Newgate (company)

Newgate was founded in 1991 by Jim and Chloe Read, the current owners, in the spare room of their apartment. [3] The name was inspired by the old New Gate Toll near their apartment and first home in Oswestry. Jim, who had recently been expelled from art college, met Chloe, and they decided to live together. They sold their vintage Mini Moke car to fund the purchase of second-hand machinery to start making framed art. By accident they bought some quartz clock movements, which they fitted to the dials they painted and mounted in frames and cases. The clocks were first seen at a trade exhibition at London's Alexandra Palace where orders for clocks were received from Harrods, dozens of home stores and several European distributors.

In the 1990s, 75 percent of the clocks produced were exported around the world. The clocks were all manufactured in the Oswestry factory until 2003 when production moved to Asia, benefiting from lower manufacturing costs and higher production capacities.[4]

The decision to create a fusion brand called Jones Clocks was made in 2005. Jones Clocks is a fashion clock brand, and its products are sold to supermarkets and large home and DIY centers.

In 2009, the company purchased a large ex Laura Ashley factory in Oswestry that required refurbishment to include new facilities, offices and showrooms, which were built in a classic style and furnished with original 1940s furniture. The building also houses Newgate's design studios and its collection of industrial and vintage clocks.[5]

In 2012, work started on a range of watches. The Newgate Watch collection took three years to come to fruition when a range of fifty watches was launched at the Spring Fair in Birmingham, in February 2015.[6][7][8] The UK watch trade publication WatchPro featured Newgate Watch founders Jim and Chloe Read in the Trailblazer category of the WatchPro Hot 100 of 2016.[9]

A portfolio of short films were made in 2015 to showcase each watch and clock family.[1]

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