An English return for the watchmakers

Back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Britain was at the forefront of the science and engineering of watchmaking and the measurement of time.

But despite making half of the world’s watches in 1800, the British industry failed to keep pace with mass manufacturing in Switzerland and the US, falling into a decline from which it never recovered.

Fast forward two centuries though, and a small British company is attempting to bring watchmaking back to these shores.

The Bremont Watch Company, based in Henley-on-Thames, was founded in 2002 by brothers Nick and Giles English.

Having begun life as a small workshop in Switzerland, the company now has a headquarters and assembly workshop at Henley, and a parts manufacturing facility at Silverstone, and employs over 25 watchmakers.

As well as its consumer ranges, Bremont supplies watches for military squadrons such as the Royal Navy Clearance Divers, the 9^th Reconnaissance Wing, and the US Navy Test Pilot School.