Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar: A British Masterpiece Hands-On Review

Introduction: A New Chapter for Fears

Fears has spent the decade since its 2016 revival rebuilding an identity rooted in Bristolian history, British assembly, and a distinctive fresh aesthetic. The brand’s journey from early Redcliff models to the cushion-cased Brunswick family and hand-finished Garrick collaborations has been marked by growing ambition. Now, in a year that celebrates both the 180th anniversary of the original company and the 10th anniversary of its return, Fears introduces its first high complication: the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar.

This perpetual calendar is more than just a display of calendar indications; it establishes a new technical tier for Fears, placing it alongside the Garrick in the high-end Eminence Collection. It enters the core collection as a non-limited reference—a confident move for a small British brand tackling such a complex complication for the first time.

Design and Development

Senior Design Manager Lee Yuen-Rapati began sketching the watch at the start of 2022, giving the project four years of development before its 2026 release. Early drawings show the essential arrangement: typical QP registers, a moonphase at six, and the Brunswick’s recognizable cushion-shaped silhouette. Four years of refinement have produced a watch measuring 39mm across and only 9.4mm thick, keeping its mechanical complexity within the elegant proportions Fears has made its own.

The Case

The 316L stainless-steel case measures 39mm by 37mm, with a 45.4mm lug-to-lug and 20mm lug width. These dimensions make it a beautifully compact perpetual calendar, especially as the 9.4mm depth includes a 0.7mm-thick domed sapphire crystal. The watch sits close to the wrist, supported by short, protruding lugs familiar from other Brunswick references.

A new case architecture gives this Brunswick a sharper definition. Wide, polished bevels run along the cushion-shaped body, meeting clean, brushed surfaces across the case flanks. The concave bezel and display caseback draw light around the dial and movement, enhancing the slim profile. Polished lug surfaces and a fluted, signed crown add subtle reflections without disturbing the overall form.

Calendar correctors are integrated into the center of the case band, requiring dedicated engineering to sit neatly within the faceted sides. Fears supplies a bespoke corrector pin for setting the displays. Water resistance is rated to 50 meters, offering practical protection for regular wear. The sapphire crystal receives ARdur anti-reflective coating on both surfaces, a useful feature on a dial with so much information.

The Dial

Fears calls the dial color “Silver Mink.” Its softly frosted surface is coated in warm, pure silver, bringing gentle brightness to the display and providing a crisp foundation for the black printing. Hours are marked by hand-applied, diamond-polished indices with four bevelled facets, plated in black gold—a feature seen elsewhere in the Brunswick family. The central pipette hour and minute hands receive three polished bevels and the same black-gold treatment.

The calendar is divided across three azurage-finished sub-dials. Day appears at nine o’clock, month and leap-year share the register at 12, and the pointer date sits at three. Cyan blue denotes the 31st, adding a subtle flash of color to an otherwise restrained palette. The tonal leap-year display is placed inside the month register, preserving symmetry and keeping every part of the calendar visible at a glance.

Yuen-Rapati also created a bespoke set of curved numerals and letters for the watch, named the Bristol typeface. Each character follows the arc of its respective register, so the typography belongs to the geometry of the dial. This attention matters: day, date, month, and leap-year status all need to be read quickly, and the generous sub-dials give them room to breathe.

At six o’clock, Fears’ first moonphase display places two silver moons against a black-lacquered disc. Each moon is finished by hand using Charbonnage, producing a textured surface replicating lunar topography. The Fears name crosses the lower portion of the display, and a snailed surround separates it cleanly from the main dial. Running seconds have been omitted, leaving the calendar and moonphase as the only secondary indications, helping the watch retain its slender dimensions.

The Movement

Visible through the exhibition caseback is the automatic Fears calibre 55115, a reference exclusive to the brand. Its construction begins with Sellita’s SW300, a slim automatic base calibre running at 28,800VPH with a 47-hour power reserve. A bespoke perpetual calendar module from complication specialists Dubois Dépraz is fitted above it, allowing Fears to use a proven automatic foundation while devoting development work to the display, case engineering, and calendar integration.

The mechanism mechanically tracks the differing lengths of the months, including February, and accounts for the leap-year cycle. Once correctly set and kept running, it displays the day, pointer date, month, and position within the four-year cycle without requiring manual correction until 2100—the next secular exception in the Gregorian calendar. The complex mechanism handles every normal calendar irregularity between now and then.

Removing the running-seconds indication serves both physical design and dial composition. It limits information to central hours and minutes, the complete calendar, and the moonphase, supporting the 9.4mm case height. Corrector pushers provide direct adjustment when the watch is initially set or after power reserve elapses. The included programmable Fears-branded SwissKubik winder keeps the calibre running during periods off the wrist, ensuring the calendar functions operate as they should over time.

Fears has given the movement treatment appropriate to the Eminence Collection. The SW300’s bridges and plates feature frosted surfaces, dark rhodium finishing, and hand-polished anglage along their edges. A custom solid 18-carat gold rotor dominates the caseback view, carrying an engraved Bristol Flower motif, supplying a rich focal point against the grey movement architecture. The finishing makes the calibre feel specific to Fears, visually connecting this Swiss-made mechanism to the company’s Bristol identity.

The Strap

The Brunswick arrives on a Walnut Brown ostrich-leg strap, handmade and hand-stitched in Belgium with tonal thread. Ostrich leg has a distinctive scaled grain, giving the deep brown surface a structured texture that complements the warmth of the silver dial and black-gold-plated hardware. Fears Blue Alcantara lines the underside, bringing the company’s signature color into a place the owner encounters each time the watch is fitted.

Presentation is equally considered. The new Edwin box is made from ash stained in Fears Blue, with a subtle Union Jack rendered in marquetry across its lid. Alongside the corrector tool, every watch includes the Fears Blue aluminium SwissKubik winder, complete with a glass door and Bluetooth programming through a mobile app.

Verdict

The Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar represents the clearest expression so far of what the revived Fears intends to become. Its four-year design process has produced a watch that looks entirely at home within the Brunswick family, with a genuine step forward in case construction, dial development, and mechanical ambition.

It’s genuinely exciting to see a British brand expanding its horizons past the simplicity of time-only “everyday” watches. As a QP, this is not the sort of watch you expect to see on someone’s wrist every day, but most importantly, instead of focusing on producing a watch that must meet a commercial need in a crowded market, Fears has made the Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar simply because it can. That’s arguably the coolest thing about it.

Pricing and Availability

The Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is available to pre-order now through the USASHOP Watches Shop and the USASHOP Watches Studios in London and New York, with deliveries scheduled to begin in mid-September. Price: £26,950 incl. VAT/US,500/26,484.50 CHF incl. VAT.

Brand: Fears
Model: Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar
Reference: BS239.030
Case Dimensions: 39mm (D) x 9.4mm (T) x 45.4mm (LTL)
Case Material: 316L stainless steel
Water Resistance: 50 metres
Crystal(s): Sapphire front and back
Dial: Silver Mink, frosted
Lug Width: 20mm
Strap: Walnut brown, ostrich leather strap
Movement: Dubois Dépraz 55115, automatic
Power Reserve: 47 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar, moon phase
Availability: Available to pre-order now through the USASHOP Watches Shop and the USASHOP Watches Studios in London and New York
Price: £26,950 incl. VAT/US,500/26,484.50 CHF incl. VAT