Farer has redesigned their Pilot watch with a new Series II collection featuring four references that make use of an earthy color palette and titanium cases. The watches build on Farer’s playful design language while echoing classic pilot watch architecture resulting in watches that boast a unique personality while remaining comfortably familiar. These watches feature plenty of bells and whistles, as well as design flourishes best appreciated up close, but as a whole they represent a classic take on the genre wrapped in a relatively value focused package.
When Farer introduces a new collection, they typically do so with three or four distinctly separate designs comprising the whole, providing a diverse vision of a single idea in one fell swoop. The new Pilot Series II collection is no different, presenting three core designs across four separate watches, each presented housed in a 40mm grade 2 titanium case. When I think of a classic pilot watch design, an expansive dial and legible minute track immediately spring to mind, and that’s more or less exactly what we find here.
The case presents interesting dimensions that seem conscious of the overall wearability. At 40mm in diameter, there is a generous canvas for the dial to make a big impression, while a short lug makes for just a 43mm total length. This, paired with a 10.9mm total thickness and lightweight material, make for a tidy footprint on the wrist that will wear smaller than it looks. It’s an uncompromising approach that Farer has become quite adept at over the years, and while it doesn’t always come together perfectly, these are important considerations being made.
The new collection uses a rich palette of earthy browns and blues that stretch from the dial to the case, providing a cohesive vision of the schemes that in a way we rarely see from Farer. The Curtis and Curtis Eastern Arabic use a deep blue case with a dial finish that creates segmentation for each hour in a cone line fashion. Likewise, the Barnwell uses a brown case with blue details, and prioritizes the minute track at the perimeter of the dial. Finally, the Hewlett uses an uncoated case and quarters the dial intro quadrants with the minute track set into a thick rehaut surrounding the dial.
Each of the watches use an Elaboré grade Sellita SW-300-1 within a faraday cage to provide a measure of anti-magnetism. Small details, from the shape of the crown to the finishing techniques used on the dial, set these watches apart beyond their design, and it all comes together right at $1,525, representing a decent amount of value considering the movement at work here. The Pilot Series II is available now directly from Farer.
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