Harwood Watches join Tour Britannia 2008
24 July 2008
Major boost for prestigious event’s Regularity category
Almost without exception, every competitor in Tour Britannia 2008 believes that he is in possession of a unique piece of classic automobile engineering. Consequently, Tour Britannia 2008 is proud to announce its association with a name that exemplifies the very best of classic British engineering in another field – that of precision watch-making.
The inventor of the first automatic wristwatch was John Harwood, a watchmaker from the Isle of Man who patented the design of a mechanical automatic winding wrist watch in Switzerland in 1924 and whose own company manufactured these unique designs up until 1931. One even went on the world circumnavigation by the airship Graf Zeppelin LZ 127 in 1929 adorning the wrist of Grace Drummond-Hay, an American journalist working for Randolph Hearst who thus became the first woman to fly round the world. Today, the Harwood name had been revived and his watches, unique in having no adjusting crown, are being manufactured in Switzerland and are being re-introduced to Britain.
The Harwood Watch Company are working together with Tour Britannia 2008 to promote their watch that has been described as being a “Bentley of horology”. Actually, they have a range of watches, all embodying the same principle laid down by John Harwood in that original patent, but fashioned in silver, platinum or steel and with varying styles, some produced only in limited editions.
One result of this collaboration will be that the top prize in the Tour Britannia 2008 Regularity Category, where timekeeping is paramount, will be a pair of Harwood watches worth in the region of £6,000 to the winning crew.
Alec Poole, Tour Britannia’s Commercial Director said “The link-up with the Harwood Watch Company is simply amazing. It highlights the fact that British engineering and innovation are present in all kinds of machines from large to small that we take for granted on a daily basis. And the people who value those qualities in their cars will be the first to appreciate them in other spheres.”
The inventor of the first automatic wristwatch was John Harwood, a watchmaker from the Isle of Man who patented the design of a mechanical automatic winding wrist watch in Switzerland in 1924 and whose own company manufactured these unique designs up until 1931. One even went on the world circumnavigation by the airship Graf Zeppelin LZ 127 in 1929 adorning the wrist of Grace Drummond-Hay, an American journalist working for Randolph Hearst who thus became the first woman to fly round the world. Today, the Harwood name had been revived and his watches, unique in having no adjusting crown, are being manufactured in Switzerland and are being re-introduced to Britain.
The Harwood Watch Company are working together with Tour Britannia 2008 to promote their watch that has been described as being a “Bentley of horology”. Actually, they have a range of watches, all embodying the same principle laid down by John Harwood in that original patent, but fashioned in silver, platinum or steel and with varying styles, some produced only in limited editions.
One result of this collaboration will be that the top prize in the Tour Britannia 2008 Regularity Category, where timekeeping is paramount, will be a pair of Harwood watches worth in the region of £6,000 to the winning crew.
Alec Poole, Tour Britannia’s Commercial Director said “The link-up with the Harwood Watch Company is simply amazing. It highlights the fact that British engineering and innovation are present in all kinds of machines from large to small that we take for granted on a daily basis. And the people who value those qualities in their cars will be the first to appreciate them in other spheres.”
