Time on his side: Ronnie Wood

The Rolling Stones guitarist and artist has worked with British watchmaker Bremont on a special collection of hand-painted timepieces

Watches & Jewellery 20 Nov 2019

Ronnie Wood with Bremont's Nick and and Giles English, who have collaborated on a new collection of watches, The 1947 Collection
Ronnie Wood with Nick and Giles English
Ronnie Wood has painted a series of 47 watch dials for the new Bremont 1947 Collection
Three watches from The 1947 Collection by Bremont and Ronnie Wood

In their heyday, the antics of The Rolling Stones on tour was the stuff of legends. But these days, for the most part, health and wellbeing have replaced hedonism – and you’re far more likely to find guitarist Ronnie Wood spending time with his wife and twin toddler daughters than throwing TVs out of hotel windows. That, and indulging his other great passion: painting.

Wood has been a dabhand with a paintbrush since his youth, having trained at Ealing College in the footsteps of his two elder brothers, who were also both musicians and artists. Today, Wood is an established artist who has curated exhibitions worldwide; his creative passion running in tandem with his four-decade long career with the Stones.

This month, Wood has unveiled his most ambitious creative project to date – one that the public can own as miniature wearable works of art.

Ronnie Wood at the launch event with Nick English, co-founder of Bremont
Ronnie Wood at the launch event with Nick English, co-founder of Bremont

 

The 1947 Collection is a unique collaboration between Wood and British watchmaker Bremont. Founded by brothers Nick and Giles English in 2002, Bremont has quickly made a name for itself in the luxury watch industry for producing high-quality British-made timpieces – sometimes containing unusual elements such as a metal ring taken from Alpha Bravo, the last Concorde to fly from Heathrow.

The English brothers met Wood around eight years ago, and the trio ‘just clicked’. Back then, they asked Wood to paint the dial of a one-off Mariner’s Clock, which he accepted with gusto. Inspired to take on a new challenge, Bremont and Wood decided to put together a limited-edition collection of 47 hand-painted timepieces (a nod to 1947, Wood’s birth year), which the musician worked on during the Stones’ most recent tour in the US.

Each 18ct white-gold timepiece features a unique, colourful design and houses a Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier movement with moon phase complication. At the launch event in Mayfair’s Watches of Switzerland boutique, Wood described the watches as his ‘little buddies’, admitting that he ‘didn’t want to part with them in the end’. Yet, for watch and music fans looking for something truly one-of-a-kind, it’s a good thing he has.

The 1947 Collection by Bremont and Ronnie Wood is available now; bremont.com