It’s no secret I’m a fan of Feynman Timekeepers. You can read or reread my article of the One Eclipse, the Cove, and of course my interview with the creator of the brand right here.
In 2021, I can’t remember exactly when, Yong Keong Lim told me he was going to release a new collection. I’m honest with you, I was directly excited to be able to try this new creation.
I was able to spend several weeks with the Fjord Magma and obviously this piece is a great success.
The Case
For the Feynman Fjord collection, the brand decided to use again the unique aesthetic of the Feynman Cove. This is a compressor styled case that honestly I really like.
In terms of size, I think that every kind of wrist will love it as it’s 40mm in diameter with a 46mm lug-to-lug, and with a thickness of only 12.8mm, which includes the curved sapphire crystal.
The case is made of 316L stainless steel and have a domed sapphire crystal with 5 layers of AR coating, and this time, no sapphire exhibition case back. For the Fjord the brand decided to put a screw-down caseback with a nice engraved decoration on it. Well, not everyone needs an exhibition back but I have to admit that I like to see the movement. Now, if you have this watch with the Zulu-style strap, you don’t need the open caseback.
The finishing of the case is also really nice. There are polished and brushed surfaces.
On the right side of the case you can find two screw-down crowns. The one at 2 o’clock is for the inner rotating ring while the one at 4 o’clock is to set the time.
I think that maybe these crowns could have been a bit bigger, but I’m not sure it would have worked with the whole design of the piece.
Of course, and just like the Cove, the watch is 200 metres of water resistance.
The Movement
At the heart of the watch there is the ETA 2895-2 Top-grade automatic movement that offers around 42 hours of power reserve. The elaborate-Grade specifications is above the Standard grade. That means that the movement is adjusted in three positions instead of two, resulting in an average of +/-7 seconds per day.
The Dial
Here is the main attraction of the watch. The dial of the Magma version I had in my hands is really powerful. When in the night, you have a blaze of Chrono.AMR Magma Orange lume that erupts through the secondary dial layer and this gives you the feeling of a volcanic eruption. That’s pretty cool, but even in normal light, during the day, the contrast given by this sandwich dial is really nice and unique. When you like colorful watches like me, be sure you will like the Fjord Magma watch.
You have a dual lume colors on it as besides the orange lume on the secondary dial, the hands and compass bezel have also a glow blue lume.
The only thing that I’m not fan about is the roman numeral used for the 12 o’clock. Honestly I think that it breaks a little bit the design of the dial and that it would have been better to put no markers here.
Around the main dial, and able to move thanks to the crown at 2 o’clock, the compass bezel displays cardinal, inter-cardinal and secondary inter-cardinal directions, with 3 models featuring English points, while a limited edition model, the Khor, features Arabic directions (if we talk about the whole collection).
This Khor model celebrates the 4th year of Feynman Timekeepers working with Chrono.Design, which will be celebrating one year of its presence on Singapore’s Arab Street. Chrono.Design, also based in Singapore, is the design and manufacturing partner of Feynman Timekeepers. The dial colour sought inspiration from the amalgamated colours of the waters and terrain found in the Khors of the Arabian Peninsula. The limited edition of 35 pieces will also feature a compass bezel denoted entirely in Modern Standard Arabic.
Just like with the other two Feynman watches collection, there is a small second between 6 and 8 o’clock. The hand have a unique shape inspired by the tail of a gecko… Or a little wave if we stand in the diving lexicon.
In the whole collection, you can choose between green, olive, black with orange or blue/grey sunburst dials.
Note that the dial of the Fjord is totally branding-free… What that means ? No logo and no, as on the Cove, nameplate placed between 4 and 5 with the name of the brand. But, to be honest they don’t need that. The watch is completely recognizable and in 2 seconds you can say that it’s a Feynman.
Strap
All Feynman Fjord models will come standard with a pair of FKM Straps, as well as a Zulu-style strap hand-made by Yi Leather. Since 2018, Shuyi Ng of Yi Leather has been instrumental to the high-quality leather straps that have accompanied Feynman timepieces. The Zulu-style strap included with the Fjord models are made with Palmellato leather from Italy. Palmellato is a structured leather, which has a distinctive surface pattern, and offers greater scratch, stain and moisture resistance compared to most other genuine leather options. This makes it ideal for a watch intended for outdoor use.
On the Magma there is a Nero black Palmellato leather NATO-style strap, fully hand-crafted, and finished with synergistic orange sidewalls. Even if I like its style and softness I have to admit that I’m not a NATO guy. So I prefer the FKM rubber strap.
After Thoughts
Not sure if I missed something in my review but what is sure is that this Fjord is a new killer created by the Singaporean brand. This one will obviously be another success for them.
I think that Yong Keong Lim has built a brand with a strong idendity. Something that as a watch lover (who’s into microbrand market) you can recognize in one wink. From the dial aesthetic to the design of the case, everything will bring you to the Feynman’s concept.
Without any hesitation I can recommend you to jump on their website and even to become one of the lucky owners of a Fjord.
The four pieces in the Feynman Timekeepers Fjord collection are on pre-order at the price of 712€ / around $800 USD (This is at the currency rate of mid-january 2022). On the website the pre-order price is at SGD$ 1085, and you can see that they will be retailed at SGD$ 1488. Delivery date are expected for February or March.
Oh yeah, obviously the « N » of the compass bezel and the « 12 » are logically aligned. Here I just misfitted the bezel after testing it.
No more to add… you can follow Feynman Timekeepers on their social networks profile :
If you’re interested to buy one of them just click HERE.
Jonathan Kopp
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