The Schofield B6 is a watch from the bottom of the sea, a limited edition in Deep Blue and Shallow Green, specially created for the British Watchmakers’ Day 2025.
The B6 is a patinated bronze-cased watch with sub-seconds and power reserve. Using a highly decorated and engraved Swiss made, 35 jewel, STP automatic mechanical movement. They use elaborate dials in two different colourways, machined hands, eco-straps, brass fittings, crazy cool case backs and over-the-top packaging. Limited to 40 watches in total. Half Deep Blue, half Shallow Green.
Deep Blue and Shallow Green are the same watch but with different coloured dials. Both have a sunburst fade to look like underwater torchlight, a threatening myopic glow. Deep Blue is exactly that. Shallow Green is not the familiar Mediterranean hue, more like the English Channel in winter light.
The bronze cases are force-patinated with techniques learned from 17 years of an artisanal approach to finishing. The treatment of the B6 case differs from previous models, it is mostly uniform with green verdigris oxide that persists in the corners. All patination is stable with subtle changes taking place over time depending on your environment and wear. Schofield’s recognisable case shape is fully machined in Dorset and finished by hand in Sussex at the Schofield workshop.
The crown is oversized like all Schofield crowns, better for leverage and easier to handle. A brass screw in type. It has fine knurling and a nail groove, multiple steps and different finishes with blue enamel filling the front face around the logo, a colour that matches some of the buckle detail.
The case back is designed to be a porthole, with raised script in an old font. Through the porthole’s window (sapphire crystal) is a mermaid, swimming amongst seaweed, glimpsed, beautiful and holding a treasure box with an X that marks the spot. Some flotsam and scales are left unprinted sparkling as the light catches the movement below. Schofield case backs are well known for being small canvases for artistic expression.
The dials are stepped at the chapter ring and further machined into the base layer for the sub-dials. Unlike so many sunburst dials that are metallic, enamel and in the most part glossy, these are dead matt. There is no lume on the dial, just a simple index to exaggerate the feeling of being underwater in the gloom. Typically we use a 0 to replace the 12 and here the 0 has a small ascender making a ‘b’. The only other printed number is 6, thus B6. The Deep Blue has electric green sub-dials and the Shallow Green’s are Urushi red.
The box is quite remarkable. Cast in Jesmonite. Essentially resin and stone, it’s heavy and feels like granite. It was designed after Middle Eastern architecture to be an exotic form factor with beautiful geometry. Nicknamed the Mausoleum; a dark and lateral play on boxes that house treasure. Like all Schofield boxes they are not oversized and pretentious but objects of curiosity to have on display.
Schofield has created a Sea-Change edition (above) in collaboration with Benjamin Guffee, a successful artist and friend of company owner, Giles Ellis. He proposed we take a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act I Scene II (below). This intelligent choice was a perfect way to take the B6 and amplify its message.
“Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.”
The term Sea-Change has become ubiquitous in usage meaning a fundamental change in thinking but originally it was to mean that Ferdinand’s drowned father’s body was replaced bit by bit with the elements of the sea. This inspired us to work together to subtly alter the B6, bit by bit, the parts of the watch exposed to water. Within the limited run of 40 B6s, 20 will be the Sea-Change edition, 10 Deep Blue and 10 Shallow Green.
The bronze case has an aged patina inconsistent and mottled akin to Ben’s paintings, a complex process of oxidation to different colours, rubbing back and repeating. The special crystals are amber tinted to 30% (many opacities were tested), de-saturating the colours on the dials to a sepia tone. This detail alone ages the watch giving a unique vibe that is more than just vintage. The strap fabric is an English milled, recycled, salvaged polyester (rPET) with a Martindale Cycle test of more than 80,000 – so proper tough. The buckle is described above but for the Sea-Change edition patinated to match the case.
Technical Specifications:
Movement: STP 2-12-13 Automatic
Functions: Hours, minutes, sub seconds, power reserve
Power reserve: 42 hours
Diameter: 26.2mm
Height: 6.2mm
Jewels: 35
Frequency: 28,800 VPH – 4Hz
Stop seconds: Yes
Case standard version: Patinated Bronze brown and verdigris
Case Guffee version: Patinated Bronze gold browns and dark browns, aged, patchy
Diameter: 44mm
Crystal diameter: 35.5mm
Height not including lugs: 15.1mm
Width between lugs: 24mm
Lug length: 52.7mm
Weight with strap and buckle: 128 grammes
Crystal standard version: Double dome sapphire, Swiss AR coatings in violet
Crystal Guffee version: Double dome sapphire, Swiss AR coatings 30% amber
Case Back standard version: Text-up, sapphire crystal, printed mermaid on the underside, steel with PVD copper
Case Back Guffee version: Steel with pink-gold brass and enamel seascape domed badge
Crown: Brass, double o-ring screw down type with nail groove, enamel filled, branded
Dial: Multi-level, hand sprayed fade, machined sub-dials, further printed and lacquered
Date: None
Hands: Machined hands (thick) Brass, brushed, Blue SLN. Sub-dials, Machined sage green, blue SLN Strap standard version: 24/22mm Hemp brown
Strap Guffee version: 24/22mm rPET grey/blue
Buckle standard version: Brass Best Ever type, red, white and blue paint fill. Brushed and bead blast Buckle Guffee version: Brass Best Ever type, red, white and blue paint fill. Brushed and bead blast – patinated
Box standard version: Cast Jesmoite, cork and rPet 3D printed closing part. White granite, flecked
Box Guffee version: Cast Jesmoite, cork and rPet 3D printed closing part. Tan coloured sandstone
Series: Limited to 40 watches not individually numbered
Water resistance: 200m
Warranty: 2 years
All versions are available to buy from Schofield at the British Watchmakers’ Day. Price is £4,495 including VAT (UK) or £3,795 excluding VAT (US, Canada, Europe ROW + shipping) Exclusively at Schofield Watch Company
For more information please visit Schofield