Robert Loomes

The Loomes family's watchmaking roots date back to the 16th century. He manufactures watches in modest quantities, generally a maximum of 50 to 100 pieces, as the son of a literature specialist on antique clocks. The fact that this UK watchmaker produces small batches isn't its only distinguishing feature. Robert Loomes also manufactures old stock Smith movements, the same caliber kind that was on Sir Edmund Hillary's watch when he scaled Mount Everest in 1953.

Building on this tradition, Robert Loomes took part in a second trip to the mountain in 2015, developing fully revised Smith movements and incorporating them into its Robin watches. The beneficiaries of these redesigned clocks were troops from the elite Royal Gurkha Regiment, who were honoring the 200th anniversary of the creation of India's first Gurkha regiment and nearly 62 years after Hillary's iconic Mount Everest trip. You can't make this stuff up, guys.

The Robin & The Robina: The Robin is 39mm in diameter, and the Robina is 30mm in diameter. Tells you only what a classic dress watch should - the time. Each is totally handcrafted in England, with modern casings, dials, and hands, as well as old stock movements that have been modernized for the twenty-first century.

The movements are from the 1950s and are new old stock. Before the plates are gilded and the watch is assembled, each is stripped and meticulously reworked with extra jeweling and manually engraved.

Detailed information:

Founder: Robert Loomes & Robina Hill
Year established: 2008
Website: https://www.robertloomes.co.uk/