Monthly Archives: January 2017

Farer – discovered, finally

I have been very slow in picking up this British watch brand. My only possible excuse is that when they launched in 2015 it was with a range of quartz watches. When I started this blog I ignored, unfairly, these companies. I have now realised that watches with quartz movements are a perfectly legitimate route to getting a brand to market.

Farer Banarto -with Ronda movement

Farer Banarto -with Ronda movement

The Barnato model, above, is a great example from the quartz range, priced at a reasonable £420

THE original collection of “net-retro styled” watches is named after  British explorers, inspiring individuals who perfectly define the true spirit of Farer: daring, courageous and filled with ambition beyond the ordinary. From Amy Johnson – Britain’s most famous female aviatrix – to Everest climber, George Mallory and Tutankhamun archaeologist Howard Carter.

The 316L steel cases come in a fashionable 39.5mm size. With quick release straps on 20mm lugs.  The movements either being Ronda 512, in the GMT models, or 600D in the watches with the sub-dial.

All Farer watches are designed in London and manufactured  by  their Swiss manufacturing partners, Roventa-Henex,.

With the arrival of their Automatics at the end of last year, they have taken inspiration from the famous vessels that carried Britain’s most brilliant explorers around the globe. The first three Automatics are named Beagle, Endurance and Hopewell.

The automatics use the proven ETA 2824-2 movements and are very similar in style to the original quartz range.

Everything I have read so far about these watches is very complimentary. I am looking forward to getting a closer look.

 

 

Pinion – Piers Berry Interview

 

Piers Berry talks to "The Jewellery Editor"

Piers Berry talks to “The Jewellery Editor”

I thought this interview with Pier Berry of British watch brand nicely sums up many of the issues around the British watch revival.

http://www.thejewelleryeditor.com/watches/interview/truth-behind-revival-british-watchmaking-pinion-watches-piers-berry/

Vertex coming back ?

Today I found an interesting little article in the Financial Times. It appears the British watch brand Vertex is about to be re-launched.

Vintage Vertex

Vintage Vertex

According to the article Don Cochrane (of Netjets) is hoping to relaunch the brand established by his great-grandfather , Claude Lyons, in 1916. The company was one of the iconic “Dirty Dozen” supplying military watches.

The aim is to build 60 military styled watches based on wartime models. These will be initially offered to selected people at £2500.

 

 

Schofield Daymaker – More news

In their recent bulletin British watch brand  Schofield have given more detail about their new Daymaker model, which for my taste is their best looking watch so far. I especially like the crown.

Schofield Daymaker

Schofield Daymaker

These are the details they are giving currently.

The Daymark costs £3600 inclusive of VAT. Pre-ordering via deposits will be taken in January. Please contact us if you would like to get on the list.
  • Single piece case, like the Beater and Blacklamp, precision made in Germany
  • Stainless steel, vapour blast finish
  • Exhibition case back
  • Sapphire crystals front and back
  • Swiss ETA 2824 automatic movement
  • Pull-out crown engraved and filled with our Unicode lighthouse symbol
  • Dial with raised chapter ring with PVD coating
  • Laddered hands with a matt steel finish
  • High contrast daytime visibility
  • Highly luminescent markers for night-time visibility

My only comment is that I would have preferred a manual movement.

Fears Watches on the BBC

Nicholas Bowman-Scargill from the re-launched British watch brand Fears has achieved what many people have dreamt of, he has launched his own company. Then to help this he has done what many PR people dream of, he has been interviewed on the famously non-commercial BBC. Hats off !

Nicholas Bowman-Scargill

Nicholas Bowman-Scargill

Here is a link the actual interview starts after about 16:33

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08812nq/bbc-business-live-04012017

Garrick Portsmouth

Despite my recent success in getting my hands on watches to review I think it will be sometime before David Brailsford lets me get my mitts on this watch. In the interest of keeping you all informed I have therefore decided to feature this excellent review Escapement.

http://www.escapementmagazine.com/articles/articlesarticlesgarrick-portsmouth-html-html.html/

Bronze Patina

More Bronze watches are now available and one of the first questions you might ask before committing to buying one is “how does the famous bronze patina develop” ?

As I took procession of my Pinion Pure Bronze the week before Christmas I thought it might be useful to post weekly updates.

New Bronze

New Bronze

Despite wearing the watch every day the colour change is very gradual.

After one week

After one week

I will try to make some better close-ups for next week.