With London Fashion Week now behind us, here at FAULT we’re selecting this year’s best gift ideas to provide for a very fashionable Christmas season. Today we’re turning our attention to the up-ad-coming coming brand Harcourt London and their plan to bring luxury and classic design to the masses with their range of affordable watches.

The brainchild of a racing driver, his sports agent/half-brother and a city broker, we very nearly dismissed Harcourt as just a side-project by untrained professionals trying to enter an already saturated market. But, after lifting the lid and investigating further into the brand, you’ll see as we did, that Harcourt is far more than meets the eye…

The origin of the name “Harcourt” tells the tragic but commendable story of the brand’s inception. Named after Anthony Harcourt the late father of co-founder Jack Clarke, the brand is their way of ensuring the Harcourt name lives on where Antony could not. Describing the brand as a “germ of an idea”, Jack did indeed see it through to release and as they say, the rest is history.  Despite the past tragedy planting the seeds for Harcourt to grow, the young  team is also looking to the future with a pledge to donate a portion of their profits to a cancer charity.

The Harcourt debut series consist of seven minimal unisex designs all bearing the brand’s signature “H” on the 12-hour marker with options for both 36mm and 40mm available. For our hands-on review, we’re looking at the most noir (and therefore most FAULT) design entitled The Royal T model. Despite what at first seemed like a rather cringe title, alike to everything “Harcourt”, we did a little digging and found the reasoning behind this. Much like everything that makes up the Harcourt brand, there is a historic value to the choice of name with Royal T being named after the Clarke family house dating back to 1800.

It’s commendable to see a young brand taking the time to consider every creative choice they make. The more we investigated the more we found that every aspect from the brand name to the name of the models and brand ethos has been very carefully thought over; every step Harcourt take is a considered one and this is the key in the early stages of ANY business so it’s great to see that they’ve discovered this so early.

Each watch comes in a giant crypt of a case which is an odd choice for a brand priding itself on their ability to be minimal but creative. In our opinion, the case doesn’t do a lot for the product inside and while a statement, it loses points on presentation because of it.

We’re happy to report that the watch inside is a thing of beauty. Watches aren’t the easiest product to design, many have failed to tread the thin line between minimal and boring, but the Royal T is both minimal but a exceptional piece to add to the collection. I found the watch made for an easy pairing with many of my London Fashion Week looks, from shows to industry meeting/dinners, the Harcourt watch sat well with my outfits of choice. The watch paired well with a block black and white dinner jacket/shirt combo and for spring and summer, we’d suggest pairing ‘The Taylor’ model from the same range with linens, pastels, and beiges for the perfect spring look.

The Royal T build quality is solid and the perfect example of affordable luxury done right. Far too often we have found that many of the products trying to make the luxury affordable have only succeeded in building a cheaper looking product but Harcourt have nailed it and eEvery wardrobe needs a minimal and classic timepiece like this. Time and time again we’ve seen products with similar designs and purpose which either disregard the quality and look plastic or overshoot on pricing without adding any visible advantages.

If you’re looking for a watch for all occasions which bears a price tag which will reflect both the necessity and need, FAULT highly recommends the range offered by Harcourt. With a strong start and a commendable brand message, process, and product, we see big things to come in the future for Harcourt. The Royal T is definitely one for the Christmas list…  

Harcourt on the web

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