Press Archives - Pinion Watch Company

Monochrome interview

pinion — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 12:56:36 +0000

Pinion founder, Piers Berry talks to Tom Mulraney from Monochrome about starting Pinion and how he first got into the watch industry.

Read the article

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Atom 39 review by Monochrome

pinion — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 14:00:15 +0000

Brice Goulard from Monochrome reviews the recently released Atom 39 collection.

Read the article in full over at Monochrome.

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SalonQP: The Atom review

pinion — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:43:53 +0000

Chris Hall from SalonQP / QP Magazine writes a review of the Atom after spending two months wearing the watch.

Read the full review over at salonqp.com

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Pinion profile by The Watchmakers Club

pinion — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 12:37:23 +0000

With a successful background in digital and being an avid collector of watches, Piers Berry talks to Sam Kessler of The Watchmakers Club on the reasons why he formed Pinion back in 2013 and the influences that lead to him to leave his established company he formed in 2002 and head into the world of British watchmaking.

Read the full article over at thewatchmakersclub.com

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OT Magazine: Atom hands-on

pinion — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:33:23 +0000

“…The finishing and attention to detail are exceptional and it’s an easily wearable, wonderfully reliable watch.”

The Pinion Atom watch gets a hands-on Review by Sam Kessler from Oracle Time Magazine.

Read the review on Oracle Time’s website

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Pinion Atom reviewed by Hodinkee

pinion — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 15:34:53 +0000

The Pinion Atom watch received a great review by Jason Heaton of watch blog, Hodinkee last week and for twenty-four hours it was the main feature on the Hodinkee home page.

You can read the Pinion Atom review in full over at Hodinkee.

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/pinion-atom-value-proposition

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The truth behind the revival of British watchmaking

pinion — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 21:35:57 +0000

British watch company, Pinion founder and designer, Piers Berry talks to The Jewellery Editor, on the hot topic of the ‘Revival’ of the British watch industry and what this means for his watch company.

The original article can be viewed here

The recent appearance of a handful of British brands has provoked a nostalgic idea that we are witnessing a revival of British watchmaking. After all, between the 17th and 19th centuries, Great Britain was the undisputed superpower of watchmaking. A hotbed of formidable horological minds was behind the major technological breakthroughs that helped Britannia ply her maritime trade routes and rule the waves. Empires rise and fall and the flame of Britain’s watchmaking supremacy was snuffed in the early 20th century after Britain failed to adopt the mass production techniques introduced by Swiss and American watchmakers.

Is it misleading to talk about a revival of watchmaking in the UK if the watches are equipped with foreign movements and production is – in most cases – extremely limited? What percentage of British blood does a watch have to have to obtain the coveted Made in Britain pedigree? Are we witnessing a revival of the industry or is it more a case of watch brands based in Britain coming to the fore?

To find out what’s ticking in the business, we go behind the scenes and chat to the heads of several British watch brands. This week we talk to Piers Berry, founder of Pinion watches, an Oxfordshire-based brand with prices ranging from £2,000 – £5,000 and an annual production of roughly 500 watches. A professional designer with a background in digital design, Berry wanted to create a watch “he could call his own”, launching Pinion in 2013, a brand that relies entirely on contemporary and vintage Swiss movements and is upfront about the provenance of every last component. With three lines to date – Axis, below, Pure and Revival – the watches exude a handsome yet rugged appeal, a bit like actor Clive Standen, who wears an Axis Black watch in the new NBC TV series Taken.

TJE: There is a lot of talk about the revival of British watchmaking. Would you agree that there is a revival underway?

Berry: No, I don’t believe there is a specific ‘revival’ in British watchmaking, just that over the past few years there has been an increase in the amount of watch companies coming into the marketplace globally.

A limited edition of 100 watches, Pinion’s handsome 43mm Revival 1969 watch comes in a polished stainless steel case with classic chronograph pushers on the side (£4,950).

So yes, there are more watch companies in Britain than, say, 10 years ago, but the same could be said of most major countries. I don’t think it’s specifically a British thing, but because of our heritage of historic watchmakers, we often get placed on a platform for criticism, which is different to any other country.

One of our watches is called the Revival – but this isn’t about reviving British watchmakers. Its about reviving a vintage Swiss hand-wound movement from the 1960s.

TJE: What are the identity traits of a Pinion watch and what makes it British?

Berry: A Pinion watch is highly functional, quirky and inventive, but from a design perspective, I like to absorb influences from all over the globe, making the watches look like they could come from any country, not just Britain.

We were the first modern British watch company to introduce a bronze-cased watch back in 2013, at least two years before the bigger Swiss brands started to make them. The influence came from smaller Italian brands that had been producing bronze cases up to this time.

I often tell people that Pinion is a watch company that just happens to be based in the UK. Our watches are conceived here and a lot of work to get them onto people’s wrists is achieved here, but I avoid any cliché statements or imagery to try and make them appear more British, as I have no interest in doing that.

TJE: What percentage of a Pinion watch is made from components sourced from Switzerland? What percentage of the watch is made in-house in the UK?

Berry: When I started the company in 2013, I had an idea of making some parts, chiefly the case and dials here, but after some trials I was disappointed with the quality of the output and felt that these limitations would hold back what I wanted to make in the future. So instead I sourced and worked with a number of specialists in Europe to manufacture for me.

The caseback of Pinion’s Axis II can be ordered with an individually numbered steel back or an exhibition sapphire crystal displaying the green winding rotor (£1,950).

What we do here, though, is case finishing/coating, we assemble and test watches and we also assemble vintage new-old-stock movements from their component parts. All of our straps are made here by hand as well.

I think what’s important to remember is that there is more to a watch than just the sum of its component parts. I don’t just email a sketch off and wait for a finished watch to come back; I do a lot of design, including the final drawings, plus prototyping is done here before we go into production. Then it’s back and forth until I get the result I’m after. Quite often this amount of effort is overlooked and people just want to know where the parts are machined then make an opinion on how ‘British’ it is.

Our customers buy into the fact that Pinion is small, independent, exclusive and produces nicely designed quality watches. The British label may help them discover the brand for the first time, but it’s ultimately not why they buy my watches.

TJE: Is achieving manufacturing independence a goal at Pinion?

Pinion’s Pure collection draws inspiration from professional instruments of the past with a mission to keep the dial as pure and legible as possible (£2,600).

Berry: It’s not even on my radar. I’ve worked hard to get excellent products and I’m not about to try and alter this.

TJE: Has Brexit affected your sales? How?

Berry: When we launched, the customer base for the first year was largely 50% UK, 45% USA and 5% others. The USA market dipped a bit in year two, but I saw a massive increase in UK-based customers, with a majority around Oxfordshire and London, meaning my current customer base is 90% UK and 10% for the rest.

What Brexit did was create a flurry of customers from the USA again, as well as Australia and Canada. However, this spike has now regulated back to mostly UK-based customers. The main influence in this is certainly rate of the pound, making exports cheaper for customers overseas.

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Bronze stars: Revolution magazine

pinion — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 03:45:44 +0000

The Pinion Pure Bronze LE features among seven other bronze watches in the September 2016 UK edition of REVOLUTION magazine.

Note: Pinion is the only British watch brand to be featured, and is by far the youngest and smallest company in the article!

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Pure Pro watch review

pinion — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 14:04:51 +0000

Journalist, George Cramer has given his thoughts on the Pure Pro Bronze over at Fratellowatches.com.

This article originally appeared on Fratello watches website

Bronze Watch

That bronze watch cases are getting more popular again, was proved this spring by some remarkable moves in the industry. While bronze watches were usually found in the more affordable price categories, two high-end brands, MCT and Hautlence presented their over €100K Euro costing top models, in a bronze version. Quite a decision and a firm sign that bronze has become a serious material for watches. Let’s go back where the trend started and that was actually not that long ago.

Pilots and Divers

Gérald Genta was one of the first brands that launched a bronze watch in 1997, called Gefica. The watch was re-released in 2007 in a stunning 47mm case and was very popular. But it was the launch of the Panerai Submersible in 2011, that really fed the hype and gave bronze the status it has today. Since about two years, bronze watches are upcoming again. Many collectors like the charm of the material. But when the decision is made, to get a bronze watch, in the more affordable price category of up to €3500.- Euro.

The choice that can be made, is mainly divided between a pilot or a divers watch. If you’re one of the guys that doesn’t have a permit to fly and have absolute no aspiration to get your diving license, it may be a bit too ‘möchte gern macho’ to arrive in the office with a 43mm pilot watch under your cuff.

Pinion Pure

Pinion is one of the few brands that has a non-pilots bronze watch in the collection and I must say that it looks refreshing, to see a well made watch like that, in daily use. My colleagues here on Fratello have written a few times about some other models of the British brand Pinion and not without a reason.

Details

When you have an eye for details, you will notice the amazing layered dial and applied numerals. These multi-level dials are a study in black radiance, with differing finishes to provide subtle visual contrasts. The dials and hands of all Pinion watches are state of the art. It has probably the most beautiful dial I have seen in this price category.

Unitas 6498

Take for instance the indexes, that are individually milled, polished, then filled with Pinion’s own Super-Luminova mix, that provides that cool classic look. The designer and founder of the brand, Piers Berry, choose for the hand-wound Unitas 6498, a caliber that was originally developed as a pocket watch movement and guarantees a power reserve of 45 hours.

Charming Bronze

Winding the watch, with that nice over sized crown and the sound it makes during the process, is a joy; I love the sound that it makes. What makes the charm of a bronze watch, is the patina it will get. We never know in advance how and when it will develop. It all depends on the climate, air, water, daily wear, salt etc. which means that you may get a complete different patina, than a friend having the same watch, but living in a different area. And when ever you’re tired of the patina the watch developed, you can easily get it back to that shiny polished bronze it had, when you first got the watch.

Daily Watch

Bronze watches are sometimes seen as unhealthy, mainly because bronze could cause skin irritations. When you’re sensitive to bronze that is. That’s why the back of the case, the crown and the buckle of the Pinion timepieces are made out of steel. This is to avoid contact between the bronze and the skin. Just to make sure there is no problem at all, wearing a bronze watch on a daily basis.

I received this 42mm Pinion Pure in June and as some of the pictures show, the watch is smooth and it shines. But this is controllable. If you would like to keep it that way, just to rub it a bit with a dry soft cloth now and then. When wearing the watch daily, the tone of the bronze will change and every part that is touched a lot,will get less patina. I like the changing effect of the color of the case, a lot and have let it go, which shows a couple of weeks later.

This or That

If you’re not the pilot to be, but are still in love with the charm of a bronze watch, that will get its own patina after some time, check out this Pinion Pure. I like this hand wound mechanical version a lot, but the mechanical Pinion R1969 Chronograph , we wrote about here , may be another good option to check out.

Room for Improvement

Is there room for improvement?
Yes, although not much and my remark is also very personal. The nicely decorated back is satin finished, just like the buckle. I would have preferred if the crown would have been finished the same way. It is just a detail and it’s good to know, that it could be done, if you prefer it that way!

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Press coverage for Pure collection

pinion — Sun, 15 May 2016 16:10:59 +0000

Pinion received some great press coverage for the new Pure collection from watch blog, Fratellowatches.com and UK based SalonQP ( QP Magazine).

Follow the links below to read more from these two publications:

Robert Jan-Broer from Fratellowatches.com looks the new PURE collection:

http://www.fratellowatches.com/new-pinion-pure-pro-collection/

UK based watch journalist, Chris Hall covers both the Axis II collection and Pure range on SalonQP website. ( Link no longer live – Sorry!)

Axis II

Pure

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