Again I have to have been a little sceptical of this brand when they first popped up on Instagram, now with the launch of their second watch I have to admit that I was possibly a little quick to judge. The brand like many others just had to get itself of the ground.
The first watch the Chivalrous collection, as you can see above, was a fairly generic looking quartz powered two hander. One feature I did like, as a fan of solid casebacks, was the solid caseback incorporating a brass coin made from a melted down 1923 firefighter’s helmet.
The story behind the watch is quiet interesting, the company’s founder’s, Jonny Garrett, grandfather was William Wood a firefighter. The company, as many others, was launched after a Kickstarter campaign. They have susequently won the Esquire Self-Made Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. They aspire to becoming a British luxury brand that uses recycled firefighting material in a sustainable, cool and chivalrous way.
Their next step towards acheiving this goal is their second watch, the Valiant, an different take on a classic divers watch again using recycled firefighting materials.
In this case the strap is made from recycled fire hoses. For those that might not be keen on a red strap there is also a military version using ex-military fire service green hoses.
Apart from the straps and the firefighter’s helmet logo on the dial the watches follow the classic format.
Technical Specifications:
- Swiss ETA 2824 or Japanese NH35 Automatic movement
- Case diameter 41mm
- Case thickness 16mm
- Lug width 20mm
- Water Resistant 100 metres / 10 ATM
- 316L Stainless Steel case and metal band
- Double domed sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective coating and blue tint
- Rotating bezel with Super-LumiNova 12 dot
- Super-LumiNova hands, indices and bezel 12 dot
- Domed dial with date window and sweeping second hand
- Crown inset made from original 1920’s British brass firefighters helmet
The watches are reasonably priced at £695 for the NH35 version or £995 for the ETA.
I am sure here might be many watch buyers that for some reason or other are not keen on the military associations of many of this type of watch on offer. These watches offer that alternative. You can discover more and buy the watches at https://williamwoodwatches.com/.