The entry-level luxury watch market (which, for the sake of this article, we’ll put somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000) is seemingly among the most competitive spaces in all of horology.
It’s that rather alluring category where you’ve worn a Seiko, a Longines, a Rado, maybe even picked up a vintage Cartier for something more dressy, whilst keeping one eye on your wrist and the other on the market, looking to invest in a mechanical piece with a bit of bite without breaking the bank.
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For me, Bremont has always sat rather confidently in this space. Call me biased, but the British watchmaker has carved out its own enviable niche in the sub-10k bracket in just two decades, with references like the genuinely stunning Terra Nova and the sleek, military-style Altitude MB Meteor.
After all, Bremont is an aviation watch brand first and foremost, built around practical pilot's watches, partnerships with military units, and who could forget the enduring myth of Martin-Baker and the ejector seat?
But recent ownership changes, a new CEO, and a timely design facelift (albeit controversial, to some) have seen Bremont gain some momentum in the last couple of years. There appears to be a renewed focus on what Bremont does best: tool watches built to be used hard. Something I discovered only recently, taking our latest Watch of the Week for a spin around Surry Hills and beyond.
The Bremont Supermarine Full Ceramic Deep Blue, admittedly, nudges just past the ceiling I set a few paragraphs ago, landing at $11,250 regardless of which of the three strap options you go for. But spend a few minutes with the spec sheet and that extra $1,250 starts to look like good buying – particularly for a 250-piece limited edition.
Bremont first launched the 43mm Supermarine Full Ceramic in 2024, debuting the line in the rather combat-ready Jungle Green and Tactical Black. Today’s Deep Blue moves the collection into colder climes, with the new colourway capturing the moment the ocean meets the ice.
The dial is the obvious talking point for me, with this black 3D wave-pattern finish set against that blue ceramic surround that manages to capture the light and evoke this almost rippling effect.
Trapezoid indexes flow from the bezel onto the dial and converge into a naval-inspired crosshair at the centre – a subtle nod to Bremont’s military roots. The indexes and polished black gold-plated hands are also filled with the latest generation of Super-LumiNova, glowing blue in darker spaces.
As the name suggests, the case is crafted from a single block of blue ceramic, the perennial flavour of the month in the watch world. And why not? It’s scratch-resistant, blemish-free, and, crucially for any dive watch, it’s remarkably light. Which means you’re not strapping an extra-weight belt to your wrist every time you’re heading out on a dive.
Elsewhere, the watch is getting even more summer bod ready, with a titanium inner case sitting beneath; the blue ceramic bezel insert is even framed by a knurled titanium unidirectional bezel. The watch head weighs just 74 grams, which on a 43mm diver with 500 metres of water resistance, is an impressive feat.
Powering it all is Bremont’s BB64AH calibre, running at 28,800 vph with a 56-hour power reserve, which I found this week is more than enough to pick up and down across the weekend without worrying about resetting it at all.
Flip it over, and the PVD blue titanium caseback is engraved with a map of the world’s oceans, a fitting finish for a watch named after them.
Australian buyers, of course, are unlikely to be testing theirs under the same Icelandic conditions that Bremont suggests.
But with summer around the corner, this is a serious diver: 500m-rated, light enough to forget you’re wearing it, and tough enough to shrug off a reef or a boat deck. All with a tidy profile that already turned a few heads for me this weekend. Bremont’s latest Supermarine is confidently staking its claim for its own patch of this price bracket.