When people ask me why I’m so drawn to microbrands, I often bring up the personal touch. After all, while there are many wonderful people employed by the big watch brands, it’s unlikely you’re going to get a handwritten note from the brand’s founder with your order or meet them face to face. I was recently at the 2022 Windup Watch Fair in New York, where I met Jonny Garet, founder of William Wood Watches. There I had the chance to handle the company’s large and growing product line and arrange the loan of this William Wood Fearless from the brand’s new line of field watches.
There’s another reason I have such an affinity for microbrands, and that is a strong sense of identity. Often the brand is an operation run by a few people or even one person, and the passions of those people shine through. Before we get to the Fearless itself, some background on the company is in order for the uninitiated. William Wood was founded in London in 2016, named for Jonny’s grandfather, a firefighter. The brand adopts a very firefighter-centric approach, from subtle nods in watch design to the logo (a vintage 1920s fireman’s helmet) down to the choice of materials used. William Wood put their money where their mouth is, as well, donating a portion of proceeds to firefighter charities in the UK. I’ll never tire of seeing a brand that stands for something other than just making and selling watches.
William Wood has offered a dress watch, a dive watch, a 100-meter water-resistant automatic chronograph, and now the Fearless, a departure from the rest of the line that nevertheless maintains strong ties to its sister products. For starters, the Fearless is a millimeter smaller at 40mm, and is black PVD coated, imparting a sleek, almost sinister look. It’s a startling counterpoint to the dressier, somewhat baroque styling of the brand’s other watches. It’s thoroughly modern and features nice, even finishing on all surfaces.
The Fearless is 13.8mm tall, but that height is well hidden by the stealthy look of the watch. It also wears smaller on my 6.5” wrist, thanks to the nicely tucked-in lugs that keep the lug-to-lug length at a tidy 45mm. Though small in diameter, the screw-down crown protrudes a good 6mm from the side of the case and the small crown guards, making it easy to operate, even with gloved hands. The crown also features an insert made with brass from a genuine 1920s firefighter helmet and is stamped with the company’s helmet logo. It’s a feature shared with William Wood’s other watches, and it’s a flourish I really like.
Around the back is a striking and unique caseback, a modern British firefighter’s helmet in relief. I almost always prefer an engraved or relief caseback to an exhibition caseback, but I love it when a brand takes a hybrid approach. In this case, the visor of the helmet is crystal color-matched to the dial through which can be seen part of the movement, including the axis of the rotor. That movement is a Seiko NH35. You know it, you love it, and it’s reliable if a bit unremarkable. I’m glad William Wood elected not to try and show it off too much.
To the dial. For a fairly straightforward design, there is a lot to cover on this dial. The first thing your eye will likely be drawn to is the rose gold firefighter’s helmet logo beneath the 12 o’clock bar markers. It’s a beautifully detailed element, and I couldn’t resist putting it under a macro lens to appreciate it against the rest of the dial. The brand’s name sits just below it in an elegant script. At the bottom of the dial is printed “London” and just below that, “Automatic,” both printed and slightly raised off the dial surface. On the Fearless Red, the Automatic text is easy to lose amid the textured dial background, but on the yellow and orange versions, it’s quite legible and is really set off against the dark dial. The rose gold of the helmet logo is matched by the hour marker surrounds as well as the baton hour and minute hands. The red lollipop seconds hand features a counterweight inspired by a fire department’s bell chime.
The dial surface itself is a finely textured gray-black that William Wood intended to resemble burned charcoal. In that, they succeeded. It complements the black case and provides a nice, muted playground for the rest of the dial’s livelier elements. The applied Arabic numerals are crisp and very legible. They bring to mind the Longines Spirit, though I think the Fearless edges out the Longines in terms of depth and contrast. There is a date window, but it doesn’t break up the dial symmetry as much as I might have feared, thanks to the truncated bar marker at 3 o’clock. Together those nicely balance the 9 o’clock bar.
There is a surprising amount of color on what, at first glance, seems a rather somber watch. The sloped rehaut, date window frame, and lollipop seconds hand are all rendered in matching crimson, along with pips on the minute track corresponding to each hour. These really stood out when I wore the Fearless with its black firehose strap. As previously stated, the watch is also available in bright shades of orange and yellow, which are nearly Day-Glo in comparison to the darker red. These color combinations help make this watch a real conversation starter, especially when paired with one of William Wood’s iconic firehose straps. The red watch is probably going to be the crowd-pleaser as it’s a more common favorite color and a bit subdued beside its brightly-plumed siblings, but for my money, the yellow is the most striking and the one I’d want on my wrist to make a statement.
The lume is strong and consistent between the hour markers and the hands. I initially doubted my eyes, but the hands use blue Superluminova, while the hour markers use green. It’s a subtle contrast but aids legibility.
I don’t usually save the strap for last, but in the case of William Wood, the strap is a real standout feature. Like all their watches, the Fearless ships on your choice of reclaimed firehose strap. The hand-cut firehose is stitched onto a sturdy rubber backing, and some even feature genuine wear and tear or paint. 20mm lug width and quick-release springbars mean you can easily swap out for any strap of your choice, but why would you ever want to? These firehose straps are a big part of the appeal. Each color (red, yellow, blue, green, black, orange, or the newly released olive/beige fire gear fabric) is attributed to a different regional fire department. The Fearless in red looks great on either the black or red firehose straps supplied with my review sample. I was tempted to downplay the color a bit and stick with the black, but the red is much more eye-catching and very much in character for the watch.
At $1084 USD, the Fearless is not an inexpensive watch, and some movement-oriented buyers may raise an eyebrow at that price when the watch contains a “mere” Seiko movement. To me, that price seems reasonable given the overall quality and finishing of the watch, especially taking into account the extra flourishes unique to William Wood. Chances are a buyer of this watch already has one or two pieces in the collection and is looking for something off the beaten path. The brand’s story, the unique firehose strap, the brass fragment of helmet set in the crown, all help to set it apart from the competition.
I decided to take the debate to the street and see what others thought of the William Wood Fearless. A number of friends, relatives, and acquaintances weighed in on this watch, most of whom have never dreamed of spending that much on a watch. It universally garnered a positive reaction, from the design to the feel in the hand, to the red firehose strap (which I confess I thought might be polarizing). Quite a few of those folks actually felt the price seemed low, given the artisanal nature of the watch, so there you have it. If you’re as tempted by the Fearless as I am, you can learn more and purchase at https://williamwoodwatches.com/en-us.
