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Bremont co-founders Nick and Giles English.

EXCLUSIVE: Bremont will produce its first prototype watches using an in house movement in 2020

British watchmaker on track to fulfill its lifelong mission to bring commercial manufacturing back to the UK.

The first prototype watches using a movement designed and manufactured in the UK by Bremont are expected to be made next year.

Components of the automatic movement are already being produced in house and the architectural design is now finalised, Bremont co-founder Giles English revealed to WatchPro on a tour of the company’s Oxfordshire facilities.

A final launch date for commercial runs of watches using the new movement has not been set.

With watch cases already being made in volume in the UK, the launch of a prototype in house movement next year will be a major milestone in Bremont’s mission to bring commercial watchmaking back to Britain.

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WatchPro editor Rob Corder visits Bremont’s manufacturing plant in Oxfordshire.

Next year will also see Bremont bring all of its operations together under one roof with the opening of a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Henley-on-Thames. A visit to the construction site this week gave some sense of scale to the project where the substantial steel frame of the building is taking shape.

The company is also continuing to invest in apprentice watchmakers with full a full internal training programme along with support for the British School of Watchmaking.

Bremont’s own movements are expected to be initially used only in special limited edition watches, but Mr English plans to ramp up production so that they can be used in core collections.

“This is going to be an expensive movement to manufacture but the ultimate aim is to make watches at volume in Bremont’s usual £5000 price range that use various iterations of the automatic movement,” he says.

The architecture of the movement remains under wraps, but Mr English says it is designed to power a range of complications such as GMT hands and small second subdials.

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