H&t Group

Name

H&t Group

Legal name

Harvey & Thompson Limited

Website

https://handt.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1897

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

H&T Group (Harvey & Thompson Limited) is a UK-founded pawnbroker established in 1897, operating 290+ retail stores across the United Kingdom. It serves individual consumers with pawn loans, pre-owned luxury watches and jewellery, gold buying, travel money exchange, Western Union remittances, and watch servicing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pawnbroking & Precious Goods Retail

NAICS

Jewelry, Watch, Precious Stone, and Precious Metal Merchant Wholesalers (423940), Used Merchandise Retailers (459510)

SIC

Retail-Jewelry Stores (5944), Wholesale-Jewelry, Watches, Precious Stones & Metals (5094)

akta.pro primary industry

Luxury Pawn & Collateral Lending (Watches/Jewelry) (CRAKAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Watch & Timepiece Retail (CRAKAGAD), Pre-owned Watch Dealers & Exchanges (CRAKAKAB), Jewelry & Watch Care Products (Tools, Cleaners, Storage) (CRAKALAK), Jewelry, Watches & Luxury Goods Marketplaces (CRAFABAK)

Keywords

• Pawnbroking services
• Luxury watch retail
• Gold buying
• Fine jewellery retail
• Travel money exchange

Headquarters

HQ city

Sutton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Pawnbroking: Short-term secured loans against valuable items (watches, jewellery, bags) with representative 165.5% APR. Customers receive cash quickly with items held as collateral.
2. Retail Sales: Sale of pre-owned and new watches (Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer, Cartier, Breitling, etc.), jewellery (22ct gold, 18ct gold, diamonds), gold bars and coins, and handbags. Margin earned on resale of acquired items.
3. Gold and Watch Purchasing: Buying gold items, watches and valuable items from customers at market prices, then reselling for margin.
4. Travel Money / Currency Exchange: Foreign currency exchange with 0% commission. Offers almost 100 different currencies. Revenue from exchange rate spreads. Also offers buyback service for unused currency.
5. Watch Servicing and Repairs: Comprehensive watch repair services through Swiss Time Services including battery replacement, mechanical servicing, polishing, glass replacement, and bracelet repairs. Up to 24 months guarantee on servicing work.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

H&T Group operates a UK pawnbroking and retail business that provides short-term secured loans against valuable items (watches, jewellery, bags), sells pre-owned and new luxury watches, fine jewellery and gold bars/coins, buys gold and watches from customers at market prices, offers foreign currency exchange, and delivers professional watch repair services through its Swiss Time Services subsidiary. The business is delivered through a network of 290+ UK stores plus an e-commerce platform, with 125+ years of brand heritage since 1897.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pawnbroking (Secured Short-Term Loans)

Quantifiable outcome

• 30-minute cash offer on gold items during business hours
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Swiss Time Services GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022H&T acquired Swiss Time Services Group in 2022, the UK's largest independent watch service centre. The acquisition includes Swiss Time Services (established 1993, level 3 accreditation for Omega and Swatch Group brands) and Swisstec (official UK Service Centre for Ball Watches, Carl F Bucherer, CWC, Eberhard, Favre-Leuba, Fortis, Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, Maurice Lacroix, Porsche Design, Ulysse Nardin, Cartier, and Baume Mercier). Over 30 skilled staff handling 15,000+ repairs annually.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ramsdens Holdings: UK-listed pawnbroker and jewellery/watch retailer with ~165 stores. Closest direct peer to H&T in terms of pawnbroking + pre-owned luxury watch + jewellery retail, though smaller scale and more regionally concentrated in the North of England.
• Cash Converters UK: UK pawnbroking and second-hand retail chain offering secured personal loans against watches and jewellery, plus resale of pre-owned items. Highly comparable GTM and customer base, though broader in second-hand categories (electronics, tools, music).
• Watches of Switzerland Group: UK-listed leading luxury watch retailer with showrooms across the UK and US, carrying Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe and TAG Heuer. Direct peer on the watch retail side but lacks H&T's pawnbroking, gold buying and travel money arms — and H&T lacks WOSG's new-watch authorised dealer scale.
• Albemarle & Bond: Historic UK pawnbroking chain offering pawn loans against jewellery/watches and retail sale of pre-owned items. Closely mirrors H&T's pawnbroking and pre-owned jewellery value proposition, though with a much smaller store footprint.
• Watchfinder & Co. UK-founded specialist in pre-owned luxury watches (now part of Richemont). Sells authenticated pre-owned Rolex, Omega, Cartier and others both online and via dedicated boutiques — directly comparable to H&T's pre-owned watch retail proposition, with arguably stronger brand positioning on the high-end segment.

Regional players

• FirstCash Holdings: Largest US-listed pawnbroker operating thousands of stores across the US and Latin America. Comparable pawnbroking economics and store-level operating model; a useful benchmark for scale economics although geographically separate and more pawn-pure than H&T.

Broad incumbents

• Chrono24: Global online marketplace for new and pre-owned luxury watches, with hundreds of thousands of listings from professional dealers and private sellers. Competes directly with H&T's online pre-owned watch offering but without a physical store network or servicing infrastructure.

Emerging players

• Bob's Watches: US-based online specialist in pre-owned Rolex and other luxury watches, focused on authentication and price transparency. Relevant emerging peer in the pre-owned luxury watch category where H&T competes, particularly for online-savvy buyers.
• The Watch Gallery: UK-based online luxury watch retailer offering pre-owned and new pieces from Rolex, Omega, Cartier and others. Niche overlap with H&T's e-commerce proposition and target buyer profile.
• Borro (formerly Borro Private Finance): UK online asset-backed lending platform offering secured loans against luxury watches, jewellery and other high-value assets. Competes with H&T's pawnbroking business for the same borrower profile but through a fully digital channel rather than store visits.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/htpawnbrokers
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCT46xdF9o6_Pu6wzj4h2niA
• Facebookfacebook.com/htdover
• Instagraminstagram.com/handtjewellery
• Pinterestpinterest.co.uk/est1897
• TikToktiktok.com/@handt_pawnbrokers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about H&t Group