Farer’s new Racing Chronographs blend classic motor sport colours with Swiss engineering

Farer is a UK-based dial name founded in 2015 by four horophiles who thought there might still be space for another brand in the already crowded adventure-watch space. As it turned out, they were right.

Having celebrated its first decade last year, Farer continues to grow with an expanding range of watches designed in Britain but made in Switzerland by leading ‘white-label’ manufacturer Roventa Henex – a discreet operation known to produce watches for major brands (some of which are so major their names might surprise you).

The man at the helm of Farer is Paul Sweetenham, a retail pro who co-founded the brand after leaving a top job as the boss of TJX Europe, the parent company of TK Maxx. As well as being a watch fan, Sweetenham is a car guy who maintains a fleet of around a dozen classics. That love of cars has led to models in the Farer line-up being named after characters from the motor sport world, including Land Speed Record holders John Cobb and Henry Segrave, while the firm also stages track days for owners and friends of the brand, with Sweetenham taking to the circuit in a Farer-liveried Ford Anglia race car.

Over the years, the design of Farer watches has also incorporated colours taken from the historic paint codes of marques – a theme being revisited in the brand’s latest release, a trio of racing chronographs.

The models – Volante, Libre and Gara – offer three different interpretations of the classic, three-sub-dial chronograph. Our favourite is the Libre, above, named after the historic racing formula. Featuring an oversized minute counter finished in the same burgundy hue as the hands, dial print, minute track, rotating bezel and rubber strap, the watch is impressively legible thanks to most of the textured dial being finished in pure white.