The British watch industry has been making major waves in the international watch world in recent years in no small part thanks to brands like Christopher Ward and Studio Underd0g. Studio Underd0g in particular has had a stand out couple of years with international collaborations with H. Moser & Cie., Sartory Billard and Massena LAB. However, they haven’t forgotten their British roots either and today have announced the acquisition of the British watch workshop Horologium.
If you’re at all familiar with the operating practices of Studio Underd0g, then this move won’t come as any surprise. Horologium already assemble 1,000 – 1,200 watches for Studio Underd0g per month, accounting for up to 90% of the workshop’s revenue. Plus, since July 2024 Studio Underd0g has held a minority stake in the company, so eventual ownership has been a possibility a while. They’ve simply gone from a minority holder to 100% holder.
Horologium, who have their headquarters in Maidenhead only a stone’s throw from the Christopher Ward head offices, are a fully equipped watch workshop and after sales provider. That means they take care of assembling watches including dials, hands and third-party movements as well as serving and repairs. The change in ownership means that they will continue to do all these things but under the banner of “in-house” for Studio Underd0g.
In the short term there isn’t likely to be a huge change for either brand. However, we recently visited Horologium around the launch of the Christopher Ward x Studio Underd0g Alliance 02 and it is clear from the set-up of the workshop that they are well positioned to scale up production capacity. Given the success of Studio Underd0g, expansion and growth seem like the natural course. There’s certainly an appetite for it from collectors.
