Formex REEF Gets Slick New Bezel Exchange System

Pocket-knife – check.  Tape – check. Steady hand – check. Large slice of courage – check. If you’ve ever tried to change a conventional rotating bezel, you’ll know the feeling – and the drill. Oh-so-carefully slide the knife edge under the bezel after taping over every exposed case surface and start to lever gently. Slip. Take a chunk out of any combination of the case, the bezel or your hand. Swear. Give up and pour large whisky and forget about the stupid idea.

Formex may not be able to help you with your current watch bezels, but they’ve come up with a nifty way of changing the bezel on their new white dialed FORMEX REEF Automatic Chronometer 300M.

You could already swap the steel bracelet and rubber strap without tools on the original REEF that launched about a year ago, but now you can do the same with the bezel on the new model. You get one bezel with the watch with the option of adding three more at $160 each. There’s a choice of black, blue, green or stainless steel.

It couldn’t be a lot simpler; if you’ve got strong enough fingers (or have a classic guitar player’s thumbnail), you can just remove the bezel by hand. If not, a case knife will do it easily with none of the usual angst or resulting trips to the ER. Getting the new bezel on is even easier – just snap it on with a bit of pressure and that’s the job done. You don’t even need to align it – just twist and adjust once it’s on. You could swap your bezel sitting at the bar. OK, it might look a little odd, but it’s perfectly possible all the same.

The bezels themselves are all 120 click unidirectional with the ceramic inserts made from laser-engraved zirconium oxide ceramic. Formex tells us it takes 60 minutes to engrave each bezel. 

The watch itself is a 42mm, solid, heavyweight diver. The screw back case is good down to 1,000ft, so no need to take it off to wash the car, do the dishes or nip into the Mariana Trench for a quick dive. The movement is a proper chronometer grade, tried and tested Sellita SW300 self-winder.

You can specify your REEF Automatic Chronometer 300M online with Formex  and you’ve got the choice of 5 dial and those 4 bezel options as well as a stainless-steel bracelet and a rubber strap. Maybe you’ll need that whisky after all; you know, something to sip as you choose. Formex.