Thomas Russell & Son Ltd

Our Heritage

Two Centuries of Craft

From a single watchmaker's workshop in Lancaster to Royal Warrant holders serving the Crown and the Admiralty — the story of Thomas Russell & Son is the story of British industrial ambition at its finest.

1811

The Founding, Lancaster

Thomas Russell opens his watchmaker's workshop in Lancaster, beginning a dynasty that would span two centuries and earn the highest honours British horology could bestow.

1848

Liverpool & the Time O'Day

The business moves to 20 Slater Street, Liverpool. At the heart of the world's busiest maritime port, the famous Time O'Day pocket watches are launched. Ships' chronometers become a cornerstone of the firm's trade.

1859

Thomas Russell & Son

Control passes to Thomas Robert and Alfred Holgate Russell. The name Thomas Russell & Son is formally adopted. The iconic Tempus Fugit crest — Time Flies — appears on movements from 1870.

1877

Cathedral Works, Church Street

The company moves to grand new premises, with additional offices in Piccadilly, London and Toronto, Canada. The Russell Watch and Chronometer Manufactory becomes an empire-spanning enterprise.

1880

Royal Warrant — Makers to the Queen

The firm receives its Royal Warrant: "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen, H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh and the Admiralty." The pinnacle of Victorian horological recognition.

Today

The Revival, 65 London Wall

Thomas Russell & Son Ltd is reborn at 65 London Wall, London EC2M 5TU. The heritage is restored. The craft continues. The Industrial Series honours the communities that built this nation.

Now Available

The Handmade Pocket Watch Collection

Each piece is handmade to order in a strictly limited edition, individually numbered and supplied with a certificate of provenance tracing its lineage to Lancaster, 1811. Four watches, each with its own character — choose your legacy.

Stainless Steel

The Industrialist

Brushed stainless steel with a clean, enduring finish honouring the foundries and rolling mills of Northern England. Built to last generations.

Hunter case · Tempus Fugit crest · Time O'Day movement · Hand-engraved bezel · Limited edition · Certificate of provenance

Copper

The Coppersmith

Warm-toned copper that develops a rich, unique patina over years of wear. No two pieces will ever age identically — a timepiece that grows more individual with every passing year.

Full hunter case · Living patina finish · Hand-wound Swiss movement · Albert chain ready · Limited edition

Gold

The Royal Warrant

Our finest piece. A gold-cased pocket watch befitting the Royal Warrant holders of 1880, with hand-engraved Tempus Fugit crest and a signed movement in the original Russell tradition.

Gold case · Royal Warrant edition · Presentation box included · Certificate of authenticity · Strictly limited · Heirloom quality

Sheffield Steel · Four Finishes

Love

A timepiece made to be given — and kept for a lifetime. Love is a traditional full hunter pocket watch in the authentic Thomas Russell & Son Tempus Fugit style, hand-crafted from Sheffield steel and available in four distinctive finishes. The hunter case opens to reveal the classic Roman numeral dial, the hand-wound Swiss movement, and the Tempus Fugit crest that has graced every Thomas Russell & Son watch since 1870. The case back may be engraved to order — a name, a date, a dedication — making each piece entirely unique to its owner.

Natural Stainless

The base Sheffield steel in its natural brushed state — cool-toned, clean and timeless. The most understated of the four, and the most durable. The satin-brushed case and polished bezel contrast beautifully, with the steel's natural lustre speaking for itself. No coating, no plating — pure Sheffield metal.

Gold Finish

Sheffield steel plated in warm gold PVD — a process that bonds the gold tone deep into the surface for lasting colour and resistance to daily wear. The result is rich and warm, evoking the Victorian pocket watches from which this piece draws its bloodline. The Tempus Fugit crest is picked out in high-polish gold against the brushed case.

Copper Finish

Sheffield steel with a warm copper PVD finish — one of our most distinctive and striking options. The reddish-bronze tone deepens at the edges and case lugs, giving an almost antique quality from the very first day. Paired with a cream-toned dial, the copper finish creates a warmth and intimacy that makes this the most romantic of all four variants.

Silver Finish

Sheffield steel with a bright silver rhodium finish — cool, crisp, and elegant. The high-polish silver case catches the light with the same refinement as fine sterling silverware, while the brushed centre panel adds depth and texture. Of all four finishes, this one most closely echoes the great Victorian pocket watches of the original Thomas Russell & Son era.

Full hunter case · Sheffield steel · Hand-wound Swiss movement · Roman numeral dial · Tempus Fugit crest · Hand-engraved case back to order · Albert chain T-bar ready · Presentation box · Numbered certificate of provenance · Four finishes: Natural Steel, Gold, Copper, Silver

Coming Soon — The Industrial Series

Where Iron Met Ingenuity

Britain was not built in the halls of power. It was built in the pit shafts, on the dockside, and in the furnace light. Our Industrial Series of wristwatches honours the men and women who made an empire — in their own villages, their own towns, on their own terms.

Thomas Russell & Son COAL watch — skeleton dial showing pit headgear, winding gear and colliery buildings, aged brass case on coal

Skeleton dial · Pit headgear & winding gear

Case back · Goldthorpe Colliery, Surface/Pit 1475

Coal Series — I

COAL

The Miner's Watch

There are watches, and then there are monuments. COAL is the latter — a wristwatch built to honour the miners of South Yorkshire and the pit villages that powered an empire, at the cost of everything.

The skeleton dial is a masterpiece of industrial storytelling. Cut through the movement, the architecture of the colliery itself emerges — the iconic pit headgear rising above the winding house, the massive drum reels of the winding engine turning in open view, colliery buildings etched in relief across the bridges and plates. Every element you see through the dial was once real — the headstocks, the engine houses, the rope reels that lowered men into the dark. The aged brass case sits on a slate-grey canvas strap with contrast stitching, and rests, in its product photography, on the coal itself.

Turn the watch over and you find its most powerful detail: a brass check — the same stamped metal disc a miner would carry down the shaft to be accounted for — engraved with GOLDTHORPE COLLIERY · SURFACE / PIT · 1475. Every COAL watch carries the name of a real colliery and a real pit number from the South Yorkshire coalfield. When the pit closed, these numbers went dark. On the wrist of a COAL owner, they live again.

Aged brass case Colliery skeleton dial Pit headgear architecture Visible winding drum movement Brass check case back Real colliery & pit number Slate canvas strap Swiss automatic movement Sapphire crystal Individually numbered Certificate of provenance Presentation box

Grimethorpe Goldthorpe Hickleton South Yorkshire

Launching Soon — Register Your Interest

Iron

IRON

The Railway & Dockside Watch

From the locomotive works at Doncaster — where the engines that connected a nation were built — to the great docks of Liverpool and Hull, where ships sailed the world's oceans. The IRON watch is a tribute to the age of bridges, rivets, and roaring steam. The dock cranes of Liverpool, the Humber at Hull, the railway arches of Doncaster: this watch is their monument.

Doncaster Liverpool Hull The Docks The Railways The Bridges

Launching Soon

Locomotive blue-steel dial
Rivet-inspired case lugs
Aged iron texture bezel
Dock scene case back engraving
Sapphire crystal
Swiss automatic movement
Numbered edition

III

Steel

STEEL

The Furnace Watch

Sheffield — the Steel City. The furnaces that burned through the night, the men who tended them, and the city that grew up around them. Sheffield's special steels shaped the modern age. The STEEL watch captures the amber glow of the smelting furnace in its dial, and wears the story of the steelworks communities on its case.

Sheffield Rotherham The Steelworks The Furnaces

Launching Soon

Forge-amber dial
Brushed Sheffield steel case
Hammered case back texture
Steelworks engraving
Sapphire crystal
Swiss automatic movement
Numbered per city

Our Story

Built on the Shoulders of Giants

Thomas Russell & Son Ltd is more than a watch company. It is a personal mission, rooted in the South Yorkshire soil that shaped the Industrial Series we are now creating.

In the 1930s, our founder's grandfather relocated to South Yorkshire in search of work as a miner. In his spare hours, he cultivated a passion for watches — repairing them with the same precision and care he brought to his work underground. He left behind an unfinished pocket watch: waiting to be repaired, and ultimately lost to time.

That unfinished watch became the founding idea of this revival. Not just to find and restore a Thomas Russell pocket watch — but to restore the heritage of British watchmaking itself, and to give the communities that built this country a timepiece worthy of their story.

"It is not just a revival of a name, but a celebration of the industries — mining, steel, and manufacturing — that my father, uncle, and grandfathers worked in with pride."

Founder, Thomas Russell & Son Ltd

Trading Name	Thomas Russell & Son Ltd
Registered Address	65 London Wall, London EC2M 5TU
Founded	1811, Lancaster, England
Royal Warrant	Makers to HM Queen Victoria, 1880
Trademark	Tempus Fugit — in use since 1870
Contact	info@thomasrussellwatches.com

British Watches
Since 1811