WatchObsession

Here is a Re-Blog of a great article we put on our own Blog on our website, hope you enjoy !!

WatchObsession visit BREMONT H.Q, June 2013

We had the pleasure of being invited to visit the Bremont HQ in Henley on Thames and it would have been rude not to accept, so we jumped at the chance.





On arrival up the gravel driveway we were presented with a very impressive new build barn, not what you would expect from a "watch factory". We were warmly greeted and asked to adourn "dust covers" or "slippers", we both opted for the "dust covers" deciding these were the fashion choice for the day.
We were taken by Serena to a function room that was adourned by Bremont bits and pieces, including a fine array of watches for us to drool over. We sat and watched a Bremont video that was highly interesting and was joined, on queue, just as the credits rolled, by Giles English, Bremont Co Founder, who sat and joined us and introduced us to the Bremont brand.





Giles has a passion for the brand that I can relate to in my own business, and it was enlightening to hear this and the ups and downs that himself and Nick had been through to bring Bremont to where it is today, 10 years on but these guys are here for good and I am sure will go from strength to strength.





©2013 Piers Berry and used with permission


Infront of us on the table was a tray with many parts from the current S2000, which Giles went into great detail explaining the make up of the watch and some very interesting design elements, including how the movement is held within a shockproof casing, also shown the screwless Helium Escape Valve which does not let in water whether it is in the open or closed position, very clever.





After our chat, Giles lead us on a tour of the building, explaining their plans for expansion in order to bring more and more of the production to Henley and I am sure it wont be long before the building work commences.
Upstairs in the building are two large areas, one contains a large array of parts that are checked, and double checked and checked again on arrival, here alot of the QC is carried out too. On the other side of the building was the watch making area, this had a sense of carm and tranquility about it, not sure if it is like that all the time though.





The guys ( and lasses ) working on different models, carrying out services, assembly, seen one of the last four Victory watches being worked on by one of the master watchmakers, who had a very "spiffing" moustache. There were two apprentices working away, job envy, if only I was ten years, well, 20 years, okay, 30 years younger, I would love to have had that opportunity, cool and what a brand to learn your trade with.





Inbetween the two areas was a strong room, disappointingly Giles did not give us a trolley and a minute to collect all the swag we could lay our hands on, that would have made my day





We chatted a little more about watches, cars ( Mercedes envy ), business and then came our time to leave, regrettably, but myself and Mathew thoroughly enjoyed our time at Bremont and really look forward to returning one day to collect my first Bremont watch in person !!





©2013 Piers Berry and used with permission

Thanks to Giles and all the Bremont team, who made us extremely welcome on the day :-)