Accurist Watches

Before wrist watches became the fashion accessories they are today, owning one was very much a 'once in a lifetime' purchase. Swiss watches were highly prized precision instruments with jewelled lever movements and anonymous, conservative styling.

Precision Timepieces

London watchmakers Accurist were one of the key driving forces to change this and make quality watches not only affordable, but desirable. For decades since they have led the way. They were one of the first watch brands to use TV advertising and their Old England range became a part of 60s iconography, being associated with the swinging London of Carnaby Street, Twiggy and the Beatles.

Digital Quartz Watches

The company 'took coals to Newcastle' and opened their own manufacturing facility in Switzerland, challenging the old guard on their home ground. They introduced digital quartz watches in the 70s, were chosen as the official watch of Concorde pilots and ran award winning advertising campaigns featuring John Cleese. In the 80s Accurist switched manufacture to Japan, increasing production fivefold and establishing them as one of the industry's most famous and successful independent watch companies.

They were the first ever sponsor of BT's Speaking Clock in 1986, ensuring their name was heard by over 3 billion people and becoming the UK's largest selling brand in 1993. Accurist also became the first and only watch company to be associated with the Royal Observatory - the home of Greenwich Mean Time - and counted down the last 1000 days of the 20th century with a satellite controlled clock accurate to within 1/10,000,000th of a second.