Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium Review

Farer is coming up on their 10th anniversary in 2025, this young watch brand was started in England in 2014 by Stuart Finlayson, Jono Holt, Ben Lewin and Paul Sweetenham. While first started as a brand focusing on quartz watches, Farer soon pivoted and added automatic mechanical watches to their offerings.

Farer has gained tremendous acclaim from the watch world by producing fresh takes on classic watch styles from decades past. While Farer watches are designed in England, their manufacturing partners are based in Switzerland, making sure the brand offers the best of Swiss craftsmanship.



With a range of collections that includes everything from dress watches to pilot's watches and divers, Farer really has a watch for everyone's taste. With Farer selling direct to their customers, the brand also has the unique ability to have their finger on the pulse of what collectors are looking for. This approach has allowed Farer to continually deliver watches their fans just keep enjoying.

Since Farer was founded and rose to prominence during the 2010s, a time when I was kind of sick of watches, I missed their initial releases and period of growth. When we started Hourstriker, Farer was already well established and I really wanted to spend some time with one of their watches to see what they're all about. Recently I reached out to James at Farer and asked if they could send us a specific watch to review and get to know the brand. He graciously agreed to send us the piece and that's what we'll be taking a closer look at today.



The watch we asked to be sent was the Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium. The Chronograph Sport range from Farer is their motorsport inspired chronograph watches that take inspiration from alpine races help around St. Moritz Switzerland. The Bernina model gets its name from the Bernina Gran Turismo hillclimb in the Swiss Alps of St. Moritz. This race is inspired by races that originally took place in the 1920s and '30s. The race is run over a nearly 6 kilometer course that climbs over 1,500 feet from a starting altitude of 6,138 feet. The Chrono-Sport collection also is now done with titanium cases that save around twenty percent in weight over their stainless steel counterparts, making them perfect for use in motorsports.

The first thing I noticed about the Bernina Titanium when it first arrived was the amazing color scheme of the watch. The watch features an off-white dial with brilliant white subdials at 3 and 9 o'clock and a matching white ceramic bezel. What really makes this watch stand out are the bright red hands and markers. All together this watch just has an extremely light and airy look to it, it's just a great summertime watch… which is perfect for the current Austin weather of over 100 degrees every day.



The next thing I noticed was just how lightweight the watch was. With a grade 2 titanium case, leather strap with pin buckle and a sapphire case back, all the ingredients are there for low weight. On our scale, the Bernina Titanium only clocked in at 80 grams. The 20 percent savings in weight seems substantial here and makes the watch a pleasure on wrist.

Finally when we turned the watch over, I was greeted with a display case back showing off a hand-wound movement. For some reason I just expected to flip over the watch and see a branded Farer rotor on an automatic movement. I just love the thought of a hand-wound chronograph, and this Chrono-Sport definitely delivers. The movement is nicely decorated with the Farer logo and features nice finishing bits like blued screws, which isn't blocked by a rotor being hand-wound.



Since we have now got my initial impressions of the Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium out of the way, we can now take a look at the watch's technical specs. The Bernina Titanium is crafted out of grade 2 titanium and measures 41 mm in case diameter with a 45.7 mm lug to lug. The watch is 13.6 mm thick and weighs 80 grams on our scale.

The watch has a slightly domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on it. Underneath you can see the off-white dial which in complimented by the bright white sub-dials at 3 o'clock for the chronograph minutes totalizer and the running seconds display at 9 o'clock. The chronograph's twelve hour totalizer is at 6 o'clock and is done in dial matching off-white. The hour markers are done in race red and are raised and multi-printed.



Matching the race red hour numerals are the race red hands for hours and minutes as well as the hands for the chronograph seconds, minutes and hours. The hour and minute hands along with the dashes above the hour markers are also coated in blue Super Luminova. The running seconds hand is done in brilliant blue which also matches the first 15 minute scale on the dial. This little hit of blue contrasts nicely with the predominantly red markers. Finishing off the dial is a Farer Universal Logo at 12 o'clock and race red chronograph text at 6 o'clock above the chronograph hours subdial.

Just as stunning as the dial is the bezel of the Bernina Titanium. The bezel is fixed and crafted out of brilliant white ceramic. The text for "Tachymeter" is done in dial matching brilliant blue and the actual tachymeter scale is done in matching race red. I really like how Farer didn't go subtle with the dial and bezel markings and really decided to showcase them, making this chronograph extremely functional with its legibility.



The grade 2 titanium case of the Bernina Titanium is mostly a brushed finished, with the top being circular brushed and the sides being horizontally brushed. The metal holding the bezel in place is polished, adding a little bit of contrast to the case finishing.

Flipping the case over shows off the polished finish of the screw down case back. A flat sapphire crystal shows off the Swiss-made Sellita SW510M b Elabore grade hand-wound movement. This movement beats at 28,800 vph (4 Hz) and features 63 hours of power reserve. The functions are hours, minutes, seconds and chronograph. On our timegrapher the SW510M b ran at 0 to +2 seconds per day of accuracy. These results show that the Bernina Titanium is an extremely accurate timepiece.



The crown of the Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium does not screw down and offers manual winding when pushed in. The crown is capped off with a bronze insert complete with the Farer logo. The crown is also nicely scalloped to provide good grip during operation as well. Pulling the crown out allows you to set the time. Even with the display case back and non-screw down crown, the Bernina Titanium still offers 100 meters of water resistance.

The watch features two polished chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o'clock. The top pusher starts and stops the chronograph function, while the bottom pusher resets the chronograph. The pushers require a decent amount of force to activate and have a nice click to them as well.



The Bernina Titanium comes on a blue St Venere leather strap complete with a 316L stainless steel pin buckle. The backing of the strap is done in red leather with matching red stitching at the lugs. The lug width is 20 mm and the strap tapers to 18 mm at the buckle. The leather is extremely supple and doesn't require any break in to be comfortable. The buckle also has a brushed finish with a Farer logo, while the actual pin is polished.

For the most part, I tend to really prefer watches with over 50 mm of lug to lug measurement. The Chrono-Sport only has a lug to lug measurement of 45.7 mm, which means it wears a bit smaller then I prefer. For some reason this didn't bother me while wearing the watch. I believe the general design of the watch and its inspiration of being a watch for a gentlemen racers, really justifies the slightly smaller case size. I feel if this watch was enlarged, it just wouldn't seem very authentic.



While only weighing 80 grams, the Bernina Titanium was a pleasure on the wrist. For the most part the watch just became an afterthought while being worn, which is high praise. The watch stayed centered on the wrist and never favored one side or the other, which is something I can't stand on smaller dimension (to me) watches. The high contrast between the off-white dial and the red markers and hands made telling the time at a glance a breeze, especially when driving. I did also find myself using the chronograph a few times when driving and grilling, which is weird since I never use my personal chronographs.

This Farer Bernina Titanium just screams for attention while I wore it out on errands and to dinner and drinks. Even on the more muted blue leather strap, the white dial in conjunction with the white bezel along with red markers just makes the watch get noticed. Most people were not aware of Farer, so it's always fun to educate others on brands that aren't Rolex. Most people seemed to comment positively on the red hands and white bezel. The guy at the UPS store I mostly talk to when doing in liked the watch so much he was going to check out Farer's site after work. If you want a more subtle watch then the Bernina Titanium, the Carnegie's brown and blue version of the Chrono-Sport might be a better option.



With a retail price of $1,995 the Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium offers a lot of value for the money. You get a 41 mm case crafted out grade 2 titanium with a super accurate hand-wound chronograph movement. You also get amazing heritage inspired styling with a just beautiful white ceramic bezel. At this point it would only be fair to see what alternatives are out there with similar specs.

First up we have the IWC Pilot's Watch Performance Chronograph 41 AMG. Like the Bernina Titanium, the IWC is 41 mm and crafted out of titanium. The watch comes with an in-house IWC automatic movement with 46 hours of power reserve. While the movement is done in-house by IWC, it does offer almost 30 percent less power reserve. The watch also features a black ceramic bezel, similar to the white ceramic bezel found on the Chrono-Sport. The retail price of the IWC is nearly five times the price of the Farer at $9,800 though.



Next up we have the Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Titanium, which comes in at 42 mm and is crafted out of titanium. The watch has a titanium bezel and comes on a rubber strap with a deployant clasp. The Classic Fusion Chronograph comes with a HUB1143 movement which is not in-house and is based on the ETA 2892-A2 movement which has 42 hours of power reserve. Once again, the Hublot offers much less power reserve than the Farer and also doesn’t use an in-house movement. The Hublot is even more expensive than the IWC at $11,200 as well. Like the IWC, the Hublot has a more buttoned down design than the more playful Farer.

Next up we have the TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph crafted out of titanium and measuring 39 mm in a squared case. The dial of the Monaco is partially skeletonized and shows off the in-house TAG Heuer calibre Heuer 02 automatic. This movement features more power reserve than the Farer at 80 hours, but the Monaco is also more than five times the price of the Chrono-Sport at $10,750. Also the squared design of the Monaco could alienate some people.



Finally we have the Sinn 103 chronograph in titanium. The watch also measures 41 mm and is crafted out titanium. The movement inside of the 103 is the Manufacture La Joux-Perret 8000 which offers a 60 hour power reserve, which is pretty close to that of the Chrono-Sport. The Sinn 103 does have a bit more serious German pilot watch styling to it. At $4,170 the Sinn is just over twice the price of the Farer as well.

I was fairly surprised that finding titanium chronograph watches with mechanical movements is nearly impossible for around two thousand dollars. With the least expensive alternative being over two times the price of the Farer and the others being five times the price, with that the Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium really shows its value.



So is the Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium for me? If you've been reading many of my reviews you can tell my tastes skew towards more oversized cases made out of high tech materials. Personally the Bernina Titanium gets high marks for being crafted out of titanium and having a rarely seen white ceramic bezel, but falls short for case and lug to lug size. Like I said earlier, if this watch was larger it wouldn't really make sense for what inspired its design. Size is personal and most people might actually find the Bernina Titanium as a larger watch being 41 mm, I just fall outside of that camp having my watch sizing preferences forged in the early 2000s. I did enjoy wearing the watch, but if you look at my personal watches they all range in size from 42 to 48 mm with lug to lug measurements of 49 to 58 mm.



Does that mean I wouldn't recommend the Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium to somebody looking for a sports chronograph watch? Absolutely not, I would fully recommend the Bernina Titanium to somebody looking for this type of watch. Like mentioned before when comparing the Chrono-Sport to other titanium chronographs, this watch has tremendous value for the money. Also the color scheme Farer chose for the Bernina Titanium is just stunning with bright and off whites mixed with bright reds and blues. The white ceramic dial with red and blue text is just something that has to be seen in person. The incredible accuracy of the Sellita hand-wound movement found inside is just another added bonus and it's just nice to see a hand-wound chronograph in today's market. The Farer Chrono-Sport Bernina really deserves a hard look in this segment of the market.

I'd really like to thank James and the team over at Farer for sending us the Chrono-Sprot Bernina Titanum to review. It was a great introduction to Farer and we can't wait to see what they send us next.



For more information about the Chrono-Sport Bernina Titanium please visit : Farer

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: NA

Retail Price: $1,995

Case Size: 41 mm

Lug to Lug: 45.7 mm

Thickness: 13.6 mm

Weight: 80 Grams

Case Material: Grade 2 Titanium

Bezel: White Ceramic

Strap: Blue St Venere Leather with Stainless Steel Pin Buckle

Movement: Swiss Made Sellita SW510M b Hand Wound Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Chronograph

Power Reserve: 63 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters