British watch company Duckworth Prestex is little more than a year old, but is already making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, having recently returned from successful showings at the Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco and Chicago.
Owner Neil Duckworth revived and relaunched his version of the Prestex brand which had originally been founded by his grandfather Frank in the 1920s.
Mr Duckworth is convinced that watch lovers on both sides of the Pond appreciate timepieces with a story and a slice of British history.
“I’ve been absolutely taken aback by the reception that we’ve received from our friends in the United States. It’s fantastic to see that there’s so much passion for British watch brands such as ourselves and that people love our story,” he says.
Duckworth Prestex’s first watches drew inspiration from pre-World War II timepieces that used cushion-shaped cases, and have expanded the range using the same style.
The shape has been carried into the first family of dive watches for the brand, known as the Duckworth Prestex Belmont collection.
Like the business itself, the Belmont name comes with a back story.
“Growing up in the northwest of Bolton, just three miles from where I used to live, there was a was a well-known sailing and water sports club, surrounded by stunning countryside, next to Winter Hill,” recalls Mr Duckworth.
“This was the Belmont Sailing club, next to the village of the same name. So when we decided to create a dive watch – a project that has been in the making for a long time – the ‘Belmont’ was an obvious choice as a tribute to those happy days, and also as a meaningful way to link the dive watch genre to our fabulous home town.”
42mm steel Belmont watches come with wave-etched dials in blue, green, and orange.
They use Japanese Miyota automatic movements, protected to a depth of 300 meters.
The collection is available now for pre-order from the Duckworth Prestex website, for delivery during November 2022, priced from £895.
