In its 175th year since founding, Fears launch the debut model in their new Archival family ? a series which aims to recreate specific pieces from the Fears archives. The Archival 1930 is a faithful reincarnation of a rectangular watch made by the brand in (you?ve guessed it) 1930. The most easily identifiable cosmetic change is the slight upsizing to 22mm across and 40mm from lug tip to lug tip. The dial?s minute track, numerals and seconds subdial, where present, are all proportionally faithful to the original. This strict adherence to the original design gives a watch that looks like it has been frozen in time, but feels thoroughly modern and robust.

Although not overtly symbolising the Art Deco movement, the rectangular case and accompanying elongated dial certainly hints towards it. The stretched out minute track and 18ct gold border sitting directly inside are a great example of 1930s wrist watch style. The gold can appear a muted and almost black tone, but then flash with opulence with just a little light coming from the right direction. The heat blued hands appear simple enough to also be a reproduction of those used 91 years prior, but actually follow the same ?pipette? shape as those on the flagship Brunswick model – taking on a different character when not skeletonised.
Seeing the watch first hand I was struck immediately by the anti-reflective coating. Fears uses ARdur® Swiss coating on both sides of the crystal, and it appears to be one of the...