Founders' Friday - A Conversation With Sam From DAWSEY

DAWSEY is a brand  committed to restoring true British watchmaking through hands-on manufacturing and traditional craftsmanship. Founded by engineer Sam, whose background spans aerospace, motorsport and Formula 1, the brand was born from a desire to create genuinely British-made watches. From its Wiltshire workshop, DAWSEY machines, finishes and assembles watches in small batches, crafting as many components as possible in-house from raw materials.

To find out more about this fascinating brand, we sent Sam the same set of fifteen questions to get a never before seen insight into one of Britain's most interesting new watch brands.

The first watch I truly loved was my 1990s G-Shock CODENAME, ref. DW-8800. I remember being around ten years old, walking along the local high street with my mum, and we both chose a G-Shock each. Hers was made from semi-translucent rubber with an inverted LCD display; mine was blue with yellow accents, fitted with a blue and orange canvas strap, and featured the ability to store phone numbers and messages, and even beep or flash Morse code — which was immensely cool at the time.

We regularly received compliments on our watches wherever we went, and we both still own them today. In fact, I still own every watch I have ever owned; I’ve never sold one of my personal watches. Looking back at my collection, those early watches all share a certain ruggedness in their design, which has very much carried through into my DAWSEY design philosophy.

By trade, I am a mechanical engineer, with a background in motorsport, designing and manufacturing precision components for Formula 1. Motor racing, engineering, and watches have always been both professional and personal interests of mine.

I’ve always had a strong desire to design, manufacture, and sell my own product — I just didn’t initially know what that product would be. Before long, I had a lathe and mill in my home workshop, machining parts for my own projects, which eventually led to machining prototype watch components for myself.

We had just moved house, and I vividly remember sitting on the living room floor one winter evening with a pad of paper, sketching what would eventually become the DAWSEY Model 135 — although I didn’t know that at the time.

The design emerged largely from the limitations of my machine tools, resulting in sharp edges, bold angles, and a very purposeful form. After producing several prototypes, I showed them to a few watch-loving friends, all of whom encouraged me to start making them commercially. From there, things naturally gathered momentum.

There are, in my view, far too many homage brands that directly replicate the designs of established manufacturers. While there are only so many ways to design a watch, I’ve always tried to avoid drawing too heavily from existing designs. With DAWSEY, every model begins from a blank sheet of paper — from design and materials through to manufacture and assembly.

That said, one brand did inspire me, not from a design perspective, but simply by doing — Hanbury Watches, another UK brand. Before DAWSEY existed, I attended a country show where Hanbury Watches had a stand. They were the only watch brand present, yet they attracted significant interest. Their designs were relatively simple, featuring handmade wooden dials, Swiss-made Sellita movements, and accessible pricing.

I remember thinking at the time, “This person has just gone ahead and done it — and I could do that too.”

One might reasonably assume that British watch brands manufacture their watches in Britain — but that’s often not the case. Some brands perform final assembly and testing in the UK, others focus purely on design. In many instances, very little actual manufacturing takes place domestically.

That said, this wasn’t entirely surprising. It’s possible to commission watches from overseas at very competitive rates, and the quality can be excellent. However, that approach has never aligned with my vision for DAWSEY. From the outset, I’ve wanted to manufacture as much as reasonably practical myself, here in the UK.

Comfort. How the watch sits on the wrist is critical. Is it too heavy or unbalanced? Does it rotate around the wrist? Does the crown dig into the back of the hand? If a watch wears well, everything else becomes secondary.

Every design starts as a sketch on scrap paper — usually while I’m distracted from something else I should be doing.

All DAWSEY watches feature a one-piece case design, machined from a single billet of material. Many people are surprised to learn this, even after handling the watch closely.

Marketing. Instagram is arguably the most important platform for watch brands, but I’m very much a social-media dinosaur. I went from MySpace to Facebook in 2006 and stayed there. I’ve only been using Instagram for about a year, and I still find myself confused by posts, stories, and reels. Engineering is definitely more my comfort zone.

The resurgence of British watch brands is encouraging and long overdue. I’d love to see that momentum extend further into genuine UK-based manufacturing.

Omega.

Go-Race.

Mechanical - I'm an engineer.

Bremont EJ Churchill Bird Counter

Offer customisation options to make each watch personal.