Struthers eyjolfsson

Struthers London collaborate with master goldsmith

Struthers London has teamed up with award-winning jeweller Kristjan Eyjolfsson to produce watches from recycled and ethically-sourced materials.

Former Birmingham School of Jewellery alumni Craig and Rebecca Struthers and Kristjan Eyjolfsson will unveil the first watch in the ongoing partnership at SalonQP next month.

The watches, which will use antique London-made pocket watch movements from 1880 customised to feature a new mechanism, will be designed and entirely hand-made in Britain.

Craig Struthers commented: “The industry as a whole seems to be moving away from traditional hand skills and looking to the latest high-tech processes for inspiration. While I appreciate it’s an important part of progress, as both a designer and a watchmaker I’m fortunate in being able to look back and take my inspiration from the soul and provenance found in traditional horology. We’re very proud to present one of the ultimate throw backs to English watchmaking heritage at SalonQP this year, even down to its English lever escapement”.

The partnership is a nod to the traditional, historical collaborations between watchmakers and experts in other fields who would produce other elements of the finished watch.

Rebecca Struthers added: “As a historian of watchmaking, this collaboration really excites me. I think there’s been this false heritage over recent years portrayed over the idea of a watchmaker being one man and his bench and that’s it, he does everything himself from start to finish. In reality, the industry never worked that way. You had a watchmaker next door to a goldsmith, next door to an engraver, and they would all work together and put in together to create a beautiful object inside and out.”

While details of the first watch are a closely guarded secret, it will bear both partners’ names and combine their styles with a ‘bold, Scandinavian-influenced case’.

James Buttery

Editor of WatchPro, the WatchPro Hot 100 and The Luxury Report.

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