Worn & Wound
Formex Introduces the New AirField
Earlier this year when Formex unveiled the Aria, which is unquestionably their most ambitious watch to date, with a price point to match, there was a lot of talk among enthusiasts about what a higher price point could signal. The fear that Formex could be leaving behind more affordable watches (even though, for what the Aria is, it’s quite affordable – but that’s a separate topic) was something we saw articulated all over the Watch Internet. Of course, there was never any real danger of Formex abandoning value oriented watches, and the release of the new AirField, built on their popular field watch format, proves that point. What we have here is fairly straightforward. The AirField borrows the titanium case architecture of the Formex Field, and adds a reconfigured dial and hand set with a more directly aviation inspired look. The design brief here seems to be immediate legibility and clarity, filtered through a Formex aesthetic in a way that feels similar to how the Formex Field took easy wearing utility in the same direction. The basic touch points of pilot watches that we all understand are very much present here: broad, sword shaped hands, matched with clean and easy to read Arabic numerals (filled with lume, of course). Formex has even included the traditional 12:00 triangle in this dial execution. The case measures 40mm in diameter and Formex says it weighs just 54 grams. It also has a surface treatment that the brand claims results in a surface hardness rat...