Feature: The best British watch brands right now

British watchmaking is seeing a long overdue resurgence after a century or so of living in Switzerland’s shadow. From full-scale manufacturers like Bremont to small high-end independents like Roger Smith and Struthers, Britain is once again home to a burgeoning domestic market that caters for all tastes and budgets.

British Watch Maker’s Day on March 9th, 2024, hosted in London by the Alliance of British Watch and Clockmakers, is a great opportunity to discover the incredible stories and people behind some of these brands. Ahead of the event, we’ve picked out nine of the more affordable British companies that are putting out some incredible watches right now.

To find out more about British Watchmakers’ Day, visit britishwatchmakers.com

Pinion

Oxfordshire-based Pinion celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2023 and is now carving its own niche in British watchmaking, making small batches of timepieces that run on modern automatic or new-old-stock manual-wind movements. Finely crafted yet practical-looking, its watches are designed and built in England and cost as little £1,000. It recently worked with the RAF to produce a special-edition watch for the squadron known as “The Dambusters”, famous for their daring raids during World War II.

AnOrdain

There’s been a deservedly huge buzz around Glasgow-based AnOrdain in the past few years. Watch aficionados looking for something unique have fallen in love with the brand’s mesmerising hand-engraved, hand-enamelled dials. The brand uses reliable Swiss Sellita or La Joux Perret movements, which keeps prices to around the £2-3k mark. But you’ll have to pre-order your watch with a reservation fee via their website—and be warned, the queue is long.

Farer

Farer has made a name for itself as a top British micro-brand that offers a range of considered designs in an array of colours to suit your style. It has over 40 models from more than a dozen collections including sporty dive watches and sophisticated dress pieces. We’ve taken a liking to this avocado-green Mansfield model which is also available with an uber-cool Eastern Arabic dial. The Aquamatic range is another popular line. Even better, Farer keeps it prices pretty, well … fair, with watches costing as little as £780.

Studio Underd0g

This colourful watchmaker’s creations are often sold out, with enthusiasts eager to see what it comes out with next. Most recently it unveiled its Pizza Party which features a pizza dial with toppings and all. Sounds cheesy? Well, it’s the perfect example of how in-demand the brand is.

Initially announced as an April Fools prank in 2023, Studio Underd0g became inundated with fans showing interest in the watch and so it decided to make the Pizza Party a reality. The brand’s most notable releases, though, are the mouthwatering Watermel0n (pictured) from its 01Series and the 02Series’ Steffany Blue model.

Mr Jones Watches

Mr Jones watches asks you to “think differently about your time”. Take a look at its watches with their unconventional designs and you’ll know what it means. Although, it could refer to a couple of things—take the Berry Late Again! model which has “Time is just a social construct” on the dial. You’ll notice almost all of Mr Jones’ pieces are missing the traditional hour and minutes hands.

Bestselling model, A Perfectly Useless Afternoon (pictured), uses the relaxed character’s foot to read the hours and the rubber duck to display the minutes. Want something to get people talking? This is the watchmaker for you.

Christopher Ward

It’s hard to believe now but there was a time when Christopher Ward got a rough ride from certain elements of the watch industry who were dismissive of its derivative designs and generic Swiss movements. How times have changed! Thanks to models like the Bel Canto and The Twelve (pictured), this brand is now riding a wave of promise and success, picking up prestigious prizes and silencing (most of) its critics.

Bremont

Unlike the other brands mentioned here, Bremont is not currently a member of the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers and therefore won’t be putting in an appearance at the event. But you can’t talk about the contemporary British watch scene and not mention them.

Founded by brothers Nick and Giles English in 2002, it’s been instrumental in putting British watchmaking back on the map, splashing out on a state-of-the-art factory to make its own movements and hiring industry big-hitters like ex-Tudor supremo Davide Cerrato to steer it to even greater things.

Fears

Established in Bristol in 1846, Fears is one of the oldest family-run watch companies in Britain. In 1940, its premises were sadly destroyed during the Second World War. It relocated in 1945 and continued producing watches until 1976 when it closed its doors.

Fast forward to 2016 and Fears is back—relaunched by Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, great-great-great-grandson of founder, Edwin Fear. Today, Fears focuses on understated designs with watches that never go out of style. The Brunswick Aurora model (pictured) is a real standout thanks to its mystical blue mother-of-pearl dial.

Duckworth Prestex

An old British brand revived as recently as 2021 by the grandson of the company’s founder, Duckworth Prestex has hit the ground running with vintage-inspired models powered by Miyota movements. The ones that have grabbed our attention are the Rivington GMT and the Verimatic (pictured), which at 38mm is perfect for those of us who appreciate the style of a Panerai Radiomir but not the deal-breaking size. They even have drop-dead-gorgeous fumé dials.