BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
It’s not very often we go to a watch show. Sure, there are meetups and forums and communities, but going to a watch show is something different. It’s where brands meet up to show off their latest novelties; it’s where like-minded individuals congregate to share their love for their passion. It’s where I went just this weekend.
The Bristol Watch Show, held in Bristol, UK, is the newest kid on the block and showcased ten different companies. Storm Bert (yes, that is its name) was making its way towards the South Western city, but that didn’t stop the show from going ahead as it was located in The Clifton Club in the heart of Clifton Village – Bristol’s Bond Street, apparently – where elegant Regency surroundings made an excellent venue for hosting many watch brands and their admirers. The show was masterminded by Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, the man behind the Fears Watch Company which is a Bristol-based watchmaking firm steeped in history. Nicholas is a direct descendant of the company founder, and Fears itself was around from 1846 to 1976. The company was revived in 2016 with the Redcliff collection and has now worked with many companies to fly the flag for British watchmaking.
Ten companies were showcasing at the Bristol Watch Show, these being:
- Alkin Watches
- Bold Timepieces
- Drayton Watches
- Ember Watch Company
- Fears
- Geckota
- Horological Underground
- Maystone Watches
- MHD Watches
- Pompeak Watches
There was also a classy art gallery present with some works, and a well-stocked bar was on hand although I wasn’t able to partake. I did, however, have my camera with me.
Maystone Watches is a relatively new company which has just become fully funded through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Their range of watches are all inspired by birds of prey and they come with a stocky 38mm x 11.5mm stainless steel case on a metal bracelet, water resistance is 100m. Three watches are on offer currently, all are GMT watches featuring a date window. The Prosperity GMT Black Hawk watch has a black dial, obviously, while the Serene Skies model has a blue dial and the Golden Eagle watches have a golden-toned dial with two-tone gold-plated elements on the case. All three watches wore well; I quite liked that they were thicker than expected, as it meant that they were still substantial on my wrist. All watches feature the self-winding NH34 movement. The watches are expected to ship in June 2025 according to Maystone’s Kickstarter page.
The next brand I focused on is Geckota, which was kicked off by Jon Quinn – who was at the show – in 2009 with the name appearing officially in 2012. As a well-established brand, Geckota had a wide array of its watches on show including some which it’s stopped making but were interesting retrievals from the archives. The watch you see photographed is their Chronotimer Sports Edition watch, of which there are four colours to choose from: pacific teal, slate grey, maroon red or jade green. The watches measure 41.5mm x 12.35mm and come on a comfortable leather strap. The sizing and strap meant that the watch was comfy on my wrist and fitted it well. Around the back and on display is the hand-wound TY2901 calibre, a Seagull movement, which is precise and a definite talking point. There are plenty more watches in Geckota’s collection, including a three-handed variant of this model. One of these chronograph watches will set you back £449.00.
Fears was the last port of call before I had to make tracks. As I mentioned, they were one of the main driving forces behind the Bristol Watch Show and it’s clear there’s passion all around this brand. Their newest release is the Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour Coral watch, an intriguing hour-and-minute watch with the hours being displayed in the window. If you’re a fan of mechanical watches using digital-style numbers to tell the time (and we’ll have more of those here very soon), then this could be one for you. It features a Sellita-SW200 base movement onto which Fears adds Christopher Ward’s JJ01 module, which is exclusive to them; this makes the dial setup work. I liked this watch a lot; it’s classy and offers a unique appearance, especially with that dial colour. At 40.5mm x 12.8mm it’s easily wearable, too. The price of one of these is £4,250.00.
If you’re really into mechanical watches and you have a lot of money, then the Fears Garrick watch could be one for you. We’ve covered this one in an article before, but having seen one in person now I can tell you it’s very impressive, capturing that “olde worlde” charm we love so much about mechanical watches and yet doing so with British design language. If you’re after something more traditional then the Brunswick 38 Champagne might be more up your street. Its 38mm cushion-shaped case and uniquely coloured dial evoke a historical appearance, although it is bang up to date meaning that wearing it daily is easy. It’s also got a modern manually-wound ETA 7001 calibre inside it and you can choose to either have it visible through an open caseback or hidden behind a closed one. Prices for these start at £3,350.00
Overall, the Bristol Watch Show has lots of promise and shows Bristol’s burgeoning horology scene. There are already lots of goings on around the city, and this is undoubtedly going to increase in time making Bristol one to keep an eye on. The venue and dates for the 2025 show are yet to be confirmed, but most, if not all, of these companies will be at the British Watchmaker’s Day on Saturday the 9th of March 2025. Hopefully I’ll have more time for a longer visit next year where I can really get stuck in!
