The cushion shaped case was a big trend in the late 60s/early 70s era of watchmaking. With its slightly rounded off corners and edges it had a natural fit on most wrists and yet made a change from the traditional round case with slim bezel, that was typical of 50s and 60s watches.
Lately the cushion case has made a comeback with watches like the Duckworth Prestex, Sekonda Airborne chrono ( pictured) or the Spinnaker Hull, which is a great value automatic.
This week we got an email from British brand Farer, who have revamped their Stanhope model with some new features for 2022, which gives it a nice mix of retro and modern looks. It retails at £875, has a Sellita SW216 engine, plus super snug strap fit, thanks to the lub design details.
Looks sharp we reckon. Here’s the spec from Farer;
The original Stanhope was first released in 2018, as part of the hand-wound collection. Now reimagined into an all new, highly polished, 3 part construction cushion case design, fresh for 2022.
The dial is built using a complex multi-layer dial technique, creating an intricate piqué textured off-white central plate, punched in for the sweeping sub-dial at 6 and cut-in around the circumference to create the hour markings.
The raised polished steel numerals at 12, 3 and 9 along with the hour batons, infilled with midnight blue, set off the textured plate.
Raised wedge marker details on the hour indexes are finished in Super-LumiNova dots, linking to the rounded index hands with matching inset Super-LumiNova on both hour and minute hands to add a further depth to the Stanhope design after dark.
At 38.5mm the case sits comfortably on any wrist, with the lines of the new cushion case architecture creating a barrel sided design that hugs the dial. Uncommonly, the case is skilfully made up of a three piece construction; case back, main case body and bevelled bezel with anti-reflective sapphire glass inset – resulting in a compelling piece from any view when handling.
The straps create the illusion of being integrated into the bat ear lug design, due to a clever scalloped inner case between the lugs for a snug fit. This is a case that stands out from the norm, with classic understated elegance.
Powered by the modified non-date SELLITA SW216-1 Elaboré Grade movement, notable for its thinness, reliability and robustness. Finished with blue screws and bespoke Farer arrow pattern, across the micro-engraved bridge. Delivering 45 hours power reserve when the calibre is fully manually wound.
More here.