William Wood Launch Fire Extinguisher Collection with Fiery Dials

William Wood continue to find new and interesting ways to explore the niche concept of firefighting wristwatches with the launch of the new Fire Extinguisher. The two watches in the collection are designed as a pair, with one representing the raging fire and the other representing the foamy aftermath of a fire extinguisher’s use. Fittingly, the former watch is called Fire and the second is Extinguisher, coming together like Voltron to create the Fire Extinguisher collection.

Despite having very different dials, the overall structure of both watches is the same. They both have 41mm diameter cases made from robust stainless steel based on the William Wood Valiant dive watch. They have 100m water resistance and sport unidirectional rotating dive bezels. It’s somewhat ironic that watches dedicated to firefighting are dive watches but I suppose with hoses all over the place, getting wet is an occupational hazard – although by no means the most significant occupational hazard.

What makes this collection special are the twin dials. Fire has a layered metallic shimmer dial with a flame motif over a horizontally brushed orange base, paired with orange hour markers and a seconds hand equipped with a fire hazard counterweight. Extinguisher then has a white dial with a foamy, cloud motif featuring cut-out indexes giving a layered appearance. It also features a seconds hand shaped like the nozzle of an extinguisher.

For William Wood they’re pretty out there and daring designs, which I think is something to be celebrated. They’re bright, vibrant and fun while raising awareness for important safety issues – namely, fire bad, extinguisher good. The same can be said of the casebacks which are solid steel and decorated with depictions of the corresponding safety signs.

Housed inside is the Japanese NH35 automatic from Seiko, a well-known and respected off the shelf movement. It has a solid 41-hour power reserve and accuracy of -20/+40 seconds per day. As always, one of the great benefits of movements like the NH35 is that they’re accessible and easy to have repaired since they’re so common.

In terms of accessibility, both the Fire and Extinguisher are priced at £995. Alternatively, for a limited period you can order the early-bird box-set consisting of both watches, a travel roll, and an additional steel bracelet as an alternative for the recycled hose bands. It’s nice to see William Wood expanding their design language beyond the fairly limited scope of vintage fire trucks and I really did not expect something so daring as the Fire Extinguisher.

​Oracle Time 

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