What was the last watch you bought?
At Bremont we do get a good deal on watches, so the last one I wanted funnily enough was the blue dialled Fury with our H1 movement. I’ve not bought a non-Bremont for… probably 20 years which is terrible! My Bremont collection on the other hand forever expands.
Do you collect anything outside of watches?
I collect a couple of things. First edition Ian Fleming James Bond novels, which are fun. You can buy them for a few hundred quid or a lot more, so it’s like collecting the Dirty Dozen. The early ones are really hard to find because they did relatively few. Guitars, too. I have a bit of a fetish for them, it’s terrible really. I keep trying to convince my wife it’s the same guitar I’ve had for a long time. But they’re pieces of art! At least, that’s my justification.
Bremont Fury Pilot’s Watch
What, other than a watch, is at the top of your wish list?
If you get a decent original copy of something like Casino Royale, they go for so much money. That or a late 1950s Fender Telecaster. It’s important to have these things to work towards!
Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Menorca, image credit: Daniel Schäfer/Hauser & Wirth
A recent find/discovery?
A couple of weekends ago I went to the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Menorca. There’s an old hospital island that they’ve converted partly into a gallery along with a beautiful café. You can only get there by boat and it’s like going back in time; all shabby chic. It felt very untouristy and incredibly well done in an understated way. Otherwise just the fact that walking the 6K to work every day and back again while listening to an audiobook is the best meditation ever!
What inspires you?
It’s always my family. Over the years it’s been our father, who inspired us in a massive way. But as I’ve gotten older – I have an incredible, strong-willed wife – her no-nonsense approach is incredibly inspiring. Recently too, my eldest just packed up and said he was going to Barcelona University. I see these people on a daily basis, your flesh and blood, seeing them do things I’m not sure I’d have been able to do is inspiring. Then there’s my brother Giles who over the past 20 to 30 years, has helped me past so many hurdles.
Bremont co-founders Giles and Nick English
A book/podcast/album that changed the way you think?
On a podcast side, and I recommend it to everyone, is Dr. Andrew Huberman’s Huberman Lab. He’s a Stanford Professor and he’s incredible. We got to know him originally because he wears a Bremont, but once I started listening to him about things like the effects of heat treatment, backed up by scientific research, it’s amazing. He covers a ton of different health topics (which I’m quite into myself) and I thoroughly recommend him to anyone with a passing interest.
Book-wise, it has to be the Lonely Sea and The Sky, about Francis Chichester, that our father gave us when we were young. He was a great navigator and in 1928 he flew a gypsy moth from England to Australia and wrote all about his adventures along the way. He was also the first guy to sail solo across the world. He made me realise that we’re just all wusses these days; back then they just hopped in this canvas and plywood biplane and off they went!
Who is a celebrity/person of note/intellectual you admire?
In the past couple of years, Harrison Ford. He’s as big as they get in the film world, but he’s such a lovely guy. He has a hanger of airplanes and flies himself around the world. He’s still making movies at 80 years old, he’s fit, witty, and incredibly humble. He’s a special guy – there aren’t many people like that around.
What’s your ideal long weekend?
I’d nip off to Barcelona, see some mates and family over there. The food, the architecture, the weather, everything’s marvellous. I’d take the overnight ferry to our place in Menorca, do some watersports and play some tennis on the clay courts out there. I’m not one to sit around and binge watch Netflix for a weekend. If you pack enough stuff in, it can feel like a lot longer, so I pack in as much as possible.
What would we always find in your fridge?
Bone broth and oat milk – not together.
What’s a rule/mantra that you live by?
There are two. One is to treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself. The way I am with people is the way I’d like them to be with me – what goes around comes around, after all. Secondly – and this is the most important – live life to the full, for goodness sake! My father died at 49, but he crammed so much in. He built boats, sailed from England to Africa, piloted in air shows, did all this stuff. He’s a good role model to live life by.
What does the year ahead look like for you?
It’s going to be a year of travel actually. There’s a ton we’ve done here on the engineering side, technical innovation on the movement here at the Wing, but now that China’s opened up and markets have opened up again, there’s a lot we need to do internationally. And I want to do a few flying adventures in old airplanes, some car racing, everything we can cram in!
