Tag Archives: British watch

Pinion – Bronze Trend Leader

After seeing Pinion watches at Salon QP and a couple of Pinion “get togethers” I finally took the bait and ordered my Pinion Pure Bronze, which after I ordering Piers Berry, the founder, suggested I have the watch fitted with a green dial that until then had been mainly used in the gunmetal case. At the time there were very few watches available with bronze case and I was only aware of the fellow British brand Schofield, which I don’t remember being available with a green dial.

It is now 2023, this watch is my regular weekend/holiday watch. It is robust, has 100m water resistance, is a strap monster and has an appearance that improves with age.

Somewhat disappointingly its look is no longer as unique as in 2016. There is hardly a significant watch brand that does not have, or has not recently offered, a bronze model in their range and green appears to be the dial colour of the year. The obvious exception being Rolex. Both Tudor, Oris and now Christopher Ward notably going full bronze offering not only bronze cases but also bronze cases with bronze bracelets, which however much I personally like the material, I find a little too much. Of the major Swiss brands I am very tempted by the bronze Omega Seamaster 300 which nicely combines a retro look with a case that will patina.

However this is blog about British watch brands so what are the alternatives this side of the channel?

Bremont offer their British military approved Broadsword and Argonaut with a bronze cases

Christopher Ward,

On checking the Christopher Ward website I find three of their C65 range are available in bronze, the Dune, even with a bronze bracelet, the Acquataine and Sandhurst. The dive watch stalwart of the CW range, the C60, is also available though only with a blue dial.

Schofield

As mentioned in my initial paragraph in my mind Schofield are the other original bronze watch producer and an updated version of their Bronze Beater, the B3 is still in the range. You can choose between a “raw” or “patinated” versions.

The patinated version looks great straight out the box, through in my mind one of the attractions of bronze is the development of a unique patina so given a choice I would probably go for the raw version.

Sadly, Pinion the pioneer of the sector, do not have a bronze case in their range, though this might be down to the company now specialising on smaller commissioned runs.

The good news though is that bronze cased watches are still cool and generally attract more attention than their steel equivalents. The even better news is the watches on offer from the British brands are at relatively affordable prices ranging from £985 for the Christopher Ward C60 to £3495 for the Bremont Argonaut. Not a huge amount to be distinctive. All of these watches can be found on their respective websites:

Bremont – https://www.bremont.com/products/bronze-argonaut-black

Christopher Ward – https://www.christopherward.com/

Schofield – https://schofieldwatchcompany.com/

Finally, lets recognise the Pinion Pure Bronze Green as being the watch that started the Bronze/Green trend.

Chat GPT – Review Zero West DB-1

Chat GPT and other similar applications have been much discussed over the last few months. It has been presented as an instrument that replace many human’s jobs. I was wondering how it might perform as a watch blogger. So apologies to my fellow Emsworthians but I choose Zero West for my test. I asked the application to “write a review” – this is the result.

I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I don’t have personal experiences and emotions to provide a review of a physical product like the Zero West DB-1 watch. However, I can provide you with some information about this timepiece that you may find helpful in making an informed decision.

The Zero West DB-1 watch is a handcrafted watch that features a unique and eye-catching design inspired by the dashboard instruments of classic sports cars. The case is made of stainless steel and measures 42mm in diameter. The dial is made of brushed aluminum and features a retro-style font for the hour markers and hands. The watch is powered by a Swiss-made ETA 2824 automatic movement, which is a reliable and accurate movement that is widely used in high-end watches.

One of the standout features of the Zero West DB-1 watch is the unique way that time is displayed. Instead of using traditional hour and minute hands, the watch has two rotating discs that display the time in a digital format. This gives the watch a modern and futuristic look while still maintaining a classic feel.

The Zero West DB-1 watch is also water-resistant up to 100 meters, making it suitable for swimming and other water activities. The watch comes with a high-quality leather strap that adds to its overall elegance and sophistication.

In summary, the Zero West DB-1 watch is a well-crafted timepiece with a unique and eye-catching design. Its use of a Swiss-made automatic movement and water-resistant construction make it a reliable and practical choice for everyday wear. While I cannot provide a personal review of this watch, based on its features and specifications, it appears to be a solid choice for those looking for a high-quality and distinctive watch.

On the basis of this bloggers have the edge for the moment. Hopefully I will get my hands on example of the watch to do a human review.

Fears Christopher Ward : Alliance 01

Hot on the heels of their collaboration with Garrick, Fears have announce another, this time with Christopher Ward. Again, both companies being founding partners of the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers.

This jump-hour watch is limited to 50 pieces and available to purchase by Club members of the Alliance with all profits from sales being donated to the Alliance to support its various initiatives.

Differently to the Garrick watch this one features a bespoke 40.5mm Fears case and uses a JJ01 Christopher Ward movement. The movement being developed in house based on a Sellita SW200.

They are making just 50 of these models. They will only be available to Club members of Alliance on a first-come, first-served basis when it is launched.

The ‘Fears Christopher Ward : Alliance 01’ will be available to Club Members to order on Friday 27 January priced at £3950 (inc. VAT).

Isotope Hydrium Burnt Tangerine

If you have looked back on my previous holiday posts on Instagram you notice my bronze Pinion Axis features heavily, this was for two reasons, firstly the robustness of the watch and the effect of the sea water on the case.

With the arrival of my holidays this year I risked producing similar posts all over again. Luckily, I had noticed several images of the Isotope Hydrium range from my friend Jose and it occurred to me that they would make an ideal alternative for the beach. I dropped a note Jose and a loaner arrived, a limited edition very visible Hydrium Burnt Tangerine. A perfect summer colour. The perfect beach watch.

First impressions straight out of the box was – gosh this feels weighty. The perfect sensation for a serious dive watch, this is a tough watch. It comes with a super comfortable quick release FKM rubber strap, so nice in fact that I was not at all tempted to swap it out to experiment with alternatives. Usually,the first thing I habitually play with on dive watches is the bezel. The Hydrium has a robust uni-directional sapphire crystal/stainless steel bezel with 120 clicks, a feature that came in very handy for timing my daily swim.

The Landeron 24 automatic movement is almost completely silenced by the case, giving you almost the sensation of having a quartz watch on your wrist. Landeron is not a name that we are all familiar, the 24 automatic is designed as a replacement for the increasingly difficult to source ETA 2824-2. Then when you turn the watch over you find this really nicely decorated solid caseback. Personally, I not a great fan of display backs especially on dive watches, as you can see this one is a worth turning the watch over for.

Solid Caseback

Of course on of the most important design elements of any watch is the dial and this is where this watch distinguishes itself from other dive watches with the now familiar Isoptope details on the two layered dial, in particular the subtle Isoptope lacrime. Over the dial the is a domed sapphire crystal that I personally much prefer to the flat crystals.

Finally, returning to the strap. Isotope have always given particular attention to straps and this one is finished of with a very solid Isotope branded buckle.

Technical Specifications

Micro-blasted case, 316L stainless steel
Case diameter 40mm X 48mm (with lugs)
Height 12.9mm (14.9mm with double domed Sapphire Crystal)
Hydrium Exclusive Stainless steel screw-down case back
Uni-directional sapphire crystal/Stainless Steel bezel with 120 clicks
Anti-reflective crystal sapphire
Screw-down crown at 3 o’clock
Isotope “i” hands and indexes with Super-LumiNova®
Water-resistance 300m / 30 atm / 1000 ft
22mm Quick-release FKM strap with signed micro-blasted Steel Buckle

Swiss Mechanical Movement

Swiss Landeron 24, self-winding
Power reserve 40 hours
28 Jewels, 28800A/h
Accuracy -12/+12 s/day
Decorated + Customised rotor

Cost – £729 (limited to 100 pieces)

The Range

Alongside the Burnt Tangerine Isoptope produced several other versions, the “conventional” Blue Night and two even more individual the Hydrium X “Will Return” and the “The Judge”. Of these only the Judge can be ordered from the website.

So in conclusion I have to say the Hydrium Burnt Tangerine fitted the brief of “beach/summer watch” perfectly. So perfectly I kept putting off sending it back to Jose, until I was prompted. These watches are selling out quickly so jump now if you want one for next summer.

Fears partners with Great Britain campaign

Fears Watches are to partner with the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign, which highlights the best the country has to offer the world. It’s an honour for Fears to have its 174-year heritage and British credentials recognised during the company’s fourth year of trading since its re-launch in 2016.

The announcement comes as Fears concludes production of its final Quartz powered watch at the end of February 2020. Since the launch of the mechanical Brunswick in 2017, Fears has been slowly moving towards an all mechanical watch line up. Once the remaining stock of quartz watches are sold all Fears watches will be powered by mechanical movements and, like the Brunswick, will be hand built in the UK. Fears builds its watches in the East Anglian city of Norwich using bespoke components made in Germany (cases & dials), Switzerland (movements & winding crowns), UK (hands and strap leather), Hong Kong (sapphire crystals) and Belgium (strap

Commenting on the announcement of Fears partnering with the GREAT Britain campaign and concluding Quartz production, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, (4^th) Managing Director of the Fears Watch Company says, “It’s an honour to have Fears’ extensive heritage recognised by the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign. The GREAT Britain campaign does outstanding work in highlighting and promoting British manufacturing and highlighting the many things that make Britain great today. Fears has a unique history in the British watch industry. Having traded for over 130 years from the middle of the 19^th Century until 1976, Fears used to export to 95 countries around the world, something I hope we will achieve again. This recognition comes at a time when we’ve ended production of the Quartz watches that re-launched Fears in 2016 and now focus solely on hand building mechanical watches here the UK. The first three years of trading since the relaunch have been beyond all expectations with a lot planned for the coming year.”

Commenting on Fears becoming a partner of GREAT, Jack Karet, Chief Partnerships Officer of the GREAT Britain campaign says, “The GREAT Britain campaign shines a light on the very best of what our whole nation has to offer to inspire the world to visit, do business, invest and study in the UK. Partnership is at the heart of this, and we are proud to celebrate our iconic heritage brands, such a Fears, across the globe.”

Watch It Show – A Scottish View

I saw the “Watch It” show announced on Instagram, but due to me being based in London and the show falling at a particularily busy time for me family wise I was unable to attend.

So the first “Watch It” show, a spin off of the Watchitallabout watch blog, was held on November 9th in Rugby. The idea to being to offer an event for watch enthusiasts in the Midlands. And by all accounts was a great success. I am therefore pleased to have found a report of the event by the very amusing gentlemen from the Scottish Watch blog.

Scottish Watches Podcast #98 : John Cena’s Fast & Furious Watch at The Watch It Show with Joshua Flagg

During this edition of the podcast there are some interesting short interviews/chats with a few of our favourite British brands (Pinion and Zero West) as well as several more I was less familiar with. Definitely worth a listen.

Military Rivals

First of all apologies for my “radio silence” over the summer. No excuse really other than the usual “non-watch” commitments in the real world.

Starting anything again after a little time can often be a little daunting, there are always reasons to put it off again. Well today I re-started two activities I have been putting off. Firstly,I have just returned from my first motorcycle ride for a couple of years, just a couple of miles around my area but satisfying feeling my intuitive operation of the controls returning.

So now here I am back at Grinidgetime, my return to the keyboard prompted by several announcements of new watches from the British value brand Christopher Ward. My particular attention was caught by three watches in particular, produced apparently with the approval of the UK Ministry of Defence. There is a watch for each of the three arms of the British military, Army, Navy and Air Force. A remarkably similar initiative to Bremont’s Armed Forces collection launched earlier this year.

Taking the watches one by one I will start with the Sandhurst, named after the Royal Military of the same name. The watch follows the now almost generic design of the Smiths W10. This modern re-interpretation comes in a 38mm brushed steel case with a rugged and precise Swiss-made automatic movement – a chronometer-certified version of the Sellita SW200-1. Usefully, this watch has a 150m depth rating.

It is very difficult not to compare this watch to the Bremont Broadsword. Both watches offer C.O.S.C certified movements. The Bremont is slightly larger at 40mm with a lower depth rating of 100m. The big difference being the price,The Sandhurst is offered at between £795 to £895 depending on which strap option you choose. The Bremont Broadsword £2595.

The next service to cover is the Royal Navy, here Christopher Ward offer the C65 Dartmouth, named after the famous naval officers training academy. The design is inspired by the Omega Seamaster 300 ‘Big Triangle’ – initially known as the Royal Navy 0552, a Ministry of Defence commissioned piece that saw the first appearance of the popular inverted triangle. The Dartmouth uses a 41mm brushed steel case and the same Sellita movement as the Sandhurst, the watch is also rated at 150m.

For people looking for a Royal Navy watch the Christopher Ward offer differs significantly from the equivalent Bremont Argonaut. The Bremont having a slightly larger case (42mm) and higher depth rating of 300m. Again though there is a significant price difference. The Dartmouth at £795/895 compared to the Argonaut at £2795.

Then we get to the youngest of the three services, the Royal Air Force. This watch is called the Cranwell, named after the famous training college, it finds inspiration in two of the most definitive pilot’s watches ever made: the ‘6B/346’ models produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC. Again the movement is same Sellita as the other two housed in a 41mm steel “light-catcher case.

For Royal Air Force fans Bremont have their mono-pusher model, The Arrow; again at a significantly higher cost £3595 against £795/895.

This collection of military watches from Christopher Ward clearly offers an alternative to watch buyers wanting to show their support of one on Britain’s armed forces. The advantage being the cost and the use of the single arms insignia on th ecase back. The Bremont range with the Argonaut and Arrow do offer more features but at a price.

Second Newmark ?

Last year the brand Newmark was re-launched very honestly on Kickstarter . The first watch being the 6BB military chronograph and the HS, a white dialled variant. Both watches being pretty well received by enthusiasts.

Now after what seems a remarkably short period of time they have announced a second watch the 71 sports watch, again based on an historical model from the brand. Like the previous watch this model will be made available via a Kickstarter offer launching on June 18th at an initial price of £299, go tohttp://newmark71.newmarkwatchcompany.com/

Back again….

Well first of all for those of you that care I apologise for not posting for over a month. Unfortunately real life has been in the way, nothing serious just “admin”.

However whilst I have been away the world of British watches has not stood still, there is an increasing stream of interesting content to read, watch or listen to. In particular watch podcasts are appearing with increasing regularity.

One person that has already been the subject of a very listenable Time4apint podcast is Nicholas Bowman-Scargill of Fears. The latest Fears newsletter flagged another interview this time by the gentlemen of the Wrist Time podcast.

https://player.fm/series/wrist-time/nicholas-bowman-scargill-of-fears-watch-company

This is really worth a listen, Nicholas’s passion and enthusiasm really comes through, also that of interviewers. Be careful though, his sentiments are contagious, so you might finish the podcast with a strong need to buy one of his Brunswick watches.

Schofield Daymark Dark

I was very happy, after a couple of not too subtle hints, to be offered my second Schofield watch to review, the Daymark Dark. Unfortunately due to a lack of communication the watch sat in reception of my office for a few days.

Daymark Dark – Day One

However, on opening the outer packaging the first impression you get of this watch is a lovely smell of wood from the beautifully detailed wooden box.

The Box

Once out of the box and onto my wrist I expected the overwhelming impression to be “black” given the distinctive 44mm Schofield case, instead the first feature that really stood out were the “pink” anodised hardhats filled with Super Luminova C3 that sparkle above the number indices. Not in a blingy way, just making themselves playfully noticeable on what would otherwise be a more muted dial. A detail that I would not have expected from Schofield. Unfortunately, my iPhone photographic skills are such that I was not able to get a picture that demonstrates this surprising feature.

The Schofield case design is worth mentioning again, as it has now become so recognisable that there is really no need for further branding, probably realising this Schofield make you search the dial very closely until you “Schofield” find printed on the bottom edge of the chapter ring. Will they every make a watch with a different shaped case? There are still plenty of materials they have not used yet after all. Would a slightly smaller version work for female wrists ?

Schofield Branding

So, the Daymark Dark uses the same case dimensions as Schofield’s Signalman and the other members of the Markers range. Although it has been made from one piece of vapour-blasted stainless steel, the shine and sheen of the Daymark’s case have been replaced by the a Black ceramic coating. This ‘traditional matte’ coating is in the lowest band of gloss that is possible to attain by modern standards. In terms of scratch resistance it is, again, right at one end of the spectrum as it clocks in at a 9H in the Pencil Hardness Test which is the most scratch resistant that a coating can be rated. To give you an idea of the resistance, when sprayed continuously with water two and a half times as saline as seawater the ceramic coating was over ten times as resistant to corrosion as stainless steel.

As you would expect the Daymark Dark features the same tried and tested automatic movement as the first watch in the series, an ETA 2824, which is visible through the display case. Personally I am a huge fan of Schofield’s engraved case backs. Whilst it is interesting to see the automatic movement working, I feel it makes it look a little lost inside in the large case. I am sure Schofield would offer a solid caseback if requested.

Display Back

Another Schofield feature present is the distinctive crown with nail notch milled into the case with a deep groove running around the circumference. These two details make it easy to pull the crown out. This groove also indicates the ‘affordance’, the action required of the crown, teeth to show rotation and the groove to show pulling in and out.

I reserve my last comments for the 24mm strap, as we expect beautifully made and held to the watch head with screwed bars. Whilst these provide a secure attachment they are super fiddly to undo. Luckily I do not have any other 24mm straps in my draw so I was not tempted to try the Daymark on anything else.

The Daymark Dark, makes a really nice addition to the growing Schofield range and as with the other watches, there are of course many ways to make these already ready distinctive pieces even more personal.

I am really looking forward to seeing the what variants on this cas Schofield come up with in 2019, and if they stick with the core design.

£3,840.00

Grinidgetime.com

British Watch Brand News from Greenwich, England