The Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers has set British Watchmakers' Day 2027 for Saturday 6 March, at Lindley Hall in Westminster.
London has regulated watchmaking longer than anywhere: the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers took a royal charter from Charles I in 1631, and the museum it founded in 1813 holds the oldest specific collection of clocks and watches in the world. British watchmaking then all but disappeared in the twentieth century, undercut first by Switzerland and then by quartz. What has happened since is a genuine revival, with a generation of independent makers building movements in Britain again.
British Watchmakers’ Day exists to put that generation in one room and let anyone walk in. There is no trade credential and no appointment: a visitor can talk to the person who made the watch, look at the movement, and buy directly, which is not how the watch trade normally works. Several brands announce limited editions for the day.
The 2027 edition takes place on Saturday 6 March. It is organised by the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers, the trade body for the sector, and it is the only day in the year when the whole of British watchmaking is open to the public in one place. The exhibitors are makers rather than retailers, so what is on the table was built by whoever is standing behind it. The Clockmakers’ own museum, founded in 1813, sits a short walk away in South Kensington.