Watch designer ticks up annual sales

Bremont is an award-winning British company based in Henleyon-Thames producing beautifully engineered chronometers (watches to the uninitiated).

Nick and Giles English established Bremont in 2002, having spent their childhood making and restoring things in their father’s workshop, a former RAF pilot with a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering.

The brothers are both pilots of historic aircraft and had a narrow escape in the 1990s while flying their vintage biplane in France, landing unexpectedly in a field.

The farmer who rescued them turned out to be a gifted engineer, who had wall clocks all around the house. His name was Antoine Bremont.

Bremont watches are now designed, manufactured and assembled in England and the company has invested heavily in its Henley-onThames facility.

The company continues to invest in its brand, and its last accounts reported a 24 per cent growth in annual sales, to more than £2 million.

Timber treatment business fizzes with global success

Marlow-based Protim Solignum Ltd has been manufacturing wood preservatives since 1934 and supplying timber preservative systems along with specialist fire retardants.

Five years ago, the company was bought by Koppers, a leading global supplier of carbon compounds and commercial wood treating products and services.

Protim Solignum has been exporting for the last 60 years. In fact, the Solignum brand is as well recognised across Asia as the Coca Cola brand, the company said.

With around 50 people at its European headquarters in Marlow, Protim Solignum has 2,500 employees worldwide and the brand is now present in 48 countries.

Precision engineering and training the envy of the world

Thatcham-based Xtrac designs and manufactures precision mechanical engineering components and transmission systems for use in motor sport, high performance automotive and specialist engineering applications for customers across the world.

This highly successful company offers significant opportunities to graduates and apprentices and has won a Princess Royal Training Award in recognition of its investment in skills and training. In fact more than half of the apprentices it has trained over the last 25 years remain with the company.

The company is currently working on confidential projects for a host of manufacturers to supply their technology and highly integrated transmissions for the next generation of highperformance hybrid and electric road vehicles.

100 Top Exporters Oxfordshire

Turnover rose more than two per cent in 2018, to £50.9 million, the same year the company completed a £4.8 million extension of its Thatcham facility.