British Watchmakers

[Riggernut]

Probably a strange question for all you watch aficionados, however, does anyone know if there any watches out there that use British movements and exclusively British made? Looking for companies bottom and top end if they exist.

I suspect they don't exist simply because they either we don't have the skills or the quality of our Swiss counterparts, but very happy to be proved otherwise.


Can only find these but they use a Swiss movement
http://www.haroldpinchbeck.co.uk/#/christopher/452...

Edited by Riggernut on Saturday 26th June 10:38

[Riggernut]

LukeBird said:

Daniels of London.

He designed the co-axial movement that Omega bought the rights to.

Bloody-el good effort

"A Millenium watch from George Daniels has provoked a great deal of interest, especially since a white gold example of the celebrated watchmaker's work has never before been presented in an auction. Of the very small series of Millenium watches made by Daniels, the majority were produced in yellow gold. Like all George Daniels timepieces, every element is crafted entirely by hand in the manner of the greatest 19th century masters. Pre-sale estimates have been set at GPB 50,000-80,000."

Well that's top, top, top end taken care of, anything else?

[Riggernut]

enioldjoe said:

Brit(ish)

http://www.dentlondon.com/

Cheers, Some impressive history there.

Having the time to surf around today, its not promising. Was hoping to find Bob who manufactures British timepieces in his shed, rather than handing over a wedge to the Chinese. Whilst its probably a naive(no horology expert) view I can't help wondering why nobody bothers other than its probably extremely complicated.

If Tao can pump out half decent watches (we'll see when it gets here) at reasonable prices why nobody here is doing the same.

<Naive first mech watch post off>

[Riggernut]

ShadownINja said:

LukeBird said:

ShadownINja said:

As with anything to do with manufacturing - cost of equipment, premises and staff. I'd love to see a full-on Made-In-England watch compete with the more popular brands.

Me too.
It's a shame there isn't somebody making a £200-350ish automatic that's fully UK made.

Hope you enjoyed the Daniels link OP, it's fascinating! I'd love one...

Yep. Impressive stuff. You might like this radio programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sdcfh

Thanks for that, it went some way into answering my original question. Interesting that Dent were looking into manufacturing parts in the UK but intrigued to find out why they put a timescale of 4/5 years on that process.

I suppose the question is weather there is a (mass)/market or for entirely British made? Maybe the recession can bring about a rebirth of cheap or cheaper manufacturing costs. I'm sure, just like cars, people buy on heritage, looks, Brand name. Whilst this is just idle musing, I can't wait for my cheapo Chinese watch to come