I’ve only spent a brief amount of time with this watch, but it’s rather lovely and certainly a luxury item. Ian Elliot co-founded Animal clothing who did a nice range of watches, and also involved was Alex Brown. The two have now joined to form Elliot Brown in the UK. The Canford, just out this September, is aimed at the outdoor market and designed to be extremely tough. It has a solid marine grade stainless steel case, it’s shock resistant, and water and pressure resistant to 200 metres. There’s a strong leather strap and a solid and comfortable fastening.
One of the strongest features is its easy of reading – it has luminous hands, but I’ve found legible in pretty poor rainy conditions and at night in a tent. The internal rotating bezel is easy to move and very useful for measuring timings on the mountains. As I say, this is a luxury product – there’s no altimeter, barometric sensor or compass – but it should be tough enough to stand up against what mountaineering can throw at it.
