Garrick was born out of a desire to create fine timepieces with a distinctly British character, producing watches infused with high-quality finishing and delightful details designed to appeal to the cognoscenti — timepieces for purists, featuring no-compromise construction and created with a palpable sense of honesty. Founded by David Brailsford and Simon Michlmayr, the company makes its watches in its own dedicated facility in Norfolk, renouncing mass production techniques in favour of limited volumes with a high quotient of hand-craftsmanship, and produces a maximum of 50 watches per annum. From the outset it endeavoured to make most of its components internally and over the years has succeeded in making an ever-increasing number of parts in-house, including dials, hands and a multitude of movement parts, all made at its own Norfolk workshop. The workshop features positive air pressure so that only filtered air enters the production areas, mitigating the risk of dust contamination, and the workforce includes several time-served watchmakers.
Each watch is finished by hand, with hand-bevelled bridges, circular graining and chatons, and bridges and other minuscule components frosted, grained or mirror-polished according to the client's wishes. In 2016 the company released the Portsmouth, endowed with an exclusive movement, the Calibre UT-G01; three further calibres followed, the UT-G02, UT-G03 and UT-G04. Each of the brand's movements features a Trinity free-sprung balance made of Sircumet, a non-magnetic alloy exclusive to Garrick. Where a conventional index-adjusted balance alters the effective length of the hairspring to adjust the rate, the free-sprung balance keeps that length constant and changes the rate by altering the moment of inertia through weighted screws on the balance wheel, so the hairspring breathes more concentrically, the balance is less susceptible to positional influence and the rate remains consistent over a longer period. Garrick also places the timing screws in-board to mitigate air turbulence and further augment precision. Few brands equip their watches with a free-sprung balance because it takes the watchmaker longer to regulate, but Garrick considers the superior performance to justify the effort. The house additionally offers a fully bespoke service through which clients can specify the design details that matter to them.
