Interview With Giles English Of Bremont Chronometers

Bremont is an award-winning British company producing engineered chronometers at their headquarters in Henley on Thames, England. Inspired by a love of flying historic aircraft, watches and all things mechanical, Bremont embarked on a journey to make beautifully handcrafted pilot’s watches of exceptional quality. In 2014, the company released a new timepiece incorporating original material from the historic 1903 Wright Flyer. We interview pilot and co-founder Giles English.

A: Bremont was founded in 1995, what made you want to move into watch making?
GE: It all came about through my father who was an amazing PHD engineer from Cambridge. He had a workshop where he built planes and he built a boat which we went to live on as kids. One of his passions was also watches and clocks. So Nick and I grew up around watches and clocks and always loved them. I went off to university to study engineering and was also involved in the family business of restoring old aircrafts. Life changed for us in 1995 when my father was in a plane crash with my brother. My father died and my brother, Nick, broke 30 bones and was in intensive care for many months. When he recovered Nick and I agreed life is very short and wanted to do something we both loved doing, so that’s exactly what we did. We decided to make watches and so Bremont was founded in 2002 and first launched watches in 2007 after spending five years in development.

A: You have a passion for aviation, how do you unite this love with watch making?
GE: The common driver here is the genuine appreciation of beautifully designed and engineered mechanical devices. We have always been inspired by a love of historical aircraft and as pilots ourselves aviation is always at the heart of all our designs and inherent in every watch. Most recently we unveiled our new Wright Flyer limited edition that incorporates an important part of history. In historical terms what could be more remarkable than an original part of the first ever powered aircraft? The 1903 Wright Flyer was built and designed by the Wright Brothers themselves in Dayton, Ohio, USA. It’s the invention and aircraft that changed the way we live today and it has now inspired our latest, and perhaps most unique, limited edition timepiece. Watches have also always historically played a pivotal role in pilot navigation and aircraft operation, up until as recently as 20 years ago, you would literally navigate in the air using a map, compass and your trusty mechanical watch. Time and flying have always been inextricably linked.

A: What would you say makes a good watch?
GE: A good watch has to be accurate and if serviced properly should last a lifetime. Craftsmanship is incredibly important as well as a timeless design.

A: What is unique about Bremont?
GE: Being British has always been a big point of difference especially when it comes to the number of watches we are making a year. We feel we deliver exceptional value for money given how over-engineered each of our timepieces is. Our work with the military is also truly unique and incredibly important to us, we develop bespoke timepieces that mirror the individual identities of these squadrons as well as reflecting our own core values.

Learn more about Bremont’s history and designs at www.bremont.com.

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Credits
1. Bremont Wright Flyer. Courtesy of Bremont Watch Company.