There is a tradition in Britain that when two drivers of clunky old Land Rovers pass each other, they flash their lights or wave. It’s an acknowledgement of their shared love of classic British design and utility.
Schofield Watch Company hasn’t been around for quite as long, but is already eliciting similar emotions among its fans.
“Customers report of having their Schofields spotted from across a room and with that conveying the fact that wearing a Schofield carries more cachet than, for example, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak that retails for ten times as much. Not only are the designs of our watches striking enough to be recognised but it shows the wearer has taste, which is more than money can buy,” the company’s owner Giles Ellis recites.
The brand is now much more than a passion for Giles, who this year focused his efforts on the creative direction of the watches, it is now a serious business. “Other staff members are taking on roles that make the daily business run with autonomy, like a well maintained wrist watch,” he says.
Giles is an evangelist for a re-emerging British watchmaking fraternity, and hopes that by drawing together like-minded businesspeople, they can draw collective strength and inspiration from each other that may ultimate lead to manufacturing of complete movements returning to these shores. “We pay our taxes in the UK, we pay UK suppliers, we pay salaries, we are part of a community. We are in the last stages of forming a unique fellowship that will make some of mine and my peers’ thoughts public,” he reports.
