Formex Essence watches

The Formex Essence is an automatic watch line from Formex, the Swiss brand founded in 1999 and based in Biel/Bienne. It launched on Kickstarter in September 2018 in two versions: a COSC-certified Automatic Chronometer and an Automatic without the certificate.

Its defining idea is Formex's patented Case Suspension System, used on both the steel Essence and the Leggera: it absorbs shocks before they reach the movement and lets the case flex with the wrist. At launch the chronometer used a self-winding Sellita SW200-1 with a date and a 38-hour power reserve, under a vertically brushed dial in blue, black, brown or silver; the Automatic had a sunray dial instead.

The steel Essence is a 43 mm case, 10 mm thick, under sapphire. Besides black, blue and silver, the Automatic Chronometer also comes with a brown dial and a grey Dégradé. The Essence Leggera is the lightweight version, a millimetre thicker at 11 mm, in Cool Grey, Electric Blue and Forged Carbon. The Forged Carbon pairs a forged carbon case with a polished black ceramic bezel and runs on a COSC-certified STP 1-11 automatic with about 44 hours of power reserve.

The reference spells out the version: 0330.1.7 is the Automatic, 0330.1.6 the Automatic Chronometer and 0330.4 the Leggera, and the last block gives the strap, .100 for the bracelet and .910 for rubber. So 0330.1.6331.100 and 0330.1.6331.910 are the same blue Chronometer on bracelet and on rubber.