Some brands are built differently than others. Their structure, their nature, and their culture set them apart from the wild and aggressive competition that makes up today’s horological market. They either benefit from a unique heritage or are run by people who see things differently than others, through a broader lens and looking further ahead in the future. Each new collection they brew in their creative mind is anything but standard or commonplace, but is different and novel. They don’t build upon what others have done but create their own pyramid, assembling one point of innovation after another, until their work culminates towards something singular which makes for a unique contribution to the industry. These rare brands, however, tend to pair their innovative releases with high price tags, and whether or not it could be justified, a rarer few don’t. As you can imagine, today we’re going to talk about the latter of the latter type of brand. 

Let’s turn our attention then to Formex which has built a solid and well-deserved reputation for being visually creative, mechanically forward-thinking, and fair price-wise. I’ve reviewed quite a few of their watches on Mainspring and elsewhere, for example the Essence 39 and the Field V2, whilst Sophie reviewed the Stratos UTC Pilot and Essence Ceramica Skeleton. Two of their versions of their Essence’s therefore and we’re about to discover a third one: the Essence 41mm Gamaret, or the moderately sized of their do-it-all sports watch which packs as much innovation as a concept car does without ever veering into the bizarre and abstract type of horology from a design standpoint. No, the Essence 41mm Gamaret is a complete sports and everyday timepiece which can be worn in any and all situations, retailing for CHF 1,400/$1,742 USD on a rubber, leather, or nylon strap, and CHF 1,500/$1,866 USD on the state-of-the-art stainless steel bracelet. 

For this amount of digital money you get a lot and some more. 

Specifications 

A lot of what we’re about to see with the new Essence 41mm Gamaret are things we have seen with the Essence 39mm a couple of years back. The latter already constituted an excellent deal—no, not a deal but an excellent proposition—for a watch that can do it all as I’ve done it all with my Essence 39, from living the unadventurous life of a watch journalist and running errands to driving hundreds of miles in all types of weather and temperature hiking, swimming, and running. But the Swiss brand added a couple of key improvements which we’ve been asking for—which I have been asking for—and which the brand happily obliged to put through on the drawing board and through their teams of engineers. Two seemingly benign additions which go a long way in making what I considered to be the perfect GADA into a more perfect version of it: a new tool-less, on-the-fly micro-adjustment mechanism and a screw-down crown. (The latter is more of a bonus than a necessity but we will shortly come back to that.) 

The Essence 39mm which I reviewed and own already came with a micro-adjustment mechanism which I found to be clever and well integrated within the bracelet, that is from a mechanical standpoint, not so much from a design standpoint. One had to flip down and out the 4mm extension which looked a little off as it elongated the bracelet only from one side and left small gaps between the last link and the butterfly claps mechanism. So it was well-engineered and practical but not elegant. The new tool-less, on-the-fly micro-adjustment mechanism is a whole different story: first, it extends in both directions, 3mm on either side, so that you can add a little bit of travel and then some more if you need it. Second, one simply has to exert a little bit of force on the bracelet to extend it, in other words, pull away from the clasp on either side to extend it. Pull a little more on one side and both sides extend. Then lodge your fingernails behind the top tabs to close it back. It is stupidly genius. 

That is, by the way, the true definition of a tool-less, on-the-fly micro-adjustment mechanism.

Then let’s talk about the screw-down crown. Again something that seems trivial to engineer into a watch but which matters to (alas) many of us. For a long time I was under the false impression that a watch required a screw-down crown in order to claim a certain water resistance, being ignorant of the fact that modern technology made it possible for a push/pull crown to deliver the same. But Formex knew that the absence of a screw-down crown was a deterrent for some to pull the trigger on the Essence and so it obliged once again: now the crown can be threaded down and we still get the same 100 meters of water resistance. So call it an anxiety-reducing addition which I for one am glad it exists. Moreover, Formex opted for link screws which have an offset head: meaning that the head is mounted on a spring and wobbles around in order to prevent breakage from the tube under intense activity and so that it doesn’t come undone. Another small add-on which goes a long way in making a GADA watch a super GADA. 

Besides that: still a Sellita SW200-1 COSC caliber (4Hz/±41 hours of power reserve) which is individually tested which is always a nice thing to have. A flat piece of sapphire crystal with many layers of inner anti-reflective coating on top, because I can see each square-micro of the dial without any obstructions, and another piece of sapphire on the case-back so that we can gaze at the handsome caliber inside. The patented Formex case-suspension system I already talked about in my review of the Essence 39 and which is still awesome to have. Therefore a three-link stainless steel bracelet with screwed links, quick-release spring-bars, an on-the-fly and tool-less micro-adjustment mechanism built-in the butterfly clasp. Loads of SuperLuminova BGW9 on the hands and applied hour markers. And now an in-between format of 41mm in diameter combined with a 47.2mm lug-to-lug, 10.7mm thickness, and a 22mm lug width which tapers to 20mm at the clasp. I prefer the 39mm format of the Essence but the 41mm does still wear quite nicely on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist. 

Design

I first fell for the Essence 39 because of its design which I found to be elegantly symmetrical, equally sportive and elegant, and a tad, I would add, aggressive. It was and still is unique. So the design of the Essence 41mm hasn’t really changed save for the dial colors, four new ones which are now part of the permanent collections: Gamaret (red,) Dégradé (brown,) Blue, and White. Each comes with its unique character and each will please you all in different ways. I was sent the Gamaret which is a welcome challenge for someone who prefers to play it safe with black or gray dials most of the time, and even though there is an indirect connection between the dial color and my origins (French,) I for one do not drink wine but I do appreciate the spectacle offered here: the red is deep and bodied, like the Swiss wine grapes it was named after, displaying a vertical brushing, horizontal CNC-machined lines, and a hand-applied gradient to mimic the variations in tones of the liquid swirling inside the glass. 

I do see it and I think it’s well done. 

The increase in size by 2mm in diameter means that the new Essence 41mm commands a stronger wrist presence than the 39mm does, although it wears almost equally well on account of the relatively short lug-to-lug distance and the impressive 10.7mm in thinness. Formex does angular and muscular cases very well and the profile of the Essence still continues to work for me: it is attached to the wrist like a sports car is to the asphalt, it has character, is resolutely modern and Formex, and goes well with the equally modern and superbly executed dial. The hands and markers continue to strike the perfect balance between the active and more elegant genres of horology, faceted hands with brushed upper and polished chamfers, rounded rectangular applied markers doubled at the twelve and truncated at the six to make way for a beveled and trapezoidal date aperture. So the unique design language of the Essence is still here and is more intense and I’m glad the brand shows great consistency. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is this: I poured out my love for the Essence 39 in August of 2022 and the watch cost $1,450 USD on the bracelet back then. The Essence 41mm Gamaret with the new innovations retails for $1,866 USD on the bracelet, which constitutes a 28.68% increase in price over a period of three years and includes a better bracelet, a screw-down crown, and new link screws—all of that having to be taken into account with inflation and the rise of about anything we make and buy each year. When I put the watch I have strapped to my wrist whilst typing these words (the Essence 41mm of course) side-by-side with any other watch I’ve reviewed over the past four years (humble brag: to date I’ve reviewed exactly 417 watches) and look at what other brands offer for this same amount of cash, well, as I said before and as I’m about to say again: Formex offers some of the best value in the whole market. And this new iteration of the Essence proves that point once again. 

Conclusion 

I do have a thing for Formex. Not in the sense that you could call me a “fanboy,” I’m more of someone who has a profound respect for what the brand does: innovative design, innovative technology, and reasonable prices. A powerful but rare marriage of qualities which we rarely see nowadays in the micro and independent watch market, and which indeed a few very rare brands can claim to offer, and which has made the Swiss brand stand apart and above the crowd ever since it was taken over by Raphael Granito in 2016. As the far-fetched expression goes: I would be hard-pressed to find a better deal than the Essence 41mm Gamaret, as I do not believe I could easily find a watch that is that well made and equipped with that much proprietary technology that costs that relatively affordable amount of money. But that’s what I believe folks based on my own experience.  

Lastly: all four new variants are available on the Formex’s website starting today with shipping estimated for mid-November 2025. 

Thanks for reading.