Don't be misled - we're not here to talk about delicious chocolatey treats - but rather the hidden details in some of our watches that you may have missed at first sight. Occasionally when researching the inspiration for a watch, we'll find something that really captures our imagination yet perhaps doesn't fit with the overall design aspect - but we're not easily deterred and regularly try to incorporate such elements into a design that may not appear obvious in the first instance. 

Here are some of the Easter Eggs that we've hidden in our watches - some you may have noticed and some not.

Astro Stellar and Futura

When researching the Space Race there's so much interesting content, inspiration is down every corridor and around every corner. We spent a lot of time digging deeper into the Apollo 11 mission in particular (and for good reason!), so much so that days would run away from us on that one topic. It was such an important moment in the history of space exploration that we gave a nod to that particular mission with an orange XI on the Astro Stellar and Futura models. 

Sceptre October

We found ourselves neck deep in the history of the Cold War when exploring inspiration for the Sceptre collection, with tales of subterfuge and espionage only heightening the excitement. Needless to say, we found ourselves enjoying clips of the submarine spy thriller The Hunt for Red October and couldn't help but include the infamous measurement scale of the periscope. We didn't want it to overpower the dial, so it's printed in a subtle gloss print at the cardinal points on the main dial. We often get asked why this model is called the October - well, that would be stating the obvious, Mishter Ryan.

GMT

Inspiration for our GMT needs little introduction and it was a fascinating journey delving into the origins of multi-time-zone watches. The original GMT was designed in collaboration with Pan Am airlines as their pilots were starting to fly longer distances with technical advances in the 40s and 50s, crossing multiple time zones. So we felt it apt as a doff of the proverbial, so to speak, to include a plane with contrail flying across the dial whenever the GMT and seconds hands align. It's the little things! 

Solent Timer Rescue

The Solent Timer was born on the water, and in designing the collection our research delved into search and rescue. Luckily for most who find they’ve landed short on the judgement, skill or just plain luck required to make a successful voyage, there are people who put their own lives on the line to venture out into the conditions that caused such distress and recover unlucky folk to safe harbour. It is these people to whom the Rescue pays homage - utilising the central section of the dial, which features bright white and off-white stripes, known in heraldry as ‘bendy’ lines - synonymous with the emergency services. 

Tay Itten

Colour theory is a big part of what we do - deciding what colour works with the other colours on a dial - and can be challenging if you’re not familiar with theories like the Farbkreis colour wheel. Johannes Itten created the wheel in 1961 to simplify and identify the colours that both complemented and contrasted with one another. Split into three groups - primary, secondary and tertiary - the wheel, to this day, allows designers to consider appropriate colouring in their work. This theory was pivotal in the design of the Itten. 

Coniston Auto

The Coniston Auto retained the hand design from its predecessor, mainly because we loved how the skeletonised construction of the hour and minute hands reveals, when the hands overlap, the luminous segment from the hour hand through the minute hand - forming a single glowing hand. Originally inspired by the cross section of the hull of a boat, we love this little treat once every hour! 

Astro Collection 

The Astro Collection features for a second time in this list, owing to the number of subtle influences that appear on this range, such as the reticles on the corners of the crystals, printed underneath in silver - the Apollo missions all took Hasselblad cameras with calibrated lenses to capture what they were witnessing. In each of the plates on these cameras, small crosshairs were placed to allow NASA engineers to accurately measure stuff captured in the photographs - moon rocks and other interesting geology. 

This is to name but a few - you may be eagle-eyed enough to spot more if you look closely. And watch out for more in our coming releases; some are harder to spot than others!