Reintroducing The Fears Redcliff — A Slim And Sporty Family Of Round Watches

When Nicholas Bowman-Scargill relaunched his family’s watch brand in 2016, the Redcliff Quartz was the first watch from Fears in 40 years. However, in 2020, the Redcliff was discontinued. Except for a limited quartz Redcliff “Edwin Edition” that came out in 2023 to celebrate the brand’s founder’s birthday, the Redcliff hasn’t been a part of the recent catalog — until now. The more contemporary and sporty Redcliff family of round watches makes its return, now with an automatic movement from La Joux-Perret. And there’s not just one new watch but four of them. Let’s take a quick look at the Fears Redcliff 39.5 Date in Mallard Green, Cherry Red, Pewter Grey, and Raven Black.

I didn’t realize this, but after discontinuing the Redcliff Quartz, Fears didn’t even have a simple round watch in the collection anymore. There’s the Brunswick 38 and 40 in various configurations, which have a more classic design and elegant cushion-shaped case. Then there’s the Garrick collaboration with its large opening at 6 o‘clock showing the free-sprung balance. Other than that, there wasn’t much else to choose from — or, actually, nothing else. That’s why the relaunch of the slim and sporty Fears Redcliff family of round watches makes so much sense.

The Fears Redcliff 39.5 Date

As its full name already suggests, the new Fears Redcliff comes in a 39.5mm stainless steel case. It has a modest 47mm lug-to-lug span and is also quite thin at just 9.95mm thick. The case itself is fully brushed, and the rounded bezel around the sapphire crystal is all polished. The bracelet that the Redcliff comes on also has a combination of brushed and polished links. Its style reminds me a bit of a Grand Seiko bracelet. Here, though, it matches the case very well and offers a folding clasp with toolless micro-adjustment and quick-release spring bars. Now, that’s a lesson in user-friendliness right there.

As mentioned, the Redcliff isn’t a quartz watch anymore. The fairly big and grippy screw-down crown at 3 o’clock operates the top-grade La Joux-Perret G100 automatic movement inside. It features 24 jewels, runs at a 28,800vph frequency, and holds a 68-hour power reserve. It’s almost a shame that it’s covered by an all-steel case back as it’s decorated with Côtes de Genève, rhodium plating, and blued screws. Even the rotor features a custom engraving in the shape of a Bristol Flower. Then again, the case back also helps keep the Redcliff 39.5 Date water resistant to 150 meters.

Black, gray, red, and green to choose from

Now we get to the more distinguishing part of the new Redcliff 39.5 Date, which is its dials. The overall layout might not be that original, but the applied finishes and colors are. Let’s start with the similarities between the different dial options. They all come with diamond-cut, rhodium-coated (except for black gold coating on the Pewter Grey version), tri-beveled, and hand-applied baton indexes featuring Super-LumiNova. The index at 3 o’clock is a bit shorter to leave some room for the beveled date window. And if you haven’t noticed already, the date discs all perfectly match the colors of the dials. 

The chapter ring on the edge of the dial is slightly recessed, and its CNC-milled grooves create a great visual effect. Both the Pewter Grey and Mallard Green dials feature a vertically hand-brushed finish. The Cherry Red and Raven Black dials, on the other hand, have received a hand-applied sunburst finish. All four versions come with recognizable Fears handsets, which received the same finishing as the hour markers. The ARdur Swiss antireflective coating on the inside and outside of the crystal ensures that you can always get a good look at how the dials play with the light.