PIMP MY ROLEX
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The room is quiet except for the persistent click of metal against metal "See what I mean, look at it, - not a scratch ora chip. "Simon Chambers, the watch guru of Bamford & Sons, has just spent the last three or four minutes attacking afew links from a Rolex bracelet with a small watchmaker's screwdriver. And as he holds them aloft there is a glint of triumph in his eyes.
The bracelet is indeed unscathed. Normally, the toughened steel head of the screwdriver would have put a few bruises into the smooth steel bracelet. But then these links have been turned an attractive semi-matte black by a mysterious process Chambers only describes in a very hush-hush way as being "enhanced military-grade PVD”. The chance of you needing an "enhanced military-grade" finish to your wristwatch is debatable. Nevertheless, the last three or four years have seen PVD, or physical vapour deposition, become a fashionable finish on wristwatches. I am sure there is much more to it, but the essence of the process involves electrically charging the steel of the watch case and bracelet and applying various chemicals and gasses in a vacuum chamber. An interesting by-product of this trend has been growing demand for after-market customised Rolexes. And one of the early adopters was the Bamford family, proprietors of the eponymous Sloane Square outfitters and luxury goods retailers.
Bamford & Sons is a proper retail shop - by that I mean it does not just sell own-brand goods, but actually assembles a variety of items and places them before the customer. It is not just cashmere and clothing; there is clearly an eye and a sensibility at work here that puts Schedoni and Lorenzi alongside Amadana bamboo-covered DVD players and Mobiado handmade mobile phones. A selection of sui generis timepieces form a key part of this invigorating retail cocktail. After browsing at Bamford you can come away with some pretty attractive wrist candy, be it a vintage Iraqi Air Force issue Breitling Navitimer or one of the distinctive blackened Rolexes.
I remember some of the early blackened Rolexes from Bamford and they were more glossy than the current batch, known as having a DLC (diamond-like carbon) PVD finish. The EMG (enhanced military grade) PVD appears to make a more even finish and it allows for differentiation between the brushed and polished surfaces on the original case and bracelet. And as the process has evolved, so has the level of customisation that can be offered: the black watches available ready-to-wear in the shop are just an amuse bouche to the banquet of bespoke possibilities: it is not just cases, but also dials, numerals and date wheels that can be refinished to individual tastes, whether that of a patriotic Russian who wants the red, white and blue bands of his national flag reproduced on the dial of a Daytona, or a Ferrari enthusiast who wants a particular shade of baked red to match his short-wheelbase GTO.
All this is a long way from the original inspiration for the Bamford & Sons PVD watches, which came about four years ago when Sir Anthony Bamford and his son George heard that the South African military had commissioned a similar type of Rolex during the 1980s. And it is the African and the military connections thatplayed a Iarge part in the creation of another popular after-market custom Rolex: Pro-Hunter.
Envisage Tim Jefferies reimagined by Wilbur Smith and you have Reza Rashidian, a laid-back good-looking, big game hunting, vintage-Ferrari driving luxurylover, who enjoys first growth claret from the1982 and 1985 (but not the 1986) vintages en magnum, appreciates the figured waInut and case hardened steel of a'best" London gun and felt he needed the right sort of watch to wear while hunting in the African veldt. He was tired of crawling through scree and undergrowth always scratching his watches and on one occasion knocking his timepiece so badly it came apart from the bracelet. A big collector of vintage Rolexes some say Rashidian has one ofthe most important collections of vintage steel Rolexes in the world - one of his favourites is a military model from the 1970s, with fixed bars at the lugs (rather thanthe removable pins which had let him down), worn on a nylon webbing strap.
He approached the famous Swiss brand to see if they would make him a special watch. When Rolex politely declined his request he turned to vintage Rolex dealer Kamal Choraria and theresult was Pro- Hunter. It is a sort of Brabus to Rolex's Mercedes, invoIving the purchase of new Rolexes and customising a limited run of, usually, 100 numbered pieces. Pro-Hunter has the makings of niche brand: wearers include the likes of Jefferies, Nat Rothschild, Arpad Busson, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (german football star), Adolfo Cambiaso (polo god), Brett Ratner director of Rush Hour) and Michael Lynton (Sony Pictures Boss).
Choraria has brought the philatelist’s eye for detail to the custom-Rolex trend; he will talk to you for as log as you have got (and longer) about such apparently insignificant detail as how “Pro-Hunter” is printed on the dial of the Submariner Sea-Dweller model. In homage to the fabled “Double-Red”, which has two lines of red printing on the dial, the Pro-Hunter Sea-Dweller has two lines of red printing, but they are red overprinted on white – if you are a Rolex nut, this sort of thing matters. Choraria is almost unsettlingly messianic about the engraving on the caseback and, unless you have a spare half hour, don’t get him started on how to fold the end of the nylon strap in on itself: if he hasn’t gone on to YouTube with a demonstration yet, he ought to. Certainly, the attention to detail is impressive; if the sapphire crystal feels warmer and more like the old acrylic watch glass, this is because it has been glare-proofed with an 85 percent anti-reflective treatment, and there are plenty of nice little touches such as the contrasting matte and glossy finish of the caseback and around the gas-escape valve.
The Pro-Hunter is an unmistakably macho watch. Talking of the fixed lugs that are a Pro-Hunter signature, Rashidian says the only way you will ever lose the watch off your wrist is if your arm comes off. But he is also charmingly aware of the irony at the heart of the project.
“I could wear a plastic watch when I am out in the middle of Africa. It’s not as if there is going to be anyone who will notice. But like all these things” – he probably means the fast cars, expensive guns and the 1982 claret – “you get used to the best.”
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