Scottish watch designer sets ambitious goal with crowdfunding campaign

A Scottish watch designer has raised more than £270,000 in under a week in a bid to bring traditional assembly and manufacturing back to these shores.

Marloe Watch Company is a joint venture between Scottish designer Gordon Fraser and entrepreneur Oliver Goffe, who got the inspiration for the brand from his hometown of Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

The venture now splits its time between Fraser’s workshop on the banks of Loch Leven in Kinross, and Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, where Goffe is based.

At present, most manufacturing in the watch world takes place in Switzerland, Japan, and the Far East - something that the company hopes to change.

Since launching in 2016, Marloe Watch Company has released more than ten limited edition collections that have proved popular with its loyal followers.

The firm began making mechanical watches with intricate detail and expert craftsmanship after Goffe replaced a dead battery on a branded watch and was left underwhelmed by the plastic components he found inside.

Since officially launching in 2016, the watch business has released more than ten limited edition collections that have proved popular with its loyal followers. The crowdfunding campaign is continuing via Crowdcube.

Fraser, co-founder of Marloe Watch Company, said: “We’re delighted to have launched a crowdfunding campaign for something that is so close to our heart. Assembly of our watches in Britain is what we’ve been working towards for nearly eight years, with the hope of bringing major elements of manufacture in-house thereafter.

“It's incredibly exciting to be able to take the business into the next phase like this and we’re so humbled to be overfunding already, at this early stage in our campaign,” he added.