The price is $ 19,945 AUD for the full box set in either colour, and that includes the very tempting driving experience. For more details, visit Bremont right here. Bring your driving gloves, mate.