First impressions can often be lasting, so it’s lucky that when husband-and-wife team Craig and Rebecca Struthers met their very first client, they made a good impression. For this very important customer has now turned investor, providing the business with a much-needed cash injection in the past year.
A year ago, the Struthers London business was in rude health but was facing the same dilemma many companies of its size do – how to fund the expansion it so desperately needed to keep momentum going – and it was this cardinal client who answered it. “She has an incredible business mind, so it’s great to have her on the team,” says tattoo-loving Rebecca, who was this year named chairman of the Antiquarian Horological Society’s new Wristwatch Group.
The funding has allowed Struthers London to expand dramatically. The team has increased from just Rebecca and Craig to a team of six within the past year, it has a 12-month waiting list for new watches and is just a year away from completing its first in-house movement.
“We started Struthers London with an idea, hand skills and a lot of hard work with very little by way of working capital,” says Craig. “Investment has allowed us to reinvest in equipment and make real tracks towards starting manufacturing our own movements. I’m really proud of the way our business is growing. We are steadily increasing in size and the clients finding us are fantastic, they really understand what we do and appreciate our craft.”
