Brothers investing time in British watch-making );
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DESPITE having opened a new 35,000 sq ft headquarters in Henley, Bremont’s founders say their mission is far from accomplished.
Nick and Giles English launched their watch-making venture from the former’s home in 2002, aiming to revive the sector in Britain as it was declining in the face of foreign competition.
Now the brothers say their two-storey base at Sheephouse Farm, off Reading Road, will allow them to hire more staff and ramp up production of their luxury mechanical timepieces.
They have 130 staff, including operators who build parts on site and specialists who assemble the finished product in airtight rooms.
British watchmaker provides computers for vulnerable children during lockdown
For each timepiece sold between now and 31 March, luxury watchmaker Bremont will donate one laptop in a bid to reduce learning inequality
19 January 2021 • 1:20pm
Bremont has pledged to donate one laptop to a vulnerable child for every watch it sells between now and 31 March
Credit: Alamy
Among the many challenges presented by Covid-19 has been the difficulty involved with home schooling. With mainstream schools currently closed to all but the most vulnerable and children of key workers, there are real fears that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, without access to digital devices and the internet access needed for remote learning, will fall behind their peers.
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How the watch business is doing in these times depends on where you’re looking, with sales in some countries virtually on hold as others cautiously recover, and one in particular speeds ahead.
The watch industry is no stranger to threats to its very existence; there have been three in the past 50 years. The first came with the “quartz crisis” of the 1970s, when the introduction of cheaper – and more accurate – battery-powered watches decimated the traditional industry thanks to sales suddenly falling 15 per cent; and the second was the financial crisis of 2009 that left sales down 22 per cent.
Stop, slow down or go: Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches in red, yellow and green represent the three-speed world of the watch industry amid the pandemic reset.