Fears

Edwin Fear established a workshop and showroom at Nos. 33-35 Redcliff Street in Bristol in 1846. The business expanded to Bristol Bridge in 1866, which served as headquarters until the 1940s. Following Edwin's death in 1877, his son Amos Daniel Fear became the second managing director at age 21. The company was incorporated as Fears Limited in 1908. In 1920, Fears established an export department at Brunswick Square, Bristol. By the 1930s under third managing director Amos Reginald Fear, the company was exporting to 95 countries worldwide and employed a hundred watchmakers. During the Bristol Blitz in WWII, all Fears premises sustained direct hits, with headquarters destroyed on 24th November 1940. Post-war, Fears relocated to Clifton, Bristol, celebrating its centenary in 1946 with a new collection. The company continued until 1976 when it closed, unable to compete with cheap imported watches. In 2016, while working as an apprentice watchmaker at Rolex in London, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill discovered his family heritage and relaunched Fears at the SalonQP watch show on 3rd November. In 2022, Fears returned to Bristol with new headquarters and showroom, and in 2024 opened its first stand-alone boutique in Clifton Arcade.