A multi-award-winning designer, watchmaker, and historian; Rebecca is half of the founding husband and wife team behind Struthers Watchmakers studio and workshops.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Rebecca was just 17 when she set out on her path to becoming one of Britain's leading watchmakers. Initially training as a jeweller and silversmith with a passion for creating complex pieces of articulated jewellery; Rebecca soon found a way to combine her passion for craft with her love of science in the pursuit of horology. Her addiction to education has continued alongside her career as a practitioner. Now a bona fide watch doctor, in 2017, Rebecca Struthers became the first watchmaker in British history to earn a PhD in horology.
Outside of her workshop, Rebecca is an active campaigner in the preservation of endangered heritage skills in the watch, clock, and jewellery trades along with the improvement of diversity within her discipline. She is a Member of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Craft and has appeared on local and national television, radio and regularly features in the press raising awareness about skills shortages and careers in watchmaking.
Away from her role at Struthers Watchmakers, Rebecca is a Fellow of British Horological Institute, a Sustainable Skills Ambassador for the Association of Heritage Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.
Her first book, Hands of Time, a Watchmaker's History of Time, was released on 27th April 2023 (UK) and 13th June (USA).
For regular updates on Rebecca's work and projects, you can follow her on social media via any or all of the links below.
Positions held
Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, 2023 - present
Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Craft, 2018 – present.
Jury and Member of the Academy, Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, 2018 - present.
Member of the Heritage Craft Association, 2017 – present.
Fellow of the British Horological Institute, 2017 – present.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 2015 – present.
Hands of Time
Rebecca's first book Hands of Time, a Watchmaker's History of Time, was released in 2023.
English editions publishers:
UK & Commonwealth (exc. Canada) - Hodder & Stoughton
USA & Canada - HarperCollins
Translated editions publishers:
German - Penguin Verlag
Italian - Garzanti
Dutch - Lebowski
Spanish - GeoPlaneta
Polish - Wydawnictwo Poznański
Arabic - Hindawi Foundation
Japanese - Kashiwa Shobo Publishing
Korean - Sangsang Academy
Selected press
The Art of Watchmaking in Pictures, Christopher Thomond, 22ndFebruary 2019
Just How Endangered is Watchmaking? Robin Swithinbank, 20thFebruary 2019
Inside a hidden studio that makes £50,000 watches, Chris Baraniuk, BBC Future, 22ndMarch 2018t
The Secret Life of Watches, Rebecca Doulton, The Jewellery Editor, 17thSeptember 2017
How craft workers are learning to sell their work, Neil Koenig, BBC News, 14thFebruary 2017
The timekeepers, 18thMarch 2015, The Times
Meet the young entrepreneurs shaking up old industries, John Card, The Guardian, 17thNovember 2014
A Feminist Movement, Tracey Llewellyn, Wall Street Journal, 27thMarch 2014
Awards
Woman of the Year, Eve's Watch Awards (October 2016)
Walpole Crafted (November 2015)
WatchPro Watches of the Year - Luxury Watch of the Year (November 2015)
Alumna of the Year - Birmingham City University (September 2015)
WatchPro Hot100 - Trailblazer (June 2015)
Retail Jeweller's 30 Under 30 (March 2015)
WatchPro Watches of the Year - Luxury Watch of the Year and Rising Star (November 2014)
WatchPro Hot100 - Trailblazer (June 2014)
Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Awards Small Workers Senior – Commended (March 2014)
Lonmin Design Innovation Award (May 2013)
Doctoral Studentship - Arts and Humanities Research Council - (September 2013)
Dr. Robert Boyd Memorial Fund (August 2012)
Durant Award for Silver Mounting (June 2005)
Exhibitions
Still: Stories from the Jewellery Quarter (Iron House, Birmingham, October 2019)
We're Still Here Pop-Up at Making is Good for You, Heritage Crafts Association Conference 2019 (Cecil Sharp House, London, March 2019)
We're Still Here (Argentea Gallery, Birmingham, July 2018)
London Craft Week with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and Heritage Crafts Association (Carpenters' Hall, London, May 2018)
Royal Warrant Holders' Association Gala Dinner (V&A, London, March 2018)
Royal Warrant Holders' Association Annual Luncheon (London Hilton, June 2017)
London Craft Week (Kensington, May 2017)
London Craft Week (Kensington, May 2016)
Geneva Motor Show (Palexpo, Geneva, March 2015)
SalonQP (Saatchi Gallery, London November 2014)
Goldsmiths' Hall (London, March 2014)
Geneva Motor Show (Palexpo, Geneva, March 2014)
International Jewellery London (Earls Court, September 2013)
Selected lectures and conferences
Speaker, George Daniels Lecture: Back to the future; nineteenth-century watchmaking by twenty-first-century watchmakers, City, University of London (UK), 28thNovember 2018.
Speaker, 'Dutch Forgery'; a Swiss-made fake-English watch or the product of an unlikely alliance?8th Biennale of the Horological Patrimony, l'Heure Bleue, La Chaux de Fonds (Switzerland), 3rdNovember 2018.
Panelist, The British Watch Industry – Colonizing the Greenwich Meridian, Dubai Watch Week, Christie's, London (UK), 11th– 12thSeptember 2018.
Speaker, All in Good Time, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (UK), 27thApril 2018.
Keynote, Antiquarian Horological Society AGM and Conference (Southern Section), West Dean College, Chichester (UK), 14thOctober 2017.
Speaker, Fakes, Forgeries and the Birth of Mass Production in the European Watch Industry, 1750-1820,University of Birmingham (UK), 5thOctober 2017.
Speaker, Fakes, Forgeries and the Birth of Mass Production in the European Watch Industry, 1750-1820, General Society Library, New York (USA), 2ndOctober 2017.
Keynote, StartUp2017, Enterprise Nation, Birmingham City University (UK), 14thJanuary 2017.
Participant, In Terra Incognita, Centro University, Mexico City (Mexico), May 2015.