The Biarritz is Farer's most playful dive watch, a 38.5mm Swiss automatic with a cream dial, red hands and a white ceramic bezel. At $700 nearly new, it sits in a corner of the market that's busier than it looks.
The Verdict
A well-built Sellita-powered diver with real design conviction, priced fairly secondhand. If you want a Submariner homage, keep looking. If you want a watch that nobody else at the dinner is wearing, this is the one.
The Make
The case is 316L marine-grade steel, 38.5mm across, 11.9mm thick, with a 45mm lug-to-lug that will sit flat on a 6.5 inch wrist. The bezel is a unidirectional 120-click unit with a white ceramic insert and red numerals, the kind of detail that looks twee in photos and considered on the wrist. Sapphire crystal, anti-reflective coating on both sides, 200m water resistance, screw-down crown. The caseback carries Farer's engraved arrow and wave motif, which is more charming than it needs to be.
Inside is a Sellita SW220-1, the day/date sibling of the SW200. Twenty-six jewels, 28,800 bph, 41-hour power reserve. It is the workhorse of independent Swiss watchmaking. Not decorated, not adjusted to chronometer spec, but reliable and serviceable anywhere. Farer backs it with a 5-year movement guarantee from new.
The watch ships with three quick-release straps: a 316L jubilee bracelet with butterfly clasp, a white rubber strap, and a sky-blue NATO. The bracelet is the surprise here. Jubilee links at this price are often hollow and rattly. Farer's are solid and the taper is right.
The Fit
The 38.5mm case and 20mm lug width put this in classic mid-century dive watch territory. It wears smaller than a modern Submariner (40mm) or a Tudor Black Bay 54 (37mm but thicker). True to size for anyone between a 6 and 7.5 inch wrist. Above 7.5 inches it will start to look dainty. The 11.9mm thickness slides under a cuff without negotiation.
The Context
At $700 secondhand, the competition is a used Christopher Ward C60 Trident, an Oris Divers Sixty-Five, or a new Seiko SPB143. The Oris is the closest spiritual match, a similar size with vintage cues, but it retails north of $2,000. The Seiko has more heritage and a worse movement. Farer's edge is design: cream dial, red accents, ceramic bezel, three straps in the box. Nobody else at this price is doing that combination, and the build holds up to the asking.
The Personal Note
I've never owned a Farer, but I've handled enough Sellita-powered watches to know that what you're paying for here is the design and the casework, not the movement. At $700 with the full strap kit, that's fair. At the original $1,450 retail, it's a harder argument.
