I first encountered Nick and Giles English in October 2006 among the genteel surroundings of London’s The Savoy Hotel, where we met to discuss their proposed new watch brand, Bremont. On paper it sounded like a recipe for burned fingers: two inexperienced young Brits (just 35 and 33 at the time) throwing themselves at the mercy of Swiss suppliers and manufacturers in a bid to make an impact on the competitive pilot watch sector. But after a 15-minute chat, it was obvious that the brothers had done their research, had financial backing in place and, above all, had serious long-term plans to not only build a successful business but to make an indelible mark on horological history by reinstating Britain as a serious manufacturing base for mechanical watches.

It sounded like a tall order, but the fact that the pair were refreshingly different from the usual well-suited, well-groomed, MBA-toting, multilingual bosses that run most Swiss watch brands, had me rooting for Bremont’s success from the outset. That the brothers were ‘casually’ dressed, relaxed, modest and excellent company was also endearing – plus, a mutual enthusiasm for old cars, old motorcycles, old planes and old stuff in general suggested that we were all on the same wavelength.

Fast forward 15 years and I’ve arrived at a 35,000-square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility called ‘The Wing’ on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames. It’s filled with natural light from vast windows and, arranged over two storeys are dedicated rooms for machining and finishing parts, designing, assembling and shipping watches, meeting and entertaining clients and staging launch events. There’s an extensive boutique, too, the beginnings of a museum of British watchmaking and an impressive, wellstocked bar. This is Bremont’s new, £20m HQ…

Having followed the brothers’ journey from the beginning, I have to confess to feeling a slight lump in the throat when Nick English emerged into The Wing’s plush reception area, as casually dressed as ever and with his wayward dog Pedro in tow – because here was the evidence, in all its cedar-clad, grass-roofed, glass-fronted glory, that they had only gone and done it. Bremont really has brought watchmaking home (most of horology’s important developments happened in Britain, don’t forget) and the aircraft-inspired Wing that reflects the brand’s particular focus on aviation and adventure promises great things.

There is no doubt that Nick and Giles’s father, Dr Euan English, would be immensely proud of what his sons have achieved – not least since it was his own passion for engineering that rubbed off on them in the first place. A highly regarded display pilot who enjoyed a distinguished RAF career and taught his boys to fly long before they were old enough to hold driving licences, Dr English died in 1995 when his North American Harvard war plane went into an uncontrollable spin during practice for an air display. Nick, who was also in the plane, escaped with multiple broken bones and other serious injuries – but, like Giles (who also survived a serious crash in a Gipsy Moth eight years ago) has never been put-off flying.

Indeed, the pair have used Bremont’s ethos of adventure as a legitimate reason to pursue their Boy’s Own lifestyle, from a brand-building drive across America in the classic Porsche and Jaguar cars that they have owned for decades to using a wartime Broussard aircraft – ‘the Bremont bus’ – for both practical transport and to promote the business.

Having such interests has undoubtedly helped to endear Bremont to equally adventurous customers, which is why global traveller Charley Boorman has been a long-term friend of the brand, along with round Britain swimmer Ross Edgley, SAS: Who Dares Wins TV star Jason Fox, polar explorer Ben Saunders and endurance athlete Nick Butter (to name but a few).

Almost from the outset, Bremont has also enjoyed the patronage of numerous international air force squadrons and army regiments through its Military and Special Projects Division which has produced ‘several hundred’ small-batch commissions – a side line that has even prompted the MOD to officially sanction the brand to produce timepieces bearing the intellectual property marks of the British Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.

But, says Nick, while the opening of The Wing marks a milestone in Bremont’s development, it also marks the beginning of a whole new journey – the first stages of which will be mostly uphill.

‘Last year we made around 10,000 watches, but having the new facility means we can start producing and assembling our own movements and aim for an annual output of 50,000. That multiplication is going to be a challenge to achieve, but it will be all about maintaining a smooth workflow – and The Wing has been designed entirely around that.

‘It’s intended to remain efficient for at least 30 years, with our aim being to combine the technical prowess of the Japanese and the Germans with the efficiency of the Swiss and grounded approach of the British – with the addition of a bit of passion.’

If he had said all that back in 2006, I would probably have been sceptical. But not now.

bremont.com