Time+Tide brings you the British Watchmakers’ Weekender

Russell Sheldrake

If you weren’t in London on the 23rd and 24th of November, I’ll forgive you for not attending the biggest event we’ve ever held in our London Discovery Studio. But for all of those who were able to make it, you would have undoubtedly seen and felt what I experienced – a tidal wave, similar to that of British Watchmakers’ Day, of exceptional vibes, excellent British watchmaking, and even better conversations. We packed our Discovery Studio with 16 of the best British brands you can find, with the help of the British Watch and Clock Makers’ Alliance, offering everyone the chance to get hands-on with these great watches, and chat to the folks behind them.

The only downside to this event was the limitation on time and capacity. We could only fit just over 500 of you over the course of the weekend, and after the weekend was over, everyone had to go back to their day jobs. To make sure everyone got a taste of the event and the best of what British watchmaking has to offer today, Andrew and I ran around all 16 brands and asked each of them three questions. Which three words describe your brand? Which one product best embodies those three words? What do you think of the event?

As the team’s token Brit, I felt very much at home – among my people, if you will – and hearing them describe their brands with words like “creativity”, “innovation”, and even “Dorset”, made me feel like there has never been a better time to be in the watch industry. There was such variety in the room that day, with the flair of Studio Underd0g playing perfectly against the utilitarian nature of Vertex, sitting alongside the extreme watches of Elliot Brown, rubbing shoulders with the futuristic stylings of Isotope. Get the full experience of this event from the video above, and keep an eye on our social feeds over the holiday break for highlights from each of the brands.

A big thank you must go to Alistair, Katya, and the entire team at the Alliance for helping us pull this event off. Without their hard work in first establishing and growing the Alliance to what it has come today, the Weekender would not have been possible. And as we look back on this year’s initial British Watchmakers’ Day along with our own Weekender, we can be certain that 2025 will have plenty more of the same, if not even more.