Brought to you by
William Wood Watches started its journey in 2016 and has rapidly become one of the most talked about independent British brands.
Its unique story and sustainable luxury designs seem to have sliced through the saturated world of watches and burnt a lasting impression on the industry and its customers.
William Wood was the name of the founder’s late grandfather who was a firefighter in the British Fire Service for 25 years. Its modus operandi is creating British sustainable luxury watches made from upcycled firefighting materials.
In December 2019, it launched its new Valiant collection from its diving watch range. This watch has acted as the poster child for its rapid growth – raising over £100k in pre-orders in just 4 months.
What is unique about the latest Valiant collection is its straps are made from upcycled British fire hose that has served and protected the UK Fire & Rescue Service for more than 10 years. William Wood Watches claims that you can still smell the smokiness in the rubber.
Equally special to these pieces, is that the brand has taken an original 1920's London Fire Brigade helmet and melted it into its watch crowns.
Each crown is handcrafted in London's iconic jewellery district of Hatton Gardens by a family ran company with over 40 years’ experience dealing with precious metals.
What you don’t see in many watch brands these days is customers personalisation. William Wood also gives its customers full autonomy over their choice of watch movement: you can choose from two world-renowned automatic movements from Swiss maker ETA or Japanese group Seiko.
William Wood Watches' ethos is creating British sustainable luxury timepieces made from upcycled firefighting materials
Giving Back
One of William Wood’s core values is giving back. It donates to The Fire Fighters Charity who provide psychological, physical and social support to UK firefighters and their families, while the charity also played a pivotal part in supporting firefighters who were on the scene of the Grenfell tragedy, and the current COVID-19 pandemic.
In January 2020 William Wood raised $5,000 for the Australian Bushfires by selling a one-time customised Valiant collection watch at auction with 100% of the proceeds going to the Australian Bushfire Relief Fund.
On 4th May 2020, it also raised £2,250 from the sale of a customised watch in its 'Time for Heroes' auction for International Firefighters' Day in the UK. All proceeds went to The Fire Fighters Charity to honour that important day.
Keeping The Fire Burning
Square Mile spoke to the founder of William Wood Watches Jonny Garrett who told us: “Having started our journey in 2016 we now have over 600 customers in 30 countries worldwide, we were chosen by GQ and Esquire as the best watches to buy in 2020 and are on track to turnover in excess of £200,000 this year.
"We have certainly come a long way since jumping on our flight to Baselworld in Switzerland all those years ago with our watch drawings in hand, and a tenacity to create a recognised best of British business. But we are by no means done.
"Our vision is to be the leading British sustainable luxury watch brand with collections covering numerous rescue service disciplines, upcycling at the core of our designs, and my grandfather’s story being the oil that keeps the fire burning.”
You can learn more about our William Wood Watches, its journey to date and exciting watch collections on its website, williamwoodwatches.com.
Follow William Wood Watches on Instagram.
