Precision, Winter 2021

When brothers Nick and Giles English sketched out their initial plan to launch Bremont in 2002, their mission was to help reinvigorate the British watch industry by assembling timepieces on home soil and making as many components as possible in the UK. And in October, after almost 20 years of hard graft, the pair proudly unveiled a watch powered by the first industrially produced mechanical movement to have been created in the UK since Smiths Industries shut down its mighty Anglo-Celtic Watch Company in 1980.

The new Bremont automatic, which features a big date display, offset seconds and a power reserve indicator, makes its first appearance in a limited edition model, the Longitude, that was unveiled at the Greenwich Observatory and contains brass taken from the meridian line. There will be 150 examples in steel and 75 each in white and red gold.

Getting production of the in-house movement underway represents the first major milestone for Bremont since the March opening of The Wing, its new manufacturing and technology facility. Situated on a two-acre site in the grounds of a private estate near Henley-on-Thames, the 35,000sq ft Wing is a state-of-the-art , eco-efficient ‘manufacture’.

That means vast windows giving plenty of natural light, high-tech air filtration systems, an impressive reception area and space for everything from a boutique to a British watchmaking museum and from offices to an events space (with all-important bar). It’s enough to make the Swiss feel envious.

The £20m, grass-roofed, two-storey building took three and a half years to complete but is ‘future-proofed’ for decades to come with a fully-equipped CNC machine shop and assembly area with the capacity to produce up to 50,000 completed watches per year.

Local architect Spratley & Partners designed The Wing using virtual reality software, taking inspiration for the biplane-like ‘wing’ shape from Bremont’s particular focus on aviation and adventure.

The building, which houses 130 staff, is also open for public tours costing £25, with all proceeds going to the children’s charity the Jon Egging Trust that was set up by the widow of Jon Egging, a Red Arrows pilot who died after his plane crashed during the 2011 Bournemouth Air Festival.

While launching The Wing, the brothers also announced a new collaboration with F1 team and technical partner Williams Racing that includes its watches being worn off-track by drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. Bremont branding has also been added to their gloves and cars – but the deal, says Nick English, runs far deeper.

“It’s as much a technical one as anything else,” he says. “Williams is genuinely interested in what we are doing at our new facility and we can learn a great deal from having access to the team’s engineering facility a few miles away in Wantage. To them, efficiency is key.”

Bremont Longitude, limited edition
from £14,995

To book tours of The Wing, visit bremont.com