The furore lasted less than 48 hours. Isotope, which had accused an unnamed watch business of plagiarising its Fire Exit watch concept — immediately identified in comments on Instagram as fellow British indie William Wood — has removed its impassioned case for intellectual property protection from its feed.
As WatchPro reported yesterday, the controversy dates back to the British Watchmakers’ Day on March 9, where William Wood launched a special edition Fire Exit watch.
Isotope’s watch with the same name and visual link to the green fire exit signs commonly seen in this country, launched a year ago in March 2023.
José Miranda, founder and creative director of Isotope Watches, took to Instagram to highlight what he felt was plagiarism of its Fire Exit concept.
“How unnecessary it is to plagiarise other people’s work. It may have different design cues or features, but that’s not the point,” Mr Miranda continues. “The point is the idea behind the concept. That’s what’s hard. The colour palette and the name of the watch leave no doubt about what inspired it,” he said before insisting that any watch business [still unnamed] that used the fire exit concept after his launch in 2023 should learn from their mistake and withdraw their product.
Jonny Garrett, founder and CEO of William Wood, told WatchPro yesterday that he had written to Mr Miranda and provided “categorical evidence” that the company had started designing its Fire Exit watch prior to Isotope’s watch going on sale in March last year.
Thankfully, the acrimony subsided and accusations were withdrawn over the course of the day and a conversation between Mr Garrett and Mr Miranda settled the issue without another shot being fired.
“I spoke with Jonny moments ago. Everything is sorted and I’ve taken down the post,” Mr Miranda told WatchPro last night.
This morning, William Wood’s £1,495 Fire Exit watch and Isotope’s £1,080 HydriumX Exit watch remain on sale and will hopefully become collectors’ editions that are valued even more highly after almost shattering then resurrecting the spirit of camaraderie between British independent watch businesses.
