British watch brand Bremont is set to move all its production to the UK within the year.
The step away from Switzerland has always been a long-term goal of the brand, which is run by brothers Nick and Giles English, but to date has been an objective that has seemed out of reach until now.
While there are no more details being released at present sources have said that it is likely the location of the UK production site will be in Henley, Oxfordshire, near the brand’s headquarters.
Bremont is already producing some of its cases, straps and packaging in the UK. It also carries out the final assembly on one series of watches in the UK.
However, in the past Bremont has spoken of the difficulties of sourcing complete movements and dials in the UK.
In an interview in August last year with WatchPro Giles English spoke of his desire to move production to the UK and said that financial and logistical hurdles had prevented this dream from being realised sooner.
He said: “When we started out our ethos was to do as much in the UK as possible, but Switzerland is a cottage industry – you can walk round the corner and get something done. That’s not the case here. We don’t care if we don’t have Swiss Made on our watch faces, we’d much rather have London.”
Being known as a British brand is crucial to the ethos at Bremont and chairman John Ayton believes that with the world’s focus on the UK in 2012 thanks to the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics 2012, it is more important than ever for the watch house to embrace its nationality.
Ayton said: “The world’s focus is on the UK and Bremont is the most successful British watchmaker to date.”
