Since launching in 2020, the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers has helped cultivate a vibrant and collaborative horological community within the UK, and it even operates its own annual trade show known as British Watchmaker’s Day. The first edition of the event took place last year in 2024, and this year’s installment is set to take place on March 8, 2025, with one of the standout features for enthusiasts being the special-edition watches that will be available from exhibiting brands on the day of the show. Among the models launching at British Watchmakers’ Day 2025 is a limited-edition collaboration known as “The Gimlet” from Studio Underd0g and Fears, and it represents an equal and harmonious blend of the two UK-based brand’s respective aesthetics.
Last year for British Watchmaker’s Day, Fears teamed up with Christopher Ward to produce the Alliance 01, which paired the cushion-shaped case of the Fears Brunswick with Christopher Ward’s jumping-hours movement. For 2025, Fears has once again used the Brunswick as the canvas for its British Watchmaker’s Day collaboration model; however, it has now partnered with Studio Underd0g to create “The Gimlet” as an uncharacteristically lighthearted and modern expression of its most popular timepiece. With that in mind, rather than being a Fears Brunswick done in the style of Studio Underd0g, the limited-edition collaboration piece could more accurately be described as a Fears-themed variation of Underd0g’s 02Series that emulates the defining elements of the Brunswick collection.
Crafted from 316L stainless steel, the cushion-shaped case of “The Gimlet” closely mirrors the appearance of the Fears Brunswick, and it measures 38mm in diameter by 12mm thick (or 9.7mm if you exclude the domed sapphire crystal). Protruding from the side of the case at 3 o’clock is an onion-shaped winding crown, while short Brunswick-style lugs are set 20mm apart and extend to create a fairly compact overall lug-to-lug profile of 43.5mm. Water resistance for “The Gimlet” comes in at the same 100 meters offered by Studio Underd0g’s 02Series field watches, and its solid stainless steel caseback is largely adorned, aside from having a small engraving of a lime slice at its center to serve as a nod to the model’s cocktail-themed inspiration.
The typography used for the hour markers on “The Gimlet” is instantly recognizable as being from the Fears Brunswick collection, although the rest of its dial closely adheres to the blueprint of what can be found on the Studio Underd0g 02Series. Unlike Fears’ 38mm Brunswick models that display their running seconds on sub-dials, “The Gimlet” opts for three centrally-mounted hands, and similar to what can be observed in the 02Series, its dial is formed by a 1mm-thick sapphire sheet that is bolted on top of a base layer with a fully-luminous gradient finish. Since all of the printing and indexes are located on top of the transparent sapphire sheet, the markings cast a subtle shadow on the solid layer below, and this gives them the appearance of almost floating above the dial’s surface. Additionally, since the entire base layer is luminous, the printed markings do not need to glow, and they are instead illuminated from behind to offer ample legibility in low-light settings.
Unlike Fears’ Brunswick models that use La Joux-Perret movements, “The Gimlet” is powered by the same manual-wind Sellita Caliber SW210-1 that can be found inside Studio Underd0g’s 02Series. Running at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of 42 hours, the Sellita SW210-1 inside “The Gimlet” promises an accuracy rating of -7/+7 seconds per day, and this highly popular movement is trusted by countless different brands throughout the industry. To further celebrate the theme of British Watchmaker’s Day, “The Gimlet” is completed by a leather strap made by another fellow British company known as The Strap Tailor. Tapering from 20mm lugs down to 16mm when it connects to a co-branded buckle, the strap for “The Gimlet” is made from dark green calfskin using a multi-step tanning process that takes almost a month to complete.
Since this collaboration model is really a Brunswick-themed version of the Studio Underd0g 02Series field watch, I can’t imagine that it will offer quite the same level of finishing and attention to detail that you will find on one of Fears’ own watches. That said, buying an actual Fears Brunswick will set you back at least a few thousand dollars, and “The Gimlet” has an official retail price of £1,000 GBP (approximately $1,250 USD, at the time of writing), which makes it only slightly more than one of the brand’s standard 02Series models. However, along with being a limited edition of 200 examples, “The Gimlet” will be released at British Watchmakers’ Day 2025, which means that securing an example will be extremely difficult unless you happen to attend the show. For more information on the Studio Underd0g x Fears “The Gimlet” watch, please visit either the Studio Underd0g website or Fears Website.
