Taking Time

Given his qualifications and experience as a pilot and engineer, Euan had the hallmarks to become a test pilot, but he was well aware of the term, ‘happy wife, happy life’! So when his wife said no to test flying, a new path was set towards vintage aircraft, where he ran an aircraft restoration business as a hobby and was fortunate to regularly fly vintage aircraft displays at air shows all over Europe.

For as long as they can remember, Nick and Giles would wake up and ask their dad if there was a spare seat in the aircraft he was flying that day.

Often unable to see out of the cockpit due to their young age, yet regularly exposed to formation flying and all things mechanical, their future paths were clearly set during these early experiences. They relished the excitement of being part of the Harvard aircraft formation team and flying with their father all over Northern France as part of ‘D-Day’ celebrations.

Throughout those years, the boys unknowingly received a legacy, a lifelong gift from their brilliant father, which would lead them to re-ignite an industry that the British once led but had long been forgotten. More about this shortly.

Now imagine you’re in your late teens, having gained your pilot’s license at the minimum age, and you have the freedom to grab a Piper Cub aircraft, to walk out the door telling mum and dad you will be back in a couple of weeks. What a life! This was exactly the situation for Nick and Giles. These two brothers flew a single engine aircraft across the English Channel to destinations such as France and Eastern Europe, learning all about risk management through real life experiences.

And there were some hard lessons: running out of fuel and landing in paddocks, inclement weather much worse than forecast, single engine over water with spurious engine indications; all the stuff that requires a steep learning curve to survive.

Each successful adventure increased their ability to persevere and to set the necessary traits to know how to endure when things were difficult and challenging.

During these years, they undertook gliding, participated in vintage aircraft formation and displays, and became Air Force cadets – all while completing their university studies. The obvious career path for them was to join the RAF, but at the time the local economy was in a deep recession and access to military flying training and hours was restricted and could take many years.

So, somewhat surprisingly, they ventured into more ‘stable’ city-based office roles.

From their wondrous childhood adventures, they began a life of long hours at a desk, commuting through heavy traffic, and experiencing the day-to-day drudgery of corporate life. This led to a sense of disillusionment, yet they each persevered due to their ability to escape to the skies on weekends.

Little did they know tragedy was just around the corner.

Life changes forever

In March 1995, Nick had the opportunity to jump into the spare seat of a Harvard aircraft with his father for a warm up flight in preparation for a new air show season. Taking off from an old wartime airfield, listening to the deep, grumbling sound as the 600-odd horse power of the Harvard’s radial engine accelerated them down the runway, Nick quickly forgot about the grind of city life. A formation sortie of two aircraft as part of work ups for the winter display season, the aircraft was running beautifully as they moved into closer formation.

With pre-aerobatics checks complete, they pulled up into a loop and the force of gravity pushed them into their seats – they both felt that freedom, calm and relaxation as the horizon quickly moved below them. For Nick, hanging out with his dad and relishing carefree childhood memories, there was a sense that life could not get any better than this.

Then, at the top of the loop, something didn’t look right. The other aircraft was way too close. Their whole view became filled with the other aircraft.
For Euan, he would have received a quick release of adrenaline, and his heart rate would have increased dramatically. Euan instinctively pushed the controls to get the aircraft away from immediate danger, yet everything happened so quickly.

In that moment, Nick had no time to make sense of what was going on.

They went into an inverted spin and seemed pretty close to the ground. Euan applied an immediate input of spin recovery controls, yet was also likely having to control his own body through steady breathing – drawing on years of prior RAF training to manage a nasty situation.
Due to these split-second reactions, they avoided the other aircraft and recovered from the inverted spin. But the trees were still getting too large. Euan had pulled back on the controls – not too much or he would have stalled the aircraft – but there wasn’t enough energy left to avoid the trees… it was too late.

Nick awakened in a white room, unsure where he was. He could hear machines and feel lots of pain. For Nick to survive the aircraft crash in itself was miraculous. He suffered more than 30 broken bones and spent a few weeks in intensive care and many months in hospital. But, the excruciating pain of mending bones paled in significance to being told the news that his father didn’t survive the accident.

How did this incredibly difficult moment lead Nick and his brother to forge a new career path? It’s because of those 3 Ps: perseverance, passion, precision.

From adversity comes brilliance

For many, the outcome of such a tragic accident can be debilitating. We may face long periods of depression, a fear of flying, anger, an extended loss of direction, and overall a sense of, why me?

But not for Nick.

His upbringing, where he frequently overcame challenges and obstacles to enjoy his passion, paved the way forward for a remarkable career.
Not too long after the accident and when Nick was back to full health (well, as best as you can be with a large amount of metal holding various bones together), Giles decided it was time to get Nick back in the air.

Nick was absolutely ready and felt no fear – just the same level of passion and a new-found sense of perseverance to continue to do what he’d always loved. Once in the air, he felt no sense of loss, no dwelling on his circumstances. Rather, it was a celebration of life and the joys of aviation – for the freedom and adventures and a deep level of fulfilment that only other aviators truly understand.

It also rekindled a deeper sense of purpose for both the men. Seeing firsthand that life is short, they began to question their long hours sitting in an uninspiring office, working with other senior colleagues whose waistlines continued to get bigger and bigger the longer they’d been in the job.
Nick said to Giles, “I think I’m going to quit”.

From there, both men walked away from their corporate jobs ready to find the next challenge. They were ready to take the experiences from their childhood and seek a new adventure. What resulted required lots of hard work, but it all revolved around their passions for precision and mechanics.

The making of Bremont

The boys had always had a fascination for watches. From their early childhood adventures, a watch had been a critical part of their navigation in the Piper Cub across many countries and continued to be critical to their ongoing success in vintage aircraft, which required the regular application of clock-to-map-to-ground. After dabbling for a bit with aircraft restoration, they took a big gamble and in 2002 set up a little workshop in Switzerland, keen to take on the Swiss and re-establish Britain at the forefront of precision watches.

Britain had once been the epicentre of precision watch making. For many aviators, you will be well aware the world sets its time by Greenwich and not by Geneva. Whilst Geneva and Switzerland may be producing the vast majority of luxury wrist-watches today, this certainly wasn’t always the case.
From 1650 to 1750 there were incredible advances in the study and measurement of time in Britain. These years were also a great time for scientific and geographical discovery across the rest of Europe and further afield. British clock making was at the centre of much technical advancement and in particular those relating to navigation across the world’s oceans.

When Captain James Cook was the first European to discover the east coast of Australia, Hawaii and to circumnavigate New Zealand, he used a British chronometer to help him navigate. It was a Yorkshire-born clock maker (and carpenter!), John Harrison, who in 1759, solved the conundrum that had eluded sea captains for hundreds of years: how to determine longitude at sea. While doing this, he came up with a multitude of innovations – many of which are still used today.

In 1800 half of the world’s watches were produced on British shores by British watch makers. It’s argued that around 60% to 70% of the innovation in a modern day mechanical watch has come from Britain. But, with the aftermath of a couple of world wars (during which much of the skillset used in watch manufacturing was poached by the arms industry), both Switzerland and the United States began the mass manufacture of watches, which combined with the development of ‘Quartz Revolution’ in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The result: the British watch making industry succumbed.

Using their perseverance and passion, Nick and Giles had a vision to put Britain back on the global map for precision watch making.
Building the brand certainly wasn’t easy. They faced a competition of some 750 Swiss watch companies. For the first five years, Giles and Nick only made prototypes.

According to an article in City A.M, the brothers faced an uphill battle, saying: “Everyone thought we were crazy. No-one had heard of us, we were trying to sit beside massive brands. If we hadn’t had emotion and passion behind us, I don’t think we’d have stuck at it. We just knew that first watch had to be exceptional.”

They took their value for precision and their passion for excellence and applied these factors to the creation of fine, luxury watches. And they persevered to build a brand amongst a sea of competitors and critics.

Today, not only does Bremont produce impeccable timepieces, they have one of the strongest links with aviation and other high performance teams. All their partnerships are built on a shared interest in precision parts, top level decision making and being the best in the world. They have partnerships with warships, submariners, adventurers, divers, Boeing, the RAF, fast jet and helicopter pilots, Martin Baker (the maker of precision ejection seats), and an ongoing relationship with the Wright Brothers Foundation, to name a few.

More about the 3 Ps

What I label the 3 Ps – perseverance, passion and precision – enable many of us to experience true highs within our aviation community. It’s the right mix of perseverance and passion that’s often the differentiator between success and failure.

To succeed in an aviation career you’ve undoubtedly experienced some hurdles along the way. At each challenge, an underlying passion for aviation and an ingrained ability to persevere, has kept you on a path of being the best you can within a profession you truly love. And the outcome is an ability to deliver precision!

Our processes and conquering difficult tasks are part of what puts a smile on our faces as we regale other aircrew with stories over a couple of beers. To be able to regularly rise to the challenge and do things that others admire makes us feel satisfied, proud, accomplished – it’s part of why we were drawn to aviation in the first place.

For any of you working hard to get your break within the aviation industry – constantly overcoming multiple obstacles and struggling to stay afloat – hang in there. Just like Nick and Giles, you’ve not entered this path because it’s easy.

Importantly, the highest achievers (such as Red Bull Air Race Pilots, Top Guns, and gliding champions) all required the traits of the 3 Ps to succeed. These traits can take time to cultivate.

Your hard work is building the qualities, habit patterns and traits that will serve you well for a lifetime. If you’re keen to learn more about the significance of perseverance and passion, I recommend a book by Angela Duckworth titled, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (2016).
And getting back to Nick and Giles, you won’t find any other team as passionate about their upbringings and the link between precision and the aviation community. To truly appreciate their ongoing commitment, review the Bremont website (www.bremont.com). I can’t think of a better way to celebrate an aviation career than a memento of something that encapsulates the essence of aviation: perseverance, passion and precision. You can even have them personalise the watch for your own organisation.

And if the price is out of reach, keep in mind that Nick and Giles are just like us. They are down to earth and always keen to catch up and discuss all things aviation or to provide a tour of their facilities. Next time you’re in London (Henley, Silverstone) drop them a line to share a good aviation yarn.
So for my wife when she reads this article (I’m going to leave this edition open on her bedside table) and given my upcoming significant milestone of a birthday, Bremont is on the top of my list.