Formex Upgrades the Essence 39 With More Power, Comfort and Three Dial Options

The Formex Essence 39 retains the design and proportions that made it the brand’s bestseller while gaining a 65-hour COSC movement, screw-down crown and on-the-fly bracelet micro-adjustment.

The Formex Essence 39 enters its next chapter without changing the formula that made it one of the defining watches in the brand’s modern collection. Instead of redesigning its bestseller, Formex has concentrated on three areas that directly affect the ownership experience: movement performance, security and comfort on the wrist.

The updated 39 mm model introduces the new Sellita SW200-2 Power+ automatic calibre with a 65-hour power reserve and COSC chronometer certification, a screw-down crown integrated with Formex’s patented Case Suspension System, and a new butterfly clasp offering tool-free micro-adjustment directly on the wrist.

Three dial choices complete the update. The familiar signature Blue remains in the collection, joined by the new Alpine White with blue accents and Radiant Bronze, a warmer colour already found within the Reef collection. Crucially, the proportions, architecture and overall presence of the Essence 39 remain unchanged.

Formex Essence 39 Evolves Without Changing Its Identity

The philosophy behind the new Essence 39 can perhaps be understood through Formex’s own message: staying true does not mean standing still. Rather than using the update as an opportunity to visually reinvent the watch, the Swiss independent has brought together technical developments that had already been introduced and tested elsewhere within the Essence family.

The Essence has been central to modern Formex since the original 43 mm model emerged through crowdfunding in 2018. A smaller 39 mm version followed in 2020, before the family expanded with the lightweight Essence Leggera in 2022, the Essence Ceramica in 2025 and, later that year, the stainless-steel Essence 41. Throughout that evolution, different dimensions and materials have appeared without fundamentally altering the collection’s distinctive architecture.

That continuity is particularly important for the 39 mm model, which has become Formex’s best-selling case size. The objective this time was therefore not to fix something that was unsuccessful, but to consolidate the most useful advances developed elsewhere in the family into the model that sits at the heart of the collection.

A New Sellita SW200-2 Power+ With 65 Hours of Autonomy

The most significant technical change takes place beneath the dial. The updated Formex Essence 39 is powered by the Sellita SW200-2 Power+, a new-generation automatic movement introduced in 2026 that extends the power reserve to 65 hours.

Importantly, that additional autonomy has not been achieved by reducing the operating frequency. The calibre continues to run at 4 Hz, or 28,800 vibrations per hour, maintaining the rate stability associated with the Essence’s COSC-certified chronometer performance. According to Formex, the new movement also improves winding efficiency and shock resistance compared with its predecessor.

A 65-hour reserve also has a tangible everyday benefit. The watch can be removed for more than two days and still be running when it returns to the wrist, bringing the Essence 39 closer to the practicality expected from a contemporary everyday mechanical watch.

A Screw-Down Crown Meets the Case Suspension System

The second major upgrade concerns the crown. For the first time in this configuration, the Essence 39 receives a screw-down crown while preserving the collection’s distinctive silhouette and 100 metres of water resistance.

On a conventional watch this might appear to be a relatively straightforward change, but the Essence presents an additional engineering challenge because of Formex’s patented Case Suspension System. First patented in 2000, the construction allows the watch case to react to movement and pressure, with the aim of improving comfort and shock absorption.

The screw-down crown was first introduced within the Essence family on the Ceramica Skeleton COSC 41 mm. Adapting it to the 39 mm model required Formex to reconcile the threaded mechanism with the movement of the suspended case without altering the clean profile that defines the Essence.

The advantage is greater security during everyday use while retaining the ergonomic system that remains one of the collection’s most distinctive technical features.

Micro-Adjustment Without Taking the Watch Off

The third update may prove to be the one owners notice most frequently. Formex has equipped the Essence 39 bracelet with a new butterfly clasp featuring an integrated micro-adjustment system developed in collaboration with Dexel.

Originally introduced on the Essence 41 mm Space Ghost Automatic COSC in 2025, the mechanism allows the bracelet to be extended or shortened in increments of 3 mm, with a total adjustment range of 6 mm. More importantly, this can be done directly on the wrist without opening the clasp or removing the watch.

It addresses a familiar problem with metal bracelets: wrist circumference changes throughout the day depending on temperature and activity. A bracelet that feels ideal in the morning can become tight later in the day, and conventional systems often require the wearer to remove the watch before making an adjustment. Here, the intention is to make those small corrections almost effortless.

It is not the most visually dramatic update, but it arguably illustrates Formex’s approach to this new generation better than any other. The emphasis is on improving how the watch behaves on the wrist rather than making changes simply to create an obviously new product.

Three Dials: Blue, Alpine White and Radiant Bronze

While the architecture remains familiar, the updated Essence 39 arrives with three distinct dial personalities. The signature Blue continues unchanged, preserving one of the colours most closely associated with the collection, while Alpine White and Radiant Bronze introduce two different directions.

Alpine White replaces the previous gunmetal treatment of the hands and indices with blue accents. Formex uses the same rich blue already seen on the hands and markers of the Essence 39 Space Ghost, creating stronger contrast against the white surface and giving the model a cleaner, sharper appearance.

Radiant Bronze moves in the opposite direction. Shared with the Reef collection, the warmer dial changes between deeper and brighter bronze tones depending on how it catches the light, bringing a richer character to the otherwise technical design of the Essence.

The Familiar Essence Dial Architecture Remains

Colour aside, Formex has preserved the construction that gives the Essence dial much of its identity. The signature horizontal grooves are individually CNC-milled directly into the dial, creating depth and changing reflections as the watch moves.

Hand-applied indices are combined with faceted hands featuring brushed surfaces and mirror-polished edges. The contrasting finishes are intended to keep the indications clearly defined while creating flashes of reflected light at different viewing angles. Both the hands and indices are deeply filled with BGW9 Super-LumiNova for low-light visibility.

At 6 o’clock sits the collection’s familiar bevelled date aperture. The date wheel is matched to the colour of each dial, allowing it to remain integrated within the composition rather than becoming an unnecessarily dominant element.

The result is not simply one watch offered in three colours. Blue remains the recognisable technical expression, Alpine White introduces a cleaner contrast and Radiant Bronze provides the warmer alternative, while all three retain the same underlying Essence architecture.

Still Designed as a Go-Anywhere, Do-Anything Watch

None of the changes fundamentally alters the role of the Essence 39. Formex continues to position it as a versatile watch capable of moving between casual, professional and more active environments without feeling out of place.

That approach also explains why the company resisted changing the dimensions or visual architecture of its best-selling model. The screw-down crown increases security, the longer power reserve improves everyday practicality and the adjustable clasp addresses comfort, but none requires the wearer to accept a larger or dramatically redesigned watch in return.

There is, naturally, a trade-off to this conservative approach. Anyone expecting an entirely new generation with a radically different case or dial architecture may find the visual changes modest. On the other hand, existing fans of the 39 mm Essence gain several meaningful upgrades without losing the proportions and character that attracted them to the model in the first place.

The Essence at the Core of Modern Formex

The importance of the Essence extends beyond sales. It remains the only current Formex collection equipped with the Case Suspension System and was the first watch developed after Raphaël Granito took over the company in 2016. In many respects, it established the direction of the modern brand: engineering focused on tangible benefits, ergonomics treated as a performance characteristic and technical solutions designed around the experience of wearing the watch.

That philosophy has roots in motorsport, where Formex argues that a successful machine is not necessarily a finished one. Instead, development comes from testing and refining solutions that already work. The updated Essence 39 follows exactly that logic.

Rather than replacing its bestseller, Formex has taken the lessons accumulated across the broader Essence family and brought them together in the 39 mm platform. The visual formula remains familiar, but the watch now offers greater autonomy, a more secure crown and significantly more convenient bracelet adjustment.

For a model whose appeal has always rested as much on engineering and ergonomics as aesthetics, that may ultimately be the more appropriate form of evolution.

Technical Specifications

For more information, please visit the official Formex website.

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