The integrated bracelet trend shows no signs of slowing down and Bremont are the latest brand to tick the integrated bracelet box with the H1 Generation Supernova.
Bremont, a company celebrating 20 years of operation, has jumped into the integrated bracelet market, with the H1 Generation Supernova.
It utilises a variant of their new automatic movement, the ENG300, called the ENG375 with the addition of a big date and a power reserve indicator, the Supernova is available in midnight blue, albus silver/white, and pitch black.
Design and dimensions
The Supernova’s case is 40mm wide, 11.1mm thick, and a 53mm lug-to-lug. With a screw-down crown it has 100 meters worth of water resistance. It has a Sapphire crystal front and display caseback, the dial-side crystal is flat to the bezel with anti-refective treatment.
At a glance you could see a Royal Oak bracelet, Nautilus crown guards and an Odysseus big-date, but it sits well together and holds its own identity.
The case is designed in three pieces, Bremont’s Trip-Tick construction, with the lug/bezel element at the top, a middle case barrel with a DLC black treatment, and a steel display caseback. The case construction is where the Supernova really shines, no flat sides here. What you get is a range of surfaces and finishes, with the black PVD middle case seemingly suspended from the bezel.
The integrated bracelet maintains the overall structure. The edges are crisp, the underside exposed lug elements are polished, and the dimensions work well together to create a watch that doesn’t wear as large as it may seem, though the t-link bracelet style can’t help but remind you of the Royal Oak.
The case has a mix of finishing, including curving polished bevels that accentuate the case/lug shape and a vertically finished bezel on its face, with polished sloping and curved edges. It’s very Bremont but at a higher grade, with impressive attention to detail in the middle case barrel’s integration.
Dial
The Supernova’s Pitch black iteration has a flat black dial with applied and luminous Arabic numerals set into an outer ring finished with circular graining. The ENG375-supported complications break the wall of the outer ring, with the big date’s two distinct wheels nicely bisected by the transition between the inner and outer dial, and the power reserve indication nestling into the outer element. With a light touch of red accents and no lack of legibility, the Supernova’s dial feels like a premium and more complicated version of the Bremont Solo.
Pricing and competition
The Supernova is retailed at £7,995, which puts it in with some stiff competition. On the upperside of its competitive set it undercuts the base models of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato (£12,000) , the Bulgari Octo Finnissimo (£12,300) and the Piaget Polo (£10,900) by a significant degree. In more direct comparrison is the Zenith Skyline (£7,900).
Summary
Overall, the Supernova is a handsome watch that showcases Bremont’s commitment and improvement. However, this is a ‘how you look at it’ watch. At a glance you could see a Royal Oak bracelet, Nautilus crown guards and an Odysseus big-date, but it sits well together and holds its own identity.
For Bremont this is a strong forward move. It is a next level for them in bracelet and case design and new levels in finishing. They did not sit back and do a lazy execution, they pushed their manufacturing and finishing to a new level. Their marketing tagline for the Supernova is ‘unashamedly over engineered’ and for once it’s good to see a tagline true to the product.
