HELICON WATCHES AND TIMOTHY EVEREST MBE RELEASE COLLABORATION

Article by guest author Peter Brooker

A few days ago I was kindly invited down to Grey Flannel on Chiltern Street to witness the launch of the collaboration of Timothy Everest MBE and Helicon Watches. I got the chance to speak to the co-founder of Helicon Watches, Jonathan Bordell. 

How did the company start?

Around 15 years ago I thought I'm going to get to myself something nice, so I went down to Timothy Everest in Shoreditch. He was one of the few people that actually welcomed me in, and we forged a friendship that continues to this day. In the meantime Danielle my wife, has always been working in graphic design. Do you remember the original Top Gun posters? Danielle did all those. She literally cut out things with a scalpel.

We brought our worlds together. We built quite a big online business selling watches. We were doing collaborations with people, but we said we're going to do our own thing. What we started to do was make very limited rounds. We developed a capsule called the Master Collection, and this features the one we did with Tim. We make 50 pieces per colour. And once they're gone they're gone.

We don't repeat as we don't want to be doing the same thing year after year. We want to reinvent. The idea is that the prices are what's the accessible price. However, they're still collector's pieces, because we only make a few. Being a husband and wife team that wants to remain small. We want to construct great quality. The dials are all done by hand, and because they're done by hand they all have very different finishes. 

What about the movement and the production? Where are they made.

The movements made for us by Seiko, I have great relationship with them as a direct customer. The watches are assembled and done in Hong Kong, because there's a big watch community there. The lady who does our dials by hand, she began a career as a Rolex restorer. It's one small workshop that does it and then we assemble the pieces. The crystals are made in Switzerland. The dials are made in Hong Kong first, then we put them together in Hong Kong. So we've got an accessible price. But the reason we chose Seiko because it's ultra-reliable. The dials on the loom is done in Switzerland. We've just tried to pick out the best components at the most accessible prices.

Where does Timothy come into this?

So Tim has always been a friend and a guru. You can listen to Tim for hours on style and ideas. Tim has been supportive. I was not in a creative industry. I suppose, you could say I'm creating things now, with Danielle of course.

And what is unique about the Timothy Everest X Helicon Watch? 

The colour of the dial, lapis lazuli blue. Tim's always had this thing about needing to create something that's familiar, but fresh. And that's what we tried to do. There's a familiarity, if you put this on your wrist, you'll feel like it's a vintage watch, which is an inspiration.

There's a freshness in colour. The materials are modern. I always say to people, some of the vintage watches look great, but I wouldn't want to wear them every day. The ethos with this is just wear it, enjoy it. If you have an accident with it, we can fix it. There's no problem with the movement. Everything is simple.

I'm interested in about the straps as well, tell me about them.

It's actually a very old design. You have to remember this skin diving was a really expensive hobby. In the 60s, there was a Swiss company who developed these fluoro rubber straps, they put these vents on them to help them dry and to give them grip which is why they have this texture. These straps degrade over time. We brought back that skin diver style, which is what it's called, but it's made in a very modern rubber. This is called FKM rubber, which is they use in aviation. It's a very modern material, but with a vintage look. A vintage look, but with modern performance.

Master 62 X MBE currently available on the website for £540.