Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve Review

As I've mentioned a few times before, prior to starting Hourstriker my career in the watch industry revolved around a small circle of established high horology brands. Although these brands represented the long history of watchmaking well and I was well versed in them, it kept me rather sheltered from all of the other new and exciting brands out there.

One such brand I wasn't too familiar with was the British brand Bremont. Bremont was founded in 2002 by brothers Nick and Giles English who have a strong love and connection to aviation. The brothers' father Euan was an ex-RAF pilot that also held a PHD in Aeronautical Engineering. While growing up Euan got Nick and Giles interested in everything mechanical and would even bring the boys broken clocks he had bought at auction to see if they could repair them.



Sadly the story of Bremont's founding was centered around tragedy. On March 4th 1995 Euan and Nick were involved in a crash of a World War II Harvard aircraft that sadly took the life of Euan and severely injured Nick to the point that his prognosis was grim. Miraculously Nick pulled through and following the crash the brothers decided to start their own timepiece company focused on aviation based watches fueled by a joint love of crafting mechanical devices and flying.

Even the name Bremont comes from a story revolving around aviation. In the late 1990s Nick and Giles were flying over France when bad weather hit at the same time their 1930's biplane was having engine issues. Instead of pushing the issue, the brothers landed on a farm. The farmer took them in and sheltered their plane from the weather. The farmer turned out to be a pilot who flew during the war and was also an engineer like their father. As chance would have it, the farmer also restored old clocks. The brothers said they would never forget the hospitality shown by the farmer, whose name was Antoine Bremont.



Soon after their inception, Bremont went on to gain somewhat of a cult following for their strong military and aviation design cues. As the years went by, Bremont just became larger and larger. In 2021 Bremont opened the Bremont Manufacturing & Technology Centre, aka "The Wing", which would allow the brand to produce up to 50,000 watches a year.

Following the 34 million dollar investment on "The Wing" Bremont soon decided to re-launch their brand with a more broad collection of watches. The main focus of the re-launch was an updated Supermarine model as well as a military pocket watch inspired field watch called the Terra Nova. Along with the new collections, Bremont also unveiled their new Wayfinder logo that represents Bremont as a brand that is focused on "Land, Sea and Air" not purely aviation.



Since Bremont has such a strong following of owners and fans that knew the company purely as an aviation brand there was a lot of divisiveness in the brand's new direction. Being on the outside during this transition I personally liked what Bremont was doing with the brand. The cushion case of the Terra Nova is something totally unique and gives the brand a new identity. What Bremont is doing with the Supermarine is also super interesting, especially the new green and black ceramic pieces the brand just released.

Today we're going to take a look at one of the new Terra Nova pieces. The watch in question is the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve. The watch comes in the new Terra Nova case crafted out of stainless steel with a case diameter of 40.5 mm. True to its field watch inspirations, the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve has a bezel featuring the cardinal directions. One look at the watch and you can instantly tell this a true field watch.



When the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve arrived, the first thing that I noticed was the vintage block Super-Luminova used for the hour numerals. The color of the markers really give the watch a nice and aged look. Also being 3D they add some depth to the dial. Block lume is starting to become more popular in the industry and not only does it look more interesting then flat lumed elements, but it also provides a lot more luminescence to the dial. In low light situations these numerals just glow a brilliant green.

The next thing I noticed about the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve was the power reserve indicator. I'm not sure why, but I've always been a massive fan of power reserve indicators on a dial. When the new IWC Big Pilot and 7 Day Portuguese models came out in the early 2000s I was a huge fan of them. Both models featured power reserve indicators, so that was probably where my fascination with the complication bloomed from. The power reserve indicator on the Terra Nova is located right above the 6 o'clock marker and features a decreasing scale that thins out towards a red area indicating low reserve levels.



The final thing I noticed during my initial time with the watch was the bezel set with the cardinal directions. I've been around countless watches and can't think of another watch that had the cardinal directions on the bezel. I have played around with watches that contain compasses from Porsche Design IWC as well as Richard Mille, but never on the bezel. If you were more outdoorsy then I am you can even tell basic directions using the bezel and the sun. This feature is practical and super cool and not something often seen.

Now that I've gone over my initial reactions to the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve, let's go ahead and take a look at the technical specifications of the watch. As I mentioned before the watch is crafted out of 904L stainless steel and has a case diameter of 40.5 mm with a lug to lug length of 46.8 mm. The watch is 12.1 mm thick and weighs 150 grams when sized a little loose for my 7.25 inch wrist.



The watch has a slightly domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire is a gradient black dial. As previously mentioned the dial features Arabic hour markers crafted out of full blocks of Super-Luminova that glow a brilliant green in the dark. The large hour and minute hands are also coated with a generous amount of vintage lume. At 3 o'clock you have a black backed date with the power reserve indicator at 6 and small running seconds at 9. At 12 o'clock you have the Wayfinder logo with Bremont text. Around the outside of the dial you have a minutes track and more vintage lumed index hour markers.

The bezel is bi-directional and is engraved with the cardinal directions. The bezel requires a decent amount of force to rotate and ratchets with a nice click on each turn. The general idea of using the bezel to tell directions is as follows. Hold the watch horizontally and line up the hour hand with the sun. Now rotate the bezel so that South is right between the hour hand and 12 o'clock on the dial. The bezel is now aligned with the cardinal directions and North points to North, East to East etc…



The Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve features a case that is fully brushed. There are polished chamfers on the case and crown as well as some polished areas on the stainless steel bracelet. The case contours nicely to you wrist when looking along the side profile. The right hand side of the case features a large oversized non-screw down crown with the Wayfinder logo on top of it. The crown has very nice scalloping to it which provides more than ample grip. In its resting position the crown allows for manual winding of the movement. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date and pulling the crown out to position two lets you set the time and stops the seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand either.



Flipping the case over shows off the solid case back with an engraving of the world. Even with a non-screw down crown the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve provides 100 meters of water resistance. Under the case back beats the modified Calibre BE-79AL which is based on a Sellita base automatic Swiss Made movement. The movement beats at 28,800 bph (4Hz) and features a 38 hour power reserve. On our timegrapher the movement ran an average of +5 seconds per day in various positions. That result puts the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve just inside of chronometer specifications.



The Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve has a lug width of 22 mm and comes on a stainless steel bracelet with a deployant clasp. The bracelet tapers down from 22 mm to 18 mm at the clasp. The bracelet has a look of a three part bracelet but it actually is made up of single links. The removable links use screws to secure the links as all bracelets should for peace of mind. The design of the links allow for a tremendous amount of articulation which aids in the comfort of the bracelet.

The clasp is branded with the Wayfinder logo and requires both pushers to be pushed in to release the clasp. The clasp does not include any micro-adjustments, but the links are rather small, so getting an exact size shouldn't be too hard. The bracelet also features quick release spring bars so swapping out the bracelet for a strap is quick and requires no tools. I'm not a huge fan of bracelets and had an Artem Sailcloth strap in 22mm laying around that I put the Terra Nova on and absolutely loved. The stainless steel bracelet does make the watch look more refined but also adds a decent amount of weight. Growing up in the Texas heat, I've pretty much gone to straps only on my personal watches. I do have the say that the stainless steel bracelet is extremely comfortable and I did wear the watch mostly on the bracelet while I was reviewing it though.



When reviewing a watch I try to wear it as often as possible to really see what the watch is like to live with day in and day out. Since we are parents of twin two year old girls, we typically don't do anything too fun or adventurous, so our outings are typically going to the grocery story, FedEx/UPS and going out for dinner or drinks. I guess for the most part this is what most people are going to do with their watches as well. On these pretty mundane trips the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power reserve was the perfect companion. Being crafted out of stainless steel and coming on a stainless steel bracelet the watch was a bit on the heavy side, but never really caused me any wrist fatigue or favored either side of my wrist. Wearing the watch on the Artem sailcloth strap did remove some of the weight and was more in line with how I prefer to wear a watch. Bremont also offers the Terra Nova on various straps as well, so if you're not a bracelet fan they have you covered.



The large vintage colored numerals also offer great contrast to the black dial and make telling the time at a glance a breeze. So just taking a quick look at your wrist while driving it's very easy to make out the time on the Terra Nova. The 38 hour power reserve gave me a bit of pause but the watch only ran out of power once during my time with it while I didn't wear a watch over the weekend. The power reserve indicator is a great addition to the dial since it can quickly tell you if you should top off the watch with a quick wind if the reserve looks low. The Terra Nova also winds up rather quickly, just taking a few turns of the crown to fill the power reserve. My IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar seems to take forever to manually wind the seven day power reserve to its fullest. The black dial with faded looking dial markers went perfectly with my normal dress of black t-shirts, shorts and sneakers as well. Both on the stainless steel bracelet and black sailcloth strap the watch really went with everything I wore. I also really appreciated just how bright the block lume numerals were when I was in a darker environment. I really wish more brands would start using this style of the lume in the near future. These numerals even provide more lume than sandwich dial Panerais. They fall just a bit short of the lume of my Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms, but that thing is just a lume monster.



I got a few looks while wearing the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve out, but nobody came up to me and asked about the watch. That really isn't too strange since while the Terra Nova has a unique case shape and very legible dial, the watch does blend in fairly well. I normally don't get approached about a watch unless it is something extremely mainstream popular or is just so out there like an Ulysse Nardin Freak. The friends I did show the watch to really seemed to like it though. Most commented on how solid the watch felt and also really liked the vintage field watch look of the dial, mostly thanks to the vintage block lume numerals. When I could show off the lume, that was also really liked by those that got to see it.

With a retail price of $4,250 the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve sits in a very competitive price point in the market. The inclusion of a unique case shape, vintage lume blocks and a power reserve indicator do set it apart though. The watch also being the first step of a re-launch of Bremont is also pretty exciting to me. I do think we should take a look at a few other similar watches and see how the Bremont does.



Let's first take a look at the Panerai Luminor BiTempo Power Reserve PAM01360. This watch is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 44 mm. Like the Bremont, lume is super important to the Panerai which features a sandwich dial construction with the lower dial being completely lumed. Panerai also included a power reserve indicator on the dial like the Bremont. The Panerai does have three times the water resistance of 300 meters and also features an in-house movement with three full days of power reserve. You are paying a good deal more for those features since the Panerai retails for more than twice as much as the Bremont at $10,600.



Moving on we have the Grand Seiko SBGA481 which is crafted out of titanium and has a case diameter of 44.5 mm. The SBGA481 also features a power reserve indicator on the dial and uses an in-house Grand Seiko Caliber that has three days of power reserve. The SBGA481 has twice the water resistance of the Bremont at 200 meters but once again the Grand Seiko retails for over twice of the Bremont at $10,600.

Next up is the Vertex M100A which is currently the most faithful World War II field watch on the market. The M100A is 40 mm and crafted out of stainless steel. The M100A also uses block lume to create its indices like the Terra Nova does. The M100A is powered by a Sellita automatic movement like the Terra Nova as well. The Vertex has more traditional styling than the Bremont which equally as many people would find a positive as a negative. The M100A is a little bit less expensive than the Terra Nova at $3,248.40 but lacks the power reserve indicator.



Finally we have the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Lumiere. The Lumiere is 41 mm and crafted out of lightweight titanium. The Lumiere is also a straight up dive watch with 300 meters of water resistance. Like the Terra Nova and M100A the Lumiere uses solid blocks of Super-Luminova to create its hour markers. Also like the Bremont the Christopher Ward Lumiere is from England and uses a Sellita automatic movement. The Lumiere does have the dive watch aesthetic and might not be as unique as the Terra Nova, but it does cost a lot less at $2,390.

When comparing the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve to these four above watches, you can see that the watch is positioned well both price and feature wise. The Terra Nova comes in much lower than the Panerai and Grand Seiko which offer in-house movements and power reserve indicators. The Terra Nova does cost a bit more than the Sellita powered Vertex and Christopher Ward watches, but offers a unique case shape, power reserve indicator and very useful compass bezel.



So is the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve for me? I'd say on the bracelet it really isn't just based off of weight. Putting the Terra Nova on a sailcloth strap made the watch much closer to what I prefer. With the lug to lug measurement well under 50 mm, the watch seem a bit small for my personal preferences as well. I do love the block lume numerals and power reserve indicator though. If Bremont made a version say 42 to 44 mm crafted out of titanium the watch would be much closer to what I look for in my personal watches. Remember I'm very particular and prefer watches with 50 mm or greater lug to lug length crafted out of lightweight materials like titanium, carbon or ceramic. Now on the other hand, Bremont's new 43 mm ceramic Supermarine models might be right in my wheelhouse…



Getting all of my weird and dated preferences out the way I would totally recommend the Bremont Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve to somebody looking for a tough "Go Anywhere Do Anything" watch. The watch just seems like it can take anything life throws at it and keep ticking away. The bezel featuring the cardinal directions makes the watch useful and possibly in some situations a life saver for those who enjoy getting off the beaten path. The look of the vintage Super-Luminova, especially the vintage block numerals, also makes the watch look straight out of the last World War, something field watches constantly strive for. At Just over four thousand dollars, you really get a lot of value for the money with the Terra Nova.

The new Terra Nova series is the most ambitious collection in Bremont's history and the Turning Bezel Power Reserve was a great introduction to the re-launched brand for us. For being the first model in Bremont's re-launch and being executed so well, we are really excited to see what's next from the brand. I'd really like to thank Bremont for sending us this Terra Nova to review and can't wait to see what they send us next!



For more information about the Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve please visit : Bremont

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: Terra Nova Turning Bezel Power Reserve

Retail Price: $4,250

Case Size: 40.5 mm

Lug to Lug: 46.8 mm

Thickness: 12.1 mm

Weight: 150 Grams

Case Material: 904L Stainless Steel

Bezel: 904L Stainless Steel

Strap: 904L Stainless Steel

Movement: Calibre BE-79AL (Sellita Base)

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, Power Reserve

Power Reserve: 38 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters