Fears and Topper Jewelers Team Up for a Tribute to Winters in Northern California

It’s hard to think of Fears as anything other than a quintessentially British watch brand. They were an early member of the British Watch & Clock Makers Alliance, and the brand has a long and proud history of making watches in the UK. They’ve also leaned into creating limited editions that trade on British culture, like the Jubilee Edition version of the Brunswick that popped up in 2022. So their latest effort, a second collaboration with California based Topper Jewelers, is perhaps a bit surprising. But it’s reflective of the fact that in just a few short years since Fears was formally relaunched, they’ve achieved a massive footprint for such a small brand, and have landed a worldwide following. 

The Fears Brunswick 40 Topper Edition Series II is a small collection of four watches with 25 examples made of each variant. It’s an expansion of the first collaboration between Topper and Fears, which consisted of two limited edition variants. The premise behind this collection is that each of the four dials reflect a different aspect of the natural beauty of Northern California winters, and each, naturally, displays the time on a “California” style dial, a mix of Roman and Arabic numerals. 

Each dial is a whimsical take on Northern California nature, and reflects a region with a huge variety of beautiful places to explore, even in the cold winter months. The “Whiteout” is, you guessed it, white, with a stamped guilloche texture and lacquer coating that is meant to evoke snow underfoot. Its orange accents represent the warning signs dotted across California highways and ski slopes. 

The “Winter Lake” dial is a deep shade of blue in tribute to Lake Tahoe, a vacation destination in all seasons. The blue has a cool tone to it that conjures cold weather, and the white painted hour markers mimic the snow at the edge of the lake. 

The “Pacific” dial is a shade of green that reflects the color of the Pacific Ocean during a winter storm, when mica and pyrite are washed down from the surrounding hills, temporarily giving the ocean waters a green hue. Green is a natural pairing with gold tones, and the gold tone accents here are inspired by the “fool’s gold” deposits found on Half Moon Bay beaches. 

Finally, we have “Snowed In,” probably the most dynamic of the bunch. This white and green gradient dial takes snow falling on pine trees as its inspiration. The gradient effect is created with small dots that shift in size and frequency as they get closer to the dial’s center. 

All four watches in this limited edition collection have the same 40mm stainless steel Brunswick case, a cushion case design that has become a Fears calling card. They’re also all water resistant to 150 meters, making them completely suitable for everyday wear. The movement is the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic caliber. It’s dateless, which makes the most of each dial design, and has a power reserve of up to 68 hours on a full wind. 

The new Fears x Topper Edition Series II: Tribute to Northern California collection is available to purchase beginning today, only at Topper Jewelers (in store or at their website). The retail price is $3,900.