Garrick Watchmakers is back with the Regulator MK 2, which puts their distinct design language inspired by nautical themes and classical British watchmaking into one of the oldest time telling formats there is, but in a contemporary way. One of the things we love about Garrick is the way they inhabit both traditional watchmaking tropes and combine them with new ideas that feel very much of the moment. Their commitment to personalization and making everything on their own is the ethos that links the old and new – these are ideas that were central to the earliest days of watchmaking, and are currently experiencing a resurgence in general interest as the hobby grows and expands. Garrick’s new Regulator is noteworthy for straddling that line, and of course for the elaborate and ornate finishing they’ve become known for (which, naturally, you can customize to your heart’s content).
Garrick introduced their first regulator in 2018, roughly five years after the brand was launched. It’s a time telling platform that originated in the late 18th century, and is most often associated with watchmakers who used regulator clocks to gauge the accuracy and rate stability of the timepieces they were working on. In the days before www.time.gov, a watchmaker’s regulator was an important tool when a predictable and reliable timepiece was essential for doing a particular job, such as an aid in navigation on a ship. With hours, minutes, and seconds each on a separate axis, it becomes easier to see at a glance how a watch is performing against a “standard” timekeeper.
This second Garrick regulator is intended as a nod to the regulators that dot British watchmaking history, but with a clean and functional display that could almost be referred to as minimal, at least depending on how the individual client decides to customize their timepiece. The very slightly asymmetrical dial has a running seconds subdial at 10:00, the hours at 3:00, and minutes read from a long central hand pointing to the dial’s perimeter. At 6:00 you’ll find the free-sprung Garrick Trinity balance, viewed through an aperture that lends the watch perhaps a bit more inherent drama than a typical regulator might.
As always with Garrick, the real draw here is with the almost impossible set of decisions they ask you to make in customizing the watch. The dials (which are made in-house by Garrick) can be had with frosted or engine turned finishes in virtually any color you can imagine (some options from Garrick’s press packet include plum, pink gold, green, black, and blue). The hands can be heat blued, grained, or polished depending on preference, and the movement has a frosted finish that can be completed in gold, silver, rhodium, or black. Garrick also points out that they offer their fully bespoke services on the Regulator MK 2, and that each watch is the product of an ongoing dialogue between the brand and the eventual owner.
The case used for the Regulator MK 2 is crafted from 904L steel and measures 42mm in diameter. Garrick has experimented as of late with smaller cases based on customer feedback and demand, but I’m of the mindset that a watch like this can be a “statement piece” in a collection, and a larger size might be appropriate for that kind of thing. Still, with 100 meters of water resistance, this is absolutely a watch that can be worn everyday if need be.
Garrick says that production will be limited to 10 pieces per year for the Regulator MK 2, and prices start at £9,995 for watches with frosted dials, and £10,995 for watches with engine turned dials. More information can be found at Garrick’s website here.
