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FOUNDERS’ NOTE
We started MWC a little over 4 years ago and we’re humbled by the number of people who choose to have a Marloe watch on their wrist. The journey has been one of rough seas and calm waters, but every moment enjoyable. So much so, that we wanted to share our world a little more with you. Producing a quarterly magazine has been on our minds for a while and, despite having some wonderful things to include, we just didn’t have the time or presence of mind to dedicate what such a publication requires. That all changed when we employed our first colleague. We now have a fresh creative mind in our group and Stephanie has proven to be an incredible addition to our small team. Much of what you’ll soon read is of Stephanie’s creation, and we still marvel at her captivating storytelling. It’s a powerful ability to have in-house, and one we are keen to deploy as much as possible.
Oliver Goffe & Gordon Fraser
We hope you like the in-depth, long-read nature of our first quarterly, the first of what we hope will be a long running in-house publication, geared towards giving you insight into how we go about our day to day work.
Co-Founders
Thank you once more for your support, and if you have any feedback, please do let us know.
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IN THE FIELD WITH THE FIELD STANDARD
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A LONG TIME COMING OUR FIRST DIVE WATCH IS FINALLY HERE
FUTURE:PROOF
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UNBOX THERAPY
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DIVING BELLS AND COOKIE JARS
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MERCEDES OF BRIGHTON
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INVENTORS OF THE WORLD
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MONSTER THE LOCH
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EDUCATION STATION
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WHAT’S NEXT FOR MWC?
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A WORD OR TWO
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HASKELL Field Standard - £749 Dark Earth Barenia Leather
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FUTURE:PROOF Expanding a company is a hard thing to do, especially in an industry as saturated and complex as the watch industry.
During the first few months of 2019 we discussed the possibility of raising capital to enable the business to grow, whilst also creating a community of like-minded individuals who felt passionately about what we’re doing - to ultimately become the first ever customerowned watch company. We had little to no understanding of equity, shares, and the legal and financial implications around these things; but we do know crowdfunding, and we do know community. Marloe Watch Company owes much of its early success to the very first Kickstarter campaign that we ran – launching the Cherwell – and the later launch of the Lomond on the same platform. Kickstarter gave us our very first community; many of whom remain as good customers to this day. We also had a clear understanding of what we didn’t want; namely for one large corporate investor to swoop in with a big chunk of cash (as appealing as the
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prospect had sounded at times) and essentially take a controlling share of the company. Marloe Watch Company has been our baby for over 4 years now, and we love what we do; we very much wanted to continue our days jobs and allow the company to grow at the right pace with the right people on board. We have always been driven by design evolution, and in order to bring more fantastic timepieces to market – including some designs that we had been forced to sit on for some time – we needed to invest in production. It was therefore the only logical conclusion that we would use a crowdfunding model to raise capital for the company. We have big ideas here at MWC, and big goals, matched only by our optimism and the confidence we have in achieving them. We don’t just have confidence in ourselves and the company; we have confidence in our community, and we knew we had to find the right platform that would allow our customers to become part of the company as seamlessly as possible. We spent over 12 weeks researching pretty much every platform and avenue for equity crowdfunding; meeting with solicitors and financial advisors, wrapping our heads around the jargon and the legalities, and slowly but surely, through the fog of confusion, competition and uncertainty, Crowdcube
emerged. They stood out to us as clear leaders in their industry, and we knew that we had found the right platform to partner with. We spent the next 12 weeks or so pulling together all the collateral required for such a funding round. This involved comprehensive financial, pipeline and stock analysis, collating manufacturing plans and timelines, ensuring that we had a clear idea of where we wanted this investment to take us as a company, not to mention creating a video and content that we would use on our Crowdcube page and website. A large part of this process centred around developing a timeline of when and how we would launch this campaign, and this, in turn, prompted us to think about our product pipeline in greater detail. This was invaluable in beginning the process of freeing up space in Gordon’s mind to truly design without barriers; mapping out a careful balance of entry-level models with more premium options, chronographs and dive watches; timepieces inspired by a multitude of fantastic sources, people and places. This was always a key aim of raising funds; to allow Gordon creative freedom and enable a clarity and focus on designing rather than on making or saving
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money. We don’t like cutting corners or compromising here, so having financial security provides a safe environment in which to create, manufacture and release timepieces which are of the quality with which we have become associated. Once we had gone through the necessary duediligence and created the significant amount of collateral we needed for accountants, solicitors, Crowdcube, our board and the general public, we were ready to go live. We wanted to initially launch privately to our customers; to give them the first opportunity to invest in the company. It seemed almost a birth right for them and we wouldn’t have done it any other way. We were, as always, blown away by their support and eagerness to be involved and to claim their own part of Marloe Watch Company. Thanks to our customers, we reached our baselevel funding target within days – which was a very humbling experience - and then opened the campaign up to the public. We had no real expectation of what would happen at this stage; how would we resonate with people across the globe who had never heard of us before? Who hadn’t experienced our products, who hadn’t met or spoken to us, who knew nothing aside from what they could learn from a simple web page? As we watched investments pour in – anything from £10 to £25,000, and each one welcomed with wideeyed amazement – we wondered who these people were; what had attracted them to invest, and trust, in our business? We were able to quite quickly identify that there were two main types of investor; the watch enthusiast, and the investment enthusiast. We met with some investors in person, we spoke with others over email, telephone and via Crowdcube, we immersed ourselves fully in getting to know as many investors as best we could. It was incredibly interesting to talk with prospective investors who had queries; to begin to get an understanding of our new community, spread across the world and all with their different motives, yet united in their belief that together, we could grow Marloe Watch Company and do great things. We shared financial forecasts, our plans for many years into the future, the inner workings of our timepieces, our business and our minds, and everything that we legally and safely could. This period was equal parts invigorating and vulnerable;
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as a company, we had never been subject to so much scrutiny, and that can be unsettling, but we felt a renewed sense of community and purpose in breaking down the customary corporate walls and being on a level with our investors. There’s nothing to hide, and this process assured us of that. We knew, at this point, that we had made the right choice in sharing ownership of our company. Our campaign closed shortly after we breached the £600k mark - a phenomenal and humbling achievement. We had initially made plans for our baseline target of £100k, and some slightly more tentative, hopeful plans for multiple levels above this – which now became our concrete plans. Doors were opened, plans drawn up, and processes set in motion. Now that we are working on behalf of our investors, and not just for ourselves, we feel a far weightier sense of duty. We check every nut and bolt is tight, every t crossed and every i dotted; for we are no longer just Gordon and Oliver - we are a community, and with that comes a certain responsibility; one which we are embracing.
The dust has barely settled on the investment round but we’ve already put plans in motion. Investments have already been made in production for future models and we’ve appointed new marketing and PR agencies who are actively actioning our communications plan. We’re also beginning to look for new talent to help deliver our strategy, which isn’t a task we want to rush, but we’ve been talking to some really interesting and eager candidates already. The thought of the future is now palpable. Thinking where we could be in 6-12 months has never been so exciting – new releases, new team members, our very first AGM, not to mention the first Shareholder’s Edition timepiece that we’ve been secretly working on – we’re keen to see all these achievements and more come to fruition, but we also want to enjoy every last moment of them too. To the future, and whatever it may hold.
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UNBO “
Don’t sweat the small stuff ”. It’s quite wise advice, in general; you can let the person who carved you up on the way to work bother you all day, rehearsing what you should have yelled from the car window and hoping that one day your paths will cross again, or you can choose to let it go and have a good day instead. But how you choose to take and apply this in life relies entirely on what you consider to be the ‘small stuff ’. Here at Marloe Watch Company, there isn’t much small stuff. It’s all big stuff to us. So we sweat it, a lot - not in a gross way - because we obsess over minor details, in the hope that our customers appreciate them. Take our packaging; we have invested significant time, resource and budget into our packaging over the last 6 months. It’s a risky business, because we know that people are generally divided into two camps; the rip-it-open and get straight to the contents type, and the make-a-ceremony-out-ofit, savour the little details, take your time type. Here at MWC, we always fall into the former camp if we are opening snacks, and the latter if we’re opening a special product. We know not everyone cares about a simple box; but we also know a lot of our customers do, and that’s enough motivation for us to pour our resources into getting it right. That’s why we make a big deal out of our packaging, and it’s why - if you’ve purchased one of our newer releases - you’ve hopefully noticed the upgrade that it has received. We know buying a watch isn’t an everyday occurrence - unlike ripping open a packet of Jaffa Cakes (other cake-based tangy snacks are
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OX THERAPY available) - and so we want there to be an air of ceremony around opening a watch from Marloe Watch Company. We want you to discover the product, to unveil and uncover it layer by layer; until the watch itself is revealed.
Our quest for improved packaging began with the box illustrated here. We sat together earlier this year and made a very rough prototype from scraps of cardboard, sketching, quibbling and quarrelling over what the key elements were; what was important to us, and what would be important to our customers. It boiled down to our desire to provide something that made the unboxing experience as premium and exciting as possible, and making the packaging, in some cases a throw-away object, something truly special. First impressions are everything, and we want the quality of our watches to be echoed in their surroundings from the moment they arrive with our customers. Our key desires were for our packaging to be attractive, layered, interesting and surprising, using quality materials with minimal environmental impact. The process of designing a box is really quite different to the process of designing a watch. With
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our packaging, we were working within a specific framework; we needed to take sustainability, size, functionality and budget into account, alongside style. When we design watches, we start with wild imaginings; shaping inspiration into a physical being devoid of boundaries, feeling for what works and what doesn’t style-wise, then a contracting and expanding process until we arrive at the distilled, honed, finetuned core of the design. Once we had our measurements and a design in mind, it was time to find the right partner; someone who could manufacture our vision to the exacting specifications and standards that we had set for ourselves. Having the right manufacturing partners in place is key to Marloe Watch Company; we don’t only need quality, we need communication and a true partnership. We work best with real human beings rather than online forms and we value being able to consult with experts in their respective fields; to learn from them, adapt our own approach if necessary, and to create something truly special together. Thankfully we found that in our new partner. We have had watch designs turned down for being too complicated, too new, too challenging; it hasn’t stopped us and we
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continue to seek the right team for that design, but it was positive - and somewhat of a relief - that our exacting specification and vision wasn’t off-putting to our new packaging partner. They embraced the challenge with relish and, together, we brought it to life. In parallel we began working with a incredibly talented printer to create our manuals; each range and each special edition with its own personal manual, telling the story of the watch’s inspiration and design process, as well as taking a closer look at the inner workings and features of the watch you have just received. Each manual takes around 3-4 weeks to produce, including copywriting and photography. We believe in telling the full story of each of our watches, and a physical manual is a beautiful way of doing this; of delving in, within your own time and environment, and savouring and absorbing both the essential information and the exciting stuff. With stock remaining of our previous packaging, and acutely aware of our environmental responsibility, we decided to roll out our new packaging gradually. We sent out the first of our new packaging with the
of British leather bearing our company’s mantra. It’s simple, refined, efficient yet special; exactly what we dreamed up as we wrestled together a box prototype from scraps of cardboard and tape all those months ago.
launch of the Haskell Black Edition, followed by the Morar, and most recently the Coniston Speed Edition and Haskell Polar Blue Edition. We were conscious that, by launching our multi-faceted new packaging, we may disappoint some customers still receiving our previous packaging. We do hope that our motive is clear here; we still adore our original packaging and do not wish to waste it. The original, heavy wooden Haskell box, with its book cloth lining and tan leather patch is swiftly becoming a heritage piece and part of our history. The Coniston, Cherwell and Derwent boxes with their embossed inserts and printed bands, as well as the older outer boxes, all have their places within our history book and hearts, and we feel as proud as ever to be sending them out. The Cherwell and Derwent have now left us, and it won’t be long until the earlier numbered Conistons have sold out too, which is when we will bid a final goodbye to our previous packaging.
We know you’re here for the watches; and we assure you, we are too. But the small stuff that demands attention around the watches matters to us, and in every spare moment where we aren’t designing watches or managing this ever-growing business, we are focusing on the little things; on making small improvements, on growing in all the right ways, a little every day. Sometimes these things are obvious to our customers, and sometimes they’re just for us; but it’s constant, and it’s tiring, and it’s exhilarating, and it’s everything we stand for as a small British business. Whether you’re a ripper or a ceremonial box opener, we hope you love receiving something from the postman when it’s got our stamp on it, and that the attention and passion that has been poured into it is palpable.
The physical result of this ongoing journey is the packaging that you may have received; on the outside, our fully recyclable, custom-printed box, made from 70% recycled material giving a hint at its contents. Inside, beneath the printed message from us to you, nestled carefully within 100% recycled shredded paper, sits our monolithic black box. Removing its lid reveals the custom-printed manual associated with your particular watch, and beneath that, your authenticity card nestled in its perfectly cut slot. The carefully stitched ribbon tab allows you to lift off the upper tray and reveals your watch within; sitting securely upon its cushion throne, with its book cloth surround and beneath a hidden ceiling
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MORAR Beacon - £449 Available on Silicone or Leather Strap Options
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DIVING BELLS AND COOKIE JARS T
Enter into the fascinating and quite abstract historic world of diving, its equipment, and the etymology of it all.
The greatest advantage of the cooky jar diving bell is that it permits full vision in all directions with ample safety.
he diving bell is one of the earliest pieces of equipment designed for underwater exploration. Its use was – quite incredibly – first described by Aristotle, in the 4th Century BC; “they enable the divers to respire equally well by letting down a cauldron, for this does not fill with water, but retains the air, for it is forced straight down into the water”. The dive bell evolved fairly rapidly, from cauldron, to wooden constructions, to Edmond Halley’s ground-breaking design in 1691 which is generally acknowledged as the first true diving bell; capable of remaining submerged
for extended periods of time and fitted with a window for underwater exploration. In 1689, Denis Papin, a French engineer, had suggested that pressure and fresh air inside a diving bell could be maintained by a force pump or bellows. It was, however, exactly 100 years until poor Denis’ idea was implemented – by an engineer named John Smeaton (of Lighthouse fame), who built the first workable diving air pump in 1789. This was another huge evolutionary moment for diving – divers could stay underwater for far longer with a fairly reliable supply of air.
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Previous Page: The Diving Machine of Karl Heinrich Klingert, 1797. This consisted of a jacket and trousers made of waterproof leather, a helmet with a porthole, and a metal front. It was linked to a turret with an air reservoir which could not replenish itself, so the suit had a limited dive time.
However, as diving became more and more commonplace, divers continued to die from ‘mysterious causes’ which we now know to be decompression sickness, or ‘the bends’. Although medical understanding of what caused this sickness to occur was limited, with the regular loss of lives, it quickly became apparent that a more sophisticated solution was required. Dive bells continued to evolve into what they have become today; incredibly high-tech, highly-tested pieces of equipment capable of playing a reliable part in keeping commercial divers alive and well at incredible depths. But alongside this evolution came another; that of the dive helmet.
An improved version of Edmond Halley’s diving bell, this hermetically sealed diving chamber was supplied by air through a copper pipe from the surface. 1823
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The first dive helmets were invented by the brothers Charles and John Deane in the 1820s. They weren’t intended to be used for diving; they were ‘smoke helmets’ to protect against smoke inhalation, after the brothers witnessed a terrible fire accident in a stable. Designed for use by firemen, the apparatus comprised a copper helmet with an attached flexible collar and clothing garment. A leather hose attached to the rear of the helmet and was used to supply clean air, pumped using a double bellows, while a short pipe allowed the breathed air to escape. In 1827, the smoke helmets were in use, and the brothers began to explore alternative uses for their invention. They began to sell the same helmet attached to a simple diving suit; but it could only be used while the diver was upright in a vertical position, otherwise the helmet would fill with water. Despite this rather alarming design flaw, the brothers successfully
explored and salvaged extensive, valuable items from two major shipwrecks, and went on to produce the world’s first diving manual; “The Method of Using Deane’s Patent Diving Apparatus”. British engineer Augustus Siebe began to work with the Deane brothers to improve their apparatus. Siebe attached a full-length watertight canvas diving suit to the helmet, and introduced an exhaust valve to the helmet which allowed excess air to escape while preventing water from leaking in; a major step towards a safer diving helmet, and the prototype for hard-hat designs still in use today. Siebe’s design was modified for various purposes and, over the years, became the standard diving dress
which revolutionised underwater civil engineering, commercial diving, salvage and naval diving. People became ever-more fascinated with the concept of being able to breathe and survive underwater; humans, previously restricted to land, could now fly in the skies and breathe underwater, opening up two new worlds to explore. Hobbyists around the world, intrigued by the simple yet effectively designed dive helmets which were now becoming more commonplace, began to create their own versions. In 1935, two 17-year old twin brothers from Wisconsin, Joe and Jerome, made a diving helmet from a glass cookie jar which they raided from their mother’s kitchen. Welding thick sheet copper to the heavy glass, they were able to supply air through a
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Example of a modern commercial diving helmet
two-cylinder pump and enjoy the excellent, 360 degree vision which the cookie jar provided at a depth of 35 feet. Though the photos from this era are certainly quite comical, they show just how enthralled the general public were; a new world had opened up beneath their feet, and everyone wanted a chance to experience life beneath the surface. Commercial diver and inventor Joe Savoie invented the neck dam in the 1960s, which opened the door for a new breed of lightweight helmets. Savoie chose not to patent his design, instead welcoming others to adapt and fine-tune the invention to improve diver safety; acutely aware from his own experience as a diver that there was much to do to ensure the safety of the people who relied on this equipment. The history of the diving helmet, and diving bells, has played a huge part in the Morar; a key catalyst for both inspiration and technical specifications. Some elements can be fairly quickly spotted; the warm bronze of the casing on the Morar Emerald, for example; an homage to the copper and brass diving
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helmets which have become synonymous with diving. Some details are a little finer; the crown is designed to look like a valve found on a divers tank, with straight flutes machined deeply into the sides of the crown. Above everything else, the diving helmet and the Morar share one main similarity; throughout their design process, ultimate emphasis has been on functionality, fine-tuning, evolution and purpose. It’s fascinating looking back and discovering the innovation that happened from the very first necessity device, through the many iterations and (often ridiculous) attempts at improving the diving bell, then the diving helmet. As each innovation is introduced, the collective understanding of what is worthwhile and what isn’t is furthered. It’s through iterative processes that the best version can be reached. A lesson that we are very much trying to apply; you never arrive at the perfect solution first time.
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HASKELL Polar Blue Edition - £849 Limited run of 100pcs
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IN THE FIELD WITH THE FIELD
It always delights us to see our watches out in the world being used and enjoyed as we intended them to be. It’s even nicer when we can see the myriad locations that our watches visit on the wrists of our customers. We’re so busy that we rarely find the time to have a jolly to stunning locations, so in a fortuitous crossing of paths, we tied in with Steve Brockie, a British landscape photographer who took our latest creation, the Field Standard, on his recent overseas excursion. That place just happened to be the Faroe Islands and upon his return he presented us with some absolutely breathtaking images of his journey. This set of photographs has been one of the most enjoyable we’ve seen, perhaps because it resonates with our idea of the MWC brand, and how the adventurous spirit permeates through everything we do. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. It’s definitely put the Faroe Islands on our “bucket list!”
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The real value of a dive watch, in our eyes, and the reason that we wanted to make our own, is the rich history that has led to this niche object becoming a must-have for the modern-day consumer. There are so many incredible, diverse stories from the individuals, organisations and events that shaped the dive watch into what it is today that it’s almost impossible to pick which ones to share here in this publication. So let’s start with just three stories; one of a woman, one of a man, and one of an incident; all of which brought diving and the dive watch into the public consciousness in very different ways.
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Mercedes Gleitze
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pen water swimming. Thinking about that now, swimming in the sea but at further distances from the shore, fills me with such trepidation that I can feel the sweat starting to form. The idea of the depths, of not knowing what’s underneath me is so frightening, that even being on a boat on top of the water scares me. I can get over it, and I have many times, to go sailing or getting a ferry to the islands of Scotland. But to swim in open water? Forget it. If I fall off said sailboat, just leave me, for I will succumb from the shock quite quickly.
the public eye, so this was Mercedes’ chance to show the world what “the fairer sex” was capable of. Sure enough in 1927, Mercedes swam the English Channel in record time; covering 21 miles of open ocean in 15 hours and 15 minutes, she fulfilled her dream and in doing so welcomed international attention. The celebrations were short lived however, for another lady objected to Mercedes’ achievement, claiming she had swam it faster. That this challenger’s claim was suspicious, and subsequent investigation proving it to be a hoax, didn’t matter, for Mercedes and her crowning glory was now under similar suspicion.
In 1926, open water swimming activity was reaching the peak of interest. A young English lady from Brighton, who was working as a typist in London, was training furtively. Mercedes Gleitze wanted so desperately to swim the English Channel, and in doing so prove to everyone that she had the grit and determination to do something extraordinary. At that time in history, women athletes were not regularly in
Feeling the pressure to vindicate herself, she set about repeating her efforts, albeit this time under increased scrutiny unlike her first completion. Such was the press attention and hype around this second attempt, that Rolex contacted Mercedes and arranged for her to wear one of their Oyster watches, the first of its kind, around her neck on a ribbon, as she swam. Mercedes set off in conditions far colder than when
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she had before, and due to this she fell short. After 10 hours fighting forward in freezing water Mercedes couldn’t continue and the challenge was aborted. However, due to her incredible determination and endurance in such horrible conditions, the public and record adjudicators were convinced that her original record was legitimate, and should stand. The Rolex tied around her neck had survived this ordeal too, and from that point forward Mercedes Gleitze and the Rolex Oyster were inextricably linked. Rolex used her success story and the Oyster that accompanied her to launch an advertisement campaign in Britain, and to this day Rolex still uses Gleitze’s name in their publicity. After her successes Mercedes became a sporting phenomenon. Her life was now completely focussed on open water swimming, travelling the world to swim stretches of water filled with risk and adversity, including a particularly shark infested route in South Africa. After conquering the globe Mercedes decided it was time to hang up the swimming cap and never spoke of her achievements again. Crushing misogyny from men unwilling to let such a pioneering woman shine, the onset of arthritis and a young family forced Mercedes into retirement and it wasn’t until after her death that her daughter, Doleranda Pember, discovered by chance her Mum’s past and what she had achieved. Despite her worldwide fame Mercedes gave back almost all of her winnings and sponsorship fees, through her charity work and the Mercedes Gleitze Home, established in 1933 in Leicester to provide for the homeless and destitute. Despite being bombed in WW2, the fund lived on and still delivers to this day charitable donations. An incredible legacy. Omega SA is credited as the creator of the world’s first industrially produced diving watch intended for commercial distribution, introduced in 1932 was a rectangular “Marine” design with a patented double sliding and removable case. The watch was certified as being able to withstand pressure at 135 m (443 ft), without any water intake whatsoever and thus started the trajectory of water withstanding watches. 1953 brought about Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms watch, which came on the market in France after Blancpain had finished testing in small quantities with the US and
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French Navy combat diver teams. The Fifty Fathoms was worn by Jacques Cousteau and his divers during the underwater film “Le Monde du Silence”. The Rolex Submariner was introduced at the Basel Watch Fair in 1954, which coincided with the development of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, known as scuba. This is when dive watches truly began to filter into the consumer consciousnessboth as a fashion piece, and an essential piece of survival equipment as the diving industry continued to flourish. Carl Brashear brought diving, and its associated equipment, further into the limelight by becoming the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School and the first AfricanAmerican U.S. Navy Diver, having enlisted in the Navy on February 25, 1948, shortly after the Navy had been desegregated. Overcoming racial persecution to fight for his place and status within the training school, Brashear carved an impressive career for himself until, in 1966, he suffered a serious injury while on a bomb recovery operation, resulting in amputation of his leg. Refusing to succumb to a life of disability, Brashear swore to recover and to continue to train. His grit and sheer determination saw him through his recovery and, in April 1968, just two years after he was nearly killed, Brashear was the first amputee diver to be (re) certified as a U.S. Navy diver. In 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver and served nine more years beyond that, achieving the rating of Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate in 1971. Brashear was motivated by his mantra; “It’s not a sin to get knocked down; it’s a sin to stay down”. Brashear displayed unyielding tenacity in his fight to see his dream come true; facing more adversity from more sides than most of us could comprehend. Brashear’s son speaks of the ‘Five Hurdles’ that he had to overcome to prove to the world that he could achieve a career as a diver; racism, poverty, illiteracy, physical disability, and alcoholism. He faced isolation, death threats, violence, relentless name-calling and a near-fatal accident during his training but refused to bow; his love for diving far exceeding any adversity’s ability to triumph.
Classroom session at the school for Navy divers in Bayonne, New Jersey, 1952
Brashear’s life and work inspired the movie Men of Honor, a veterans’ centre was opened in his name, and he has been posthumously honoured by Oris who created a bronze watch, inspired by the heavy bronze dive helmets of past days, featuring his mantra engraved on the case back. Truly touching tributes to a magnificent example of human spirit. More recently, The Last Breath – a remarkable documentary about an awe-inspiring fight for survival – brought diving once again to the forefront of popular culture. The film tells the true tale of a deep sea diver named Chris Lemons, who became stranded on the seabed off the coast of Scotland with 5 minutes’ worth of oxygen and no hope of rescue. Detailing the incredible events that played out over those minutes and beyond, through interviews and real footage taken from the vessels and body cameras of the men, this feature film shows just how dangerous the occupation is – and just how reliant the men and women who work within it are on their equipment. Thousands of individuals around the world make a living through offshore and saturation diving. Working on the installation and maintenance of oil rigs, production platforms, wellheads and pipelines among a
multitude of other things, they are often underwater or within a pressurised container attached to a boat for weeks at a time – allowing them to adjust to the crushing pressure of the deep sea and decompress slowly and safely upon completion of their work. The Last Breath gave the public an insight into this very unusual, little-known and highly dangerous occupation; careers played out within the pitch black, freezing cold depths of the oceans, weeks on end spent in tiny quarters with just 2 others for company while carrying out diving work, breathing helium and with your survival entirely reliant on an often-times fragile network of technology, tubes, and lights which are connected to the world above, up on the surface. It’s impossible not to be inspired by the rich and varied history of diving. The Morar, our first dive watch, has been years in the making; years of research, of marvelling at tales of the industry both past and present, of design and re-design, of testing and fine-tuning. We wanted to create something unique; which, in the world of dive watches, is nearly impossible. But we have done it. Resolved, robust and distinguished, we feel it is a fitting tribute to the industry and history that has stolen such a big piece of our heart.
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CONISTON Speed Edition - £299 Available Now Limited Run of 500pcs
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STANDING OUT The ubiquitous dive watch was always going to be a challenge, especially if we wanted our version to stand out from the crowd.
D
ive watches are an odd phenomenon. From the most basic models to those bristling with technology and features, they live on the wrists of far more land-lovers than deep sea dwellers; an object of huge military, sporting and cultural importance, worn and enjoyed by all. If you’re a diver, chances are that you own one as somewhat of a ‘back-up’ to a dive computer. While a dive watch is an often reliable and simple way of increasing your safety on a dive, it’s generally recognised that a dive computer is an essential bit of kit, capable of providing far more information in real-time than a dive watch, at a point and in an environment where you need it presented quickly, clearly and accurately. The old diver’s adage says that to wear only one is to wear nothing at all; to wear both is to wear one. There’s no room for a malfunctioning piece, and a back-up is essential. This is where a dive watch typically comes into its own – as a safety net of sorts. Calling a dive watch a ‘safety net’ seems insulting – it’s become so much more than that to so many – but that’s what it is to the modern diver. If you’re more of a land-lover, and you own a dive watch, it’s likely that you were drawn to all the
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robust, multi-functional, and attractive qualities that a dive watch has, while generally requiring very few of them to stay alive. That said, a dive watch has many surprisingly helpful uses on land; aside from being completely water-proof, which is great for showering, washing up, inclement weather and swimming, they are often immune to magnetism – meaning that they can keep accurate time without being altered by any magnetic forces, as many watches can be; see the Education Station for more on this topic! Dive watches are designed to enable the wearer to keep track of a set amount of time, often via use of a rotating outer bezel. In diving use, this is to ensure that a dive is kept within the appropriate, safe length of time and that air levels are therefore sufficient. On land, this is far from a redundant feature; one can time how long they have left on the parking metre, how much longer the pasta needs to boil for, or to ensure that your cup of tea has brewed for the appropriate 2 – 5 minutes dependent on taste (which is a whole separate conversation). Dive watches are highly readable in poor light – an essential, life-saving feature in the water, but simply useful to have on land. With so many watches
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Below: The first marks made on paper, to launch the concept for the Morar that would last through to production Right: Replacement tanks ready for the next dive
promising long-lasting luminous readability but failing to deliver, a dive watch is likely to impress with reliably readable chunky, lume-filled hands, indices and sometimes bezels too. A dive watch isn’t a life-saver on land, but it’s certainly pretty handy. It’s therefore no wonder that dive watches have become a popular choice among consumers seeking a reliable, durable timepiece. This is, however, only one side of the modern dive watch market. The flip side is all James Bond, status symbol, highly-priced, oversized, multi-functional, bells and whistles… and it can be pretty seductive, if you’re into that kind of thing. Some high-end dive watches are capable of performing at extreme depth, and therefore do bring additional safety and reliability for the increased price tag (and thickness), but unless you’re a dedicated deepsea diver who will make use of this feature, you are very much paying for the logo on the dial.
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S
o what, then, for the Marloe Watch Company version of the ubiquitous dive watch? Well, the process started in December of 2016, just after we had finally shipped all the Cherwell orders out and were readying the Lomond Chronoscope Kickstarter campaign launch. At the time I was working in a full-time job as a heating & electrical draughtsman, and as proficient as I was at drawing pipes and ductwork, I certainly wasn’t using the capacity of brain power I could. This left me with space to dream, and one rainy afternoon I had a thought; so many dive watches are made of three unique parts - bezel, case, case back - which gives them quite the odd profile; like the bezel has just been plonked on top a flat piece of metal. What if it was all one? A smooth pebble form with flowing lines and subtlety? An initial sketch was made on whatever I had to hand, which happened to be some rough lined notepad, and the seed was sown. That night, and several nights thereafter I sat in front of the computer at home and constructed the initial outline of what would become the Morar dive watch. It was all a little bit rough and ready, with proportions for hands a little off, but the bezel, case and crown were pretty much as you see them today. Usually as the design and prototyping phase proceeds, the outline design will flow and change with the considerations and compromises needed to make it all work. Not so for the Morar. Soon, I had a solid enough design to show Oliver and at this point it typically goes one of two ways. Either he hates it and I have work to do, or he absolutely loves it. I can’t remember now his exact words, but it was very much along the lines of “we must make this now!”. At the time we were in early consultation with a new Swiss partner regarding our first Swiss Made watch, so I used this opportunity and created a design document, emailed it across and waited for the pricing and timelines. The high-specification requirements, ISO testing and high-end coatings made the project significantly more expensive than what we had anticipated, such that the project was almost immediately in jeopardy. We had only just launched the Lomond Chronoscope and had allocated our restricted funds on the Swiss Made Haskell project, leaving little room within which to work this dive watch out. There was one
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overriding complication, however; to have a manual winding movement in a dive watch is both tricky and compromised. The first issue is that a dive watch with screw-down crown is at odds with the mechanics of a manual winding movement. When you wind up a manual watch fully, the crown ceases to turn, and this direction is the same direction that you screw a crown into a case. Ultimately if you fully wound your watch, you wouldn’t be able to screw the crown into the case, which made diving with the watch and making sure it’s fully sealed an impossible task. You’d have to either hope you didn’t wind it too much, allowing you to still screw the crown down, or you’d have to wait until the mainspring had discharged enough to give you the turns to screw the crown in. Both options are bad at best, inexcusable at worst. I had proposed some solutions, such as a rotating crown that didn’t move in or out, with a central button that is pushed to release the seal and pushed again to close it up. It was extraordinarily expensive, even for the technical research aspect, let alone the manufacture of such a device. I asked if we could reverse the thread on the screw-down parts, meaning you could wind up your watch fully and then screw the crown onto the case in the opposite direction. This would also have the effect of creating a
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crown that couldn’t be unscrewed for a while, until the mainspring released some of its charge. This was a no-go as well; the threads on the crown tube are unfit for daily usage - winding and unwinding the crown every day to wind up the movement would cause premature failure on the threaded parts, which would then potentially cause water ingress issues. Once more the solution was unworkable. Knowing we didn’t have the funds to drive this project yet and with all these setbacks, we decided it was best if we shelved the Morar project for the time being, at least until we could find some work around that would allow us to use a manual winding movement with a screw-down crown. The Morar project remained in this dormant state for 2 more years. It wasn’t until we completed our first project with our Japanese manufacturing partner that we realised if we compromised only on the type of movement we used, we could reignite the Morar project in its entirety, how we wanted it, and could get this design out into the world. The compromise was that we would have to use an automatic movement instead of a manual version. Given that our history and “USP” was focused on manual winding movements, it was a difficult decision for us to make. We could either keep to our original goal and suffer the various limitations that come with using manual movements, or open ourselves up to all mechanical movements and tackle projects that we could never have done otherwise.
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The decision was made in favour of all mechanical movements and we sent the outline design document to our Japanese partner. Within 3 months we had some prototypes, costs and timelines. The Morar project was green-lit and work began on honing the various design tweaks that we identified with the initial sampling phase and confirming the specification. From there it was a few more rounds of adjustment and we finally had our first dive watch project signed off for production. How exciting it was to know that the Morar would see the light of day, and how much potential it would give us as a company to have a dive watch in our arsenal. After many months and lots of excitement, the Morar arrived with us and fulfilled the long-desired goal of launching our very own dive watch. Here’s hoping it’s used in all the myriad forms, including perhaps the odd underwater excursion now and again!
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MORAR Emerald Green - £449 Bronze PVD Coating
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INVENTORS OF THE MODERN WORLD Scotland is inexorably linked to innovation and invention throughout the ages. But what does it mean to be Scottish, and how does it influence MWC?
W
hat is it to be Scottish? Talk to anyone and you will no doubt find they have some form of connection to Scotland. Whether it be an ancestor, a friend or family, there is always a connection. I’ve spent a good part of my life talking to people who aren’t Scottish, and I find that each time I open my mouth and that amalgam of Fife, Lothian and Perthshire accent pops out, tales of Scottishness begin. I absolutely love being Scottish. There’s an inherent pride in our country, even more so right now, and a hereditary pride that has perpetuated over centuries, passed down from parent to child. There’s an inordinate wealth of examples, stories and history that support the belief that the Scots are a fine, smart and well-educated nation, and that we should be phenomenally proud of our heritage. Whether that be the traditions we continue to this day from centuries past (addressing a haggis, anyone?), to our national dress and our incomparable Whisky industry; we have a lot of history.
The new V&A Museum in Dundee
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Not that long ago we had industries which were heralded around the world as being unbeatable. The drive for lower costs and cheaper labour has shifted most of our manufacturing expertise abroad. Our shipbuilding heritage was perhaps the largest stance as an industrial giant amongst peers, with some remarkable, notable vessels born of Scottish
A view down Glencoe
shipyards. Our oil industry is quite the behemoth and Scotland are investing massively in offshore and renewable energy generation on the north coast. There’s a lot of innovation happening in Scotland and, I think, it has now shaken off the twee image of kilted men chasing after their next dinner, whilst tossing cabers and drinking whisky. We still do all that, but more for fun rather than as a necessity. As part of my role in MWC I spend a lot of time researching material that can be used as a source of inspiration. We name our watches after bodies of water, something we started as a way of grounding each individual project. It gives us scope to gather immediate inspiration from the surrounding area to then build upon, fleshing it out until we have a good picture formed. More recently, as we have been expanding our ranges and thus expanding our research of areas, people and places, I’ve noticed more and more a common thread running through each legacy, each history and each story; the Scottish people have played a part in almost all the stories I find. For example, when we were researching for our first
flagship range of Swiss Made watches, weeks were spent thinking about what to call it. Our first Swiss watch was a big deal for us, a landmark event and something which we wanted to signal with a name that matched the importance for us; a voyage, if you like, into the unknown. We began the investigation into names and found the Haskell Strait, a frozen stretch of water that played a vital role in one of the most famous races in recent history. The root of the story was Captain Scott and his Terra Nova expedition to conquer the South Pole, and it wasn’t long before we found the first Scottish thread. Captain Scott first voyaged on the vessel Discovery. This ship was built in Dundee, and in fact remains there to this day; a tourism folly that, perhaps counter to the bare-bones adventuring spirit of the ship itself, is now used partly as a fine-dining restaurant. Scott then captained arguably the most famous research vessel, the Terra Nova. Again, this ship was built in Dundee, by Scottish craftsmen using the very finest of ship-building knowledge and engineering. The Terra Nova sailed around the world many times, in some incredible forces of nature and survived, continuing its operation well after
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the famous, fatal voyage to the South Pole. It’s a testament to the expertise and quality craftsmanship of the Scots that this ship was able to perform such monumental duties and continued to operate around the world for so long. Finding inspiration, from all things great and small, is one of the most enjoyable parts of my role. For example, I’ve been in love with lighthouses for a long time, the romanticism that surrounds the image of an isolated, stoic, regimented light keeper, doing what they must to save lives. The construction of lighthouses also fascinates me, the various lighthouses constructed on reefs or plonked in the middle of the North Sea somehow defying the laws of physics. The Bell Rock lighthouse was constructed from local materials and craftsmen. Despite the phenomenal forces hitting the lighthouse every minute of the day, there hasn’t been any significant structural work done to the lighthouse in over 200 years. It wasn’t long into the investigation of lighthouses that the first Scottish influence was discovered. In fact, not only was there a Scottish influence but a remarkable Scottish family, who ultimately shaped the future of lighthouse design around the world; the Stevensons. A family of architects, engineers and literary legends, who became perhaps the most renowned lighthouse designers and builders in the world, with almost all lighthouses in Scotland being of Stevenson design and construction. Robert Stevenson, the father to all the pioneering Stevenson engineers, had a grandson called RobertLouis, a literary giant of Treasure Island and Jekyll & Hyde fame, wrote the most beautiful prose about his short spell around lighthouses before pursuing the literary path. The Stevensons didn’t just construct lighthouses but were renowned engineers, constructing solid bridges and buildings that still stand to this day. With the advent of LED lighting, automation and GPS technologies, the slow and
Sectional view of the Bell Rock Lighthouse.
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inexorable shift to unmanned lighthouses has, as a result, robbed us somewhat of a fascinating and vast heritage of Scottish engineering. When we came to name the Morar, we looked at locations which served as inspiration for our very first dive watch - and as luck would have it the deepest body of water in the UK is Loch Morar in northwest Scotland.. At 310m deep, it’s deeper than the Empire State Building is tall, and far deeper than any human can survive without specialist equipment. As we researched further we found that Morar and the surrounding area not only served as a backdrop for two famous (and rather excellent) films, Local Hero and Highlander, but also served as SOE training grounds during the Second World War, specialising in how to attack enemy shipping. Morar is also the village just short of Mallaig, the termination point of the West Highland Line - most famously captured in the Harry Potter films, as the Hogwarts Express sweeps around the Glenfinnan Viaduct. More recently, and which was the catalyst for this musing on Scottish World Dominance, I’ve been researching another area I’ve been fascinated with for a long time; the Airship. I’ve been intrigued by airships ever since I read a short story by English writer E.M. Forster, called The Machine Stops. In this fantastic, future-predicting tale, there are several incredible outlines of future technologies such as Skype, Facebook and Twitter. It’s a sad tale of a future where everyone has retreated underground, to their own individual rooms, relying on an elaborate machine to cater to their every whim. Their daily purpose is to educate their communities with lectures on the arts, science and “ideas”, as a way of collectively generating more ideas with which to generate more ideas, ad infinitum. The main protagonist, Vashti, has to travel to the Southern hemisphere to visit her son, and she does so using the airships that:
“...would sail into the crowded sky, and would draw up at the wharves of the south... and the air-ship, issuing from its tunnel, soared above the waters of a tropical ocean.”
Morar & Loch Morar
There’s an undeniable beauty and elegance about these phenomenally large vessels. It was the first mode of airborne transport invented, and how simple it is too. The focus of my research began after a visit to the National Museum of Flight, at East Fortune. In the grounds of this decommissioned air base just east of Edinburgh lie several large hangars, within which you’ll find many of the museum’s aircraft exhibitions, including Concorde. However, my visit to East Fortune was specifically to find a more modestly sized bunker that holds the artefacts for Airships, and more specifically the R34. The R34 Airship was commissioned for the First World War effort but arrived too late; the war had ended and Airship demand had faded. With no pressing duties for the R34 to perform, they decided to use its vast airborne prowess to tackle another challenge; crossing the Atlantic in one stint. Captained by Major George Herbert “Lucky Breeze” Scott, this Glasgow built superstructure would launch from East Fortune and fly nearly 5,000km to Mineola, New York, after which it would enjoy a short break before turning back, West to East, arriving at RNAS Pulham 75 hours later. This incredible feat made the R34 the first ever airborne craft to perform a double crossing of the Atlantic, going East to West to East. Nicknamed “Tiny” by the crew, the R34 was built by William Beardmore and Company, a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering company based in Glasgow and surrounding Clydeside area. Their Inchinnan Airship Constructional Station division
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constructed four airships during its lifespan and delivered the beautiful blue green R34 airship to East Fortune on 29th May 1919. The R34 was not designed to be a passenger craft and as such the luxuries required for daily existence were lacking. A metal plate was welded to one of the engine exhausts to form a make-shift hotplate for preparing food. Hammocks were slung where room permitted, mostly down the main walkway in the centre of the airship. It was a craft of necessity, which made it an ideal candidate to attempt to cross the Atlantic in one pretty quick swoop. Scottish engineering carried that airship across the gargantuan path to success, and it seems to be with every thread in every story there is a backbone of Scottish innovation and engineering, enabling such feats of human endeavour and fuelling the pursuit of adventure. But the Scots didn’t just innovate in the exploration and engineering fields; they excel in a plethora of industries with their magic minds. From ground-breaking medicines like Penicillin to mathematics, electronics manufacturing, music, textiles, thermal flasks, materials innovations, whisky,
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cuisine, architecture, sports, energy creation and computer gaming; the Scots have pioneered in it all. Being Scottish doesn’t automatically mean innovation and engineering clout by default, but there is something about being Scottish; living in the Scottish environment, culture and climate, that promotes creative thinking, embracing technology and shifts in cultural requirements to create solutions to often complex problems. Perhaps it’s the constant rain forcing us to spend more time thinking! For me personally, I don’t know how much my Scottishness is influencing what we do here at MWC. I do know how proud I feel when someone lights up upon hearing my accent or listening to me regale stories about our interesting customs or amusing national anecdotes. The most I can hope for is that one day someone will note that there was a small Scottish influence contributing to the resurgence of the watch industry here in the UK. Time, as they say, will tell.
Left: The R34 Airship in flight, shortly before it left on its journey across the Atlantic Ocean, returning shortly afterwards as the first airborne vessel to do so.
Below: The Falkirk Wheel - a more recent example of Scottish innovation, elegantly reconnecting two canals that had remained detached since the 1930s.
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MORAR Sands - £449 Gunmetal PVD Coating
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MONST
Hovering over the middle of Loch Ness.
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TERING THE LOCH A tale of nerves and excitement from the perspective of Gordon, the amateur filmmaker.
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s the person responsible for the main visual output in MWC, it was of no surprise that the weeks leading up to Monster the Loch - the annual fun boat race on Loch Ness - I was feeling somewhat anxious. Our role on the day was as Official Timekeepers of the event, and we were all really excited about it. But for me personally, it was a different energy. I needed to capture this glorious event, in whatever shape it may take, for our own posterity (and marketing), but also on the off chance that it could be used further afield. The pressure would most decidedly be on.
It’s one thing flying a drone - a nerve-racking prospect at the best of times. It’s another level of pressure flying a drone over water – one slip and it’s lost forever. But to fly a drone 1.5km over Loch Ness, film at close quarters the GB Rowing Team, and then fly back 2km over Loch Ness is quite a different, rather terrifying prospect.
I’ve been a keen photographer for around 15 years, mostly for my own entertainment but when MWC began, it was natural that we would try to keep as much of the big money expenses in-house, photography being one of them. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard “you should be a photographer!” Sadly, it’s never been on account of my skills, but rather the high price good photographers rightly charge for their services. For that reason, we’ve managed to make great savings by creating most, if not all of our visual output in-house. That skillset expanded to include filmmaking when we launched our first Kickstarter campaign, with the Cherwell video shot, edited and launched from my spare bedroom. Such is the magic of cinema that in the opening shot, where the silhouetted Cherwell zooms towards the camera before being illuminated and rotating, you can’t tell it was filmed in my living room against the electrical cupboard door. Since that point, having witnessed first-hand the reaction you
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Looking towards Buachaille Etive Mòr
could muster from film as a medium, I was completely hooked. My focus remained on photography for most of our daily needs, but in the background, I was slowly building up my experience of filming, composing and editing films. We launched a few other videos over the years, including the Lomond Chronoscope video and several model range detail films, but not really anything with cinematics, with locations or live, realtime pressures. In early 2019 I knew that we had a number of big projects looming that would demand video content, as well as our Crowdcube campaign which relied heavily on a resolved, fully formed and professional video. With the prospect of producing films that could make or break our efforts, we invested in proper filmmaking equipment. With 4k cameras, Steadicams and drones come big pressures to deliver - no longer could I rest on the excuses of aging or low-end equipment. But in my eyes, this was my chance to really show what I could do, for MWC but also for myself. Proof, if you like, that I had a semblance of real film-making ability. In early September of this year, we all focused our minds towards Monster the Loch. I had planned quite a lot in advance; mostly in terms of story arc and how we could weave the narratives of the day into one cohesive film. This gave me a rough mental framework to work within, so that on the day I knew that certain shots, if I got them, would fit easily into this narrative.
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A few weeks before the event we had confirmation that the GB Rowing team would be rowing in the event with an aim to break the record, and we would have the honour of sponsoring their effort too. Which meant I not only had to capture the spirit of the day, the majesty of Scotland, the memories of the participants and the potential World Record success, I also had to make sure I didn’t impact the GB attempts. And not crash the drone into Loch Ness. That was a big requirement. I know Scotland well and have travelled the route we took North many times, so I knew of places where, if the weather was kind, we could stop and try to capture some nice views. I was travelling in one Land Rover with Oliver being in the 2nd (we had a lot of stuff ), so had prepared all the camera gear inside the cabin if the chance presented itself. It’s with no doubt that the Scottish Landscape Gods were smiling upon us, for as we crested the Loch Tulla viewpoint hill with rain pelting off the windscreens, the sun miraculously appeared and we witnessed one of the most spectacular views of the Buachaille Etive Mòr in the distance I’ve ever seen. Even more lucky for us, the parking place at the start of the long straight road to the foot of the hills was empty. Within minutes of stopping the cars, the drone was in flight, taking to the skies above and capturing footage I could only ever have dreamed of in planning. I flew around as steady as I could, getting shots framed properly. I asked Oliver to get in his Land Rover
and drive up the road towards the glen, and I would track him in the air; a much desired shot from the planning stage to convey our journey to the event. I’ve never attempted something like this so was quite apprehensive, but as Oliver set the Defender steady along this straight road, I was able to get a cracking shot of him in motion, set against the beautiful Scottish landscape. Turn after turn, minute after minute, we were met with these jaw-dropping, beautiful scenes that I was able to quickly deploy the drone and capture. The technology we have at our disposal is incredible. I wouldn’t have imagined gathering footage of this quality even 2 years ago; sending a 4K camera into the air with very little effort and committing to memory these incredible scenes. I’m very lucky to have access to this technology through MWC. Arriving at the Lochside on the morning of the race, seeing all the boats lined up on the grass made everything seem real. By the time we got to the shore and started setting up, the participants started arriving and, soon after, the GB Rowing Team. One of the GB team, a local chap called Alan Sinclair, is a Bonafide Olympian. He had arranged the participation of the GB team in the event and was so gracious with my various intrusions and requests. Before long, it was 9am and everyone cast off in their myriad boats to the start line. You could see and feel the electric energy of each team as they bobbed about ready for the go. I had launched the drone by this point and followed the GB team out onto the
Fort Augustus - start line excitement!
water; the scene of all the boats pointing up the loch was phenomenal. I kept checking to make sure I was recording; I’ve been that guy before, flying around for 25 minutes admiring how beautiful the views were through the screen, before landing and realising that I hadn’t pushed the record button. Thankfully I had this time and, as the trigger was pulled and bagpipers piped, the GB team took off like a bullet from a gun. I tracked them for a while as they eased into their powerful rhythm. Once I was certain I had enough footage I turned the drone around and captured an incredible scene of all the other boats rushing towards the camera, almost like they were charging into battle. Landing the drone, I knew I had to get going quickly; the GB team were up to full speed and, if the estimates were correct, would be finishing the 23 mile course in just under 2 hours. I had to get myself half-way up the Loch to capture them rowing past, and then get back in the car and drive into and around the skirt of Inverness to the finishing line at Dores. Capturing the team crossing it and, with luck, securing a World Record was paramount to the narrative arc. Having scouted the various potential stopping points on Google Streetview, we stopped adjacent to Foyers, on the opposite bank, as this was the thinnest point of Loch Ness. It seemed like the safest place to fly the drone across. I was secretly hoping the GB team would be rowing up the middle of the loch but, as they appeared on the horizon, we saw that they had remained very close to the Foyers side of the loch. This would mean flying the drone across the full width of the Loch, getting the shots, and flying all the way back again. It’s one thing piloting a drone - a nerve-racking prospect at the best of times. It’s another level of pressure flying a drone over water – one slip and it’s lost forever. But to fly a drone 1.5km over Loch Ness, film at close quarters the GB Rowing Team, and then fly back 2km over Loch Ness is quite a different, rather terrifying prospect.
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Despite my nerves it all worked out OK and, having again captured some incredible scenes, got the drone back to base safely and set off up and around to the finish line at Dores. Time wasn’t on our side; the GB squad had made great progress as planned and were approaching on the horizon once more. I launched the drone and pointed it out over the loch again, this time tracking the approaching boat side-on as they crossed the line, thrusting their weary arms into the air and celebrating the new World Record for rowing the length of Loch Ness. To watch on the little screen and see the triumphant faces, in the environment we were all standing in, was incredibly rewarding; each passing second presented more narrative clout for the story of this wonderful day. From then on it was mostly Steadicam work, capturing the other competitors as they arrived, celebrating and smiling from the magnificent achievements and community spirit. Filming the reactions of arriving boats and standing amongst the rowers in an electric atmosphere of companionship and triumph, was empowering. I felt like I was doing something worthwhile and meaningful. Our duties
Oliver looking out over Glencoe
The finishing shore at Dores - our Land Rover mounted clock showing the running time of the event
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Alan Sinclair, Olympic rower and captain of the GB8 team that secured a new World Record
as Timekeepers ended as the last pedalo crossed the finishing line in a little over 6 hours. We handed out the last bottle of bubbly and packed our kit up, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back to Fort Augustus. We invited a bunch of people to drive back with us and chatted about the event, the histories and motives of their challenge to row Loch Ness, and the incredible atmosphere that surrounded the day. We all agreed it was a day to remember. I got back home late on the Sunday and offloaded all the footage from the weekend onto the computer as soon as I could. When the first file had loaded, I just had to begin editing! The shots were as good as I had hoped, and everything was intact; one of the biggest fears of anyone filming an event, is corrupting a memory card or a file not saving; but all shots were present. The editing process was quick due to the planning I had done before hand, matching the story arc easily up to the shots I had gathered. I was editing well into the wee hours of Monday. But as I placed
each shot on the timeline, I started to get emotional. The feeling of community and pure fun that everyone had experienced over the weekend could be seen in the footage, and I knew that when I pressed the button to render the film and present it to the world, that feeling would gently fade. I wanted that feeling to last forever! I consoled myself with the knowledge that this film now remains, even as the memories fade and, if watched now and again, would rekindle that spirit of fun and adventure. Over the following few days the film was picked up by the rowing community and shared far and wide. The comments below each share were so incredibly positive and I couldn’t have been happier with the result. I am so pleased that I managed to both live up to my own, often pessimistic, expectations, but also create a film that resonated with so many people. It’s given me the confidence to attempt more things like this, and hopefully next year we can return to Loch Ness and see what we can do!
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The balance spring enclosed within the balance wheel. This is the part
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Actual size of the Sellita SW-215
that suffers from magnetism the
used in the Haskell.
most.
EDUCATION STATION As a mechanical movement based watch company we are quite knowledgeable in the way they work. We have spent a bit of time educating ourselves with the various ways watches can be damaged and how much force is required etc. One thing that we have regular experience of is magnetism. This isn’t Oliver’s self-professed ability to attract other people, instead it’s the infliction suffered of the balance spring from sources of magnetic fields. Inside your watch you will have a small spring wound inside a golden wheel. This oscillates back and forth allowing the mainspring to gently release its power over 40+ hours. However this little spring is affected by magnetic fields and if exposed can lead to your watch running improperly or showing signs of damage. In effect what is happening is that the loose coil of spring steel is suddenly being temporarily fused to its neighbouring loop and as a result the ability for the balance wheel to oscillate freely is hampered.
placed on top, the button is pushed and the watch, movement and everything in between is removed of any magnetic interference. This releases the little fused springs and once more your watch will run freely and accurately. You can easily check if your watch is magnetised by passing it over a compass and watching to see if the needle moves. There are preventative ways to avoid magnetising your watch, such as avoiding laptop hard drives, microwaves and...magnets themselves. Some movement manufacturers have started using silicon springs to counter any magnetic interference, or like we have done with the Morar, fitted an anti-magnetic plate behind the movement to limit the exposure to magnetic fields. So now you know, if your watch is suddenly running slightly off, perhaps it has been magnetised. Send it back in to us or, if you fancy it, buy a de-magnetiser and at the push of a button, problem solved.
Despite sounding horribly impaired, the fix for this issue is incredibly simple! For any watch that has been affected by magnetism, the solution is to demagnetise it, and we do this using as demagnetiser. This is a little box with a single button. The watch is
The hairspring on the left is free and operating normally, whilst the hairspring on the right is fused due to magnetism. You can see how much magnetism could affect the running and accuracy of your watch!
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WHAT’S NEXT FOR MWC? MOVING TO SCOTLAND As part of the drive to expand MWC and create the best designs and content we can, there has been a long, often heated, debate about what our future looks like. Where will we be, and in what capacity can we deliver the best for our customers? Over the course of 2019 we weighed up and considered almost every aspect of the business, and one element was clear to us - that the commercial and design arms of the business needed to be brought together under one roof. Once this was established and the search for premises began, it became apparent, from a commercial perspective, that the increased space we required was much more affordable in Scotland than in England - not to mention more beautiful (possible bias here). We debated about such a move for a long time but the deciding factors were very much based around us as a company. We have two Scots in our midst already, and soon to be adding a third - the call of the Motherland was simply too great.
our early years - the locality to other watch brands and the ease at which people can get to us from London. To move our office 400 miles North might seem a little counter-productive, but we are very much an e-commerce business and need to make that a priority over commuting times to London or being within a stone’s throw of the Thames. So after taking all these factors into account, our team, the creative arm of the business, the content creation, the premium for space and our long-term plans, it made absolute sense to move our operation to Scotland. Our business is built upon the spirit of design and on the partnership of two blokes doing what they can to make something of themselves. Whether that’s based in England or Scotland or somewhere else, the fact remains; so long as we are together, working to make MWC the most exciting and interesting watch brand around, we will prosper no matter where we are based. Exciting times lie ahead.
To move our HQ from the place we established it, with so many ties to the area (Marlow being a key factor) wasn’t a decision we took lightly. Being based in Henley-on-Thames has served the business well in
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his year has been a big one for MWC. At the start of the year we faced a number of challenges in production, mostly with scheduling and delivery dates. We launched a new product line, the first since the Coniston in October 2018, and we released a number of special editions from the Haskell and Coniston ranges. We also launched an unbelievable equity funding round that resonated with over 700 investors - something we could never have prepared ourselves for. To think that we would be entering 2020 with the next few years planned and budgeted for, with some fantastic new products in the pipeline, is truly phenomenal. We can’t imagine where MWC would be without this injection of potential, and whilst we line up the production for 2020, we are keen to avoid the numerous irks that have caused us issues in the past, and as we go through more and more of these production cycles, we learn for the next. 2020 will also bring about one of our most prestigious designs to date, with the very best of materials and components used. It’s quite exciting to have the chance to really show what we can do with a little more breathing room. So what else will next year bring for us? Well, we will have a number of exciting new ranges going into production, not least of which will be a new entry level range inspired by the world’s oceans and the mariners
who navigate them. This timepiece will sit alongside the Coniston and offer a new option for customers new and existing alike. In addition, we will be planning our first AGM for our Shareholders, expanding the team and moving into a larger space. We are under no doubt that a community based, interactive and inclusive approach to MWC is what everyone loves about us, so we will also be ramping that up as much as we can. It has been a lightning-fast year once again - we struggle to keep up with the weeks as they roll by and every month that passes brings another hundred new things we have learned or streamlined. It’s wonderful to watch our small company find its foundation and have the security to build and grow the way we hoped it would. With any luck we will continue this trajectory and expand our community; with more people joining us each day, it’s a chance to grow MWC into a company that does what most other watch companies do not; listen. Here’s to a new year of progress and excitement. Have a wonderful holiday and thank you, from all of us here at MWC, for your ongoing support. To the future, and whatever it may hold. Oliver, Gordon & Stephanie
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