Bamford Mayfair any good?

[Luke.]

Just chanced upon these online yesterday and really tempted. Love the designs. Can't find a huge number of reviews online, are they any good? Anyone here own one?

https://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/?product=ma...

Edited by Luke. on Thursday 19th July 22:11

[andyman_2006]

Not heard of them either, but looking at your link, and the price asked, i would suggest taking a look at some of the following:

-Christopher ward
-Steinhart
-Glycine

All of these makers offer a proper Swiss movement for similar money - usually an ETA or Sellita or SOPROD etc, and are Swiss made proper automatics, and not a Miyota Quartz (nothing wrong with that they are reliable - just with the price being asked seems a lot to me) you cant even say it carries a large brand name like longines or Tag with the Quartz movement.

Do more research first.

Andy

[clockworks]

For around half that price you could buy a brand new Seiko automatic diver, and have a custom dial, hands and bezel insert fitted. You might even find one on eBay with the custom parts already fitted for less.

[UnclePat]

Never seen one in person, but I guarantee you’ll be paying £100 for an average watch and £350 for the name on the dial (which isn’t necessarily a problem, provided you’re accepting of it – plenty of prestigious watch brands are the same).

They’re ok looking, colourful, quite fun, and I do like that you can customize your own watch (within limits), but as others have said, when you look at what else is out there for similar money it’s quite a lot to pay for an unexceptional watch with a decent but unremarkable quartz movement.

The ‘B’ in JCB (J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited) stands for Bamford. George Bamford started by customizing after-market Rolex watches – without their approval – for rich people who lacked the imagination to buy a watch other than a Rolex, but at the same time didn’t want to have the same Rolex as everyone else. He did well, to be fair, and then was brought ‘in-house’ by the LMVH Group (owners of watch companies like TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith etc.) to officially customise their own watches.

Bamford used to loan his customers a cheap loaner watch to wear whilst their Bamford watches went off for Bamford servicing. It is from those that he launched Bamford Mayfair. Unless you are a London socialite who likes Bamford stuff, the name really has little recognition/cachet, so you’d be best buying it for the watch itself, or how it looks.

At this price point you can choose from about a million different, colourful Seiko watches, from one of the greatest watch companies on the planet, with bulletproof mechanical movements, and with dive watches that are ISO-tested as being the real deal.

Or spend £150 more and get a Stowa Marine - https://www.stowa.de/en/Marine+Klassik+40+white+ro... – a watch that has been made for around a 100 years, on & off, from a reputable company, with a decent Swiss mechanical movement, quality case and a lot of class.

Or, if you want something similarly different looking that you’re highly unlikely to see on anyone else’s wrist, then Unimatic - https://www.unimaticwatches.com/ - have just announced a new run of their limited-supply (only a few hundred of each design, ever) Made in Italy watches for about £600, featuring Horween Cordovan Shell straps, a decent mechanical Seiko movement and domed sapphire crystal.

Also agree you should have a look at Christopher Ward or Steinhart – good watches for the money. But be aware that mechanical movements need a lot more care & service expense than a quartz, which are happy to tick along with just a battery change every 2-3 years.

[Lorne]

I've just been looking though their website and they're an interesting company:

Actually based in Mayfair with production in a converted townhouse, so the Mayfair part of the name is perfectly acceptable

They do some really good looking modifications and personalisation to lots of iconic and generally higher end watches. The cost of personalising a watch is noted as 'starting at £4500'

Bamford is the B in JCB, so I expect it might be a well funded operation.

With all of this it looks a little strange to introduce their first in-house watch as a quartz, and quite thick as well at 15.0 mm.

edit: I see that unclepat has been doing the same thing at the same time and made better notes about his investigation than me, so I defer to his responses.

[Dolf Stoppard]

clockworks said:

For around half that price you could buy a brand new Seiko automatic diver, and have a custom dial, hands and bezel insert fitted. You might even find one on eBay with the custom parts already fitted for less.

Something like this:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

Which I really don't need, but which I'm dangerously close to buying....

[lostkiwi]

OP, try also looking at Dan Henry. Astonishing value and very nice pieces.
https://danhenrywatches.com/collections/all

Also look at Nite
https://www.nitewatches.com/store/gb/alpha/