Fears x Andrew Morgan Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour ‘Ultimus’: The Jump Hour’s Final Act
All good things must come to an end. And apparently, that includes one of the more distinctive watches to emerge from modern British watchmaking.
Fears has called time on its Brunswick Jump Hour collection, but rather than quietly letting it disappear into the archives, the Bristol brand has decided to give it one final outing. And for the occasion, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill has enlisted the help of fellow Brit and watch personality Andrew Morgan.
The result is the Fears Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour ‘Ultimus’, a watch that takes the familiar Brunswick formula and pushes it somewhere considerably more contemporary.
And yes, Ultimus really does mean what you think it means. This is the final Brunswick Jump Hour.
From Bristol, with a little help from The Talking Hands
Andrew Morgan will need little introduction to anyone who has spent an unhealthy amount of time watching watch videos online.
Known to many as “The Talking Hands”, Morgan has become one of the most recognisable voices in online watch media, combining humour with the sort of horological knowledge that makes complicated subjects feel surprisingly approachable.
For the Ultimus, however, he has moved from talking about watches to helping design one.
According to Morgan, the project presented an opportunity to take Fears into a more contemporary space while retaining the restrained elegance that has become such an important part of the brand's identity.
Looking at the finished watch, that balance is perhaps its most interesting achievement. Because underneath all the sapphire, lume and exposed mechanics, this is still unmistakably a Fears.
Art Deco meets something altogether more modern
The starting point is the familiar Brunswick 40.5 cushion case, whose origins can be traced back to Fears wristwatches of the 1920s. It measures 40.5mm by 38.5mm, with a thickness of 12.8mm including the domed sapphire crystal and a 47mm lug-to-lug measurement.
That vintage inspired case provides the foundation, but almost everything happening inside it feels considerably more modern. The Phantom White dial initially looks almost monochromatic, with black and off-white tones giving it something of an early 20th-century character.
Spend a little longer with it, though, and things get much more interesting.
Above the jumping-hour display sit three sapphire elements, allowing parts of the mechanism normally hidden beneath the dial to become part of the design itself. Rather than disguising the mechanics of the complication, the Ultimus celebrates them.
The rotating hour disc sits beneath a graduated transparent layer, while an integrated magnifying window enlarges the current hour. Fears describes the effect rather charmingly as resembling a droplet of water sitting on the dial.
It is a small detail, but one that gives the watch a very different personality from previous Brunswick Jump Hours.
Then someone turns the lights off
Arguably the Ultimus' best trick appears when the light disappears.
At the centre of the dial is a luminous ceramic disc, surrounded by a frosted semi-transparent minute track. The rotating hour disc is luminous too. In darkness, both emit a deep blue glow that transforms the appearance of the watch.
During the day, the Ultimus is monochromatic, clean and surprisingly restrained. At night, it becomes something else entirely.
The luminous centre shines through the frosted minute track while the glowing hour disc appears beneath the sapphire architecture above it. It is almost as though Fears has built two watches into the same case.
For a company generally associated with subtle colours, traditional proportions and understated British design, it is refreshingly playful.
Jumping through the hours
Mechanically, Fears hasn't tried to reinvent what already worked. Inside is the Christopher Ward JJ01 jumping-hour module, paired with a Sellita SW200 automatic base movement. It runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour, has 25 jewels and provides approximately 38 hours of power reserve.
The jumping-hour complication displays the current hour through the window at 12 o'clock, while a centrally mounted black-plated Fears hand takes care of the minutes.
Flip the watch over and the movement is visible through a sapphire display caseback, complete with a custom decorated rotor featuring the Fears “Bristol Flower”. There is also a discreet AMW logo underneath one of the lugs, marking Andrew Morgan's involvement without plastering his name across the watch.
A sensible decision, if you ask me.
The end of the Jump Hour
Perhaps the most important part of the Ultimus story is that Fears isn't presenting it as simply another limited edition. It is the conclusion of the Brunswick Jump Hour.
The story began in 2023 with the Alliance 01 and has since become one of the more recognisable parts of the revived Fears catalogue. Nicholas Bowman-Scargill describes the Jump Hour as one of the defining watches of the modern Fears story, combining an unusual way of displaying time with the restrained design for which the company has become known.
The Ultimus deliberately changes that recipe. There is still plenty of Fears DNA here, but sapphire components, luminous ceramic and exposed mechanics give the watch a noticeably more experimental edge.
That feels appropriate. If you're going to close the book on something, you might as well make the final chapter interesting.
Strap or bracelet?
The Ultimus comes as standard on an Obsidian Black Epsom calf leather strap, handmade in Belgium with tonal stitching and a Fears Blue Alcantara lining.
On the strap, the monochromatic dial and black leather make for what is probably the cleaner of the two combinations. There is also the option of Fears' five-link stainless-steel bracelet, featuring alternating brushed and polished surfaces, quick-release spring bars and a butterfly clasp.
Choose the bracelet and Fears also includes the leather strap, which feels like the more versatile package if the budget allows.
Water resistance is a useful 100 metres, meaning that despite all the Art Deco influence and unusual dial architecture, this isn't a watch that needs to spend its life hiding underneath a shirt cuff.
One week only
Interestingly, Fears hasn't announced a fixed production number for the Ultimus. Instead, availability is limited by time.
Orders are being accepted for one week only, from 10 August until 17 August 2026, after which the Brunswick Jump Hour story is finished. Each watch will be individually and sequentially numbered.
Pricing starts at £4,450 including VAT on the Epsom calf strap, rising to £4,750 for the bracelet version, which also includes the strap.
That puts the Ultimus firmly into serious independent-watch territory, although the unusual complication, dial construction and relatively short ordering window give it considerably more personality than the specifications alone might suggest.
Final thoughts
Collaborations can sometimes amount to little more than a new dial colour and another logo squeezed somewhere onto the caseback. The Ultimus feels rather more considered than that.
Andrew Morgan's influence is obvious without overwhelming what makes a Fears watch a Fears watch. The familiar Brunswick case remains, as does the brand's characteristically clean approach to design, but the sapphire architecture and luminous ceramic introduce something genuinely different.
More importantly, it doesn't feel as though Fears has played things safe for its final Jump Hour. Quite the opposite.
The Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour ‘Ultimus’ takes one of the brand's most recognisable modern watches and gives it an unexpectedly futuristic send-off.
By day it's restrained, monochromatic and unmistakably British. Turn the lights off and it becomes a completely different animal. Not a bad way to say goodbye.