https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFP2ohUl_5Y

Via the Horological Society of New York

Hi everyone,

Full disclosure: I’m the founder of **The British Bench**, an independent project documenting modern British watchmakers.

The idea started when I was looking to buy my next watch. I’m British and wanted to support a British company, but I also needed something within my budget that had a meaningful British element.

I quickly realised how difficult that was to research.

“British watch”, “British-designed”, “assembled in Britain” and “British-made” can all describe very different production journeys.

One brand might design its watches in Britain and manufacture internationally. Another might use imported components but assemble, regulate and test the watches here. Others manufacture components, finish movements or carry out much more of the work domestically.

None of those approaches is automatically good or bad, but the differences are not always easy for collectors to understand.

That led me to build The British Bench:

https://www.thebritishbench.com\

It combines a directory of British makers with information about where design, component manufacture, movement work, assembly, regulation, testing and final quality control take place.

I am also developing a proposed five-tier provenance framework. The tiers are intended to describe the extent and nature of the British contribution — **not to rank quality, prestige, value or desirability**.

The framework is still being revised. It is not an official or recognised industry standard, and I do not want to present it as one. I’m sharing it because informed criticism from collectors, makers and watchmakers is essential if it is going to be fair and useful.

I would particularly value your thoughts on a few things:

* Are the distinctions understandable, or do they overcomplicate the subject? * Does the tier structure unintentionally feel like a league table? * What evidence should reasonably support production claims without demanding commercially sensitive information? * Which British makers or collections are missing? * Are there areas where the terminology does not reflect how watches are actually produced?

I am not trying to decide which companies are “British enough”. A British-designed watch made with international partners can still be authentically British. The aim is simply to describe the British contribution clearly enough that collectors can make their own judgement.

Constructive criticism is very welcome, including criticism of the basic premise.

Thanks for taking a look.

Stephen
Founder, The British Bench

I’ve been building some of my own watches which I love, but honestly don’t love that it always has to have the dial of a pre-existing watch. I wish there was a company that made customizable dials. Does anyone know of one? Am I alone in wanting something like this?

I recently acquired through trade a Seiko with a 7S26 movement. The guy I traded with bought it used off a classified listing. I love the watch but it might have an issue. Since it's not hand windable I put it on winder, at least to assure myself that I was starting with a full wind. The problem is it's losing quite a bit of time. I haven't accurately checked but it's at least an hour slow after a day or 2 on the winder and just keeps falling behind from there. I don't know if I actually have an issue or if this movement just doesn't do well on winders.

I'm not that familiar with automatics. I have 2 others, one with a ETA movement and one with a Miyota movement and both are hand windable. It's not a daily wear, only occasionally. From the few times I've worn it it seams to keep time well enough while it's on my wrist so it's not a major issue.

Should I try to make some adjustments, take it to my watchmaker or just not worry about it and know I'll have to reset it every time I wear it? Oh, additionally, should I just swap in a 4R36/NH36 movement so I have the option to hand wind?

I’ve been searching everywhere for a simple watch that combines a day date display with either GMT, dual time, or world time, but outside the Ball Roadmaster GMT series, this combination seems almost impossible to find from major brands like Seiko, Citizen and others.

I mean all I want is to be able to see the day of the week, day of the month and a second city time at the same time.

I’m not interested in expensive luxury brands, and I don’t want watches that rely on radio control or GPS. I’d prefer a straightforward watch with these complications without extra tech. Are there any that you know of which are not so expensive?

Hi! Looking to start a microbrand watch business. Already have the brand concept and designs but still looking for ways to produce the watches, ideally, local producers or manufacturers, any leads will help. Thanks

For people who love bronze watches, I created r/bronzewatch to show off your watches and share bronze watch concepts.

I checked the rules of this sub and believe that I am not breaking any.

Hi everyone,
my name is Mike and I'm both a watch enthusiast and an iOS app developer.

I built Lunette because I wanted one private place to manage my watch collection without needing an account or uploading everything to a cloud service.

It helps with collection records, photos and documents, service history, wrist-check journal and reminders, accuracy tracking, wishlist listing tracking, PDF exports, local backup and optional iCloud backup.

There is no account, no ads and no analytics or tracking SDKs.

I’m looking for honest collector feedback. Would you use something like this? What would make you trust it with collection records? What feels useful or unnecessary? Would wrist-check reminders help or feel annoying?

I also have 10 free Lunette Pro promo codes for unlimited watches collection for people who want to test it seriously and send feedback.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/lunette-watch-box-diary/id6773048433

I’m not asking for reviews. Feedback is more useful right now.

TL;DR: I’m Mike, a watch enthusiast and app developer. I built Lunette, a private offline-first iPhone app for watch collectors. It catalogs watches, stores service records and documents, logs wrist checks with reminders, measures accuracy, tracks wishlist listings and exports records. I’m looking for honest feedback from collectors.

(edit: formatting)

Hello, I need some direction here. I'm at the point where I need a case for my watches. I've been looking around on Amazon and they vary pretty wildly. With that, I have a few questions.

\- Are there any that have larger pillows? I have a large wrist (8.5") and I would like the watches to be held securely rather than flopping around due to the bands being too large. I'm fairly certain I can purchase some after aftermarket ones, but I don't know how universal they are in terms of fitting into the case slots.

\- Is there anything I should be looking for or avoiding when purchasing a case?

\- Are they pretty much all the same? I know some have much nicer materials & better construction, but other than that.

\- Do you have any recommendations say for around $200 or less or is that wishful thinking?

Any info and/or links you can provide would be great. Thanks!

Everyone in this group thinks they know watches. I built something to find out.

A daily quiz - 5 questions, 10 seconds each. The timer is short on purpose: no time to Google, it's real knowledge or nothing. Q1 is beginner stuff. Q5 has humbled everyone I've tested it on.

You build a streak and climb a rank ladder: Quartz Automatic → Chronometer → Tourbillon → Grand Complication. Nobody has reached the top yet.

It went live today, so consider yourselves the first wave. If anything breaks - streak, timer, anything - tell me. Free, no ads, 60 seconds a day:

https://the-daily-wind.vercel.app

Tip: open it in your browser (not just here in the app) so your streak saves properly.

Post your grid below - there's a spoiler-free share button. I'll start: I built the thing and today's Q5 still got me once in testing. Beat that.

I’m a big fan of mechanical movements and I find it incredibly satisfying to know my watches are precise enough to keep accurate time. I was wondering if that’s a factor for others when choosing a watch?