The Garrick S3

The small English company which takes an uncompromisingly traditional approach to rekindling the embers of British haute horlogerie has just unveiled its latest hand manufactured wristwatch, and once again takes another significant step forward.

Taking up the mantle of an almost forgotten legacy, and embarking on the challenging journey as standard bearers for a nation’s once proud watchmaking industry is surely the stuff of gallantry, pluck and endeavour. Conveniently, those very attributes are what British independents Garrick Watchmakers would appear to have in spades, and looking at its brand new S3 watch, the Norfolk-based company has reinforced its credentials as a bone-fide sentinel for classical watchmaking on British soil.

Powered by the all new manual winding Calibre UT-G04, the movement plays a starring role in this strikingly handsome wristwatch, as apart from a completely stripped back skeletonised dial, the upper plate is laid bare, and that in itself highlights the level of ongoing progress Garrick has been making since it first opened for business only five short years ago. Even then, much of the movement in its debut Shaftesbury piece was finished in house, with fine hand-operated engine turned decoration across its bridges and plates, but most notably of all, running on its own free sprung balance; a matter of no minor significance, and one of great pride for founder David Brailsford.

With each subsequent release, Garrick has edged ever closer to that grail of encompassing virtually all of the manufacturing processes to under the roof of its own atelier, with a succession of impressive hand manufactured timepieces, and with the S3 you could quite say that it is at this stage at least on par with a good number of other many well known independent watch companies.

Brailsford has not made it easy for himself either, because not only has he taken on the daunting challenge of establishing and introducing a new high-end watch brand into a highly competitive and selective marketplace, but he has elected to do so by adhering to those old world techniques and antiquated hand-operated machinery so easily bypassed today, with the availability of relatively low cost, off-the-shelf alternatives: a route favoured by many, more commercially-minded companies. This is because behind it all has been his keen awareness of the history of English watchmaking, and how it has all but disappeared over the past century, save for the notable exceptions of 20th Century Grand Master George Daniels, and in more recent times his student and prodigy Roger W. Smith, he also sees Garrick’s role as being a flag bearer for an industry for which his country was once the centre of commerce and invention, and in which many of its greatest names practiced and discovered many of the fundamental innovations on which modern watchmaking is still based around, some three hundred years further along the timeline.

All of which puts a little context and provides a background to the new Garrick S3, which is quite easily the most refined and beautifully executed piece by the company to date. To emphasise that, only five pieces will be manufactured each year, due to the time absorbing nature of the machining and detail involved in every aspect of its finishing. As each piece which leaves the Garrick atelier is entirely manufactured by hand, options for blued steel or polished hands and other bespoke modifications can be requested, to make each a unique and personalised collectable.

Beneath the anti-reflective treated sapphire glass, the dial is replaced with a single-piece, flame-blued skeleton of a dial, which consists in its barest form only of the chapter ring with its roman numerals, a small seconds subsidiary dial and a power reserve display which sits on top of the otherwise exposed movement and its working below. While firing screws and even hands to achieve a uniform blue colour is difficult enough to achieve, doing so with an entire dial-sized piece is much more demanding, and so on the S3, slight variations in the blue hue are the natural result of this hands-on process, and if anything, add to the sense of artisanal workmanship of the watch.

The frosted grey rhodium plated finish of the new UT-G04 movement provides an effective contrast for the hands and dial above it. What really stands out here, and what sets the S3 apart from its predecessors is the flush, integrated layout of the gear train and components, all set into polished chatons and recesses across the plate, and creating a truly beautiful, three dimensional display of elegant mechanical intricacy, which is all manufactured and finished by hand in house. From the large wheel of the power reserve mechanism in the upper dial which runs off the barrel underneath, to the time gears in the centre, to the most prominent feature of all, the magnificent Trinity free sprung balance which dominates the lower section, beneath a black polished bridge, as it beats at a graceful tempo of 18’000vib/h, and which is manufactured in Sircumet; a bespoke non-magnetic alloy developed exclusively for Garrick.

Measuring 42mm, the round case is manufactured in surgical grade 904L stainless steel, which has a distinctly rich lustre and polishes to a pristine finish, and features a deeply fluted onion-shaped crown and a rounded bezel. Turned over and the immaculate simplicity of the underside of the movement belies the degree of sophistication and horologic finesse of this classical piece of work. A closer examination reveals hand polished rounded anglage and countersunk chatons, the split escapement with its own cock and concealed balance bridge, as well as contrasting polishing on the barrel lid and the click, which like the front side are cosseted in recesses within the plate. With its mechanics set into the plates, the movement is slender, and this translates to an overall height of the complete watch of just 10mm.

Another notable feature is a water resistance of 100m, which is certainly useful should the watch get wet, but with its finely crafted and elegant reserve the S3 is probably not a piece one would take into the sea or a pool, however it is still impressive in terms of the manufacturing and engineering which has gone into this very handsome wristwatch.

Garrick S3 Fact file:

REFERENCE: S3
MANUFACTURER: Garrick Watchmakers
LIMITED EDITION: Five pieces annually
CASE: Stainless steel (18kt gold options available on request)
SIZE: ø 42mm
THICKNESS: 10mm
DIAL: Skeletonised with blued steel hands and chapter ring
FEATURES: Small seconds at the 10, power reserve indicator at the 2
MOVEMENT: In-house manual winding Calibre UT-G04. 18,000 vph
FUNCTIONS: Hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve
POWER RESERVE: 45 hours
BRACELET/STRAP: Black crocodile leather
BUCKLE: Steel buckle
WATERPROOF RATING: 100m
PRICE EXCL.VAT: GBP£24,995

Garrick Watchmakers