Schofield - wristwatches designed in Britain

A good classic watch is essential in any search for style. Regulars here will have guessed that I'm a wristwatch enthusiast. So, while at the Best of Britannia exhibition early in October, I was delighted to find a British watch designer. Giles Ellis is the enthusiastic founder and owner of Schofield Watch Company. Such was his love of watches that he founded a business to design a timepiece he would himself wear.

Talking to him, it was clear that he was motivated to produce a watch of the highest quality  As with any successful design, the devil is in the detail - the smallest elements of the watch have been thought out with the greatest care. The watch is based on very British elements - influenced by the design of lighthouses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The watch is, at 44mm, slightly larger than I would normally wear, but having tried it, I would revise this view. The case is large and chunky, but so intelligently made, curved, angled and proportioned that it looked fine, even on my slim wrist. The GMT function enables you to keep time in another time zone without having to adjust the watch. There is also a power reserve indicator. The movement is a high quality Soprod Swiss automatic, beautifully finished (but the owner will never see this).

Everything about the watch and the accompanying accessories is beautifully presented. To continue the British theme, some of the straps are made from British materials - Moon Mills tweed, British Millerain waxed cotton and, to come, Ventile. All these materials I'm covering in other posts this month in the context of the best of British fabrics and fashion. (I'd love to see these produced in other sizes, 20mm and 22mm, for other watches - these are the sort of well-designed and attractive British product that deserves a wider audience).

Finally, among the accessories available is a mouthwatering (I never thought I'd use that adjective, but it's apt here) watch case that has been made in collaboration with Cherchbi. I was delighted to see that the Herdwick wool has been used in its construction. I mentioned this Cumbrian sheep in my post here. Farmers have sometimes had to throw their fleeces away due to its low value. Yet here we have a sheep that has been farmed in an area of England (which I love and visit regularly) since the Vikings lived there. So, to see a  product which uses its fleece was very welcome. We should support such collaborations and wear them with pride.

So, once again, a great British-designed product made with passion and attention to detail.