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Classic Time brings German avant garde watchmaker Alexander Shorokhoff to the UK

German watchmaker Alexander Shorokhoff has signed Classic Time International as its UK distributor.

The company is new to the UK, but is distributed in more than 30 countries and has been trading for 25 years in Germany and around the world.

Retailers love a story to tell, and the tale of Alexander Shorokhoff, the eponymous owner of the watch company, is more colourful than most.

He was born in Soviet-era Moscow in the 1960s, studied engineering and architecture there and worked his way up to become director of a large construction company in Russia.

During the “Perestroika” liberation movement of 1991, president Michael Gorbatchov gave Mr Shorokhoff the chance to improve his knowledge by sending him to Germany to work at the Ministry of  Economics in Hessen.

The following year he left the civil service job to start his own watch company called Poljot, which promoted itself as a Russian watchmaker in order to stand out from a crowd of Swiss or Japanese watches.

By 1996, Poljot was well-established in Germany and was exporting mechanical watches to more than 30 countries.

2002 saw the company name change to Alexandre Shorokhoff as its owner looked to move upmarket to rival the great watchmakers of Glashütte, but also retain its link to his Russian heritage as a USP.

Standing out from the crowd remains a driving philosophy for the business, and is now most clearly demonstrated in the striking timepieces it produces.

The watches, which will sell in the UK at prices starting at around £950 and rising to over £8000.

“As a manufactory with Russian roots, we are able to draw on the Russian culture which has born the Avantgarde in the art and we are setting it into a new context Art on the Wrist,” Mr Shorokhoff says.

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