The Dirty Dozen have been created as a modern homage to the original Watch Wrist Waterproof (W.W.W.) created by 12 companies for the British Army during WW2. During WW2, when the British Army decided that a supply of standardised wristwatches was required, they turned to 12 Swiss-based companies, as the British watch industry was busily …
The Great British Watch Company is creating “The Few”; a British watch handmade from a WW2 Spitfire that allows enthusiasts to get closer to the aircraft by providing an authentic connection to their passion. Britain is the historic home of watchmaking and most of the technology in a modern watch originated here. I am passionate …
British Watch Brands in 2022 Watchmaking is a British trade. This is evidenced by the fact that every major escapement design, and around three-quarters of the remaining innovations came from the UK. As a result there are now a number of emerging British watch companies and brands looking to revitalise that legacy. Below is a …
Robert “Bob” Cooke, was the highest scoring pilot that flew in Spitfire ML295; this is the Spitfire that The Few watch is being created from. With career credits of 4 aircraft destroyed and 2 damaged, he narrowly missed becoming designated an Ace pilot (which required 5 aircraft destroyed). His impressive score sheet began on 14th …
Over the next few Sorties, I will provide a short biography of 5 of the 11 pilots that flew Spitfire ML295, the aircraft that The Few watch will be created from. The first pilot we will look at will be Tommy Wheler, who was the first pilot to fly ML295 operationally. On 2nd June 1944 …
Following the introduction of Spitfire ML295 in the last Sortie, which is the historic aircraft that The Few watch will be made from, here I will introduce the squadron that these pilots flew with and will uncover some incredible new research about the squadron’s most successful pilot. The Spitfire Squadron A squadron of Spitfires was generally …
The Spitfire that The Few watch is being built from has been moved into a more public part of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, in South East England, where it is being restored. This has meant some keen-eyed visitors have already spotted the Spitfire and published some photographs and details on social media. Therefore, slightly …
As we discussed in the last Sortie, the Spitfire produced some of the world’s top fighter ace pilots. In this Sortie we’re going to take a look at the role the Spitfire played operationally and the types of missions that pilots could be expected to undertake. The types and frequency of the missions the Spitfire …
As we discussed in the last Sortie, in 1941 the Spitfire Mark 9 was intended to be a stop-gap design to combat the threat from the German Fw190. It proved to be so successful however, that it continued to be produced until the end of the war in Europe. In this Sortie, we will take …
It is now exactly 10 years since since I decided to become a watchmaker. I had a bit of nostalgia reading through my old article on making the decision. After a long time training and gaining experience, I am now where I set out to be; making watches in Britain. Hopefully you’ve been reading my …
