The Jaguar C-X75 and Bremont
By Noodlefish, published on 4 January 2011
The first Jaguar I ever remember sitting in was a beautiful red XJS: the V12 HE. I was very young, but distinctly remember being incredibly excited at the sight of this shiny, new and extremely sleek beast. I think it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and certainly had one of the throatiest roars I’d ever heard, with a lovely purr as it cruised up the A22. I remember being excited every time I saw that car – and I still get the odd twinge, even now.
Last Friday afternoon, while visiting the Berkeley Boutique as a guest of the Bremont Watch Company and ATG Vintage Watches, I suddenly found myself reverting to my inner nine year old (as the squeals on the accompanying video will testify).
The Jaguar C-X75 concept really is the most wonderful thing I’ve seen an many a year: the curves of its silver flanks; the twin gas turbines visible through the rear window; the red Martin-Baker styled door handles positioned on the seat; the wonderfully techo-retro display; and, of course, the Bremont watch mounted proudly in the console. The clock is still a concept – as is the Jaguar – but is based upon the tried and tested (beyond endurance) MB watches developed with Martin Baker, and the recent pocket watch developed as a bespoke project for the “handmade” edition of Wallpaper* in August.
A beautifully-milled back, echoing the shape of the blades in the gas turbines, allows the clock to be mounted both on the dash and as a desk clock. Should the design be taken into production, Bremont hopes to produce a device to translate the energy from the braking / acceleration of the car into the rotary movement required to power the Soprod-modified automatic movement. Bremont are also looking at the possibility of installing a watch winder for periods of inactivity.
The car itself is studded with wonderful driver-centric design touches – some of which recall Jaguars of yesteryear (e.g. the E-Type digital dash or the flowing lines of the ear-acheingly beautiful XJ-220), while others are pure Tron. For example, the speakers in each of the doors are concepts designed by Bowers & Wilkins. Each is backlit in a soothing blue, and contains a series on one watt “nano speakers” rather than the traditional woofer / tweeter configuration. The door release is situated between the legs of the driver, and draws on the red warning triangles used by Martin Baker in their ejector seats. The start / stop levers are above the driver’s head, and, rather than have an adjustable seat, the entire console (including pedals) moves towards the driver. The video shows the startup from a fictitious track day at Le Mans. After a quick flying trip around the curves, the Jag checks its aerodynamics and then tests the turbines, before coming to rest with some lovely retro E-Type dials.
It’s hard not to be excited by this concept from Jaguar, and I do hope that it makes it to production. The expected performance is mind-boggling: according to Jaguar, the C-X75 will do 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds, complete the quarter mile in 10.3 seconds and go all the way up to 240mph. Not bad for an electric car!
The Jaguar C-X75 and Bremont
With this post, we’re delighted to welcome our latest guest contributor to The Prodigal Guide: Noodlefish. The man is fanatical not just about watches but about the sort of horological detail that would escape most timepiece fans. In the coming months, he’ll be taking us deep down the watch rabbit hole. In the meantime, enjoy this first report on Bremont’s involvement with the amazing new Jaguar concept: the C-X75.
10 Responses to “The Jaguar C-X75 and Bremont”
-
Nice article on the concept Jaguar and its accompanying clock. I appreciate cars but don’t know as much as Noodlefish about these things. I did do a writeup of the Bremont clocks over here if you’re interested in having a look: http://bit.ly/BremontClock
-
Oh, I feel like a fool, more silly than prodigal. Ivan Y already referred back to the article. Thanks Ivan Y! You can delete my comment above, if you’d like.
-
Straight-Six
5 January 2011
Great post, but there’s something kinda crucial missing: an exterior shot of this most wonderous car?!
-
I know. With all the people milling around, it was incredibly hard to get a decent shot of the car itself. There’s a decent video on the Jag ‘site (http://www.jaguar.com/gb/en/#/experience/sponsorship_events/events1/cx75_video?id=2468092) that shows them installing the C-X75 in the Boutique.
-
-
-
Sorry. Managed to post a comment without the link. There are more photos in the Flickr stream linked in the post above. There are a couple that show the “mounting” for the dashboard clock. Quite an interesting design – Hugo (Senior Designer) explained that they had looked to echo the shape of the turbines in the mounting device.
-
Chris I
6 January 2011
I will be in London in Feb. Where is the best place to see the Bremont line? I can’t traipse about with the family in tow. I need one shop. I see Selfridges on the site do they carry more than a few styles? I am most interested in Supermarine, MB and Classic ranges. I won’t be buying, just looking for now – but I want to see a few styles.
-
Chris – You will not have a problem seeing the full range. I popped in before Christmas to see their Limited Edition (of ten) Pantone 109-barrelled Martin Baker watch, and they had all the U-2 watches (including an LE), Supermarines (including the Descent) and classics (bar two of the non-chronos). In the interest of impartiality, there are also a number of other ADs in that area (Jura and, apparently, Garrards, although the latter appears to be new, so may be worth checking directly with them).
-
-
Chris I
7 January 2011
Thanks…I figured my wife could find something to check out at Selfridges. Then I would not be too rushed or have her looking over my shoulder telling me that I just bought watch!
Ivan Y
4 January 2011
Great article! But I’m rather jaded by all the concepts that don’t turn into reality or that have to make way too many sacrifices to get into production, so I won’t be holding my breath. I do, however, have to give Jaguar its due — their recent cars look dramatically better and more modern compared to what they used to turn out.
Insofar as the Bremont clock is concerned, an article on Meehna’s blog (http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/1_mens_watches/unstuffy-bremont-mechanical-car-clock.html) indicates that they are thinking of making a removable model — something all car thieves will go nuts for