British Watch Brands Have Their Day

Nearly half of the exhibitors had created particular timepieces for the occasion. There was, for instance, a one-off creation from Mr. Smith: a 38-millimeter wristwatch with a single-wheel coaxial escapement in a purple gold case. It was bought by lottery, with a reserve worth of £297,500; the model declined to disclose the ultimate worth.

Many choices have been significantly much less expensive. Clemence Watches of Edinburgh created a model of its automated Munro watch with the phrase “Britain” added to the dial; all 4 of the 37.5-millimeter chrome steel timepieces, every priced at £650, have been bought through the occasion. And Beaucroft, headquartered in Cambridge, England, supplied a particular model of its 37-millimeter chrome steel automated Seeker watch; all 25 of the £450 timepieces additionally bought.

“My hope is, in some respects, that individuals would possibly uncover the manufacturers by their particular editions,” Mr. Audsley mentioned, “but in addition, after all, they are going to turn into conscious of their different watches.”Inside the corridor, an ethereal ground-floor house usually used for antiques gala’s and the like, there was fairly a line for Studio Underd0g, a model based by Richard Benc in Brighton, England. It was promoting two iterations of its Pizza Party watch: a manual-wind 38.5-millimeter chrome steel timepiece, priced at £550.

One dial was adorned with the picture of a pizza lined in pepperoni, basil leaves and mushrooms; the opposite, ham and pineapple, which is a very fashionable, if unorthodox, mixture in Britain. (As Danny Blueggel, who purchased the ham and pineapple one to carry residence to Naples, Italy, mentioned of that selection, “It is a sin however generally you need to be a sinner.”)

Fans say that Mr. Benc’s mixture of horology and sass — there’s an Underd0g watch with a watermelon face, too — is a part of the model’s enchantment. “I like his creativity,” mentioned Rick Kucharz, a British tax marketing consultant who had flown in that morning from Amsterdam, the place he lives, to attend the honest.