The Making of the Tour of Britain Gift Set

Words by Accurist

September 05, 2023

The Making of the Tour of Britain Gift Set

To commemorate our title as official timekeeper of the Tour of Britain 2023, Accurist has collaborated with the Tour of Britain to create a truly unique watch. With only 100 created, this is a must-have, or great gift, for any cycling or sports fan.

The Design Process

Getting the chance to design a limited edition commemorative timepiece in collaboration with the Tour of Britain was an amazing opportunity for Accurist and the Design and Innovation team. From the start we knew that the inspiration for the design and final finish had to come from the world of competitive cycling – from the precision machined tyre tread texture on the dial, the highlighted pops of colour, to the perforated handlebar wrap style finish of the leather on the additional quick release strap. All of these are design features that any participant or fan of the sport will recognise and appreciate.

The watch had to stand out. We combined all of these fine details with one of our premium quality, bestselling watches inspired by a collection originally from the 1970’s, the Origin, and in collaboration with Tom and the team at the Tour of Britain, we were able to create something truly unique, something truly British, with the Limited Edition Accurist X Tour of Britain Gift Set.

View Watch

In-house photography

To infuse creativity into the shoot, we decided to incorporate cycling elements by strategically placing the watch on various parts of a bike including the spokes and handles. The main challenge was ensuring that the attention remained on the intricate details of the watch.

The watch’s red and black colour palette harmonized beautifully with the bike’s pops of red. To enhance the impact of the shots, we focused on lighting techniques that created a bold and striking contrast between the background and the dynamic black watch. The result was a series of images that effectively showcase the watch.

Our partnership with Tom Pidcock.

Accurist partnered with Tom for so many reasons, but mainly, as the official timekeeper of the race, we were looking for an exciting, young British cyclist who was going to take part in the race. We are extremely lucky and proud to have connected with Tom Pidcock, a British Olympic Champion and INEOS Grenadier WT cyclist. Following Tom’s gold medal win for team GB at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and his stage win in the Tour De France, we have high hopes for Tom and will be following his journey every step of the way on our social media.

Andorra photoshoot with Tom.

We met up with Tom at his favourite cycling café in Andorra, a great place for training due to the altitude and terrain, for a Q&A and photoshoot. This café is legendary in the cycling world, with many famous cyclists walking through those doors, signing the walls, leaving inspirational quotes and the café itself is filled with incredible art. After the introductions we got down to business; the questions for the Q&A came from Accurist’s and the Tour of Britain’s social media followers, as well as a few choice questions from ourselves, and cut right to the heart of why Tom has dedicated his life to cycling. You can watch the full Q&A with Tom here.

The first photoshoot took place inside the Criterium café. Tom had selected three Accurist watches from our range that he admired including the Limited Edition Tour of Britain Origin Chronograph watch, our Blue Automatic Dive watch, and the Origin Skeleton Automatic which Tom can be seen wearing in the Q&A.

Limited Edition Tour of Britain
Gift Set | 89012

Dive Automatic
42mm Watch | 72006

Origin Skeleton
41mm Watch | 70022

Once we had finished the photoshoot at the Criterium café, it was time for Tom to sign the wall and for us to head to the next shoot location. It had been an incredibly hot day in Andorra that day, between 34-35 degress for most of the day; but after setting up on location, there was a terrific deluge of rain. This cut the shoot down from 3 and a half hours to only 60 minutes, but Tom was still determined to get out on the trail. With awe-inspiring views, a dramatic skyline and multiple different terrains for Tom to demonstrate his skills on it is clear to see why this is his favourite trail.

The Tour of Britain 2023 officially began on the 3rd of September in Greater Manchester with Tom at the starting line ready to give his best performance. If you're following the action, you will see our Accurist clock above the finish line of each stage, separating the winners and the runners up by milliseconds.

Make sure you are following Accurist on Facebook and Instagram as we document Tom's journey, release exclusive content and more.