WATCHES HAVE A tendency to lead one down rabbitholes. Sometimes these are predictable digging into the history of a particular movement or casemaker - but the best are utterly unexpected. When I picked up an old brochure from 1938- The Watch Book - produced by a firm I'd only vaguely heard of, Bravingtons, I'd no idea it would lead to searching London for lost buildings and even finding a connection to an iconic WW1 image.
Thomas Bravington started out with a pawnbroker's shop at 208 Pentonville Road in the early 1860s. By 1905, it seems, he'd opened another on Wardour Street. Pawnbroking appears to have been as eclectic a trade then as it is now - Bravington once accepted 1000 cigars as security for a loan.
He was clearly a canny operator. The firm grew, selling everything from trench watches in WW1 to clocks and christening bracelets in the fragile post-Versailles peace. By 1921 Bravingtons had enough commercial clout and connections to acquire 1000 '17 jewelled specially adjusted compensated lever movements that were expressly made for the Royal Artillery. It had them recased in gold and sold them for £6/15/0 a pop.
This story is from the November 2023 edition of Octane.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2023 edition of Octane.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Back to a different future
Pontiac's Tempest was packed with improbable engineering and ingenious bodgery from a young John DeLorean. Sam Glover drives an early survivor
Rupert Keegan
A life in motorsport, from Formula 3 to Formula 1, via frustration with Sir John Surtees to turning down an offer from Paul Newman
RED & GOLD
What's the best classic bang for your buck? A fire truck, says Jay Leno, especially when it has a V12
NART BEFORE TIME
Unseen in public since 1988, this ultra-rare and forward-thinking Ferrari 365 GTB/4 NART Spider will soon be unleashed at The Quail, Monterey. David Lillywhite got to see it first
FORCE FED
The 911 Turbo also celebrates 50 years this year and it all kicked off with the G-Series
G FORCE
From under-the-radar collector status to realistic daily-drive prospect, the G-Series is the air-cooled 911 of the moment. As it hits its 50th anniversary, Porsche authority Steve Bennett tells us why
The Maestro remembered
A huge memorial service for Sir Stirling Moss OBE brought central London to a standstill
Nathalie McGloin
The only female tetraplegic racing driver in the world and co-founder of Spinal Track, charity supporting disabled drivers
Atomium
An iron molecule, 100m tall and scaled-up 165billion times, was the future in ’58
The Valjoux 7750
Rendered obsolete in the late 1970s, Edmond Capt's wonder movement is not only back, but selling 200,000 units a year