Formex has built its reputation on doing sensible things unusually well, and the new AirField continues the habit. Taking its Field Automatic platform as the runway, the Biel-based independent has produced a pilot’s watch in the cockpit-instrument tradition: matte Grade 2 titanium, hardened to around 900 Vickers, in a 40mm case that stands 10.5mm tall and weighs a scarcely-believable 54 grams before the strap goes on.
The dial is where the aviation brief lands. Recessed Arabic numerals are filled with Super-LumiNova beneath broad sword hands, a triangle flanked by two dots marks twelve in classic flieger fashion, and the seconds hand is counterweighted with a tiny aircraft silhouette — a wink you will notice on the second day of ownership and enjoy thereafter. Four colourways cover the territory: Desert Sand, Horizon Blue, Jet Black and Tarmac Grey, the first of which should look particularly at home under Gulf light. Flip the watch over and the caseback carries a radial aircraft-engine motif.
Inside sits the Sellita SW200-2 in upgraded Power+ specification, lifting the power reserve from 41 to 65 hours — a meaningful, unglamorous improvement typical of the brand. Water resistance is 150 metres, the crown screws down, and the sapphire is double anti-reflective coated. Straps swap without tools: nylon Velcro in four colours or Bolgheri leather in five, with Formex’s carbon-fibre deployant offering 7mm of on-the-fly adjustment as an option.
Pre-orders opened 24 September at €950 on nylon or €1,075 with leather and deployant, with deliveries from the end of October. Readers who remember the Essence 39 we covered during Geneva Watch Days will recognise the formula — serious engineering, honest pricing, no theatre. The AirField simply points it at the sky.
