New Year New Watch

We are always excited when the new year comes round as it means there is opportunity for new projects. For us, on the forefront of our minds is expanding the women's collection and really looking into how far we can push our bespoke range. Opening up the mind to see where skill can take you is so exciting and allows the most amazing ideas to be produced. 

For us, as a team, looking into watch design and production always has its perks and total disappointments. I mean, you strive to reach for the moon and there are always obstacles in the way. With design it is so similar but we find it is amazing when you see a project begin to take shape and form the idea that you had always hoped for. 

Making bespoke orders is so inspiring as well and being able to put someone else's wants and ideas into a physical product it is truly awesome! Their wildest dreams come true and that is so amazing to be part of. 

This year I hope to be able to design some truly inspiring watches. things that are so special and personal to people and make personal time pieces a necessity, rather than a luxury.

H.Pinchbeck Gift Guide

It is never too early to start thinking about things like Christmas. When it comes to dealing with bespoke orders, the more time the better, so we love it when customers know what they want when it is needed in a specific time frame. Buying for Christmas is always a hard one. We know that sometimes, you can just be unsure. There are so many colours and style options available, and the fact that you could make a bespoke watch, who knows what to pick? And when you are buying a gift, you want it to just be perfect! 

We have put together a gift guide with a few pointers for a few of our watches to give you a helping hand in deciding!

For the Ladies;

We have spoken about the Florence watch before on The Watch Tailor and we feel that this is the perfect gift for any woman. As the dial is so simple and minimal it matches a range of strap colours and means that you can pick one that would suit the recipient. Whether it be bright red or a nice neutral nude, this watch will suit all outfits and be a perfect gift.

Our other watches are unisex and can also be worn by women even though they may be shown more on men. The William watch with a parchment dial is a beautiful casual watch. Perfect for everyday and the warm parchment tones, when teamed with a brown strap, really make a beautiful piece for the everyday woman. 

Our Brought SALT watch is a great edition to a woman's watch collection and is very sporty in style. The Salt is a stylish, easy to read watch with a stainless steel case, sapphire glass and screw down crown. Again, you can have your choice of lizard straps but with the red strap you have a bold piece of wrist wear for the classically stylish. 

The Oxford Hawksmoor is a classically British watch. A perfect piece for both men and women and if you have any association with Oxford, it is truly a beautiful piece to have as a token to the times you may have spent there. It is our biggest watch with a fantastically clear face enabling the style of the watch to shine through. With the Oxford coat of arms it is truly a lovely piece in both the blue or cream.

For the Gentleman ;

It is quite hard to find a starting point for talking about men's watches. We have such a beautiful variety available but if you are looking for something special why not consider our Edward watch. It is a beautifully traditional watch. With a polished stainless steel case, finely painted dial and hand-cut, hand-stitched leather strap. 

Our George watch with sports hands is a perfect watch for the gentleman looking for something for everyday. The clear dial, especially in the midnight blue is a great watch ready to be with you all day and suit most outings. 

If you are looking for something very special for a man then our Lambeth Reach watch is the absolute creme de la creme. This is a complete collector's piece with only 270 being made. 
Its contemporary design, in stainless steel, is a happy marriage with traditional dial hands. The result is bold, yet restrained. Your Lambeth Reach watch will be delivered in a wooden presentation box, with a commemorative plaque and signed certificate, and the back of each will be laser engraved with its name and number, and the words 'The Glory Of The River'. Your own number may be reserved in advance, subject to availability. The Leather strap is individually crafted by Devon craftsman Tanner Bates.

Any of our watches would make excellent Christmas presents, but I hope this has helped you in your decision making when looking for a perfect Christmas present.

If you sign up to our newsletter you get 10% off your next order. Subscribe HERE.

Harold Pinchbeck's Home

We think that as we pride ourselves on the fact that we hand make each watch in our workshop in England, it only seems important that we talk a bit about the beautiful city where we are based. 

We are very fortunate to find our views from the windows looking out to the Cathedral. Lincoln Cathedral is one structure that should not be missed. For 238 years of its life it was the tallest building in the world but after the collapse of the main spire in 1548 it was not rebuilt and the world around grew taller!

It is a stunning Cathedral with details all the way back to the medieval period. 

It has seen its fair shares of destruction through fires and earthquakes, but what stands today is a stunning feet of architecture and designs and the Cathedral resides over the city sitting on top of a hill and can be seen from all around. 

Lincoln Castle is in the opposite direction but still in our view. Again our Castle is a structure to be seen and even though it is relatively small, it boasts a fantastic wall that can be walked around  and offers amazing views of the city on a clear day.

Bailgate is one of our closest shopping areas; it is also referred to as the Cathedral quarter as it runs straight through the middle of the two grand buildings. From Bailgate you can enter the main town via Steep Hill. The area is actually called this and it is one of the steepest shopping streets in Britain. It's easy getting down but you need a good bout of energy to get back up! 

With the rest of the town offering the usual high street emporiums, it's pleasant for a wander, but fortunately where we work, uphill, is the prettiest area of the town and worth a visit. If you would like to know more about Lincoln, visit Visit Lincoln to help plan your trip.

The beauty of Florence

When you think about certain cities, your mind can recall pictures of places of beauty and architecture, rolling hills or skyscrapers, and so much more as your imagination begins to try to reveal what you know about an area. For a lot of us who are yet to travel the world and thoroughly enjoy what it has to offer, it is our imagination that can really make us see what we believe to be there. Creating that beauty in our mind often lends itself to so much of us using those images to inspire. For me, even thinking about the term Florence, unfortunately doesn't instantly ping up an image of our women's watch. No, it most definitely makes me think of the simply elegant Italian city and how I can see myself sat at a little café drinking a Bellini and enjoying the warm summer sun. However, The Florence is our first watch designed for the female market and itself brings that idea of simplicity, elegance, and charm as equally as this Italian province could. 

The Florence is a great beginning to our range specifically designed for women. Women's wear is such a hard market to break into and with female watches being cheap and easily accessible, we really wanted to try to offer something that would complement our style and design and be available to those wanting to appreciate a British built watch. 

Our designs produced in house for our next women's watch have not yet shown us what is truly the 'next one', but our designs are bursting with beauty and all echo that classic PINCHBECK look, so it won't be long before a new watch is on the market.

Gentleman's Style featuring The Oxford Hawksmoor

Keeping up with high end fashion isn't something that we aspire to do. We are much more interested in creating pieces that are forever fashionable. Something that would never seem dated or old but a watch that will always make a fashion statement. 

Our Oxford Hawksmoor is one of our most simplistic watches yet showcasing uttermost elegance and style in its look and feel. Being in a larger case, measuring 41mm, the face is one of our biggest and the style that it offers is immeasurable. With a cream or blue dial, all printed with the Oxford University crest, this simple watch is there to be noticed. 

Whether you are wearing it because you love the look of it or because Oxford University holds special memories for you, this watch very much offers Oxford flair in its elegant design.
For us, designing such a piece was very exciting. It is a tribute to one of Britain's most original architects Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736) who was a pupil at Wren and a near contemporary of the first Christopher Pinchbeck; They could have easily have known each other in London. As well as several University buildings in Oxford he designed six churches in the capital, and worked on a number of stately homes.

Our Hawksmoor is a real collectors piece and is a very beautiful watch to own and wear.

From The Work Bench.

A working day for us is somewhat different than most. I suppose if you are lucky enough to have a job as a watchmaker you are already guaranteed a different type of working day. Watchmaking by hand is such an art-form these days. There are very few watchmakers in this country practising the fine art of horology.

Working with time and being the one who gives people that bit of luxury with it is quite an honour. 

We could easily take for granted how easy it is to know the time and even read a clock. We all know that feeling when we have forgotten to put our watches on; you can spend the whole day feeling late or lost. Having time so close and so accessible is indeed a luxury. 
We should never think about running out of time. It is always there, we must simply make sure we use it to the best of our ability. 

When making a time piece, we have to seriously consider what the point of it is. If we are getting that wrong, then we get it all wrong. Our watches are there to tell the time and to give you that luxury of knowing, of seeing and of being part of time as it passes. 

 We try, with all our watches, to make them precisely on time so that the wearer has always got the time to do what they want. That is what it is all about. Having the time to explore, have fun, live even, and all this we put down to actually having enough time to do it. 

At Pinchbeck HQ building each watch is an event. Starting from the very beginning every part is put together to form an object that works, that has a purpose, and it is this that we are most proud of. The timepieces that are created offer so much more than just telling the time, they mark occasions, they give you moments to treasure and most of all they stop you from losing what we all want and need; time.  

Taking Time To Learn

When we started developing the business H. Pinchbeck, we came up against all sorts of stones that made us stop in our paths. As we continued to delve into how we could keep our parts as British as possible, we began to grow in understanding more and more about how British Industry worked and how individual craftsmen were developing their fine art of producing to keep up with modern needs.

It was a great opportunity too for us to build a platform, making sure that the work we started used and supported the highest quality of parts. 

As the years pass on and our techniques develop, we are always surprised by the amount we are still learning.  

Our greatest area of development comes with each new bespoke order. There isn't anything more exciting than being challenged to make something we haven't before. Recently designs have been requested on all type of backgrounds, from Mother Of Pearl to black Onyx and it is fantastic finding out about how we can make and print on these kinds of surfaces. 

For Pinchbeck, the challenge of developing our watches is always something that we are working on, in the background, slowly and finely developing our art so that what we are producing is something quite exceptional.