Ever since the first Swiss farmers began making watch parts during their frozen, Alpine winters, location has always been a big part of watchmaking. Think of all the watch dials with a specific place on the dial – not just Switzerland or Britain, but Glashutte, Geneva, Fleurier, London. Largely these places are watchmaking hubs and those names are inextricably linked to specific watchmaking flourishes – Glashutte’s striped threequarter plate, the Geneva Seal, et al – but some are integral to the identity of the brand. For Fears, that place is Bristol.
The British watchmaker was founded way back in 1846 by magnificently bearded Edwin Fear on Redcliffe Street and, after going through a few managing directors, shut down operations in 1976. Then, when Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, great-great-great-grandson of Edwin was pondering what to do with his life – he’d previously been at Rolex but very much needed a change of scene – his family’s watchmaking history came up at the dinner table. Thus, Fears was reborn.
Fears Redcliff 39.5 Date
Like many revived brands though, the initial incarnation of Fears wasn’t exactly the same as Edwin’s: no factory, a head office in Canterbury of all places, and an initial quartz offering – the aptly named Redcliffe. The original Fears started on Redcliffe; it made sense that the new one would, too. And this kind of start was to be expected from a fledgling brand, even one with some history behind it. In case you didn’t realise, starting a watchmaker is hard work.
Fast forward to today however and things have changed remarkably. The Redcliffe is newly returned to the Fears collection in handsome automatic form. The Brunswick has become a cushion-cased icon of British watchmaking and, perhaps more importantly, as of two years ago, Fears made the triumphant return to their original hometown of Bristol.
“Fears was founded in Bristol, it spent 130 years growing here”, explains Nicholas of the impetus behind the return. “If you’re lucky enough to have this kind of history, this kind of heritage, you have to pay respect to it. In 2021 we were beginning to really take off and that was the point I realised that, rather than build a team where I was, between Kent and Yorkshire, that was the moment to bring Fears back to Bristol. It needed to be in its own city.”
That’s a pain for Nicholas, who regularly commutes from Yorkshire to Bristol (for anyone outside of the UK, that’s just over four hours each way), but it means a lot to the brand. Eagle-eyed British watch aficionados may have noticed, for example, that prior to the move, ‘Bristol’ was nowhere to be seen on a Fears watch dial. It’s proudly on there now. “You can barely go around the city without stumbling across some part of Fears history,” explains Nicholas. “Where we are in Arnos Veil, we’re across the road from Arnos Veil Cemetery, which is where the previous managing directors are buried. Fears is part of the heartbeat of Bristol – and it’s great to be once again contributing to that.”
Fears Brunswick 40 Pink Dial
Outside of history, I’ve already touched on how Fears’ various collections are linked to Bristol. There’s Redcliffe, the street where Fears was founded; the Brunswick, named after the city’s famous Brunswick Square (fitting, for a cushion case) and soon, the Arnos, where Fears are located today. I’m not at liberty to divulge anything but the name at this point; watch this space for more on that later this year.
Of course, there were challenges to starting a shiny new HQ in Bristol, particularly in this climate. “Setting up the office, designing the space, building the desks, it was one of the most complicated things I’ve ever had to do! If moving house is a lot, imagine moving an entire company – while it’s still running!”
There’s a lot crammed into the old Pain Works building. Not only is there the usual office space, but their HQ is where Fears do all their dispatching and quality control (the watches aren’t made in Bristol, yet), as well as third-party dispatches for other watch brands. It’s big, it’s bustling and it’s not quite enough for a brand that’s still very much on the up.
Ever a sucker for punishment, it wasn’t long before Nicholas had his eyes on another milestone: the first Fears boutique. Fears always had a showroom, but it was always a by-appointment, behind closed doors kind of thing, and not exactly accessible to the general public. Now, housed in the elegant and historic Clifton Arcade, they have well and truly arrived.
“Now you can walk in off the street and discover our watches for yourself,” explained Nicholas. “We’ve created a space that’s pure Fears, the music, the smell, everything. More importantly though, it’s opened us up to new customers. I like to think we’re well-known in watch circles, but our boutique has encouraged people that simply like a nice watch now and then to find out what we do. They find us by just walking past, stopping, finding out a bit of information then, a few weeks and visits later, leaving the store with a new Brunswick of Redcliffe.”
The boutique isn’t where Fears’ future plans for Bristol stop. Nicholas isn’t the kind of director that can ever actually relax. But it is a turning point for the brand, emphasising that they’re not just a brand based in Bristol, but that they’re proudly interlinked with the city. It’s not just a label on the dial; it may as well be engraved on every part of the watch. With plans to move more of the watchmaking process to Bristol in the future – they’re already scouting locations – Fears are very much here to stay. And there’s probably a nice little plot across the road with Nicholas’s name on it. Tradition is tradition, after all.
More details at Fears.
