If you’re a fan of British watchmaker Farer’s timepieces, the watches making up its recently launched 36mm Three Hands Collection might already be familiar to you.
Throughout the industry we’re seeing a gradual move away from larger faces towards a more ‘medium’ watch sizing. In response, Farer has taken four of the brand’s most successful designs and shrunk them down to a sleeker 36mm.
While the 39.5mm cases of its classic Three Hand Collection could still comfortably be counted as unisex, they were still on the larger side of the market. The new 36mm case, measuring 41.2mm lug-to-lug, is still not a ‘small’ watch by any means, but has more vintage-feeling proportions, while maintaining distinct contemporary design flairs. All specifications have been kept the same as the larger models, but the proportions throughout the design have been compressed to work with the reduced case size.
The colour of magic
Despite launching with only designs, it’s clear Farer has tried to showcase its expertise working across a range of colour schemes. If you’re looking for the most typical ‘Farer’ design, the 36mm Resolute is the most conventional option available. The glossy pure white dial is the same as the 39.5mm Resolute model, featuring large Arabic numerals fashioned from solid ice-blue Super-LumiNova and topped with a black matte finish to give the numerals’ periphery a distinct glow when in the dark.
The Resolute Sorbet is near-identical to the Resolute, but is more adventurous when it comes to colour, with a peach coloured dial, dark blue hands and printing, and a custard-yellow lume.
The Erebus Midnight is the Three Hands at its most formal. The dial is now a high gloss midnight blue, with Arabic numerals at only the 12 and 6 and stick markers in the remaining positions. The syringe hands present throughout the collection are still here, but have instead been skeletonised. There’s no lume on this design, but both hands and markers feature an elegant mirror finish to catch the light.
The Discovery Red is the most distinct of the collection, with an eye-catching cherry red dial featuring a vertical brush finish at its centre meant to evoke the classic sector-dial design of vintage watches. The hour markers are a combination of Arabic numerals at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 markers and applied batons in the remaining spaces, all filled with ice-blue Super-LumiNova.
Small but mighty
Other than the dials and handsets, all the other components are the same across the collection, with the same distinct sapphire crystal on top with internal anti-reflective coating. All models feature the same screwed exhibition case-back with a see-through window so you can take a look at the watch ticking away, and Farer’s signature rounded crown retains its solid bronze cap. All the watches in the range feature a stop-seconds mechanism, and run on the La Joux-Perret G101 beating at 4Hz – the same Swiss automatic movement as the larger 39.5mm models – giving them a long power reserve of 68 hours.
As with all Farer models, the 36mm Three Hands Collection comes with a wide selection of strap options. Barenia leather, rubber or Granolo leather come in various colours, or each watch is available on a Milanese steel bracelet for a slightly higher price point. Pricing starts at £890, rising to £905 for a steel bracelet, available from farer.com.
