Owned by the same family that is also behind two highly respected and established manufacturing entities from the Swiss watch industry, Formex is a bit different from other similarly sized independent brands. Due to its mutual ownership, Formex benefits from direct access to materials and production technologies that are typically only available to brands operating at significantly higher price points, and it is able to tap Swiss manufacturing powerhouse Dexel for the fabrication of its cases and bracelets, while its dials are produced by Cadranor, a famous dial manufacturing workshop located in the Jura mountains.

Earlier this year, Formex’s Essence Ceramica Skeleton showcased the brand’s ability to create ceramic cases and bracelets (including a full-ceramic clasp with an integrated extension system). However, Formex’s latest release for 2025 is the Essence Space Glacier, which shines a spotlight on the dial manufacturing capabilities of its other sibling company Cadranor. Expanding upon the core blueprint of the standard 39mm and 43mm models from its flagship Essence collection, the new duo of Formex Essence Space Glacier COSC Automatic watches offer a novel twist on one of the brand’s most popular limited editions, and they are fitted with genuine meteorite dials that are coated in layers of 98% pure silver and ice blue lacquer.

Formex’s first use of meteorite dials dates back to a pair of 50-piece limited editions from 2020, which were fitted with traditional meteorite dials and based on the 43mm versions of its Essence and Essence Leggera modes. As a follow-up to this release, Formex launched the Essence 39mm and Essence Leggera 41mm Space Rock watches, which took the core concept of the brand’s original duo of meteorite-dial watches and expanded it to their smaller counterparts. However, when Formex unveiled the Essence 39mm Space Gold last year in 2024, it marked an important point in the development of its meteorite-dial manufacturing capabilities, and the techniques developed during the creation of the Space Gold dial would ultimately lay the foundation for the brand’s latest Essence Space Glacier watches.

Just like the dial fitted to the Essence 39mm Space Gold, the ice blue meteorite dial for the Essence Space Glacier is crafted from a solid 0.5mm-thick slice of genuine Muonionalusta meteorite, rather than being created in the traditional approach commonly used for stone dials, which consists of a thin slice of meteorite applied to a flat metal base layer. Thanks to the expertise of the artisans at Cadranor, Formex is able to solder the connecting feet for the dial directly onto the reverse side of the meteorite sheet, and this one-piece approach to the structure of the dial allows the brand to incorporate its signature beveled date window at 6 o’clock by carving the curved aperture directly into the meteorite itself.

Most colored meteorite dials use a PVD treatment to achieve their hues, but the dials for Formex’s Essence Space Glacier watches are created in a two-stage finishing process to better highlight the meteorite’s naturally occurring Widmanstätten pattern. Similar to how the brand produced the dial for the Essence 39mm Space Gold by plating the raw meteorite in 18k rose gold, the dial for the Essence Space Glacier first undergoes an electroplating process that covers meteorite in a bright layer of 98% pure silver. However, Formex’s Space Glacier dial takes things one step further, and six layers of a transparent cellulose-based lacquer are hand-applied onto the silver-plated meteorite to provide the surface with its crisp pale blue color.

Aside from being made from ice blue-colored meteorite, the dial for the Formex Essence Space Glacier otherwise adheres to the same overall design and layout as what can be observed among the rest of the brand’s Essence collection, with a trio of centrally-mounted hands, applied hour markers, and a beveled date window at 6 o’clock. The minute track appears along an angled chapter ring that surrounds the perimeter of the dial, and all of the printing is executed in black for maximum contrast. Just like Formex’s other Essence watches, the hands and hour markers on the Space Glacier models are vertically brushed with mirror-polished bevels, and they also receive an application of Super-LumiNova BGW9 to provide them with a blue-colored glow in the dark.

The one minor nitpick that I could see some collectors having with Formex’s Essence Space Glacier models is that their calendar discs are dark gray with black numerals, rather than appearing in a pale blue color to match the dial’s surface. For the most part, I’m usually a strong advocate of color-coordinated calendar discs, but there are some instances when a more harmonious aesthetic is created by having the date window complement the hour markers, rather than trying to blend into the dial’s surface. As for the Essence Space Glacier, its black-on-gray calendar disc doesn’t exactly offer the highest levels of legibility, but I personally find that the gray-colored date window helps add visual balance against the double index and Formex logo that sit on the opposite side of the dial.

From an external standpoint, the new Formex Essence Space Glacier watches are identical to their standard-dial stainless steel siblings, and just like all of the brand’s various Essence models, the pair of Space Glacier watches feature Formex’s patented case suspension system, which consists of a central case section mounted on four miniature springs within an outer framework that forms the lugs. Originally developed to absorb shocks, Formex’s suspension system also adds to the on-wrist comfort of its Essence models, as the case of the watch is able to flex with the natural motion of their wearer’s arm.

On Formex’s stainless steel Essence watches (including the new duo of Space Glacier models), the interior container that houses the movement is made from grade 2 titanium, although the rest of their case components are all machined from 316L stainless steel with brushed and polished surfaces that highlight the lines of model’s angular profile. Flat anti-reflective sapphire crystals are fitted to both the bezel and display-style caseback, while a signed crown sits on the side of the case at 3 o’clock, and water resistance for the Essence collection comes in at a solid 100 meters, which is more than enough to contend with virtually all real-world activities.

Just as you would expect, dimensions for the Formex Essence Space Glacier watches remain the same as their standard-catalog counterparts. The smaller version (ref. 0333.1.6698) has a case that measures 39mm in diameter by 10mm thick, with 20mm lugs and an overall lug-to-lug-profile of 45mm. Meanwhile, the larger model (ref. 0330.1.6698) comes in at 43mm in diameter by 10.6mm thick, and its lugs are set 22mm apart and extend to create a proportionally longer lug-to-lug profile of 49mm. Similarly, weight remains unchanged, and not including a strap or bracelet, the 39mm Essence Space Glacier weighs 65 grams, while the larger 43mm version is naturally a bit heavier at 80 grams.

Internally, the new Formex Essence Space Glacier watches receive the same movement as their standard-catalog siblings, and both models are powered by a chronometer-certified version of the Sellita SW200-1, which is fitted with a custom-fabricated Formex skeletonized rotor. Running at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of 41 hours, the 26-jewel Sellita SW200-1 represents one of the most prevalent self-winding designs within the modern Swiss watch industry. However, Formex uses the Chronometer-grade version for all of its Essence models, which means that the movements inside the Essence Space Glacier watches feature more elaborate finishing, and they are also guaranteed to run within the COSC-certified standards of -4/+6 seconds per day.

Identical to the brand’s standard stainless steel Essence models, both versions of new Essence Space Glacier are available with the option of either a matching stainless steel bracelet or one of Formex’s straps made from rubber, leather, or fabric. The bracelet offers a flat three-link design with single-sided screws securing its removable links, and integrated within the structure of its butterfly-style folding clasp is a micro-extension system that allows owners to expand the bracelet by 4mm. Meanwhile, the straps all feature Formex’s carbon-composite folding clasp that includes the brand’s patented 7mm fine-adjustment system hidden within its structure, and both the bracelet and straps connect to the case with integrated quick-release springbars to facilitate tool-free changes.

Despite being different sizes, both 39mm and 43mm versions of the Formex Essence Space Glacier COSC Automatic have an identical retail price of $1,870.00 USD when paired with a strap or $1,990.00 USD when buyers opt for the stainless steel bracelet. Representing a premium of a few hundred dollars compared to their standard-dial counterparts, the new duo of Space Glacier models cost the exact same as other stainless steel Essence watches fitted with exotic-material dials, and this ultimately seems rather fair given the elaborate nature of the brand’s latest ice blue meteorite offering. Production of the Essence Space Glacier is set at 100 examples for each of the two sizes, although the specific wording in the press release was “production edition” (rather than “limited edition”), which would indicate that we might see more Space Glacier dials at some point in the future. For more information, please visit the Formex watches website.