A specialist in luxury pre-owned watches has been shortlisted for a national award.

Watchfinder & Co, based in Maidstone, is one of four businesses in the running for the Watch Retailer of the Year accolade at the prestigious Watch Salon and the UK Jewellery Awards, now in their 20th year.

Next month’s (July) final in the Natural History Museum in London will be hosted by novelist, journalist and broadcaster Dawn O’Porter. The awards will be presented at an evening gala dinner held under the 85ft long Diplodocus dinosaur.

WF&Co. co-founder Lloyd Amsdon said: “The company is delighted to be nominated for such a highly-regarded award, and feels that this is a great acknowledgement of how far its business has progressed in terms of the comprehensive service which it offers its customers”.

Watchfinder, which employs 30 staff in the County Town, opened its boutique WF&Co. at The Royal Exchange in February. Since its opening, the store has sold almost 300 high-end luxury watches and seen an increase in web enquiries and sales.

Watchfinder.co.uk is home to the UK’s largest collection of pre-owned watches and is visited by more than four million people every year. It was founded by a group of watch enthusiasts and friends in 2002 as an answer to the lack of online resource for fine timepieces.