Sopwith Watch Company derives its name from the the Royal Flying Corps’ legendary producer of World War 1 aircraft, the Sopwith Aviation Company, Kingston-on-Thames. Sopwith won the Schneider Trophy air race in 1914. The Sopwith Camel fighter plane was introduced in 1917. By September 1920, less than two years after the war’s end, the original Sopwith company was taxed out of existence by the very government that its airplanes helped save. Rather than permit this iconic name to fade into obscurity, the company founder trademarked the name and established the Sopwith Motorsports racing team in 1991 followed by the Sopwith Watch Company in 2022 and the Sopwith Foundry in 2024.