To celebrate the third year of its ongoing partnership with British F1 team Williams Racing, Bremont has created a new limited-edition chronograph that is making its debut appearance just a few weeks ahead of this year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Given that Williams and Bremont are both British companies, the timing of this release and the partnership itself both make quite a lot of sense, and there have been a few different Williams-themed Bremont watches that have been produced in the years since the two entities first teamed up. The latest timepiece that celebrates this partnership is the Bremont WR-45, which is a limited-edition chronograph that is inspired by this year’s Williams Racing F1 car, the FW-45.
Crafted from stainless steel with a black DLC finish, the case of the new Bremont WR-45 Limited Edition features the brand’s signature three-piece “Trip-Tick” construction, and it measures 43mm in diameter by 16mm-thick, with 22mm lugs and an overall lug-to-lug profile of 50mm. Fitted to the top of the case is a domed anti-reflective sapphire crystal that is surrounded by a black tachymeter bezel, while the reverse side of the watch receives a display-style caseback that is secured by five small screws and fitted with a large sapphire window to offer a view of the internal movement. On the right-hand side of the case is a signed winding crown flanked by a pair of chronograph pushers, and while neither the crown nor pushers screw down to the case, water resistance for the new Bremont WR-45 still comes in at a respectable 100 meters.
Unlike previous Bremont Williams Racing watches, the dial fitted to the new WR-45 is black to match its case, and it features a trio of sub-dials arranged in a traditional 3-6-9 format with a date window neatly tucked inside the sub-dial at the 6 o’clock location. The white register at 9 o’clock features a light blue hand and serves as a running seconds indicator for the time, while the other two sub-dials are fitted with white-finished hands and are dedicated to the 30-minute counter and 12-hour totalizer for the chronograph. Additionally, the hours counter features a thin three-color ring in light blue, dark blue, and white surrounding its perimeter, and this serves as a subtle nod to the official colors of the Williams Racing F1 team. To further complement the team livery, the applied hour markers and black PVD-finished hands are filled with blue-emission Super-LumiNova, while the centrally-mounted chronograph seconds hand is bright red for maximum contrast.
Powering the new Bremont WR-45 Limited Edition is the brand’s Caliber BE-53AV automatic chronograph movement, which is based upon the core architecture of the familiar ETA/Valjoux 7753 and runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) while offering users a power reserve of approximately 56 hours. Fitted with a Glucydur balance wheel, Anachron balance spring, Nivaflex mainspring, and a custom skeletonized rotor that is inspired by the wheels of Williams Racing cars, the Bremont BE-53AV is also chronometer rated to ISO 3159 standards, and it promises to be a very well-executed version of this familiar and proven self-winding chronograph design. Lastly, fitted to the lugs of the new Bremont WR-45 is a black two-piece strap made from Alcantara (a material often used for car interiors and steering wheels), and it is completed by a matching black DLC-finished pin buckle.
The new Bremont Williams Racing WR-45 will be produced as a limited edition of 244 pieces as a reference to the number of races that the team has achieved a podium finish, and it will be accompanied by an official retail price of $6,595 USD. Additionally, included with each watch is a genuine wheel nut taken from one of the Williams Racing cars, which has been certified by Williams Racing itself. Just like the 2023 Williams F1 car, which incorporates more black into its livery than previous years (something that can also be observed among other F1 teams, as this allows them to save weight by only painting the colored sections), the new Bremont WR-45 is also the most monochromatic and black-centric model that has resulted from the partnership, and now that it has officially been announced, there’s a good chance that you will be able to spot this watch on the wrists of Williams Racing F1 drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant through the remainder of the 2023 Formula 1 season. For more information on the Bremont WR-45 Limited Edition, please visit the brand’s website.
