Winsor Bishop’s very own Jake Peasgood has gone from doorman to watch apprentice within 3 years of working at Winsor Bishop.  Jake is attending a 3 year apprenticeship at the British School of Watchmaking (BSoW) to train him to be a Watchmaker.  This profession has been in decline over the past decade in the UK and not only is Winsor Bishop supporting the watch making industry but also their staff.

Jake on his first day at BSoW

Jake is the nephew of Winsor Bishop’s Commercial Director Richard Peasgood and joined the Winsor Bishop Group aged sixteen as a Sales advisor at the Pandora store in Chapelfield.   After spending 3 years behind the counter, Jake worked his way up to earn a place on the concierge team at Winsor Bishop on London Street.  It was here while working with fine watches that his interest in them grew. “At first I was just interested in fine watches almost as a status symbol but the more I worked around them the more knowledge picked up from the staff around me and this is when I wanted to know how they worked”

While part of the concierge team, Jake applied to fill a two day position in our Aftersales team which was working under the guidance of our Master Watchmaker Richard Price-Thomas (who has over 30 years of experience) carrying out battery and reseals as well as adjusting bracelets and changing watch straps among other tasks.  It is here that Jakes passion for watches really grew and he developed an understanding of the innate workings of most of our watch brands.

It was in February this year that an opportunity arose for jewellers and watch manufactures to submit candidates for 8 coveted places at the BSoW.   Upon being informed of this news Winsor Bishop took the decision to give back and put Jake forward as an applicant.  Upon having his application accepted an assessment day was held in Manchester where the BSoW is based. Jake travelled to for the assessment day where he was competing with 24 other candidates from other well respected national jewellers and large watch houses, such as the Swatch Group.  The day included aptitude testing, logic tests, watchmaker knowledge and an interview (dissambley).  In May, Jake received news that he had passed the assessment day with flying colours and one of the lucrative 8 places was his if he wanted to join the September in take.  “At this point I had a big decision to make, I’d never lived away from home before and was in a settled relationship with Amy my girlfriend,  I was apprehensive at first but once I talked it through with Uncle Richard I knew it was the one thing I wanted to do with my life”

Jake who is still employed by Winsor Bishop while on his course left Norwich in late August to start a new exciting chapter in his life in Manchester.  He returned home for the weekend after his first full week at the school.  It was here he asked trusted friends to organise a lavish proposal for his girlfriend Amy.  Collecting the Winsor Bishop ring on the Saturday morning a treasure hunt was arranged through Norwich city centre taking in locations that have special places in the hearts of both Jake and Amy.  As soon as Amy had finished work she was handed the first of six envelopes, each envelope had a clue leading to the next location where one of Jakes friends was waiting with a further envelope. Concluding behind Winsor Bishop, in Bridewell Alley is where Jake popped the question and Amy said yes!!! “I wanted to ask Amy to marry to me for quite some time, I was just waiting for the right moment, I’m so glad she said yes”

Jake will return to Winsor Bishop at the end of his two year course a fully qualified watchmaker and will once again work alongside Richard Price-Thomas as part of our Aftersales team; adding significant scope to this area of the business.