We’ve looked at a few different options that you have for creating a custom watch over the past months, and today we’ve got another brand to add to that roster – the Swedish brand Fewsome.
Fewsome is a fairly new brand, having started out in 2008. Given that the internals are Miyota movements, though, there shouldn’t be much concern with diving in and building your own watch.
When you start the design process, you start with a few simple choices – whether you’re desigining a mens or ladies model, and what sort of movement you want (automatic three-hander or quartz chronograph). Unsurprisingly, we went with the automatic movement for our build.
After those first two choices, however, things get a lot more interesting, and complicated for your decision-making. You’ve got your choice of seven different cases (six of which feature functional bezels); if you opt for a case with a functional bezel, you then can choose from 11 different bezels. We opted for the 200m water resistance case with a black bezel. Of note, once you make your case choice, you start seeing the build represented, and each choice you makes impacts the design you’re presented with.
Next up, you’ve got a dial choice to make. You can choose from one of 25 preset designs, or you can create your own dial (for an additional $31) – your choice of patterns, colors, indices, and where things are laid out. With this, the sky really is the limit – you’ve got control over fonts (and font size), colors and patterns – basically, everything. I won’t try to describe what we created in the process for this step – just check out the pictures.
Once you’ve spent a few hours laying out your dial, you check to choose the hands that will spin over it. There are eight styles (in silver or black) for the main hands; with the seconds hand, there are four styles that allow for color choice of the full hand, or you can opt for a simple red (or yellow) arrow head.
The next step you are brought to deals with the strap – you’ve got a choice between 23 options, as well as if you want a thumbnail buckle or deployant clasp. We opted for a black and gray NATO that complemented the dial design. Last, but certainly not least, you’ve got some additional options you can set.
Depending on the case design chosen at the beginning, you may have a crown choice to make. You may also have the choice of using their standard caseback, or you could opt to have a custom one worked up (for an additional $16). As you can see in the pictures in this post, we opted for some custom engraving.
All in all, you have a lot of control over the watch you’re getting. While this bounty of choice can be almost overwhelming, you are able to get just about exactly what you want. I appreciate that the web page updates the watch image as you build the watch, along with displaying the accumulated cost of the build.
For ours, it came out to a price of $201 – and this was with pricier additions of the custom dial and engraving on the caseback. So, this means you could conceivably build your own automatic watch for well under $200. Given the amount of control you have on the final product, and that it houses a Miyota movement, this seems like quite a bargain.
In daily wear, I found the watch to perform well, and found it comfortable on the NATO. I’m rather pleased with how it turned out, though I do wish the bezel was unidirectional and offered a little more texture (and perhaps some lume) – it’s just a flat print on the bezel inlay. That quibble aside, I think this is a fantastic watch, well worth the price being asked.
Even if you’re not ready to build your own Fewsome watch today, you can head over to the site and build various options, and then save them into your own account, for the day when you are ready to pull the trigger. Just tell ’em we sent ya!
