Riley Watch Company

Aviation History, On A Wrist

A pilot who could not find what he wanted

Sam Rae flies, and started Riley Watch Co in Manchester in 2024 from the straightforward conviction that the watches he wanted to wear did not exist at a price he was willing to pay. So he set about building them, in limited runs, from a workshop on Moston Lane East.

Named after the people who flew first

The HH-01 and HH-02 are tributes to Howard Hughes and his H-1 Racer, the aeroplane that took the world airspeed record in 1935 with a barrel-nosed shape that made conventional engineers visibly uncomfortable. The AE01-GMT draws on Amelia Earhart, precision navigation and a GMT complication being a reasonable pairing. The Deco Moon is a moonphase in the Art Deco manner of aviation's better-dressed era. The Rifleman Field is the practical one.

Assembled by hand, in Manchester

Sapphire crystal, leather straps, five ATM, and watches put together by hand here rather than arriving finished in a box. Limited production runs, so the colourways come and go.

Sam answers the emails

If you ask a question about a particular dial decision, the person who replies is the person who made the decision, and he will tell you which production run you have and why it is the way it is. Watchmaking with a body attached to it, which is rarer than it ought to be.