My collection has grown somewhat since getting this particular watch, which I see is still being produced today. This is the J&T Windmills Threadneedle model 10004/01 with hand wound 17 jewel adjusted movement. I understand the movement is the Swiss Sellita SW200, in their own hallmarked Sterling Silver case.
I understand the Dreyfuss Group, owned by China Haidian, are the owners of the Brand name now, though I’m not sure if that was the case when I bought this one back in 2009.
It is in fact a rather stylish watch, harking back to the days of the original J&T Windmills of London pocket watches, reflecting the dial styles of the originals. The dial states “made in England” as opposed to “assembled in England”, though it seems barely relevant these days as so many components have varied and tortuous sources. Suffice to say it’s a Swiss movement and the whole watch is assembled in the UK.
Certainly the J&T Windmills watch looks pretty decent, especially with the nicely rounded gleam of a Sterling Silver case and those singular articulated lugs and offset ‘onion’ crown @ 2. (my personal preference would be straight spring bars).
The shape of the case itself is both sophisticated and elegantly slim (7mm) with beautifully rounded and polished sides. The description “sophisticated” is evidenced by the fully decorated back, taken from the original Windmills engravings of old. Quite striking actually and subtle in that it’s hidden from sight to all but the wearer.
The dial is classic pocketwatch or clock style, so reflecting the origins of the Company it is honouring.
I like the overall look of the dial face with long and dark fine shaped hour and minute hands and a I do like a fine overhung centre sweep seconds hand.
Both minute and second hands align and meet the first inner curve of the numeral markers perfectly. The hour hand meets perfectly the inner edge of the roman numerals, thus making a precise reading of the time assured. This, I really do like – and such a simple feature that many manufacturers could and should take the trouble to emulate.
Slightly elongated Roman numerals in black and a neat date aperture @6, which is large enough to give clarity without compromising the elegance of the whole, complete the frontage of this very stylish watch. I note in the current model, the date window is @3.
Back to the Made in England reference.
To have the nomenclature “made in” or “X made” is basically a matter of where, what and how. And importantly how much of the where, what and how is in the Country so defined.
Here in the UK the Trades Description Act requires certain parameters to have been met – namely “… goods shall be deemed to have been manufactured or produced in the country in which they last underwent a treatment or process resulting in a substantial change”.
And in this case a judication was actually made a year or so ago and these are some of the facts disclosed.
Quote –
The J&T here is designed in the United Kingdom – in London. Prototypes are developed in China and subsequent samples are refined in their Essex, England facility.
The movement is sourced from Switzerland movement – this is a “raw” movement set where a complete set of the components of a watch of which all or part of the components are not assembled or partly assembled (marketed in this form). In the case of this particular mechanical display movement the dial and hands are not included.
The watches are assembled and quality controlled by specialist watchmakers at the UK assembly facility. J&T watchmakers decorate the movement with bespoke Windmills “plates”, which is a manually intensive task, seat the dial on the movement and fix and set the watch hands in a careful and time consuming process.
After testing the full “casing up” (assembly) process is undertaken where watchmakers insert the movement into the case, fit the crown to the stem and wind the watch fully, and after a further 48-hour testing process they approve the watch for packaging and despatch.
So, as the value of components sourced abroad is only 34% of the ex-works price, value-wise the watch can genuinely be described as “Made in England” and as said, there are a few Swiss Mades that might be in a similar position if challenged.
It is true that the British Horological Federation (BHF) confirmed that the use of foreign movements was common practice in the watch and clock trade, and that labour and parts would provide substantial added value to the final product.
So a British watch promoting British heritage, re-launched if you will and named in honour of the revered watch and Clock making family J&T Windmills of the 19th century. A tried and tested trend used by a few others – and not a bad result.
The watch included a fine patent leather and a deployment fitting. The strap was not overlong as too many are today and with watch dimensions of just 38mm diameter and an approximate 7.5mm depth (the sapphire crystal is slightly domed). It is slim and neat to wear and will easily slide under a sleeve.
Accuracy is commensurate with Swiss quartz, so no surprises there.
My only real issue is with the deployment buckle, which though in keeping with the watch style, signed and so on, is a double deployment fitting, which I personally find very fiddly. A single deployment for me would have been so much more practical. The deployment advantage? – it’s said that it protects the strap from premature wear and that maybe true, but for me a simple pin buckle strap will with wear, mould itself to your wrist and I much prefer that any day. Anyway, this one is quite comfortable (once you get it on, that is . . .).
However –
I remember not long after getting the watch, as I was winding it, the crown and stem simply fell off into my hand! Disaster! Not what I expected at all.
Made me doubt both the assembly procedure and their Quality Control and I was very disappointed. So, after emailing them, I sent it back under guarantee and rather than a repair, I was sent a replacement (different number). Very commendable I hear you say, but why did it take them 11 weeks before replacing it, which with my pessimistic nature, to me smacked of lead times from – perhaps China? OR – optimistically, perhaps just a very busy newish Brand company, who knows?
However, this replacement watch has performed exactly as it should, no issues at all and overall I’m pleased with it.
But that double deployment, though very nice and shiny as it is, is still a real pain to get the watch on your wrist. So, as the strap is actually a fine leather one, I have modified it to take a simple pin buckle. I removed the deployment, notched the short watch head end which allowed me to fit a polished stainless 14mm buckle with it’s spring bar and it is now perfect. It feels so much better, the watch/strap lies flatter on the wrist – in short – to my mind they would be better not bothering with that particular deployment. The watch to my mind has suddenly showed a proper classic style that wasn’t quite right before, but is now.
It will now be on my short rotation wrist wear plan (I have some 200 watches in my collection and I rotate wearing them), instead of just now and again, as at last it feels right.
So, overall I like the watch now with the quality strap is, for me, used as it should be. The watch functions as it should, it’s very nice to wear and regardless of where it’s made, assembled or whatever – I like it and its proved (after a slight hitch) itself to be a decent buy.
Watch space 