Selling striking timepieces that celebrate Camden’s industrial heritage is usually brisk business for Anneke Short. Alongside her co-founder and husband Jerome Robert, they’ve built up a locally-born success story over recent years, but Covid threatened to turn back the clock.

How has COVID affected your business?
“As an independent brand with three physical retail locations, all in London, we were hit really hard by the closure of the stores. The impact of lockdown on our business was huge. We were very grateful for the furlough system, which really helped us pull through, but the struggle is far from over for small businesses like ours.”

What’s your current offering?
“A lot has changed. We took our time reopening and have currently opened two of our three stores (Greenwich remains closed for the time being), and even then only partial hours. The last thing we wanted to do was rush into things if we weren’t 100% ready. We took time so we could install screens, hand-sanitiser stations, and UV machines that disinfect the watches if people want to try them on. The staff all have personalised Camden Watch Company masks, too. What has stayed the same though, is our commitment to offering a personalised service to each and every one of our customers. We are having to be a little less ‘hands-on’ than usual, of course, but we still do our best to ensure our customers have a great experience.”

What have been your greatest concerns?
“The unknown was the scariest part, before lockdown really happened in early March. We were in a position where we had very few customers coming into the stores, sales had all but completely halted and we had no idea how we were going to get through. It felt like we were staring down the barrel of a gun. Then lockdown started and we watched the news updates avidly every day to see when shops were going to be officially closed, because surely then they would have to step in and help.”