If you’ve attended a recent Windup Watch Fair in Chicago, there’s a very good chance you’ve run into Doug LaViolette. Doug is the founder of the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation, a Wisconsin based watch enthusiast, and honestly one of the nicer people you’ll encounter in this hobby. For years, the scholarship foundation named for his late son has raised money for over 1,200 scholarships for students across the United States and abroad, and now a new watch from Sheffield, a limited edition of just 95 pieces, will help in the cause.
Before we get to the watch, it’s important to have some context and understand the story behind it. Brian LaViolette was given his first watch at the age of four. It was a Green Bay Packers themed watch, and it kicked off a fascination with watches and watch collecting that would last until his life was tragically cut short at the age of 15 in a swimming accident. The LaViolette family founded the scholarship foundation shortly after Brian’s death, and Doug’s own watch enthusiasm continues in earnest to this day.
Sheffield is a natural choice as a collaborator for the LaViolette family. For starters, there’s some geographical proximity. Founder Jay Turkbas grew up in Minneapolis, and that is where his fascination with watches began. There is also some symmetry in the origins of Sheffield as we know it today. The original incarnation of Sheffield, a historically British brand, was the maker of the first watch Turkbas ever owned. It was that watch which started his own fascination with watchmaking and eventually inspired him to revive the Sheffield brand.
Turkbas and LaViolette were introduced by another midwesterner, Ty Alexander, a noted watch photographer and enthusiast. Alexander is responsible for much of the design of this limited edition, simply called Brian’s Sheffield, which is a play on the original Green Bay Packers themed watch that was gifted to Brian years ago. Brian’s Sheffield features a sunburst green dial and gold tone hands, immediately evoking Packers colors to any football fan.
Brian’s Sheffield is built on the Sheffield Chrono II platform, which features a 42mm stainless steel case and runs on a Seiko VK64 mecha-quartz movement. Mecha-quartz combines quartz timekeeping with a mechanical chronograph action, which is a satisfying watch enthusiast focused detail and a step up in refinement and feel over a purely quartz chronograph.
The retail price of Brian’s Sheffield is set at $258. A total of $100 from each purchase will be donated directly to the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation. Sheffield
