Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar Is Where British Elegance Meets High Complication
Fears introduces its most ambitious watch to date – a refined 39mm perpetual calendar that brings haute horology to the heart of its core collection.
There is something particularly compelling about a perpetual calendar. Of all the complications developed to make mechanical timekeeping more useful, few feel quite as magical as a mechanism capable of understanding the irregularities of our calendar.
Months of different lengths, the complication of February and the leap year are all accounted for mechanically, with no intervention required until 2100.
For Fears, this enduringly fascinating complication marks an important new chapter. The Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is the British watchmaker’s first high complication in 180 years and, rather than being reserved for a handful of collectors as a limited edition, it becomes part of the brand’s permanent core collection.
It is a significant statement from a company that has spent the past decade carefully rebuilding its name around a distinctly British interpretation of traditional watchmaking.
A new expression of the Brunswick
At the heart of the new watch is a familiar Fears silhouette, but one that has been substantially reworked for the occasion.
Measuring 39mm across and 37mm from top to bottom, the cushion-shaped Brunswick case has been given a new architecture, distinguished by broad, highly polished bevels that run across the case band. The result is a watch that manages to feel both more elaborate and exceptionally restrained. At just 9.4mm thick, it is the slimmest Brunswick model in the collection.
The bezel and open caseback adopt a concave profile, allowing light to play across the polished surfaces while reinforcing the impression of thinness. Brushed and polished facets provide the contrast that has become characteristic of contemporary Fears watches, while the integrated corrector pushers sit discreetly within the centre of the case band.
It is a clever piece of engineering. A perpetual calendar inevitably requires a significant amount of mechanical and visual information, yet Fears has resisted allowing the case to become bulky or overly technical. Water resistance is rated at a practical 5 ATM, or 50 metres, reinforcing the idea that this is a watch intended to be worn rather than simply admired.
Elegantly understated
The dial is where the challenge becomes most apparent. A perpetual calendar needs to communicate a considerable amount of information, but the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar avoids the visual congestion that can so easily accompany a high-complication display.
Fears has chosen a softly frosted ‘Silver Mink’ dial, coated in warm pure silver. Against it sit the calendar indications, with circularly grooved sub-dials and black and cyan-blue printing.
The typography is particularly important. Designed in-house by Senior Design Manager Lee Yuen-Rapati, the bespoke ‘Bristol’ numerals and letters follow the curvature of their respective sub-dials, helping the information remain clear and legible. It is a small but telling detail. Rather than treating typography as decoration, Fears has used it as an integral part of the mechanical watch’s functionality.
The hours are marked by quad-bevelled, diamond-polished applied indices, plated in black gold. The same treatment is applied to the tri-bevelled hour and minute hands, giving the dial a coherent, understated character. There is no running-seconds display. That omission is deliberate. By removing another indication from the dial, Fears has been able to maintain its clean visual hierarchy while keeping the case remarkably slim.
The moon at six
The Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is also significant for another reason, it is the first Fears watch to feature a moonphase. At six o’clock, a black lacquer disc provides a deep background for two silver moons, each hand-finished using Charbonage, a decorative technique intended to evoke the textured surface of the moon.
It is a restrained interpretation of a traditionally romantic complication. Rather than competing with the calendar displays, the moonphase sits naturally within the composition, adding a touch of poetry to an otherwise highly rational watch.
Together, the calendar and moonphase provide an impressive amount of information while retaining the visual balance that Fears describes through its long-standing philosophy of being ‘Elegantly Understated’.
A movement made exclusively for Fears
Behind the dial is the new calibre 55115, an automatic movement based on the Sellita SW300 and fitted with a modified Dubois Dépraz perpetual-calendar module. The movement has been specifically configured for Fears and carries its own calibre reference.
Operating at 28,800 vibrations per hour, or 4Hz, it provides approximately 47 hours of power reserve. The base movement receives hand finishing, including frosted bridges and plates and hand-polished Anglage along the bridge edges, complemented by a dark rhodium finish.
Visible through the open caseback, the movement is automatically wound by a particularly appropriate detail, a solid 18ct gold rotor decorated with Fears’ ‘Bristol Flower’ motif.
The combination of Swiss movement manufacture and hand finishing reflects the collaborative approach Fears has adopted as it has expanded the technical ambitions of its watches, while retaining its British design identity.
From Bristol to the world
The story of the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is inseparable from the history of Fears itself. The company was established in Bristol in 1846 by Edwin Fear and remained in business for 130 years before closing in 1976. In 2016, exactly 170 years after its original foundation, it was revived by Edwin Fear’s great-great-great-grandson, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill.
The new perpetual calendar arrives during another significant anniversary year, 2026 marks the 180th anniversary of the company’s original founding and the tenth anniversary of its modern revival.
“The fact that a wrist watch can display all the vital information regarding the day of the week, date and which month you’re currently in, accurately with no adjustment except for in the year 2100, feels somewhat magical.” Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, (4th) Managing Director of the Fears Watch Company
The watch is therefore more than simply an expansion of the Brunswick family. It represents a point at which Fears’ revived identity and its historical ambition meet modern high-end watchmaking.
The Eminence Collection
The Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar joins the Fears Garrick within a new Eminence Collection, intended to showcase the highest level of finishing, construction and horological complication produced by the company. Yet the watch is deliberately not positioned as something that should only emerge from a safe on special occasions. That distinction matters.
Fears intends the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar to be an everyday luxury watch, one that happens to contain one of traditional watchmaking’s most sophisticated calendar mechanisms. For collectors looking for something even more individual, Fears’ Custom Division will also create bespoke versions in platinum, available by consultation.
British character, carefully considered
The details continue beyond the watch itself. Each Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is supplied on a handmade and hand-stitched Walnut Brown ostrich leg strap, lined with Fears Blue Alcantara®. The warmth of the strap provides a pleasing contrast with the Silver Mink dial and black-gold hands and indices.
The watch arrives in a new bespoke ‘Edwin’ box, made from Fears Blue-stained ash and decorated with a subtle marquetry representation of the Union Jack. A SwissKubik watch winder, finished in Fears Blue, is also included, together with a bespoke Fears corrector pin.
These touches reinforce an aspect of Fears that can sometimes be overlooked amid discussion of its technical ambitions: this is a company that remains deeply conscious of its British identity.
A perpetual calendar for the core collection
Perhaps the most interesting decision is that the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is not a limited edition. That makes it unusual in a segment where complicated watches are frequently produced in tiny numbers and positioned as exclusive collector pieces. Instead, Fears has chosen to make its first high complication available as part of the core collection.
The result is a watch that combines traditional perpetual-calendar mechanics with a distinctly modern interpretation of the Brunswick case, an unusually restrained dial and the sort of finishing expected at the upper end of contemporary independent watchmaking. Most importantly, it remains recognisably a Fears.
Elegant rather than ostentatious. Technically ambitious without being aggressive. British in character, Swiss in mechanical execution and carefully considered from the movement to the presentation box.
The Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar will be available from 28 August 2026, with deliveries beginning in mid-September. Priced at £26,950 including VAT, it represents a significant step for Fears – and a compelling indication of where the company intends to go next.
Technical Specifications:
Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar
Reference: BS239.030
Case: 316L stainless steel, 39mm x 37mm cushion-shaped; 45.4mm lug-to-lug
Thickness: 9.4mm, plus 0.7mm domed sapphire crystal
Water resistance: 5 ATM / 50 metres
Movement: Fears calibre 55115, automatic; Dubois Dépraz perpetual-calendar module on a Sellita SW300 base
Frequency: 28,800 vph / 4Hz
Power reserve: 47 hours
Rotor: Solid 18ct gold, decorated with the Fears ‘Bristol Flower’
Functions: Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar and moonphase
Dial: ‘Silver Mink’ frosted pure silver with black and cyan-blue printing
Moonphase: Black lacquer disc with two hand-finished silver moons using Charbonage
Hands: Fears ‘pipette’ hands, tri-bevelled, diamond polished and Black Gold plated
Crystal: Sapphire with ARdur® anti-reflective coating on both sides
Strap: Walnut Brown matte-finished ostrich leg with Fears Blue Alcantara® lining
Warranty: Five years
Price: £26,950 inc. VAT / $28,500 ex. tax / CHF 26,484.50 inc. VAT
Availability: From 28 August 2026; shipping from mid-September 2026
For more information please visit Fears