We talk a lot about Formex here, and for good reason. Now celebrating its 25th year, Formex has built a well-earned reputation for pushing the limits of what we can expect from small, technical brands, and they’ve done it all while cultivating a pretty dedicated audience. Head to a Windup Watch Fair anywhere in the country and you’re sure to find a thick mass of enthusiasts trying to squeeze their way up to the Formex table in the hopes of checking out whatever wild watch the brand has most recently introduced.

Formex’s latest and greatest is a new take on their fan-favorite Essence, only this time, it’s ceramic. The Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC is a serious statement of technical capacity for a brand that has, up until now, never produced a fully ceramic watch (or, at least to my knowledge, a skeletonized one). With the Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC, they’ve managed to do it while not only maintaining all the complexities of the Essence case — like the suspended mid-case the brand is known for — but also while introducing what they purport to be the world’s first micro-adjustable ceramic bracelet.

On some level, it’s not remotely surprising that, with their first-ever ceramic watch, Formex would look to blow the competition out of the water, or that, in that attempt, they would largely succeed. I’ve yet to see these new watches in person (hopefully soon), but at first glance, these seem to be finished to a level far beyond what we normally see from ceramic watches at this price point, or even from watches two or three times more expensive. Formex offered a glimpse at this capability a few years ago with the ceramic bezel of the Essence Leggera, but it’s nice to see them carry that attention through an entire watch.

The bracelet is an obvious standout here. The wholly ceramic bracelet would, on its own, be an impressive move, but introducing what is — in my awareness, and per the brand — the first ceramic micro-adjustable bracelet is a big deal. For me, micro-adjust is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have, but it’s fast becoming a serious dealbreaker for many collectors, and it’s long been missing from the world of ceramic watches, even at the highest end. I’ll be curious to play around with this in person, but, in premise, a ceramic on-the-fly micro-adjust may just be a game-changer. Pair this with Formex’s interchangeable bracelet system, and you have a watch that should be shockingly flexible.

The Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC retains roughly the same dimensions as other 41mm Essence models, with a case height of 11.2mm, a lug-to-lug of 46.2mm, and a 22mm lug width. I’ve found these watches to wear quite compactly over the years, and I see no reason why this should be any different, especially considering the all-black case, which will minimize the scale of the watch.

Inside the watch is a skeletonized COSC-certified SW200-1 movement, which is visible through a skeletonized dial produced by Cadranor, Formex’s dial maker. There are four versions of the dial available at launch, each sporting different color accents and lume treatments, but which are broadly identical, though the ‘GT’ variant swaps black hands and marker surrounds for rose gold. For my money, I’d go for the ‘Stradale Blue’ option, which pairs black dial furniture with blue Super-Luminova for a sporty look.

The Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton COSC is available now and is priced at CHF 3,970 for the three ‘Stradale’ variants (white, purple, and blue), and CHF 4,150 for the rose-gold accented ‘GT’ option. Formex