Fleming Series 1

[Ichiran]

https://www.watchtime.com/featured/a...ming-series-1/

New watch release by Thomas Fleming - The Fleming Series 1






The Fleming Series 1 is a simple time-only watch that is being launched in rose gold, platinum, and tantalum. The case measures 38.5mm wide and 9mm thick with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug dimension.

The Caliber FM-01 was developed with renowned movement maker Jean-François Mojon alongside his team at Chronode. The dial is by Comblémine and they are hand guilloche.

The Tantalum version with aventurine dial will be limited to 25 pieces with a price of 45,500 CHF, the Rose gold version will be limited to 7 pieces with a price of 48,500 CHF, and the platinum version will be limited to 9 pieces with a price of 51,500 CHF.

My view: the movement is fabulously finished and the watch is perfectly sized. The lugs are pretty and the Comblémine dial never disappoints. This is a very solid launch. I like it enough to start a thread on this watch.

[thesingularity7]

Those lugs and indices are fantastic!

[ButtButt]

Beautiful watches, I'm assuming these are already sold out?

[Ichiran]

Originally Posted by ButtButt

Beautiful watches, I'm assuming these are already sold out?

I'm not certain but there is a link for inquiry in the site:
https://www.fleming.watch/

[WatchEater666]

Personally, I feel like this doesn't have much personality to it, it feels bland & uninspired.

The finishing is nice but nothing special.

Design is not offensive, but nothing special.

Movement is nice, but nothing special.

The price point is also very, very aggressive for a new brand.



The case, I do like. I can't tell if this is just the pic or if the welds are actually rough:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C356grCRSsH/?img_index=1

Can anyone tell?

[GB-man]

Attractive but the same old song really. Nothing new. Feels like a czapek for more money.

[Rexhepi]

Agreed, this whole thing is a great example that the whole is not greater than its parts.
Fleming made his fortune from crypto and wanted to be the next Richard Mille, so he basically just tossed money at this project and thought he could pay his way in.
This is just an unoriginal product when you combine a movement from the guy that did MB&F / Czapek, a dial from Kari, a case inspired by Vacheron, and a logo made by a design house that worked for Louis Vuitton. If you type all this in an AI image generator you’ll probably get something that looks just like the Fleming.

Goes to show money can’t buy taste. I’ll take a Simon Brette over this any day. Or a Rexhepi, or a Gronefeld, and the list goes on. All of those are actual watchmakers, not just some rich kid who has money to burn.

Originally Posted by GB-man

Attractive but the same old song really. Nothing new. Feels like a czapek for more money.

[kunlun]

Originally Posted by Rexhepi

Agreed, this whole thing is a great example that the whole is not greater than its parts.
Fleming made his fortune from crypto and wanted to be the next Richard Mille, so he basically just tossed money at this project and thought he could pay his way in.
This is just an unoriginal product when you combine a movement from the guy that did MB&F / Czapek, a dial from Kari, a case inspired by Vacheron, and a logo made by a design house that worked for Louis Vuitton. If you type all this in an AI image generator you’ll probably get something that looks just like the Fleming.

Goes to show money can’t buy taste. I’ll take a Simon Brette over this any day. Or a Rexhepi, or a Gronefeld, and the list goes on. All of those are actual watchmakers, not just some rich kid who has money to burn.

This is weirdly personal.

Simon Brette didn't make his own dial. Gronefeld had Andreas Strehler help design their movement, etc. And further, a Simon Brette is not a watch you can get in a reasonable time frame.

Traditionally, Swiss watches were made just this way, with many small artisans specializing in movement ebauches or cases or finishing etc.

No one has to like a watch. These ones seem pretty nice to me, let's see how it works out for them.

[Rexhepi]

The difference, I think, is that these other independents use suppliers that organically make sense for their need, whether that is cost or a know-how. The issue with Fleming is they couldn’t come up with an enticing or original watch, so their whole platform is “Kari made the dial, MB&F made the movement, VC made the case, so look at us boys, we’re top dog haute horlogerie!”

Hence why I said just tossing money at something won’t make it good. You gotta have creative vision to bootstrap and make something cool. I don’t think Fleming has this, but he does have a lot of bitcoin money.

Originally Posted by kunlun

This is weirdly personal.

Simon Brette didn't make his own dial. Gronefeld had Andreas Strehler help design their movement, etc. And further, a Simon Brette is not a watch you can get in a reasonable time frame.

Traditionally, Swiss watches were made just this way, with many small artisans specializing in movement ebauches or cases or finishing etc.

No one has to like a watch. These ones seem pretty nice to me, let's see how it works out for them.

[sinkholeninja]

Production and design of the watch is 100% outsourced, albeit to high-end manufacturers. Although I admire the founder’s passion, the outcome feels generic.

[FrugalGreubel]

Nice looking watches but at that price point there’s just too many other watches I’d consider.

[Yobrooks]

I think it looks great all around, but lots to choose from at this price range. Would love to see side by side comparisons with Gronefeld, Moritz grossmann, rexhep, etc..

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[dchang81]

The lug attachment to the case reminds me of the unfinished horse meme. Doing well then just mailed it in.

[Ichiran]

To be fair, most independents with that level of finishing price their watches beyond CHF 60k. Kari's Vingt-8 is CHF 95k (platinum), and the RRCCII is CHF 130k. The margin for him is not great after paying Chronode for the movement/finishing, and Comblémine (Comblémine could charge more than 5-digit for each dial depending on the specs). Total pieces for the Series 1 are only 25+7+9=41 which are not many.

[corky]

Lugs are not to my liking…… seem at odds with the rest of the design, they surely arent an afterthought, but that’s how they appear to me from a design perspective.

[AltiTudor]

The cut aways on the sides look a lot like the treatment on the Czapek Quai de Bergues. A lot...

[RRJ]

Completely agree with Watcheater, very boring, uninspired and mediocre release.

[WatchEater666]

Aforementioned lugs:

[FrugalGreubel]

Originally Posted by WatchEater666

Aforementioned lugs:

Oooof.

[thesingularity7]

There's a video of one of the variants here:

[Pw92676]

I liked it. Until I saw the price. Then it made me think I really like and would prefer the Cornes de Vache VC

[btwistround]

Good points made.

To be honest, I didn't know of his background but was intrigued by his release. Was following James Kong on IG when he announced that he was joining Fleming and knowing that I had missed out on Ming when it first launched (still need to acquire my first Ming), I didn't want to miss out before the hype train takes off.

I knew he had deep pockets with the various names he's outsourced to.

Going to watch this for a while first. Like previous posters have said, plenty of other options out there.

[buddenfan]

Sorry but the Fleming looks like a Chopard or Laine.

Unlike the upcoming Berneron and Toledano&Chan watches this is nothing new or unique

[ts3]

Not a watch I have been waiting for. Too many similar looking three handers from new brands already. This is getting old.

[Ichiran]

They are so beautiful, and at half the price of a Vingt-8.

[Ichiran]

These 9 carvings (there are not many watches with this level of hand-finishing). Wish the spokes are 3D instead of 2D but they are behind those gorgeous carvings.

[Ichiran]

The lovely fish scales outer ring and radial inner ring. They are Kari's signature. The hands appear 3D to me.

[Ichiran]

The carvings behind remind me of the ones in the Logical One. That's a decently high watermark.

[usmc_k9_vet]

Originally Posted by Ichiran

The lovely fish scales outer ring and radial inner ring. They are Kari's signature. The hands appear 3D to me.

I’ve been following this thread and don’t mean to be rude or add to the controversy, I mean this genuinely - if those fish scales are a KV signature, they’re a signature of his for a reason and should be left to him to do on his watches. I guess someone else can do them of course, because there are only so many ideas companies can throw at a watch at this point, but if a feature of my watch was someone else’s signature and it wasn’t on a watch of theirs, I’d feel a bit weird. It’d be like if Omega all the sudden did a date at 3 o’clock with a cyclops magnifier over it and people were like “check out the date feature on my Omega. It’s a Rolex signature feature.” Maybe a bit of an extreme example, but that’d be downright weird and embarrassing.

Just my two cents. Carry on! I can’t afford any of the watches mentioned anyway.


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[GB-man]

Elite finishing isn’t even in the top 3 things I look for in a watch but I see significantly better finishing work on the RG compared to this. Night and day on the anglage.

I would be fine with the finishing given my standards if the watch was interesting in any way.

This is a ship without a captain. I want there to be a face and name behind the brand that’s a watchmaking prodigy. This is like a kit car. I realize that’s the Swiss way traditionally but we are talking new age independents here not 1980s swiss conglomerates.