Earlier this week WatchPro announced its Watches of the Year – the 10 winning timepieces and 90 highly commended watches that we felt boasted commercial appeal, innovation and had wowed consumers and retailers alike over the past 12 months.
Now we will showcase a watch a day that has made the cut in 2012, beginning with our Luxury Watch of the Year – the Bremont Victory.
Watches of the Year 2012 – Luxury Watch of the Year: Bremont Victory
If history could be pulled onto your wrist, given a heart and a function to perform then Bremont has achieved something like no other brand this year in the creation of its Victory watch.
The English watch brand worked closely with the National Museum of the Royal Navy to include original parts of the HMS Victory – Nelson’s battleship – in each of its Victory timepieces. The vessel was put into a dry dock back in 1922 and the many years there had taken their toll but in 2012 work began on a major refit of the ship to preserve not only its unique history but to enable future generations to visit and admire it.
At this point in steps Bremont to create its own luxurious version of this restoration, producing a limited run of mechanical retrograde timepieces that include parts of oak timber and copper from the original ship.
The associations are deeper, however. Bremont founders Giles and Nick English had long been fascinated with Nelson, with Giles attending the same school that Nelson had many years before. The brothers heard about the restoration of HMS Victory through their work with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Heritage and say they knew they wanted to be involved.
“With no hesitation we approached the Navy and discussed the possibility of creating a watch using original parts from the ship. Not only did we want to make the watch unique but we also want it to be a horological masterpiece,” explains Giles English.
In fact, is it the first time that wood and metal so old has been released by the National Museum of the Royal Navy for use. And what a unique and spellbinding timepiece the Victory is. Watch retailers across the UK have offered this as this their personal Watch of the Year, and with its added historical kudos and its English brand roots, WatchPro is also pleased to crown the Victory its Luxury Watch of the Year 2012.
