Formex has a new watch called the AirField, and there’s something familiar about it. The 40mm titanium case comes directly from the brand’s Field Automatic Gen 2. The dimensions are essentially the same, the movement is the same, and much of the underlying formula carries over.
The AirField measures 40mm across, 10.6mm thick, and 46.6mm lug-to-lug. The Grade 2 titanium case weighs 54 grams without a strap and gets Formex’s hardening treatment, bringing the surface hardness to roughly 900 Vickers. You also get a sapphire crystal, screw-down crown, and 150 meters of water resistance.
Those are useful specs for this kind of watch. More importantly, Formex already had them sorted with the Field Automatic (check out our review here). I don’t see much reason to develop another case simply to make the AirField look more distinct on paper. Instead, Formex concentrated on the dial, and I think that’s where this release starts to make sense.
The brand says aircraft instrumentation provided the inspiration. There’s a triangle with two dots at 12, broad sword-shaped hands, stencil-style Arabic numerals, and an airplane counterweight on the seconds hand. That last detail gets dangerously close to overexplaining the theme, but I can live with it. To me, the recessed dial construction is much more interesting.
The dial is stamped with a fine grain, while the numerals and markers sit recessed into its surface. A sloped chapter ring rises around the perimeter. There’s actual depth here, at least judging from the supplied images, and I think that does more for the AirField’s identity than any of the overt aviation references.
Formex offers four versions: Desert Sand, Horizon Blue, Jet Black, and Tarmac Grey. Each gets a matching date wheel at six. The blue, black, and grey versions use BGW9 Super-LumiNova, while Desert Sand gets blacked-out lume. My take is that Tarmac Grey communicates the design most clearly, though that’s purely based on the images we have.
Inside is the Sellita SW200-2 Power+, with a 65-hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. This deserves some clarification because the movement isn’t unique to the AirField. Formex currently lists the same caliber in the Field Automatic Gen 2. I think that actually makes the story simpler. The movement is part of the platform. The dial is what Formex wants you to care about.
Pricing starts around $1,060 depending on market and configuration, with deliveries expected in late October. Elastic nylon Velcro straps and leather options are available, and Formex offers its carbon-composite deployant clasp with compatible straps.
In my opinion, the price is pretty easy to understand. You’re getting hardened titanium, 150 meters of water resistance, sapphire, a 65-hour Swiss automatic movement, and a dial that appears to involve more than surface-level printing. I’d still want to handle one before saying much about the execution. That leaves me with one question: did Formex create a separate watch here, or a particularly convincing version of the Field Automatic?
I’m leaning toward the former. The proportions and mechanical foundation may be familiar, but the dial changes the personality considerably. My take is that Formex reused the parts that didn’t need fixing and spent its effort where people will actually see it. Whether that distinction holds up in person is still an open question. For now, the AirField gives us a good reason to look more closely at what Formex can do with this 40mm titanium platform.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.