Review: Farer Aquamatic
If you’ve ever looked at the Rolex Submariner, wished they’d combine it with the Oyster Perpetual Celebration dial and sell it for $995, well, I’ll have whatever it is you’ve been having. But perhaps such a crazy pipe dream isn’t as crazy as you’d think, thanks to British based, Swiss made watchmaker Farer. This is the AquaMatic.
History
There’s been a boom in recent years of watchmakers that want to do things differently. Doing things differently is, these days, a pretty tired and hackneyed idea, however. Doing things differently when everyone is doing things differently inevitably becomes … doing things the same.
So, I can imagine that a brief look over Farer’s website might make you and your tired, cynical mind think you were looking at the reskin of a well-used idea—but I think it’s worth a closer look. Farer started life in 2015, in the way many of these brands do, by looking at everything else out there and doing the mother of all eye rolls. Stuff’s either too rubbish, too expensive, or both. Farer had other ideas.
But it wasn’t enough to simply make cheaper versions of existing watches. Even in 2015, that was more overdone than my signature Christmas turkey. So, instead, they made watches that look all kinds of different. And different, as Farer will tell you, is good.
Some of their watches are really different, such as cushion-cased, oversized moonphases and twin crown world timers, and that’s cool. For a dive watch, however, the AquaMatic—you kinda have to stick to the formula a bit. They already have the compressor-style Aqua Compressor, but for the AquaMatic, they toed the party line a little closer.
Does that mean the AquaMatic, all these years on after Farer set out to do things differently, has finally come full circle to just being the same? Well, it has three hands in a vaguely broad arrow style, a unidirectional turning bezel, waves on the dial—sounds pretty unimaginative to me.
Except, unless you’re unfortunate enough to be afflicted with colour blindness, you’ll quickly see that the AquaMatic is far from ordinary. There are six options, each named, I assume, after the dwarves from the Italian version of Snow White. There’s the Biarritz, the Nazare, the Thurso, the Porthleven, the Cribbar and the Freshwater. Jokes, they’re all named after coastal towns.
Whilst some of those coastal towns are UK-based and are devoid of any shade but grey, the AquaMatic collection is far from monochrome. From the minty-fresh, er, Freshwater to the gobstopper-like white and red Biarritz, the AquaMatic is popping with more colour than a bull in an art supply shop.
And Farer hasn’t just slapped colour about like a New York loft-dwelling bohemian; it’s actually really well considered. You’d imagine the colours chosen—I refuse to say “colourway” by the way—would clash worse than ketchup on cornflakes. The teal and orange palette on the Thurso is classic Michael Bay, sitting on opposite sides of the colour wheel for perfect poppin’ contrast.
The Freshwater gets a complimentary colour combination in greys, greens and blues, sitting somewhere between the glaciers of Norway and toothpaste. And the Biarritz borrows its whites, creams, reds and blues from the Vespa catalogue. It all goes together like Bert and Ernie, decidedly individual on their own but inseparable together. But colour goes only skin deep. Are the watches worth their metal?
Review
It would be no good for Farer to take a bunch of terrible watches, dip them in paint and send them on their way. As a business model, this is flawed from the first moment a human experiences one of these watches. To make it past Christmas 2015, Farer also decided that quality should be imperative.
The AquaMatic is sized very precisely at 38.5mm, in stainless steel no less, with a 20mm lug width, which makes it a great size for swapping out straps. Not that you’ll need to buy any though, because it comes with three: a textured rubber, steel jubilee and a waterproof NATO, all colour matched to the watch of your choosing. A quick release system makes changing straps on a crowded beach easier than changing into a bathing suit.
The crystal is sapphire, with hardened anti-reflective coating both inside and outside, and the 120-click bezel is either ceramic or aluminium, depending on the look. It’s not just the colours that differ with these AquaMatics, it’s the finishes as well, subtly varying between each depending on the vibe. Some dials are flat with a metallic sheen, for example, others textured with a Seamaster-esque wave pattern, or decorated with a simple matte finish. And of course, there’s the signature Farer bronze cap on the crown.
Out back is the Sellita SW220-1, which adds a day to the date in English and French, plus 41 hours of power reserve, all sealed inside to a 200m depth. It’s simply but ruggedly built. No frills on the case and deep-set bezel. It’s chunky and tactile instead of fussy and delicate, in a very Apple-like way.
That’s really the best way to describe how these watches feel. If Apple made a mechanical dive watch, this would be it. Laid back, fun, but still functional. You can pick and choose to find the right feel for you, without being endlessly customisable. There’s a confidence to the selection of colour and finish choices. You see, at one end of the dive watch scale there’s black dial only, at the other there’s full customisability, and right in the sweet spot is the AquaMatic. There’s enough choice to be getting on with but not so much it feels like you’re doing the brand’s work for them.
It just goes to show how old-fashioned the watch industry is. Obviously, they’ve been making watches for centuries. I mean more… behind the times. Every other industry’s been out there having fun with colour. You can get your new 911 in silver, sure, but if you want you can also paint it the same colour as a baboon’s butt. The same should be true of your watch, and thanks to Farer and the AquaMatic Biarritz, we’re getting there. Blue and—ooh, let’s be cheeky and push the boat out—green don’t have to be as adventurous as it gets anymore.
The biggest downfall of this selection is the difficulty in choosing. Thank goodness there’s only six, because otherwise it would be an impossibility. At $995, it’s not the cheapest diver, a few hundred dollars more expensive than the value-for-money king, the Halios Seaforth. But then the Halios Seaforth will never be compared in conversation to Michael Bay, so, swings and roundabouts.
If you’re really not sure, there is one last hail Mary from Farer. They do a 30-day no quibble, money back guarantee. Whilst I’m not saying you should keep returning watch at 29 days to enjoy a perpetually free watch—it must be unworn and undamaged to qualify—you do have the flexibility to compare the colours you like in person for no extra permanent cost and only at the mild inconvenience of having the send them back. All that’s left then is to choose. And if that choice was to have a watch that’s like a Rolex Submariner combined with the Oyster Perpetual Celebration dial for $995—then, well, you’ve found it.
