This Iconic Pilot’s Watch Just Brought Back a Fan-Favorite Feature

When Bremont unveiled its total rebrand under new CEO Davide Cerrato at Watches and Wonders Geneva in April 2024, the reception was mixed, to say the least.

Some longtime fans of the brand, which since its 2002 founding had established itself as a destination for extremely rugged pilot’s watches, felt alienated by the company’s new direction, which seemed to put a greater emphasis on aesthetics.

But in the year and change since, Bremont has been winning back fans watch by watch, both by launching all-new releases that keep with the brand’s original spirit of adventure — like the Supermarine Full Ceramic diver — while also bringing back brand signatures like the Trip-Tick case on the rebooted MB line at this year’s Watches and Wonders show.

Now, the British brand is once again tugging at the heartstrings of its oldest fans with another update to its flagship MB line of pilots’ watches.

Bremont

Orange You Glad It’s Back?

Bremont’s ongoing collaboration with Martin-Baker, the British company that invented the fighter jet ejection seat, began with the MBI and MBII back in 2009.

The novelty of the MB line was that the watches underwent the same brutal testing that Martin-Baker’s ejection seats are subjected to, meaning they are literally built to endure the rigors of being jettisoned from a fighter jet. No other pilot’s watch can say that.

Bremont

The watches utilized Bremont’s trademark Trip-Tick case, a unique three-piece construction where the middle section of the case independently secures the movement against shocks and magnetism. On the MB, the middle section of the case, known as the barrel, was made of aluminum, with its color signifying who could buy it.

The MBI had a red barrel and was only available to buyers who had actually ejected from a Martin-Baker seat — a pretty exclusive club. The MBII, meanwhile, featured an orange barrel that was just as eye-catching and, more importantly, was available to anyone. Other barrel color options came and went in subsequent years with the 2014 release of the MBIII and so on, but orange had always remained a mainstay for the line.

Bremont

When Bremont launched the MB Meteor as the third civilian generation of the MB last year, the brand kept some of the line’s hallmarks while also making some notable improvements. The Trip-Tick case was still there, along with the inner-rotating bezel and ejection seat pull-inspired counterweight on the seconds hand.

But there were also some changes, most of which I would consider improvements. Most notably, the case was slimmer, shorter and was now crafted from titanium — including the barrel. But the barrel was more bland than before, sporting a black DLC color as its only option.

Bremont

But that changes as of today. Bremont has launched a version of the Altitude MB Meteor with its knurled titanium barrel in the signature shade of orange that fans have long associated with the MB line. The color is produced using ceramic-based Cerakote coating rather than DLC and took some tinkering to get right, but based on the press images, Bremont nailed it.

The orange barrel is available on both the black and white dial variants of the Altitude MB Meteor, and is otherwise exactly the same watch as the black-barrel version — right down to the price, which ranges from $5,300 on a NATO or leather strap to $5,700 on a quick-release titanium bracelet.

Bremont

Bremont Altitude MB Meteor Orange

Specs

Case Size	42mm
Movement	Bremont Cal. BB14 automatic (La Joux-Perret base)
Water Resistance	100m

• $5,700 at Bremont

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