"I think it's really democratic [to sell watches this way]…because at the moment, the only democracy really is capital," Cochrane tells me. "I know Patek or whomever makes limited editions of six watches, but you're only on that list if you buy 20 other watches. Even then, they're going to be super expensive. It's still exclusivity based on price, and I wanted to not do that. Obviously the Vertex isn't cheap. It's two-and-a-half thousand pounds, but that's more because it places it in a category that you respect. Less than that, people don't really take it seriously."

Cochrane says the kernel of the idea for Vertex came to him when he got a Panerai for a wedding gift from his wife 12 years ago.