Introducing the Garrick Regulator, the British brand’s 4th Timepiece in less than 2 Years

It’s been only a year or two, not more, since the British watch brand Garrick introduced its first timepiece, the Shaftesbury SM301. This was actually the first watch from a British watch brand, that featured significant parts of the movement that have been designed, manufactured, finished and assembled in-house… in England – besides Roger Smith’s watches of course! Not long after, they presented another watch, and by the end of last year there was another one! The new Garrick Regulator again comprises Garrick’s in-house developed free-sprung balance – visible through an aperture in the dial – and time is indicated in a typical regulator layout: the hour, minute and second hands are not mounted on the same axis. The Garrick Regulator is made in a limited edition of only 15 pieces.

When we first covered the young British brand, we here at Monochrome were impressed by the brand’s ambition, and now, we’re actually still quite impressed by what the Garrick team manages to do, in-house, in England. The question is of course if this will put British watchmaking back on the map. Although Roger Smith is certainly doing his best to keep the British watchmaking spirits up, with only a handful of watches he produces every year, he can use to help from other brand… like Garrick. While Garrick’s watches are not hand-crafted like the ones made by Smith, and certainly feature a different level of finishing, they also have a different -MUCH lower- price tag. Still, it’s hand-made in England and comes with several movement components that have been crafted in Garrick’s own atelier.

Garrick’s latest timepiece is not only named Regulator, it also IS a regulator watch. Regulators always feature a typical way to display time: hours, minutes, and seconds are all displayed on their own “sub dial”. This way to display the time has a functional reason, as it was used in reference clocks for setting other clocks and watches. Displaying the time on three different sub dials makes reading the time very precise, easy; easier than on a normal watch with all hands on one axis, because you focus on one of the indications (hours, minutes or seconds) without being distracted by one of the other hands.

On the Garrick Regulator, the minutes are displayed on the largest of the three subdials at 3 o’ clock, the seconds are indicated on the small subdial at 12 o’clock (red second hand) and the hours in the sub dial at 6 o’clock, while Garrck’s in-house developed free sprung balance can be admired through the aperture at 10 o’clock. You can choose if you want polished hands for the hours and minutes, or heat-blued hands, and for the case you have the option of a polished steel case or a black DLC coated case.

The minuterie-chapter ring and the black sub dials of the hour and second displays, are placed atop the frosted grey dial. This matt frosted dial looks great against the backdrop of either the black DLC coated or polished stainless steel case, which measures 42mm in diameter.

The Regulator was built by master watchmaker Craig Baird and is limited to only 15 pieces, and comes at a price of £ 6,995 GBP. More info at the Garrick website.