Bremont Watches seem to have been around forever, but were founded by Giles and Nick English in 2002. The two brothers, aviation mad, fuelled by a love of making things and the untimely death of their father in an air accident in 1995, decided that their interest lay in mechanical watches.
Today, Bremont is based in Henley in Oxfordshire and is investing heavily in a large facility which will open next year. This will be the base to further an ambition to revive the British watch industry by making movements of their own. I recently visited and was shown round by Giles English.
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| With Giles English and some hi-tech watchmaking machinery at Bremont Watches |
It's often forgotten that the British watch industry once led the world. It was here in the seventeenth century that Harrison developed the first accurate marine chronometer and by 1800 some half of the world's watches were made in the UK. The last mass-produced English watches were made in Cheltenham by Smiths Watches and you can still pick up a good quality Smiths watch, containing an English-made movement, for a couple of hundred pounds.
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| Bremont is developing its own movement (left). Watch parts for assembly (top middle). It manufactures its own cases (middle bottom) and (top right) aviation design inspiration is found in old cockpit instrumentation |
Today only a few small, specialist watchmakers are making movements from scratch in this country. A larger number assemble watches from imported Swiss, Japanese and Chinese movements and parts. To bring back an industry making large numbers of movements is a huge undertaking involving major investment in reviving watchmaking skills (which take years to acquire) and buying the latest machinery to enable watch parts to be engineered to tiny tolerances. Despite the challenges, Bremont are up for it, as I found out when I met Giles English in Henley.
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| These bars of high quality steel will be cut and shaped for watch cases at Bremont |
Bremont already make some of their own components and I saw watch cases being made on hi-tech tools which accurately cut and shape the highest quality steel. Alongside this, developmental work is being carried out to manufacture the first movements will form the basis of their high-end watch production in a few years time. A modern state of the art building will be completed next year to house all the facilities now in different locations around Henley and where watches are at present designed, assembled, repaired, serviced and some parts manufactured from scratch.
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| Bremont Armed Forces Collection - recently launched in collaboration with the British MoD (see below) |
It's quite clear that very serious investment indeed is being put into this effort. But an ambition like this requires more to succeed. Talking to Giles English I was struck by his passion and determination to revive the English watchmaking industry. The singleminded resolve of the English brothers will, I am sure, drive this dream to success. In so doing Bremont will be bringing skills and jobs not only to Henley on Thames but also, who knows, laying the foundations and skills needed for a wider return to the glorious days of British watchmaking.
Bremont recently launched a military-inspired collection of watches (see above) designed in collaboration with the UK Ministry of Defence. Borrowing from the simple and robust designs of military timepieces of the forties to sixties, they carry the symbols of the three armed forces.
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| I borrowed a Bremont Endurance watch for a recent trip to Antarctica (link below) |
See the Bremont website for more information.
Click here for a feature on a Bremont Endurance watch which I used on a trip to Antarctica.
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