Video review -
https://youtu.be/goCxBXDv5wU
William Wood is a relatively new British watch brand, and they were founded by Jonny Garrett. William Wood was his grandfather, and their entire lineup of watches are a tribute to him, and other fire fighters like him. They use up-cycled fire hoses in their straps and merchandise, and also use recycled firefighter brass helmets to create small ornaments that are part of the watch design. The brand also gives back to the fire fighter and first responder community through charitable donations, and the William Wood watch brand has gotten a lot of media attention over the last few years.
To be completely transparent, I've been skeptical about these watches, and have been critical about their pricing in the past. But when Jonny approached me to ask if I'd be interested in doing a review, I couldn't pass on an opportunity to see if my opinions would change after actually spending time with one of these watches and looking at them up close. Because more often than not, a good watch is able to transcend it's specifications and components, and the intangible stuff can entirely change how I feel about a particular watch.
What I'm referring to is the pricing on this watch with respect to the movement that is beating inside of it. To address the elephant in the room, this William Wood Valiant watch uses a Seiko NH35, and is priced at $975. From the perspective of a WIS, this pricing is highly irregular, and even the polarizing Unimatic watches with this movement are in the $600-700 range. But my suspicion is that William Wood isn't interested in being a hit among the micro-brand crowd, and they're likely more interested in entering the designer and fashion brand watch market, where a watch movement carries little to no weight - like the $1800 Gucci Grip, for example.
But with that in mind, I choose to still treat this watch as if it were any other $975 watch that came my way. So let's take a look at how it holds up in terms of design, build quality and finishing!
☕