At the end of April, the British edition of GQ wrote an editorial suggesting that, in 2022, small British watchmakers are the most creative in Europe. That may be a stretch when you look at what independents in France, Germany and Switzerland are creating, but there is certainly a frisson of excitement about what the Brits are doing and a general lack of imagination within the ranks of the biggest Swiss brands.
One reason the British are, finally, finding their feet is that they have started acting more like the Swiss when it comes to helping each other. The Alliance of British Clock and Watch Makers was created over a year ago to help the country’s smaller watch businesses become greater than the sum of their parts.
Britain’s biggest watchmaker, Bremont, is not part of the Alliance (arguing it is the only company making parts and complete watches at any significant scale), but it is collaborating with its countrymen to raise standards, train watchmakers and grow the industry.
Manufacturing every component of a watch in the UK is almost impossible, and not much easier in Switzerland, but generating intellectual property is an important stepping stone, and the Brits have proved to be exceptional designers.
Two all-British partnerships came along at once in April: a special edition made by Fears and Garrick; and a Bremont watch designed in collaboration with Bamford Watch Department.
Fears and Garrick
If the British independent watchmaking industry is ever going to be properly noticed in both the UK and abroad, collaborations between horologists and entrepreneurs like David Brailsford, owner of Garrick, and Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, owner of Fears, will be vital.
Garrick is a ground-up artisan watchmaker, creating its own dials, hands and most movement parts at its Norwich workshop and producing fewer than 80 complete timepieces per year. Fears is a historic British brand that started life in 1846, was mothballed in 1976, before being revived in 2016 by Mr Bowman-Scargill, the great-great-great-grandson of its founder.
Modern Fears watches are designed and assembled in England using mainly German-made components.
The company makes around 500 watches today but its ambition is to be making and selling over 2,000 per year by 2026, with more of its parts and finished watches made or assembled in the UK. The idea of Garrick and Fears collaborating on a co-signed watch, designed and made in the UK, first came about during a meeting between Mr Brailsford and Mr Bowman-Scargill in 2018.
It took three years for that idea — code named Project Costa after the name of the coffee shop where the owners met — to come to fruition in the form of a Fears Garrick timepiece that launched last month.
“This project isn’t just about the watch. It’s about our friendship and admiration for each other’s achievements. It just had to happen and it’s a match made in heaven,” Mr Brailsford describes.
The feeling is mutual. “It’s been an absolute pleasure working so closely with one of my best friends and combing our two brands DNA in such a perfect way,” Mr Bowman-Scargill concurs. “Despite everything the past few years has thrown our way we’ve been focused on getting the watch right and I feel it reflects the best of Fears and the best of Garrick,” he adds.
The Fears Garrick is a 42mm steel watch housing a version of Garrick’s in house movement, the manually wound UT-G01, which launched in 2017, but with the addition of a power reserve, which sits at 2 o’clock, balancing a small seconds at 10 o’clock and a large aperture exposing Garrick’s signature large balance wheel at 6 o’clock.
The hand-finished movement can be seen through a crystal case back. It has a white dial with a paper-like matte finish and applied diamond polished numerals, coated in black gold. Both logos for Fears and Garrick appear at the top of the dial.
Production will be limited to 10 to 15 watches per year, priced at £19,500, including VAT, on a leather strap.
Bremont & Bamford
It was only a matter of time before the owners of Bremont and Bamford Watch Department bumped into each other, what with Bremont’s first boutique being located on the same Mayfair street as the British customisation specialist.
Bremont co-founders Nick and Giles English and BWD owner George Bamford must have spoken about a collaboration for many years, but have only this week come up with their first watch together, the Bremont S500 Bamford Special Edition.
The watch, which is limited in production to 250 pieces, is based on Bremont’s Supermarine S500 dive watch, a model most popular with military customers who make up 25% of sales for the British manufacturer.
The 43mm steel watch comes in stealthy black DLC case and black dial with Bamford’s signature blue accents. It has a sandwich dial with its hour markers in blue Superluminova peeking through from below the black surface.
“I always said we should do something together and this project feels so right,” says Mr Bamford.
“Our signature black with a raised ceramic bezel and unique arrow hand, as well as the California dial, work so well on one of their iconic watches. I love the California dial and the integration of two styles. I feel it represents the blend of two British brands working together. Also using what feels like a military blue, it emulates the crossover and bringing together of Bamford Watch Department and Bremont.”
California dials have half Roman and half Arabic numerals and the hours of 3, 6, and 9 are sometimes replaced with a dash instead of a numeral and an inverted triangle in place of the 12.
The super-rugged watches, water resistant to 500 metres, use chronometer-rated Calibre 11 1/2’’ BE-36AE automatic movements. They are worn on black sailcloth straps with blue stitching. The Bremont S500 Bamford Special Edition is on sale now for £3,995.
Best of British watchmaking
Bremont, Bamford, Fears and Garrick are not the only British watch businesses on the march.
There are scores that could be mentioned: Christopher Ward, Farer, Marloe, Struthers, William Wood, anOrdain, Loomes, Timor, Prestex Duckworth, Vertex, Mr Jones and the quiet don of the industry Roger Smith are all part of this British renaissance.
Who knows, maybe one of them will grow up to become a global giant, just as Rolex — founded in London in 1905 — has done.