At the end of 2023, Octavio Garcia’s Gorilla brand debuted a new smaller-sized version of the Fastback known as the Fastback Touring Aurelia. This addresses the pronounced desire by many enthusiasts for Gorilla to produce a smaller version of its distinctive-looking cushion-shaped Fastback case. Mr. Garcia mentioned for a while now that he was working on a smaller version of the Fastback, and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would like it as much as the larger version. While the bold wearing experience of the 44mm-wide Gorilla Fastback watch family is still very fun, I actually agree that this 39mm-wide Fastback Touring Aurelia opens up the Gorilla wearing experience to a larger market, and, in many instances, is a more practical item on the wrist. The two limited-edition launch models of the Gorilla Fastback Touring Aurelia include the pictured Fastback Touring Nero Aurelia with a black dial and the Fastback Touring Bianco Aurelia with a white/silver dial.

The most important thing about the Fastback Touring Aurelia (from a design perspective) is that it demonstrates that the Fastback case can be successfully scaled. The 5mm-wide difference in size between the two model families is not insignificant, but the overall shape and form of the case look very similar in the 39mm-wide profile. In addition to being 39mm wide, the Fastback Touring Aurelia is 10.5mm thick, has a 50mm long lug-to-lug distance, and is a full 43.1mm wide if you include the bold steel crown guards and crown. The case has a screw-down crown and offers 100 meters of water resistance, with a flat AR-coated sapphire crystal over the dial and other over the movement on the caseback.

While the case architecture of the Fastback Touring Aurelia is similar to larger models, the materials used are a bit different. Rather than a stack of materials such as titanium, ceramic, and anodized aluminum seen in most of the 44mm Fastback models, the Fastback Touring Aurelia’s case is made from steel in various finishes. DLC coating is used to make the glossier black bezel piece and the slightly more matte main section of the case. That gives the Fastback Touring Aurelia a more solid feel, even though it doesn’t feel as exotic as other Gorilla models that use of a series of materials for the case architecture. It’s unclear why Gorilla decided to go with a mainly steel construction for the Fastback Touring Aurelia, but it is possible that in the future, more colorful versions will sport other case materials.

While Gorilla has produced other watches in the past sans Arabic numerals, right now, the Fastback Touring Aurelia models are the only ones with baton hour markers. We see a slight evolution of the Fastback dial with the Aurelia model but also familiar elements such as the three-spoke steering wheel-style hour hand and the automotive racing-inspired minute track. Legibility is high for both the Nero and Bianco Aurelia dials thanks to high contrast and proper proportions. I also like how the hour hand disc is placed into a recessed section on the dial. Gorilla paints the hands and hour markers with Super-LumiNova, and the dial itself is a wonderful example of symmetry in action. The only tiny issue is that the placement of the Gorilla logo on the dial under the hour hand disc means that at least part of the logo is covered most of the time. Further, compared to other Gorilla watches, Garcia was incredibly restrained when it comes to colors on the Fastback Touring Aurelia. Other than the orange-colored central second hand and the “Fastback” text on the dial, these are monochromatic watches.

The included strap is comfortable and attractive — either totally black or black with white edging, depending on the model. These are produced by Viton, a tradename for a particular type of fluoroelastomer material. I highly prefer this to silicone, and it feels almost like natural rubber. What I would have liked to have seen from Gorilla is a tool-less strap release system for the Fastback Touring Aurelia. Given the mostly black and white/silver coloring of the cases, these would look nice on a range of strap colors. Indeed, you need to use one of Gorilla’s straps to go with it, but I believe Gorilla should pave the way to allow its customers to change the look and feel of their Fastback watches with new strap styles and colors.

As for the movement, Gorilla maintains its close relationship with Japan’s Miyota and uses the modern Miyota caliber 9039 automatic movement inside of the Fastback Touring Aurelia. The 9039 comes in a high grade and operates at 4Hz with about two days of power reserve. It is fitted with a custom Gorilla automatic rotor. However, I wonder how long it will take before Gorilla opts to go with a La Joux-Perret G100 family movement. La Joux-Perret is owned by Citizen, and its G100 is basically a Swiss Made version of the Miyota 9000 family, but with more decoration and some extra features. Given the price point of the Fastback Touring Aurelia, I have a strong feeling that Gorilla will likely be exploring this direction in the future. This would allow the company to offer a more prestigious (though the caliber 9000 performs very well) movement without having to change suppliers.

A few minutes on the wrist was all it took for the Fastback Touring Aurelia to sell itself to me. It offered all the bold styling of the Fastback (which I like a lot) with a far more pragmatic size for all but those with big wrists. If you have a more “regular” existence and still want something interesting and fun on your wrist, the 39mm Gorilla Fastback Touring Aurelia is a compelling option. While many 39mm watches are available on the market, very few have a case shape and sporty feel like this. Even compared to the 44mm Fastback models, Gorilla tapped into an even more underrepresented market by offering a smaller version of a wild watch design. I suppose this also opens up the Fastback to more female wearers, few of whom would want to wear something as big as the larger-cased Gorilla watch models.

The Gorilla Fastback Touring Aurelia is not terribly expensive, but it’s not cheap, either. These are mid-tier priced at Gorilla, even though the cases don’t have ceramic, titanium, or a Swiss Made movement. That said. I’ve remarked on how the brand has been slowly raising its price point. I think that the price isn’t too bad, and frankly, the wearing experience is extremely uncommon in this case size at this time. These are also going to be relatively rare, given that the Fastback Touring Aurelia are limited-edition models of 500 pieces each. The Gorilla Fastback Touring Nero or Bianco Aurelia watches have a retail price of $1,780 USD. Learn more at the Gorilla watches website.