First Look: Bremont’s Supersonic 8-Day Chronometer Celebrates the Concorde Jet’s 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, a commercial jet began flying across the Atlantic at speeds nearly double the speed of sound. The Concorde Jet was not the future of aviation; it was the promise of the Space Age realized in the present. The jet’s unmistakable shape immediately became an icon of the late 20th Century, its promise of faster and faster travel a catalyst for the bold optimism of the era. In just about three hours, one could make it from New York to London at an altitude so high one could see the curvature of the Earth. Amazingly, the Concorde made its last journey on October 24th, 2003, such that we all now fly, rather mundanely, at subsonic speeds.

Bremont, a British watch company with its roots in aviation, has joined up with British Airways to celebrate the Concorde with a limited edition chronometer they call Supersonic. Impressively, Bremont was able to obtain aluminum from the Concorde Jet named Alpha Bravo, and this metal is inserted as a ring around the movement, visible through the rear sapphire crystal.

This 43-millimeter watch uses Bremont’s 3-piece “triptych” case, a clever design that’s become one of the brand’s signatures. At 14.56 millimeters thick, The Supersonic is not small, but, because the lugs are stout and downward sloping, it is quite comfortable nonetheless.

The “sunray silver white” dial sports applied indices, hands with Super-LumiNova, a sub-dial for the running seconds, a round date aperture, and a power reserve indicator that shows off the robust 8-day, hand-wound movement’s capabilities.

That movement is a big part of this story, as it’s a first for Bremont. No—as much as many of us anticipate and hope for a British-made movement—this one is not an in-house movement. It is a modified manual-winding engine that Bremont calls the Cal. BE-11M. It employs an a-magnetic Glucydur balance, Anachron balance spring, and Nivaflex mainspring. It beats at 21,600 bph and houses 33 jewels.

The large bridges are cut and finished at Bremont’s facilities at Henley-on-Thames, and the distinctive shape of the Concorde Jet makes up a window which reveals the handsome gear train. The movement really is gorgeous in person, and it takes full advantage of the hand-wound movement’s lack of a rotor to show off the details.

There are three versions of the Supersonic: 300 in stainless steel ($12,495 US), 100 in white gold ($23,995), and 100 in rose gold ($22,495). While the steel version is beautifully finished, and the rose gold version easily catches anyone’s attention, it was the white gold version that really caught me off guard with its radiance. The Concorde itself was made from a heat-resistant metal with a seemingly supernatural gleam, and the white gold seems to come closest to replicating that look.

The launch of the Supersonic took place in New York City last week. Bremont sent guests boarding passes specifying our “flight times,” and actual British Airways flight attendants were there in full uniform to greet and serve us throughout the hang. Mid-day champagne helped recreate the ultra-lux experience of flying on the Concorde. While this event might sound a tad kitschy, being there actually suspended my disbelief just enough to give me a case of Concorde fever.

Alas, wearing a Bremont Supersonic is likely as close as anyone will get to those amazingly fast jets—now, so ironically, a thing of the past. Wearing a piece of Alpha Bravo on my wrist didn’t exactly pin me to my seat-back, but it was about as exhilarating as wearing a watch can be. Bremont