The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2022 - Issue 31

W hen it's time to replace a dead battery in a rea- sonably expensive watch and you discover a hollow case with an underwhelming, plastic quartz movement inside, you will be disappointed. Oliver Goffe experienced this and felt he could make something better, so he sought a partner and met Gordon Fraser, an industrial designer who shared his passion for doing things correctly. The two men collaborated to create a well-designed, beautifully engineered, affordable watch with a mechanical beating heart. Inspired by Oliver’s hometown of Marlow in Bucking- hamshire, Marloe Watch Company, initially Marlow & Henley, was born in 2015. Within 12 months, the duo presented their first watch, the white dial Cherwell, named after the River Cherwell that runs through the prestigious university city of Oxford. “To hold the phys- ical object you’ve designed, pored over for hundreds of hours is an emotional moment, and the Cherwell lived up to every expectation I had.” The follow-up, Derwent, named after the Derwent Water in the Lake District, was inspired by traditional British watches of the ‘50s and ‘60s, with hi-dome acrylic crys- tals and small cases. It took its cue from various pieces of British inspiration, such as the temperature gauge or a sundial. The Lomond Chronoscope was more complex and used a stunning Seagull movement with a 30-min- ute stopwatch, while the Haskell became Marloe Watch Company’s first Swiss Made design. Haskell features a manual 3-hander with date, in Sand, Global, Field Standard or Green. It’s named after the Haskell Strait, the ocean passage Captain Robert Falcon Scott crossed as he set off from Ross Island in Antarctica. The naval officer led sixty-five men on the Terra Nova bitemen Watch Company Marloe