Page 54 - AA 2018_09

Bremont
How did this incredibly difficult
moment lead Nick and his brother to
forge a new career path?
It’s because of the 3 Ps:
perseverance, passion, precision.
From adversity comes brilliance
For many, the outcome of such a tragic
accident can be debilitating. We may
face long periods of depression, a fear
of flying, anger, an extended loss of
direction, and overall a sense of, why
me?
But not for Nick.
His upbringing, where he
frequently overcame challenges and
obstacles to enjoy his passion, paved
the way for a remarkable career.
Not too long after the accident and
when Nick was back to full health
(well, as best as you can be with a
large amount of metal holding various
bones together), Giles decided it was
time to get Nick back in the air.
Nick was absolutely ready and
felt no fear – just the same level of
passion and a new-found sense of
perseverance to continue to do what
he’d always loved. Once in the air, English. mark jessop in Switzerland, keen to take on the
he felt no sense of loss, no dwelling
on his circumstances. Rather, it
was a celebration of life and the
joys of aviation – for the freedom
and adventures and a deep level of
fulfilment that only other aviators
truly understand.
It also rekindled a deeper sense of
purpose for both men. Seeing firsthand
that life is short, they began to
question their long hours sitting in an
uninspiring office, working with other
senior colleagues whose waistlines
continued to get bigger and bigger the
longer they’d been in the job. designed in conjunction with
Nick said to Giles, “I think I’m ejection seat manufacturer
going to quit”. Martin Baker. bremont discovery across the rest of Europe
From there, both brothers walked
away from their corporate jobs ready
to find the next challenge. They
were ready to take the experiences
from their childhood and seek a new
adventure. What resulted required
lots of hard work, but it all revolved
around their passions for precision
and mechanics.
The making of Bremont
The brothers had always had a
fascination with watches. From
their early childhood adventures
with their father to flying the Piper
Cub across Europe, a watch had
been a critical tool for navigation
with the regular application of
clock-to-map-to-ground. After
dabbling for a bit with aircraft
restoration, they took a big gamble
54 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
and further afield. British clockmaking
was at the centre of much technical
advancement, in particular to
navigation across the world’s oceans.
When Captain James Cook was
the first European to discover the
east coast of Australia, Hawaii and
to circumnavigate New Zealand, he
used a British chronometer to help
him navigate. It was Yorkshire-born
clockmaker (and carpenter!) John
Harrison, who in 1759, solved the
conundrum that had eluded sea
captains for hundreds of years:
how to determine longitude at sea.
While doing this, he came up with a
multitude of innovations – many of
which are still used today.
In 1800 half of the world’s
watches were produced by British
watchmakers. It’s argued that around
60 to 70 per cent of the innovation
in a modern day mechanical watch
has come from Britain. But, in the
aftermath of a couple of world wars
(during which much of the skill-set
used in watch manufacturing was
Bremont co-founder Nick and in 2002 set up a little workshop poached by the arms industry),
Switzerland and the United States
Swiss and re-establish Britain at the began to mass manufacture watches.
forefront of precision watches. Then came the ‘Quartz Revolution’
Britain had once been the epicentre in the late 1960s and 1970s and the
of precision watchmaking. Aviators rise of the Japanese wristwatch, both
are very well aware that the world analog and digital.
sets its time by Greenwich and not The result: the British
by Geneva. But while today Geneva watchmaking industry succumbed.
and Switzerland may produce the vast But thanks to their perseverance
majority of the world’s luxury wrist- and passion, Nick and Giles had a
watches, this certainly wasn’t always vision to put Britain back on the global
the case. map for precision watchmaking.
From 1650 to 1750 there were For the first five years, Giles and
incredible advances in the study and Nick only made prototypes.
Bremont MBII pilot watch was measurement of time in Britain. And building the brand from
These years were also a great time scratch certainly wasn’t easy, facing
for scientific and geographical competition from some 750 Swiss
watch companies.