Today I want one of these

[hayday]

I couldn’t have a Broadsword. Go to the product page and it says: “Through our partnership with the Ministry of Defence, we are the sole luxury watch producer allowed to legitimately use the signs of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.”

Oh, get stuffed Bremont. Christopher Ward has the same marketing deal (but that’s presumably not ‘luxury’ in Bremont’s eyes), and so does (or did) Casio.

I think CW does a good job of bloviating without being...well...Bremont. They make a lot of nice watches, but I will never own a Bremont because of all their faux-history claims. Except for the Victory Chronograph, with bits of HMS Victory inbedded into it. That thing is gorgeous. More coin than I'm willing to part with for it, but it is gorgeous nonetheless.

[tribe125]

I’d been fairly sympathetic to Bremont until the ‘Armed Forces’ thing, although I’d also wondered about them standing aloof from the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers. That seemed a bit, well - aloof, considering that it is headed by Roger Smith, and nearly everybody else is in it for the common good of British watchmaking.

I could do without the fragments of wood and canvas, but I’m not aware of faux-history as such. I can remember someone (a Frenchman living in England) setting out to disprove the French farmer origin story - and then finding (non-conclusive) evidence of just such a person who fitted the story. It’s also unlikely that a company trading on Englishness would have given themselves a French name without good reason.

The English brothers have done an incredible job, and I respect them for that, but there is a lot of hot air under their wings. As I understand it, the company is now largely owned by a billionaire American hedge fund manager, and it has Italian Davide Cerrato as CEO, which could reinforce the notion that Bremont’s Britishness was always a branding exercise by two smart young men from the world of banking and finance.

I still respect the achievement but there’s always a little something to put me off. It’s all a bit contrived.

[Raza]

I just relayed our Muppet Baby exchange to the wife. I described you as very witty and sarcastic, but kind of annoying sometimes. Her response? He's annoying? You guys should be besties. @Raza

I mean, honestly…fair assessment of me, I can live with that.

[Henry Krinkle]

I'd dive with this.