Formex STRATOS UTC Review

Over the past few months we have become very familiar with the collection of watches Swiss manufacturer Formex has to offer. We have reviewed two members of the Essence collection as well as one from the Reef series of dive watches. After each review we came away thoroughly impressed with the work that Formex does.

Recently Formex released a new collection in the STRATOS UTC line of timepieces. These watches are billed as a modern take on the classic pilot's watch with the standout featuring being the ability to quickly control the local hour hand with pushers instead of having to mess with the crown.



Before we get more into the watch let's go over a quick history of Formex. Formex was founded in 1999 in Biel/Bienne Switzerland by two brothers as an independent manufacturer of fine timepieces. The founders' passion for racing cars and bikes fueled the direction Formex watches would take, which is over engineering to handle extreme situations such as those seen when racing.

Today Formex is still known for their robust sports watches featuring an ingenious suspension system but have also branched out to dive watches and now pilot's watches. Much of the success Formex has found comes from their ability to craft many of their own components in-house including their dials, cases and clever accessories like their adjustable deployant clasp. The STRATOS UTC is just the next evolution for the brand.



When the STRATOS UTC arrived the first thing I noticed was the stunning Deep Blue dial. Making the dial pop even that extra bit more are the orange highlights on the home time hand, day/night indicator and hour ring around the outer dial. While there is a lot going on with the dial the layout is extremely well thought out and the dial color is mesmerizing.

The second thing I noticed about the STRATOS UTC was just how complicated the watch is. Quickly looking at the watch the STRATOS UTC seems to have a case resembling a chronograph with the right hand side dominated by a crown and two pushers. Unlike a chronograph where the pushers are used to stop, start and restart a timing mechanism, the pushers on the STRATUS UTC are used to adjust the local hour hand forwards and backwards. The module for achieving this functionality was specially designed by movement component experts Dubois-Depraz. Additionally a pusher was added at eight o'clock that rapidly advances the date on the movement.



The final thing that caught my attention during my initial time with the STRATOS UTC was its multi-part stainless steel case. Formex truly makes some of the nicest cases around even when compared to watches at multiple times their price point. Besides using machine finishing, Formex also finished some parts of the case by hand. This is typically only seen in the highest priced tier of watches, so it is a very pleasant surprise to see on the STRATOS UTC.

Now that we've gone over my initial thoughts of the Formex STRATOS UTC, let's take a look at its technical specs. The case is crafted out of 316L stainless steel and has a case diameter of 41 mm with a lug to lug length of 48.8 mm. At its thickest point the case is 12 mm thick and the watch weighs in at 105 grams when on its leather strap and carbon deployant buckle.



The STRATOS UTC uses a flat sapphire crystal which has an anti-reflective coating applied to its underside. Since anti-reflective coating is scratched easily it's a big plus to only have it on the interior of the crystal that has no chance of being scratched.

Underneath the sapphire is the deep blue dial that is broken up into four distinct sections. The outermost section is a ring comprising of 24 hour markers for home time done in orange with each odd number being an Arabic numeral and each even number being a stick marker. Moving inward is the local time hour ring that has a textured finish and has large hand painted Arabic numerals for 12, 3, 6, and 9 and stick markers for the other hour markers. Next is the inner dial done with a sun-ray finish which contains the Formex Logo and day/night indicator. Finally there is the sub-dial for displaying the date which has the same grained texture to the local hour ring.



Like I mentioned earlier, Formex uses a nice amount of orange on the dial to contrast the deep blues of the dial. All the hour markers on the 24 hour home time ring as well as the home time hand, day/night indicator and UTC text are all done in a brilliant orange. I also love the font used for the local time Arabic Numerals, I'm not sure I've ever seen that font used on a watch dial before.

As with traditional pilot's watches the STRATOS UTC has syringe hour and minute hands which are partially skeletonized. To heighten legibility Formex uses a mixture of brushed and diamond cut finishes on the applied indices and hands. The result are hands and markers that easily stand out on the deep blue dial.



Formex coats all essential time telling elements with a healthy dose of Super-Luminova as well. The hour, minute, seconds and home time hands are all covered with lume and glow a brilliant greenish blue in low light situations. Lume is also applied to the local time hour markers that have the same hue as the hands.

Moving on from the dial we have the stainless steel bi-directional bezel. Since the STRATOS UTC is not a dive watch the bezel is free to rotate in both directions for use with the GMT function. The bezel is filled with a blue colored resin that matches nicely with the dial hue. The bezel take 48 clicks to do a full rotation and feels more luxurious than some GMT bezels that operate on just 24 clicks. The bezel has a very sure feel to it and has zero back play while producing a pleasant click. The bezel is nicely scalloped and is extremely easy to operate and get a nice grip on. Opposite to the inner 24 hour scale, the even numbers on the bezel get an Arabic numeral while the odd numbers get stick hour markers.



The case of the STRATOS UTC almost has a cushion shape to it, also resembling some of the integrated sports watches on the market. If you look closely the case looks somewhat similar to the case used on the Formex Essence series as well. For the most part the case on the STRATOS UTC is brushed and has polished chamfers. Looking at the profile of the case you can see negative areas on both sides of the watch which have a satin finish. This feature adds nice depth to the watch and clearly shows how well the case angles down to the contour of your wrist.

On the left hand side of the watch located at 8 o'clock is a small pusher used to advance the date hand by one date with each depression of the pusher. Hardly any pressure is needed to advance the date and the tip of a ball point pen, toothpick or paperclip will work in a pinch.



The right hand side of the STRATOS UTC contains the crown and two local time pushers. The crown screws down and is nicely scalloped providing ample grip. The top of the crown features an engraved Formex logo as well. The screw down crown also aids in the 100 meters of water resistance found on the STRATOS UTC which is ample for a pilot's watch. Un-screwing the crown allows you to manually wind the automatic movement in its resting position. Since the pusher at 8 o'clock is used for quick setting the date there is only one position on the crown that when pulled out allows you to set the time and stops the seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand and allows for precise time setting. Finally the crown doesn't require any extra care to catch and screw back in, working flawlessly every time I used it.

Now the real party trick of the Formex STRATOS UTC are the local time pushers flanking the crown. The top pusher advances the local time by one hour while the bottom pusher moves the local time back by one hour. The pushers have a nice bit of resistance to them and both pushers require the same amount of force to engage. The module to achieve this complication was created by renowned component builders Dubois-Depraz.



Flipping the watch over shows off the screwed down brushed stainless steel display case back featuring a sapphire crystal. Under the crystal you can see the Swiss Made automatic base caliber ETA 2892, which is one of the most well known and reliable movements ever created. A huge plus of this movement is that parts are widely available for it and any local watchmaker would be able to service the caliber. The movement runs at 28,800 bph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of 42 hours. On our timegrapher the movement showed an average accuracy of -7 seconds per day over several positions. That result is just outside of chronometer standards and means the watch is more than accurate.

The movement features a skeleton winding rotor with Formex branding on it. The movement is also brilliantly finished with Cotes de Geneve being the main finishing technique. There is also nice usage of perlage and anglage found on the exposed movement. In all the display back is an added bonus with the movement being finished so nicely. Although not visible the custom Dubois-Depraz developed GMT module is present providing the unique local time complication to the STRATOS UTC. Dubois-Depraz has worked with such regarded brands as Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille and Jaeger-LeCoultre, so you know the module is top tier.



The STRATOS UTC has a lug width of 20 mm and is offered on either a stainless steel bracelet or a choice of leather straps. The strap I wore during my time with the watch was the black Bolgheri Italian calfskin leather strap with orange stitching. I personally felt this strap just tied in best to the orange elements on the dial. The strap has a mild taper from 20 mm at the lugs down to 18 mm at the carbon deployant clasp.

In my previous Formex reviews I really sang the praise of their deployant clasp that contains micro-adjustments. Typically micro-adjustments are only found on metal bracelets not clasps for straps. Most of the clasp is formed out of carbon while the exposed buckle is done in brushed stainless steel and has two buttons that need to be depressed to release the clasp. To allow micro-adjustments there is a small button near the pins on the clasp that when depressed will allow the strap to slide on the clasp. The strap is only allowed to move a few millimeters, but it's more than enough to get a perfect fit or adjust for hot and cold weather.



To be honest up front, I'm not the biggest user of the GMT function. For the most part we only travel for vacations and even then I just use my phone to figure out local time. I know the GMT function is right up there with the chronograph as the most wanted and used complications, but I don't really use chronographs either. I own watches with both GMT/Worldtime functions as well as chronographs and sadly those functions go unused.

So for the time I wore the Formex STRATOS UTC I just used it as a time and date watch. I'm sure if I was traveling it would be fun to mess around with all the GMT functions the watch offers, but we pretty much stayed put in the central time zone. After playing around with the GMT functions of the watch I can see how much of a benefit the pushers would be to somebody who does use this functionality. I personally never do anything with a crown while a watch is on my wrist, so I can see the hassle having to remove the watch to set local time would be while traveling. By Formex allowing this functionality to be controlled easily while the watch is on wrist is a game changer.



I have had the STRATOS UTC for a few weeks and have rotated the watch in and out of my personal watches for daily wear and the watch has been nothing but a pleasure on the wrist. Even for being crafted out of stainless steel the STRATOS UTC only weighs a pretty feather light 105 grams on the leather strap. This meant the watch pretty much disappeared on the wrist and was only there when I wanted to look at it. The watch never caused any wrist fatigue or made itself known more than it needed to.

With a decent lug to lug length of 48.8 mm the STRATOS UTC covered my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area rather well and the watch never favored either side of my wrist which is something I just can't stand. While there is a lot going on with the dial the watch is still pretty legible. I normally test how legible a watch is by seeing how long it takes to glance at my wrist while driving and tell the time. The STRATOS UTC passed that test rather well in both daytime and lower light driving situations.



As I'm sure most watch collectors know, the Formex STRATOS UTC didn't attract too much attention while being worn. I typically only get asked about a watch when I'm wearing something radical like an Ulysse Nardin Freak or something done in bold colors. I did show the watch to a few friends when we were out for dinner and drinks and everyone really liked the watch. Even those not too familiar with watches were able to grasp the concept of the GMT functionality and only had nice things to say about the watch.

As it comes to value, the STRATOS UTC is by far the most expensive watch offered by Formex. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise given the watch is also by far the most complex model from Formex and also required an additional custom module to achieve the desired GMT functionality. The STRATOS UTC ranges in price from $3,850 on a leather strap to $3,990 on the stainless steel bracelet. I personally feel given the quality of manufacturing from Formex and the complexity of the watch the price is warranted, but let's take a look at some watches featuring a similar complication and see how the STRATOS UTC stacks up.



First up we have the Blast Dual Time from Ulysse Nardin. This watch is crafted out of stainless steel and has a 42 mm case diameter. Like the STRATOS UTC the Blast Dual Time also uses pushers to adjust the dual time display without needing to use the crown. The Blast Dual Time only offers 50 meters of water resistance and is powered by a modified ETA 2892 like the STRATOS UTC. The Blast Dual Time retails for a good deal more than the STRATOS UTC at $10,200.

Next up we have the Zurich World Time from NOMOS. The Zurich World Time is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 39.9 mm. The Zurich World Time adds the World Time complication to the mix and like the Formex and Ulysse Nardin is able to control functionality through a pusher at 2 o'clock. The Zurich World Time only has 30 meters of water resistance but runs on an in-house DUW 5201 automatic movement. Like the Ulysse Nardin the Nomos is also more expensive than the Formex at $6,100.



Moving on is the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante in stainless steel and platinum with a case diameter of 40 mm. Like the Formex STRATOS UTC the Tonda PF GMT uses a pusher located on the left side of the case to advance local time in one hour increments. The Tondo offers 60 meters of water resistance and runs on the in-house PF051 automatic movement. The Tondo is a lot more than the STRATOS UTC at just over $31,000.

Finally we have the A. Lange & Sohne Timezone in white gold with a case diameter of 41.9 mm. As with the other four watches above, the Timezone uses a pusher to control the second time zone of the watch negating the need to remove the watch while traveling. Like the NOMOS the Timezone only offers 30 meters of water resistance. The Timezone does run on a manually wound in-house A. Lange & Sohne caliber L141.1 offering a few additional complications as well. The Timezone is much more expensive than the STRATOS UTC at $63,000.



As you can see from the four watches we compared the STRATOS UTC to that the watch offers exception value for the complication you are getting. Its closest competitor in the Ulysse Nardin Blast Dual Time retails for well over twice the price of the STRATOS UTC. When looking at the Parmigiani Fleurier and A. Lange & Sohne examples the prices just explode. Basically there are not many watches that offer control of dual time functionality through pushers and the ones that do are much more expensive than the offering from Formex. There are traditional GMT watches that are controlled by the crown that can be had for less than the STRATOS UTC but those aren't really comparable.

So in the end is the STRATOS UTC a watch for me? No it wouldn't be a watch for me, but it really has nothing to do with the watch. The main reason the watch wouldn't be for me is that I don't use the GMT function even when traveling. The function would just be un-used by me if the watch was in my personal collection. I'm also fairly weird and prefer watches made out of lightweight materials like ceramic, carbon and titanium. Although the STRATOS UTC is very light at 105 grams, I'm just not the biggest fan of stainless steel watches for my personal collection.



Would I recommend the Formex STRATOS UTC for anyone looking for a sports watch with GMT functionality? Yes I would fully recommend the watch to somebody looking at a watch in this category. The way that the STRATOS UTC can advance new local time in both directions by just pushing a button makes traveling with the watch a breeze. That the home time is displayed on a 24 hour scale also makes seeing if its day or night back home extremely simple. Overall the watch is just a great looking timepiece as well. Formex really flexes their case and dial making abilities with this piece punching much above its price. The added complexity of the GMT module also places the STRATOS UTC is some rare horological air. I'd recommend taking a really close look at the STRATOS UTC if something more advanced than a standard GMT is interesting to you.

I'd really like to thank Formex for sending us this STRATOS UTC to review. Once again this newest collection just re-enforces my previous thoughts about Formex and the high quality timepieces they manufacture. I can't wait to see what Formex has in store for 2025!



For more information about the STRATOS UTC please visit : Formex

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 1101.1.6431.311

Retail Price: $3,850

Case Size: 41 mm

Lug to Lug: 48.8 mm

Thickness: 12 mm

Weight: 105 Grams (On Leather Strap)

Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel

Bezel: Resin Filled Stainless Steel

Strap: Bolgheri Leather Strap with Adjustable Carbon Deployant Clasp

Movement: Swiss Made ETA 2892 Automatic Movement with Dubois-Depraz Module

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, Quick Set Local Time

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters