Suppose you travel frequently between the US and Britain. In that case, one difference you’ll notice pretty swiftly after escaping the airport is the proliferation (and absence) of flags depending on which side of the pond you have arrived. Over here, you’ll typically only see a Union Flag flying outside official buildings, or on literally everything inside the many tourist shops around London. It’s not generally seen outside schools, homes or shops. However, we Brits do let a smidgen of patriotism creep out on occasion. The “Last Night of the Proms” even encourages flag waving (and rhythmic bobbing), and we feel a sense of pride celebrating Olympic medals won by superhuman efforts from individuals we only heard about two and a half hours earlier.
Display the Union Flag on a watch and most Brits would turn their nose up. A stylized version of the same idea, but created by a watch brand based in the south of England, started by a gentleman from Portugal, and available in very limited numbers, and it’s a whole lot more acceptable. Sometimes we take a little outside encouragement to embrace such things. Isotope is unveiling two watches for British Watch Makers’ Day 2025, which both make vivid use of the Union Flag – the Mercury BWD Cloisonné and Mercury BWD Micro Marquetry.
Isotope’s Mercury was first seen last summer in the form of a limited edition with Revolution, and was followed by a Shadow variant which used the same case and movement but a brushed instead of mirrored dial. The polished case is something of a departure from Isotope’s usual style. The brand has become best known for its chunky yet wearable 40mm Hydrium series of dive watches, yet the Mercury eschews that tool-watch vibe in favor of elegant curves and a sleek profile.
The first of the two special editions is the Mercury BWD Cloisonné, which features a representation of the British flag ruffled in a gentle breeze across the dial with midnight blue as a backdrop. Cloisonné is an enameling technique that uses gold wire fixed to the dial and creates the boundaries for shapes and patterns. Each segment can then be filled with different color enamels. Both dials have been designed by British artist Sophie Scott-Lewis (who is more used to creating drawings of watches, rather than designing them), and the Cloisonné dial has been crafted by a Master enameller in Beijing.
A more abstract Union Flag interpretation is seen on the dial of the Mercury BWD Micro Marquetry. The colors and shapes are mostly there, but the irregular positioning creates a lively and vibrant dial. Isotope has recently started to offer Marquetry as a bespoke option for its Mercury watches – a process that involves colored straw cut and applied to the dial by hand in the Paris atelier of Bernardo d’Orey. This Mercury BWD Micro Marquetry happens to be my favorite of the two and brings to mind memories of the Team GB kit and signage from the London 2012 Olympics (one of the occasions we felt it acceptable to outwardly show pride in our flag).
With so much artistry on the dial surface itself, the rest of the watch has been pared back a little compared to the Isotope Mercury x Revolution original model. The sub-seconds dial is removed leaving only two hands, and the hands themselves are also a little less flamboyant. The Isotope ‘lacrima’ shaped branding in the upper half of the dial is a simple contrasting colored shape, rather than an applied mercury-like droplet. There are no changes inside, with a tailored and decorated Peseux 7001 hand-wound caliber powering the watch.
The extract from Terry Pratchett below sums up my take on patriotism, but I’d still happily wear the Mercury BWD Marquetry. Either watch will be difficult to acquire though, as only five of each version are being made, and will only be available at the British Watchmakers’ Day 2025 taking place in London on 8 March. The Mercury BWD Cloisonné is priced at £4,900 and the Mercury BWD Micro Marquetry at £4,700.
“‘Tom?’
‘Yes, Clive?’
‘Have you ever sung the national anthem?’
‘Oh, lots of times, sir.’
‘I don’t mean officially.’
‘You mean just to show I’m patriotic? Good gods, no. That would be a rather odd thing to do,’ said the captain.
‘And how about the flag?’
‘Well, obviously I salute it every day, sir.’
‘But you don’t wave it, at all?’ the major enquired.
‘I think I waved a paper one a few times when I was a little boy. Patrician’s birthday or something. We stood in the streets as he rode by and we shouted “Hurrah!”’
‘Never since then?’
‘Well, NO, Clive,’ said the captain, looking embarrassed. ‘I’d be very worried if I saw a man singing the national anthem and waving the flag, sir. It’s really a thing foreigners do.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘WE don’t need to show WE’RE patriotic, sir. I mean, this is Ankh-Morpork. We don’t have to make a big fuss about being the best, sir. We just KNOW.’” Isotope
