What Luxury Means to Me: Davide Cerrato, Chief Executive of Bremont Watches

‘Luxury is timeless elegance and timeless beauty which has nothing to do with fashion, and that’s why the two worlds are so different. They are almost opposite: fashion is a route to obsolescence, and luxury is a route to the everlasting.’

These are the words of Davide Cerrato, CEO of Bremont watches, the British watch company known for its military-inspired tool watches (and for making watches for the military too). Cerrato is an Italian and comes with great watchmaking credentials having done time at Panerai, Montblanc and Tudor, the Rolex-sister company. It was at Tudor that, in 2010, he fell in love with a watch strap. 

‘That was when I made my first NATO strap [a simple, often woven watch strap designed in 1973 by the British Ministry of Defence], and I gave it to my brother, who is a psychologist. He wore it for 10 years, and I realised that this woven strap, made by a company that has been doing just this on French 18th century Jacquard looms in Saint-Étienne for generations, was in some ways the perfect emblem of true luxury: beautifully made, practical, simple and durable. Which is why I have put it in our latest dive watch, the Supermarine Full Ceramic.’

It is typical of Cerrato that he should wax lyrical about a detail like a strap – at one point he describes seeing the looms at work as ‘poetry’ – because though now a CEO, he cut his teeth overseeing the details of watch design.

‘There are many dimensions associated with luxury, but the one that we celebrate the most at Bremont is durability.’ A luxury product is made to last, he explains. ‘The whole idea behind Bremont was built around the concept of durability – we say our watches are tested beyond endurance.’

He cites the ‘crazy test’ of the firm’s Martin Baker watches, named for the British aviation company that supplies fighter ejector seat technology for more than 70% of the world’s air forces. The MBI watch, which was created in 2007 and is only available to those who have actually ejected from a plane on a Martin Baker seat, underwent a series of rigorous tests including, live ejection testing, altitude testing, extreme temperature endurance testing, vibration testing, aircraft carrier deck testing and mfos crashworthy testing.

The MBII and MBIII, available to the public, have been similarly tested. ‘The vibration test has the watch strapped to a dummy’s wrist and replicates 30 years of life on an aircraft. ‘What could be more British!’ says Cerrato.

Then there are the Bremont ambassadors, like former Royal Marines Commando Aldo Kane, who are simply sent off into the elements to see if the timepieces can cope. ‘I can tell you, the guy has an extreme sense of endurance. Aldo has been in the jungle with our new ceramic Supermarine 500-metre dive watch.’ Ceramic is among the toughest materials on earth, generally harder than steel, so it is almost impossible to scratch it, unless you have a diamond to hand.

‘Aldo just doesn’t take any care of his watch when he’s in the field,’ laughs Cerrato. ‘But that’s how we want them to be tested… so they have been on real wrists of real people in real conditions. This is far more important than some vague idea of “quality”, it’s really about physical durability.’ 

Cerrato can see the analogy with J Craft here, with the attention to detail and the use of the best materials that goes into the making of the boats, and how they are built to last for generations. And of course, the vessels undergo a tough testing programme – J Craft have been conceived, developed and built for the rough Baltic and Nordic seas and are designed and certified for open sea cruising rather than near shore cruising or lake-dwelling.

It also employs some very intensive production techniques. For example, the mahogany veneer covering the GRP deck has 16 layers of epoxy resin, which are hand-brushed onto the mahogany, with every fourth one first cured and then sanded smooth, also by hand, before four layers of clear varnish seal the job. This sort of treatment means the mahogany wood on a J Craft may well not need attention for as long as Cerrato’s brother wore his NATO strap.

‘Of course, durability means you are creating something that can live for generations. When you receive the watch of your great grandfather, as I did, and it’s still operating, how magic is that!’ says Bremont’s CEO. ‘A mechanical watch just needs a little oil inside and servicing from time to time and it will last forever.’

But being well-made is only half the story. ‘There is another aspect of durability that luxury has, and that is aesthetic durability,’ states Cerrato. 

He explains how he is a fan of the idea of iconic design: ‘Luxury products have embedded within them a code for long-lasting design or long-lasting style, and when you are creating luxury you need to nail these particular codes that are capable of going through different decades and remaining always relevant.’ 

Again he cites the new Supermarine Full Ceramic dive watch, which he describes as being both highly technical – made from ceramic, with a titanium container and blue emission Super-LumiNova® illumination, a helium escape valve and water resistant to 500 metres depth – but looking like a really elegant piece of design on account of its lines, and what he calls it’s ‘plasticity’ in terms of how the materials used look and feel. 

J Craft can relate to this perfectly. The Torpedo model combines elegant, classic 50’s and 60’s styling with high-tech engineering: a hand-built machine that has mahogany and teak carpentry, a rose polished-steel dash and a Ferrari 250 GTO Nardi steering wheel, combined with state-of-the-art tech like Volvo’s IPS drives, a Skyhook digital anchor enabled by hull integrated invisible antennas, gyroscopic stabilisers, retractable touchscreen controls, modular radars, retractable mil-spec night vision capabilities and remote steering. Importantly, a J Craft doesn’t date, precisely because it possesses what Cerrato calls ‘aesthetic durability’. 

‘At Bremont, I do think our watches have a lot of personality, and they are also a durable product functionally and they are a durable product aesthetically,’ says Cerrato. ‘I’m sure in 100 years’ time when people think about a serious diver’s watch, ours will still be there.’ 

And maybe being worn on a J Craft.

bremont.com