Introducing Birchall & Taylor, Toronto's “Swiss” Watchmaker

Reference 1, the first offering from newly minted independent brand Birchall & Taylor, is making waves among collectors as one of the nicest "Swiss" watches they have ever seen The Reference 1 is Swiss in both style and substance; it has a movement made by Swiss boutique movement maker Vaucher as well as a lush grand-feu dial made by Donzé Cadrans of Le Locle, one of Switzerland's elite dial makers The reference to provenance goes beyond legalities-a watch, in order to be named "Swiss Made," must be assembled in Switzerland-to being a matter of pride for Canadians Charles Birchall and Brad Taylor.

After completing the 4,500-hour program, Birchall went to work for independent watchmaker Roger Smith on the Isle of Man "We met regularly and exchanged ideas about what our ideal watch would look like," says Birchall "With a growing list of preorders, we were able to source some funding from our family and friends, and we made a trip to our old stomping grounds in Le Locle to meet with old contacts and manufacturers," says Birchall.

"The first stop was Vaucher Fleurier, which has made movements for the likes of Parmigiani Fleurier, Hermès, Richard Mille, and Fabergé."After our meeting, we drove back to our old school's workshop and disassembled our prospective movement ," says Birchall. . Source