OUR STORY
Some businesses begin with a business plan, ours began with a family name.
BRITISH DESIGNED &
HANDMADE IN LINCOLN
Some businesses begin with a business plan, ours began with a family name.
Pinchbeck is a small British watchmaker based in historic Lincoln, assembling watches to order in our own Bailgate workshop at Exchequer gate.
But the story starts much earlier than that.
It starts with a clockmaker, a shop above a high street, and a family fascination with how things work.
Today, more than twenty years after the brand was revived, we continue to build watches the same way we believe they should be built.
One at a time.
For the person who ordered them.
PINCHBECK WATCHES - LINCOLN, ENGLAND - EST.2006
Where It Started...
A WATCHMAKER'S SHOP IN BARTON-UPON-HUMBER.
In the early 1920s, Harold Pinchbeck purchased a watch and clockmaker's shop in Barton-upon-Humber after the previous owner retired.
The business had already existed for more than a century, but Harold made it his own.
He lived above the shop with his wife and built a reputation for watch and clock repairs. Later the business expanded and became H Pinchbeck & Son when his son Dennis joined him.
Over time the family business changed direction.
Watchmaking faded. Electronics became the focus and eventually the shop closed.
For a while, it looked as though the Pinchbeck name had disappeared from the industry altogether.
The Return of Pinchbeck
SOME IDEAS STAY WITH YOU
Paul grew up surrounded by old clocks, watches and mechanical objects.
His father Dennis, encouraged a lifelong fascination with how things worked and Paul’s grandfather's workshop remained part of family conversation and memory.
After building a successful career in audio recording, sound engineering and music production linked with Lincoln Cathedral and nationwide, Paul found himself drawn back to those earlier interests.
A conversation one evening with Jason changed everything.
Together they began exploring British watchmaking and what it might mean to bring the Pinchbeck name back to life.
In 2006, Harold Pinchbeck Watches was reborn.
Why We’re Different...
WE NEVER SET OUT TO
BECOME A WATCH BRAND.
We set out to become a watchmaker.
There is a difference.
Many companies design watches.
Far fewer assemble them in their own workshop.
Far fewer still build them to order.
When you choose a Pinchbeck, your watch begins its journey in Lincoln. It isn't taken from a warehouse shelf, it isn't one of hundreds waiting in a stockroom.
PAUL PINCHBECK
Founder, director and keeper of the family name.
When Paul revived the Pinchbeck name in 2006, he wasn't trying to build the biggest watch company in Britain. He was following a fascination that had begun decades earlier amongst old clocks, mechanical objects and stories from his family's past.
Today, Paul oversees the day-to-day running of the business and remains the person most customers speak to first. If you've called the workshop, chances are you've already met him.
Away from watches, Paul has a long-standing love of classical music and sound engineering. Before Pinchbeck, he spent years producing recordings of choirs, orchestras and church music across the country. He is also a passionate supporter of Lincoln Cathedral and has a particular weakness for classic British cars.
JASON EDWARDS
Designer, co-founder and the one who dreams up the watches.
Jason joined Paul at the very beginning and has spent nearly two decades shaping the watches that have come out of the workshop.
His role is part designer, part problem solver and part translator. Turning ideas, stories and conversations into watches people actually want to wear.
Bespoke projects remain some of his favourite work because every commission presents a new challenge. His only complaint is that once a one-off watch leaves the workshop, he rarely gets to see it again.
Outside of Pinchbeck, Jason is an accomplished classical guitarist, a dedicated gym-goer and a fiercely competitive backgammon player. He is also slightly obsessed with arm wrestling, thanks to an enthusiasm shared with his son.
ROB INMAN
Watchmaker.
Every watch that leaves the workshop passes through Rob's hands.
Rob joined the business after working alongside Paul in the sound equipment world and quickly discovered that watchmaking offered exactly the kind of challenge he enjoys. Equal parts satisfying and frustrating. He often says the best part of the job is creation. The worst part is when something refuses to work exactly as it should.
Because every watch is built to order, Rob has a remarkable ability to remember individual watches and the customers they belong to. Each one becomes part of a mental catalogue built up over many years at the bench.
Outside the workshop you'll usually find him watching sport, cooking, playing drums, attempting skateboard tricks that should probably have been mastered years ago, or learning to surf on the Lincolnshire coast.
EMILY INMAN
Storyteller, organiser, photographer and occasional chaos coordinator.
Emily joined Pinchbeck after Rob suggested she might be exactly what the business needed. As it turned out, he was right.
Today she works across marketing, content, customer experience and new ideas, helping connect the workshop to the people who follow it.
Her role sits somewhere between storyteller and collaborator, making sure the work happening inside the workshop is seen and understood by the people outside it.
Away from Pinchbeck, Emily can usually be found running up very steep hills, reading, walking through the Lincolnshire countryside with Ginny the cocker spaniel or finding an excuse to dance whenever one presents itself.
Why people choose Pinchbeck
BECAUSE THEY'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE PERFORMANCE
And they’ve had enough of manufactured scarcity.
The people who find their way to Pinchbeck are usually looking for something more meaningful.
A real workshop, a real watchmaker, a direct conversation, and a watch built specifically for them.
They want a watch that isn't trying to be everything to everyone.
Most of all, they want a watch built with care by people who genuinely enjoy making them.
That has always been enough for us.
