I had a wonderful day at Henley Royal Regatta as a guest of Bremont Watches who are now an official timing partner to the event, among the first official partners that Henley has ever had (Hackett Menswear being another). For Bremont this is a logical step, as they have offices and manufacturing facilities in Henley and they also know how to time things like rowing races take.
We saw some of Bremont's collection in their stand. Their watches seem to have become cleaner in design recently, which I approve of. They had made special a edition wristwatch and stop watch to mark their involvement with the event. The wristwatch pictured below is typical of this more elegant approach. There's not really space to go into this here, but maybe I'll have a chance to look at Bremont's watches at a future point - meanwhile see the Bremont website.
Although their watches are not yet fully made in the UK, we were told by co-founder Nick English that some parts are made in Henley and that the aim is to have a British-made movement in due course. It's many years since watches were made in volume in the UK (Smiths watches were the last - see my feature here). I hope to bring you more news of this, but don't hold your collective breaths; these things take years to develop. Bremont is committed to UK manufacture with apprentice programmes and manufacturing being developed in Henley - an exciting story.
Anyway, back to the rowing. Err... well I didn't see much. I rowed at school so enjoy the sport. Sadly my school, Shrewsbury, had been knocked out of their competition the previous day by a minor school called Eton College, so I wasn't able to see the old school rowing, but at least I was able to dust off the old school tie to add to my outfit. Henley is one of the best places of the English summer season to see traditional British menswear style - that shabby yet highly stylish approach to dressing that works so well that the Italians call sprezzatura. The rowing blazers take the prize of course and I was sorry I didn't have a blazer from my rowing days to show off.
All in all, a wonderful day with the usual interesting mix of bloggers, journalists and lovely PR people to chat to. Many thanks Bremont.
