All too often there are two distinct camps of watch winders. On the one hand you have the cheap, mass-produced versions that are nothing but a whiny motor attached to a watch holder, liable to do more damage than good. On the other, you have the showpieces that try their best to show up a Patek Philippe Grand Complication – with a price tag to match. For most of us in search of a good middle-ground, it’s a no-man’s land – with one British flag planted right in the middle: Barrington.
While they have a name like a grand old resident of Jermyn Street, Barrington’s a much more modern company. It wasn’t even founder Sean O’Farrell’s first venture in the watch world. That would be Jura Watches, back in 2007. Indeed, it was through Jura that O’Farrell saw a winder-shaped hole in the market, one that he filled with the initial Barrington single-watch winder in 2010.
This wasn’t just a whim or a quickly rebranded and white-labelled winder. Quite the opposite as, in keeping with the name, Barrington was set to be British through-and-through, enlisting homegrown designers Conka Design and Hoffi to build the winder. The result was a handsome way to keep your perpetual calendars from falling out of grace, but one that cost less than servicing a Sky-Dweller.
It sold well through Jura, but it wasn’t long before other retailers were clamouring to get Barrington into their own stores. And when Jura passed ownership in 2014, Barrington struck out completely, expanding their repertoire to two, four, six, nine, all the way up to 12 and 24-watch winders. Of course, it’s not just a case of how many watches you can store, but whether what you’re storing them in is worth your time – figuratively and literally, in this case.
Let’s start with aesthetics. After all, if you have a watch winder, it’s likely part showcase as much as it is a practicality. Well, at the entry level, if you like colour, you’ll like what you see. Barrington’s debut single-watch winder has been expanded into a range of colours. Looking for something a bit more classical? Try American walnut or Santos rosewood.
If it feels like too much to choose from, bear in mind that you don’t necessarily need to. All of Barrington’s single-watch winders can be connected together and run from a single socket. Ever wanted to build a multi-coloured tower out of your watch collection? Now’s your chance.
Where the single-watch winders offer a bit more fun however, Barrington’s multi-watch winders take a more serious angle. Rather than the overly luxurious combinations of rare woods and fine leathers that look out of place anywhere but a country estate, these winders come display cases lean on the modern tech side of things. That means lashings of carbon fibre, touch screen panels and horological mood lighting.
That modern aesthetic isn’t arbitrary, of course. While the concept of a watch winder is relatively straightforward – again, a motor that turns a watch holder – a lot of technical development has gone into making sure these ones are as effective, efficient and user friendly as possible.
Through the touch screen, you can individually set the characteristics of each winder. If you have a watch with a particularly long power reserve you need to fill or the opposite, a delicate movement you don’t want to damage, you can set your winders respectively. Yes, you can get as watch nerdy about this stuff as you like. I won’t judge. Perhaps more importantly to everyone other than you, those variable motors are ultra-quiet, Japanese made numbers, so no whirring all night long. It cuts the benefit of having your watches nicely recharged if your partner wakes up at half-empty.
Speaking of partners – or more likely a son looking to impress a date – Barrington’s multi-watch winders also come with a fingerprint scanner for security. It won’t stop a burglar unplugging the whole thing and throwing it in their swag bag, but it will make sure that your Royal Oak doesn’t mysteriously disappear. And reappear a day later with a scratched bezel. Plus there are few things more satisfying than accessing your Seamaster 300m No Time to Die edition with a Q-worthy system like that.
Sexy as all this is – and yes, I’m aware I’m calling a winder sexy, I stick by it – it’s all stuff that you’ll have come across from various other winder companies, to greater or lesser extents. But what sets Barrington apart comes back to that rarely trodden middle-ground of exclusivity and affordability. Where others can stretch into the thousands of pounds for carbon copy specs sheets, Barrington’s range starts from just £275 for the single-watch winder up to £3,995 for hoard-worthy 24-piece showcase.
Sure, if you have a handful of F.P. Journes and a Dufour or two, money likely is no object for you. For the rest of us however, that kind of pricing turns a seriously good winder from an aspirational ‘would be nice’ into a worryingly tempting proposition. Given that’s the modus operandi for the UK’s homegrown watch industry, it must be a British thing.
More details at Barrington.
