Curious to see how this system worked, I decided to buy a model called the Formex 4Speed DS2100 diver’s watch. My purchase was driven partly by curiosity, but to be completely honest, the main reason was the excellent price at the time for a Swiss watch with an ETA 2824 movement (although mine actually came with a Sellita SW200 instead).
The quality of the watch was quite good, and the suspension system was certainly interesting. But in reality, it only gets “activated” if you wear the watch too tightly—which generally isn’t how most people wear their watches. Like many pieces in my collection, this Formex was eventually sacrificed for other projects—it was sold :) Still, it left a positive overall impression, and ever since, I’ve followed new Formex releases with great interest. Until one day, the Essence Leggera Electric Blue was released...
Now, even though we all know how problematic black cases can be, I’ve always liked them. And I love blue dials. The combination of a black case with a dark blue dial? That’s exactly my sweet spot. And yes—I admit it—I’m biased in this review! The Essence Leggera Electric Blue is simply a combination made for me.
So, if the watch was released at the end of 2020, you might wonder why I didn’t purchase it sooner. The reason lies in the materials used. The black case isn’t just regular stainless steel with a black PVD coating—it’s a full carbon fiber composite. And on top of that, the bezel and crown are made of zirconium oxide ceramic. Even though both materials are considered much harder than steel, they’re still relatively “unproven.” We’ve all heard stories of cracked ceramic cases, and carbon fiber can be tricky to manufacture properly. At the time, I wasn’t sure whether Formex was the kind of brand you could trust to handle these materials at the highest level. So I waited—monitoring feedback from the market. Recently, Mark from SeriousWatches gave me his honest opinion about the quality of the carbon cases they sell. According to him, Formex stands out—no complaints, no issues from their clients. That was all I needed to hear. The time for the purchase had finally come.
It’s hard to explain how impatient, anxious, and nervous I was while waiting for the watch—and especially while unpacking it. “Will the watch meet my expectations?” kept knocking in my head. Well, it didn’t just meet them—it exceeded every single one! I was simply astonished by how good everything looked.
Strangely enough, despite all the novelties this watch brings, I’ll start with the dial. This is not just any standard sunburst blue dial—this blue comes in so many different shades!
From one angle, it appears dark blue—then suddenly, that dark blue shifts into light blue. Does the dial really have the same color across the whole surface, or is there a subtle black ring around the index marks? It’s hard to tell. What’s certain is that the play of shades is truly remarkable. No photo can fully capture this marvelous effect. I did my best in the photos above and in the upcoming wrist shots, but in reality, it looks so much better than anything I could photograph. The raised inner circle with minute markings adds a subtle 3D feel.
I also like the plain and simple overall design of the dial—just clean hour markers, no numbers. The new Formex logo is now much cleaner than it used to be (compare it with the DS2100), and there’s not too much text on the dial—just “automatic chronometer.” In my opinion, even that wouldn't be necessary, but the fact that the watch is a certified chronometer probably deserves to be highlighted on the dial.
One important remark here: if you check this watch on various web stores, you might find the same model with different dial markings. Instead of the word “automatic,” you’ll find “Essence.” This variation appears only on the 43mm version of the watch, across all dial colors. Check the photos...
I was very confused about this, so I contacted Mark from SeriousWatches.com to ask when Formex changed the dial and whether my watch was from old stock, since it says “automatic” instead of “Essence.” He didn’t know the answer, so he reached out to Formex—and received a reply directly from the owner: "All Electric Blue 43mm should have the "Automatic" text. It's not correct on our website render but on the real photos on the website, it's correct and it says "Automatic". It has nothing to do with the age of the watch and our stock thankfully turns over quite quickly, so we don't have any old watches or movements laying around. There are differences on the Essence and Automatic printing between the different Essence sizes but we'll be homogenizing everything while restocking dials in the future."
So—“Essence” version of the dial is just a render and not an actual photo of a real watch. If you prefer the “Essence” dial (as I do), you might be disappointed—it cannot be bought. Quite a fail from Formex, to show a render of a non-existent watch, I must say.
The indexes and hands feature excellent BGW9 Super-LumiNova, providing superb and long-lasting night visibility. The hands are exactly how I like them: simple, slightly curved, both of the right length and width to ensure clear time reading.
Now, let’s move to the most interesting part of this watch—the carbon case with suspension. I must admit, I was a bit skeptical whether the suspension system is truly integrated into the carbon case. But it is—and it works just fine.
So, what is this suspension? Simply put, there are essentially two cases in one. The four screws on the outer case, visible from the top of the watch, hold the inner case with springs between them. The movement and dial are housed in this inner case, which “floats” within the outer shell. The springs allow it to move slightly upwards.
The idea of this construction is to provide extra shock protection for the movement and increase wearing comfort. The four springs move independently, so if needed, just one corner of the case can be raised. In practice, with normal wear and proper strap tightness, this movement doesn’t occur. But if you wear the strap tightly, a twist of the wrist will activate the suspension (see pictures below).
What I really appreciate here is the fact that the caseback of the watch is also made entirely of carbon. I mention this because many watches on the market use carbon for the case but then opt for a steel or titanium caseback. That’s not the case here—there are no shortcuts; everything is carbon.
And on top of that, the deployant clasp is made of carbon as well. No wonder the total weight of the watch with the strap is an astonishing 65 grams.
Speaking of the deployant clasp, Formex once again demonstrates its innovation. The clasp allows micro-adjustment to six different positions while staying on the same tooth setting, giving you almost a full hole’s worth of adjustment.
And the best part—you don’t even have to take the watch off your wrist to change the fit. To tighten, simply push the clasp forward and that’s it. To loosen, open the clasp and press the pusher located on the underside.
This solution also raises the question of which clasp tooth position is ideal. Thanks to the micro-adjustment system, two extremes are possible—you can either wear the clasp in its tightest or loosest setting by default. I chose to keep it on the tightest setting for regular wear, so that if my wrist swells, I can simply release the clasp slightly for more comfort.
As already mentioned, the watch features a display caseback with a sapphire crystal, just like the front. The overall construction allows for a water resistance rating of 100 meters.
A few words about the movement. As already mentioned between the lines, the watch uses a Swiss movement with a chronometer certificate. When this model was first released, Formex announced that the STP 1-11 would be used; however, the current official specifications list the Sellita SW200-1. Both movements are clones of the ETA 2824-2 and use 26 jewels. Just by looking through the caseback, it’s almost impossible to tell them apart. But as far as I know, the STP 1-11 was only used at the very beginning of production, so I’m quite confident that mine is the Sellita version.
Naturally, I checked how this chronometer performs in practice. I first measured the positional variation, and the movement performed exactly as it should—very small deviations ranging from -2 to +3 seconds per day (although my results didn’t match the original test data exactly). Even better results were observed during a seven-day period of continuous wear, both day and night. I fully wound the watch at the beginning, and after 24 hours it showed a gain of +1 second. Over the following days it gradually lost up to 1 second per day. By day five, it was -1 second compared to the atomic clock, and by day seven, it was -4 seconds behind. I should mention that I was quite inactive during those seven days—I attended a conference and barely moved throughout the day. So the automatic winding was minimal. I assume that by day seven the power reserve was near depletion, and the three-second drop in the final two days was due to that. While the power reserve was full, the variations were minimal.
Let me move on to the straps. Formex allows each customer to choose from among 12 different strap options—from NATO straps by WatchGecko to various colors of leather, nylon, and a black rubber strap. I opted for the black leather strap with blue stitching. When the watch arrived, I was very satisfied with my choice. The strap made a great first impression: it’s very soft and smooth, and the colors match the case and dial perfectly.
However, the soft padding and inlay of the strap made me question its long-term durability. After just one week of daily wear—without any serious sweating—the strap already showed the first signs of wear, which confirmed my suspicions.
Luckily, already impressed by the watch itself, I ordered two additional straps the very next day after receiving it: one in blue nylon and the other in black rubber.
All straps come with curved quick-release spring bars, including the clasp side of the strap. This means that changing the strap takes no more than a minute and requires no tools at all. Swapping between different straps couldn’t be easier!
If you order a nylon or leather strap, you’ll receive two fixed strap parts: one standard length and one extra long. With my 19 cm wrist, I still use the shorter one, and the two pins of the clasp fall somewhere in the middle holes (depending on the clasp setting, as explained earlier). So, there’s still plenty of room for larger wrists. I can also use the longer strap, but in that case, I need to use the first holes and tighten the clasp to the maximum position.
The rubber strap, unfortunately, is designed differently. It comes as a single long piece intended to be cut to the desired length. For now, I’ve decided not to cut it and will try to wear it as is.
Both additional straps are again very soft, but both seem more durable than the leather one. The rubber strap is a bit too thin for my taste — I would prefer something slightly thicker. After trying all three, if I had to pick just one, I’d go for the nylon strap. It offers the best combination of softness, durability, elegance, and sportiness. The color match with the watch is excellent (and the strap isn’t as bright in real life as it may seem in photos). Still, I’ll gladly switch between all three depending on mood and occasion.
So, how does the full package feel on the wrist? That’s a tough one. Wearing this watch is so different from anything else I’ve ever owned that it’s hard to describe. Just for comparison: the case diameter is 43 mm, thickness is 11 mm, lug-to-lug is 49 mm, and the lug width is 22 mm. These dimensions are ideal for my wrist. The watch fits perfectly, and the total weight is so low that I sometimes subconsciously wonder if I’m even wearing a watch — I just don’t feel it. Formex made a great call by releasing the same model also in a 41 mm version. So, if you feel 43 mm is too large, the 41 mm version with a 46.5 mm lug-to-lug might be the right one for you.
If you’re skeptical about the carbon case like I was, you can also choose the standard Essence (not Leggera), which is the stainless steel version of the watch. The standard Essence is available not only in 41 mm and 43 mm, but also in a 39 mm case size. I must warn you, though — the dials on the Leggera are more exciting than those on the standard version, which are somewhat more conventional. Still, the standard Essence has one big advantage: it can be purchased on a metal bracelet, while the Leggera doesn’t have a bracelet option (though a full carbon bracelet would be quite the statement piece!).
Formex doesn’t overcomplicate things when it comes to packaging — and that’s a compliment! The watch comes in a standard leather box embossed with the Formex logo. Inside, you’ll find a chronometer certificate and a well-made booklet packed with information about the brand, its patented suspension system, and the watch itself. Just what you need — nothing more, nothing less.
Price? For EU customers, the Essence Leggera Electric Blue is €1,650 with a NATO strap and €1,790 with all other strap combinations. Additional straps used to cost €65; now they’re €85. The same prices apply whether you order from the Formex webshop or from Seriouswatches.com, which is where I bought the watch and extra straps.
Yes, I know I’m biased — but the watch earned that bias. In my opinion, it’s incredibly hard to find a better timepiece in this price range. I won’t go so far as to call it the best, but I do feel confident saying it’s one of the best price-to-quality combinations I’ve ever encountered. For a fair price, it simply offers everything you could want in an everyday watch. For me, this one’s a definite keeper.
Lastly, a big thank-you to Mark from Seriouswatches.com, who supported me throughout the purchase process. He responded quickly to all my questions, helped with strap selection, and arranged everything from shipment to follow-up support — even while I was preparing this review. I can’t speak to how responsive Formex is directly, but when buying through Seriouswatches.com, you simply can’t go wrong.
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