Fleming Series 1 Mark II: Pacific & Redwood — The American Indie Grows Up

Description

When Thomas Fleming debuted the Series 1 in early 2024 — the 27-year-old Pebble Beach native's first watch after teaching himself CAD in six months and cold-emailing half of Switzerland — the watch world sat up straight. It was that rare debut that arrived already fluent in the language of high-end independent watchmaking: proportioned like a Vacheron, finished like a Voutilainen, priced like neither. Two years later, the Series 1 Mark II is the sophomore release that proves the first wasn't a fluke. Fleming has taken nearly every element of the original and quietly reworked it, then framed the result around a Northern California theme: the tantalum Pacific and the 18k 5N rose gold Redwood.

The brief is the same — a time-only dress watch with small seconds, 38.5mm across and just 8mm thick (9mm with the domed sapphire) — but the execution has matured. The sector dial is still here, now with a subtle shift in geometry and a finish that Fleming talks about in terms of behaviour rather than colour: how it reacts to light as the wrist turns. The Pacific moves through blues, turquoises and near-blacks; the Redwood flows between warm browns and gold. Both are limited to 25 pieces and both ship from April 2026.

Design

The case is a three-part construction with brushed upper and lower surfaces separated by a polished central band, lugs that flow out of the case with the kind of continuity that usually costs an extra zero, and a buckle designed to echo the lug architecture. Pacific wears the raw, blue-grey weight of tantalum — a notoriously unforgiving material to machine — while Redwood trades that industrial edge for the warmth of 5N rose gold.

The dial is where the Mark II earns its name. It's a sector layout with applied hour markers at two-hour intervals, sitting on a black-polished outer ring. The surface uses directional brushing to create what Fleming describes as shifting gradients; the effect is that the dial doesn't so much have a colour as a set of possible colours the light chooses between. On the Pacific, that means a layered blue and grey that tips towards turquoise in daylight and nearly black in the shadow of a cuff. On the Redwood, it's a brown-gold interplay that leans classical in one light and contemporary in another. Both dials pair with strengthened hands featuring deep central countersinks.

Specs

Brand	Fleming
Model	Series 1 Mark II
Variants	Pacific (tantalum) / Redwood (18k 5N rose gold)
Movement	Calibre FM.02, hand-wound, co-developed with Jean-Francois Mojon (Chronode)
Power Reserve	168 hours (7 days), twin series-coupled barrels
Frequency	21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Jewels	26
Movement Height	Under 4 mm
Finishing	189 hand-executed interior angles, brushing, graining, frosting, black polishing
Functions	Hours, minutes, small seconds
Case Material	Tantalum (Pacific) / 18k 5N rose gold (Redwood)
Diameter	38.5 mm
Thickness	8 mm (9 mm with crystal)
Lug-to-Lug	46.5 mm
Lug Width	21 mm
Crystal	Domed sapphire
Water Resistance	30 metres
Dial	Sector-style, light-reactive finish — blue/grey (Pacific), brown/gold (Redwood)
Strap	Two calf leather straps with matching pin buckles (tantalum or gold)
Limited Edition	25 pieces per variant
Price	55,500 CHF (Pacific) / 53,500 CHF (Redwood), excl. taxes
Availability	Direct from brand, deliveries April 2026

What's Exciting

Two things. First, this is a proper independent high-end caliber: FM.02 was developed with Jean-Francois Mojon — the man behind MB&F's HM and LM movements, Cyrus, and countless modern independent greats — runs for a full week on twin barrels, is under 4mm thick, and carries 189 hand-finished interior angles. That last number matters. Anglage is where fake finishing gets exposed; 189 interior angles, each cut and polished by hand, is a statement of intent.

Second, the choice of materials. Tantalum is one of the densest, hardest, most machine-hostile metals in watchmaking — the kind of thing F.P. Journe and De Bethune reserve for halo pieces. Seeing it on a sub-30-person brand's second reference, alongside a 168-hour hand-wound caliber and a dial that reacts to light across the day, is the sort of ambition that makes you re-read the sticker. At 55,500 CHF the Pacific isn't cheap, but it is shockingly well-resourced for what Fleming is — a 27-year-old American independent operating out of Pebble Beach, two watches deep.

Sources

History

Fleming is the work of Thomas Fleming, a Stanford-educated Californian who, in the early days of the pandemic, decided the sparkling-water brand he was co-founding wasn't where his heart was. He taught himself CAD over six months in 2020 and began cold-emailing Swiss suppliers, casework specialists and movement designers. What came back, improbably, was the Series 1 — a debut that landed in March 2024 in three case materials (platinum, rose gold, and tantalum), a hand-wound FM.01 caliber co-developed with Jean-Francois Mojon, and a level of finishing that immediately put Fleming on lists otherwise reserved for brands three times his age.

The Series 1 Mark II is the follow-up — not a wholesale redesign, but a measured refinement. It tightens the case construction, evolves the caliber into FM.02 with that extraordinary 168-hour reserve, and introduces the Pacific and Redwood names as the brand's first explicit nod to its Northern California roots. For a two-year-old American independent, a second reference at this level — limited to 25 pieces per variant, priced between 53,500 and 55,500 CHF — is an announcement: Fleming isn't trying to grow fast. He's trying to grow correctly.

Gallery

Images to be added — Pacific wrist shot in daylight, Pacific dial macro showing tone shift, Redwood wrist shot, Redwood dial macro, FM.02 movement caseback, side profile showing 8mm thickness.