Bremont Boeing 247 White Chronograph Swiss Automatic 43mm 465 Stainless Steel

Few brands have modern ties to aviation as authentic as Bremont. The two founders are both pilots themselves, the company makes watches for military and stunt pilots around the world, and even the name is the result of an emergency landing executed by brothers Nick and Giles English during a flight over France. Now Bremont has paired up with American aviation giant Boeing to create a special collection of watches that take advantage of materials developed in Boeing’s UK-based Advanced Manufacturing Research Center. Today we’ll introduce you to the collaboration as well as give you a hands-on look at the Model 247, one of two watches to launch this new collection. Boeing has never given its name to a consumer product like this before. Sure, you could buy model Boeing airplanes and maybe a t-shirt or baseball cap, but nothing like the Bremont Boeing watches. It might have been easy to execute a simple branding exercise, but neither Bremont nor Boeing wanted to go down that road here. The partnership will be a multi-year collaboration that involves multiple collections of watches. In the past, Bremont has collaborated with various organizations to create watches containing pieces of historic buildings, ships, and airplane – and those types of watches will be coming as a part of Bremont Boeing – but to start the brands have given us a much more technical type of collaboration.

The first two Bremont Boeing watches are the Model 1, a straightforward chronometer, and the Model 247 that we have here, a chronometer-certified chronograph, both of which take advantage of advanced materials developed by Boeing that have never before been used in watchmaking.

The Model 247 will come in two dial colors, black and white, and there will also be a choice of case metal, either Custom 465 Stainless Steel or aviation grade Ti-64 titanium. Custom 465 Stainless Steel is a proprietary Boeing alloy that is especially scratch and corrosion resistant. The barrel of the signature Trip-Tick case is matte black DLC treated on all variations.

Through the sapphire caseback you can see the BE-50AE movement, which is an automatic, chronometer-certified chronograph movement. It is based on the ETA 7750, but is extremely heavily modified, as you can see. The rotor on the movement is a special molded, skeletonized rotor created specifically for the Bremont Boeing collection. Surrounding the sapphire window is Custom 465 steel to match the rest of the case. Engraved is a simple Boeing logo at 12 o’clock in addition to the usual “Anit-Shock” and “Chronometer” designations, and the rubber anti-shock mounts in the case are Boeing Blue, which you can see along the edges in the photograph above.

The Model 247 uses the 43mm Trip-Tick case, which is extremely robust. Although the arched lugs wear very comfortably, the watch does sit rather high on the wrist because of the barrel case. While normally I would find this offputting, Bremont looks at its watches as actual tools for adventurers – not just faux-tools for those of us who like a good TED Talk – so I understand the decision. The pushers and crown on the Model 247 feature a twisted knurling that gives them a little extra tactility.

Both dial colors, black and white, are handsome and extremely easy to read. There are rectangular lume plots integrated into the minutes track outside the numerals and the hands are differentiated by both length and width, making it easier to tell them apart in the dark. The date window at 4:30 is discrete and unobtrusive, though it doesn’t seem entirely necessary to this watch either. The asymmetrical chronograph seconds hand is really a nice touch, with the tip bright Boeing blue. The technological collaboration carries through to the strap, which is a leather-polymer composite called “Seattle Hybrid”.

Overall, this is a really exciting collaboration that feels very organic for Bremont. The Bremont Boeing Model 247 will be priced at $6,750 in Custom 465 stainless steel.

 

Finally, With more than a decade in selling, trading and buying watches throughout the globe, there is an etiquette to this sport; “what’s your bottom/best price” doesn’t fit and is obnoxious.  Yes, it makes the rest of us talk about you.  Don’t be that guy… that guy is ignored.