William Wood
Another new brand to me. These watches are partly made with upcycled firefighting materials. Hoses are repurposed into straps. Brass helmets are melted down into casebacks. The applied logo on the dial is a nod to 1920s firefighting helmets.
Even the decorations and stands on their stall at British Watchmakers’ Day were taken from an old fire station.
The reason for this is the founder’s grandfather was a firefighter for 25 years, winning an award for bravery after saving 5 young children from a house fire.
They’ve recently become embroiled in a little controversy with Isotope over the ‘Exit Watch,’ pictured here in green. This seems to have been resolved, fortunately!
Interesting way to approach watch design for sure. They stand out, to say the least. Makes a change from the usual military connections we see in watchmaking. As I heard at a recent watch meet when talking about British Watchmakers’ Day: “I swear, if I have to hear once more that your watch is inspired by the Spitfire or the Lancaster bomber…give us something original!”
Irish watch enthusiast in London.