M a d e i n e n g l a n d... [sort of] The British watch brands offering mechanical timepieces at a snip of their Swiss-based counterparts Spoiler alert:
Schofield, 2011, East Sussex
Your Swiss-made timepiece wasn’t assembled in
Story: Operating out of a bucolic village
a snow-strewn shed by a watchmaker armed with
in West Sussex, Schofield is the brainchild
only a loupe and a lathe. As romantic as that notion
of dynamic product designer Giles Ellis,
remains, your wristwatch was assembled by robots
whose watches take their name from
on a production line. It may have been engraved
UK lighthouses. Giving meaning to
and polished by hand, but your watch is the work of
the phrase the devil is in the detail,
machines. Machines that cost millions of pounds.
Schofield timepieces are feats of engineering, with every design element meticulously considered
T
before going into production – he investment required to launch a new
either in England or Germany.
movement is estimated to cost a company
Standout timepiece:
around £13.5 million. Hence the reason only
The Daymark (44mm)
the largest brands can lay claim to producing calibres ‘in-house’, and only then with varying degrees of
Movement: Automatic ETA 2824 (Swiss)
these mechanisms to third-party suppliers. Swiss
Power reserve: 38 hours Price: £3,600
watchmakers have been doing so for decades. It’s
schofieldwatchcompany.com
credibility. It is far more efficient to outsource
now a business model that’s taken root in Britain. Still reliant on Switzerland, China and Japan for their internal components, a raft of independent watch companies are choosing to sell straight to consumers. Without the enormous marketing overheads of Switzerland’s watch giants, these companies are able to offer well-made mechanical timepieces at affordable prices. Welcome to the Brit Pack.
Christopher Ward, 2004, Maidenhead Story: Launched as ‘the most affordable luxury watches in the world’, Christopher Ward was the forerunner in importing Swiss-made movements and housing them behind British-designed
Marloe Watch Company, 2017, Oxfordshire
dials. Where Christopher Ward led,
Story: While an increasing number of Swiss watchmakers
the rest of the UK mechanical watch industry followed.
Standout timepiece: C60
are grappling with their answer to the smartwatch question, Marloe Watch Company is focused on repopularising the most traditional of timepieces – the
Trident Titanium Pro 600 #2
manually wound wristwatch.
(43mm)
Standout timepiece: Derwent, Nautical (38mm) Movement: hand-wound Miyota 6T33 ( Japanese) Power reserve: 40 hours Price: £329
Movement: automatic Sellita SW200-1 (Swiss)
Power reserve: 38 hours Price: £850 christopherward.co.uk
marloewatchcompany.com