Beaucroft × Time+Tide Solaris GMT — A British Indie Sunset Wrapped in a 200-Piece Limited Edition

Description

Beaucroft, the British direct-to-consumer brand spun out of The Cambridge Watch Company by founder Marcus Williams, has launched its fifth limited edition in collaboration with Australian retailer Time+Tide. The Solaris GMT is built on the brand's existing Contour GMT architecture, but with one of the most distinctive dial concepts we have seen in the sub-GBP 1,000 GMT category: a hammered, textured central core representing the sun in motion, surrounded by a 24-hour chapter ring rendered as a linear gradient that transitions from deep purple to vivid orange — capturing the colour shift of a setting sun.

The concept comes from Time+Tide's London Watch Discovery Studio team and is anchored to the retailer's own tagline: "the sun never sets on Time+Tide." As the retailer pushes globally — with its New York Watch Discovery Studio opening at 12 East 53rd Street in late 2024 — the Solaris GMT was conceived as the first watch developed end-to-end by the New York team, then handed to Beaucroft's UK Loupe Works facility for assembly and regulation. Limited to 200 pieces worldwide, priced at GBP 800 / USD 899, with deliveries scheduled for September 2026.

Design

The watch keeps the proven Contour GMT case — 39.5 mm × 46.5 mm lug-to-lug × 12.6 mm thick, a brushed-and-polished stainless-steel cushion-leaning silhouette with a polished bezel and a screw-down crown — and channels all the editorial energy into the dial. The hour and minute hands are a satin-brushed pencil shape, the indices are applied and filled with custom orange Super-LumiNova, and the central GMT hand is rendered in matching vivid orange so it never gets confused with the local-time hand. The case-back is a flat exhibition window so the signed Beaucroft × Time+Tide rotor is on display, and the strap is a 20 mm tapered alligator-pattern leather with a custom signed buckle and quick-release spring bars.

Specifications

Reference: Beaucroft Solaris GMT (Time+Tide LE)
Case diameter: 39.5 mm
Lug-to-lug: 46.5 mm
Case thickness: 12.6 mm
Case material: Stainless steel, brushed and polished
Bezel: Fixed, polished steel
Crystal: Sapphire with multi-layer anti-reflective coating
Caseback: Exhibition sapphire with signed Beaucroft × Time+Tide rotor
Water resistance: 100 m
Dial: Hammered "sun" core with purple-to-orange linear-gradient 24-hour chapter ring; applied indexes with orange Super-LumiNova
Movement: Miyota 9075, automatic, true caller GMT (independently jumping local hour)
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Jewels: 26
Power reserve: 42 hours
Regulation: In-house at Beaucroft's Loupe Works facility, regulated to ±10 seconds per day
Strap: 20 mm tapered alligator-pattern leather with custom signed buckle, quick-release spring bars
Limited edition: 200 pieces worldwide
Price: GBP 800 / USD 899
Availability: Pre-orders opened 8 May 2026 (Time+Tide Watch Discovery Studio NY) and 12 May 2026 (Beaucroft web). Delivery from September 2026.

What's Exciting

Two things make the Solaris GMT more than the usual retailer-collab afterthought. The first is that the dial concept was genuinely commissioned — Time+Tide pitched the gradient sunset idea, Beaucroft built the watch around it, and the result is the cleanest visual treatment of a sunrise/sunset theme on a sub-GBP 1,000 GMT we can recall. Most micro-brand collaborations stop at logo placement; this one re-engineers the dial layout from the ground up.

The second is the engineering choice. The Miyota 9075 is one of the best caller GMT calibres available to micro-brands, but the move that distinguishes Beaucroft from its peer set is the in-house regulation at Loupe Works to ±10 seconds per day — about three times tighter than a stock 9075 specification. At GBP 800, the Solaris GMT sits below the Christopher Ward C63 Sealander GMT and well under the Farer Lander GMT, with a more original dial than either. The 200-piece limit, combined with the colourway, should keep secondary-market values honest.

History

Beaucroft is the rebranded direct-to-consumer arm of The Cambridge Watch Company, founded in 2018 by Marcus Williams. The brand has built its catalogue around hand-finished, British-designed pieces, with early successes including the Solent Chronograph and the original Contour GMT in "Tropical Teal" (2024), which sold out within days. The Loupe Works regulation facility was set up specifically to bring movement adjustment in-house — a step most micro-brands outsource — and it has become the brand's signature engineering story.

Time+Tide, founded in Melbourne in 2014 by Andrew McUtchen, has grown into one of the most influential independent retailers in the watch world, with stores in Melbourne, Sydney, London and New York. Its Watch Discovery Studios are positioned as conversational retail spaces rather than traditional boutiques. The Solaris GMT is the second collaboration between Beaucroft and Time+Tide, following the 2024 "Compass Edition," and is the first watch developed start-to-finish by the New York Watch Discovery Studio team.