Our story
50 years of excellence
1966:
B&W Electronics founded
Following an inheritance of £10,000 from a satisfied customer, John Bowers sets up his own loudspeaker company.
1966: Beginnings
John Bowers begins assembling speaker systems in the workshop of his electronics shop in Worthing, South England.
1966: P1
The first Bowers & Wilkins loudspeaker. The profit from P1 allowed Bowers to invest in new calibration equipment.
1968: Domestic Monitors
The DM1 and DM3 were launched to bring high quality audio to more customers, at an affordable price point.
1970: DM70
With its curved cabinet, the DM70 changed the shape of loudspeaker design.
1976: DM6
The first Sir Kenneth Grange-designed speaker.
1977: DM7
DM7 liberated the tweeter from the cabinet – the originator of the “Tweeter-on-Top” design used in our high-end speakers today.
1979: 801
The modern era of hi-fi begins. With drive units housed in separate chambers, the 801 delivered unheard-of realism.
1981: Steyning Research Establishment (SRE) founded
SRE is a hub of acoustic innovation, where scientists and engineers push speaker design to the limits.
1987: CM1
Designed by Sir Kenneth Grange, CM1 was developed through the latest advances in computer-aided design.
1987: Matrix 801
The speaker that introduced Matrix: the bracing structure that boosts driver performance by reducing cabinet vibration.
1991: 600 Series
Continuing the concept of the Domestic Monitor, the 600 Series made quality hi-fi accessible to a wider audience.
1993: Nautilus
The extraordinary result of a no-holds-barred R&D programme, Nautilus influences our speaker designs to this day.
1998: Nautilus 800 Series
This iteration of our flagship range introduced Nautilus technologies to the commercial market for the first time.
2004: PV1
Curved cabinet creativity reaches its zenith with the spherical “Pressure Vessel™” PV1™ subwoofer.
2006: Signature Diamond
Launched to celebrate our 40th anniversary, Signature Diamond was the first speaker to feature diamond dome tweeters.
2007: Zeppelin
Bowers & Wilkins enters the digital age with Zeppelin, our strikingly curvaceous, multi-award winning iPod speaker.
2007: Car audio
Our partnership with Jaguar marked our first entry into the world of high-end car audio.
2010: 800 Series Diamond
The sixth incarnation of our flagship speaker series featured diamond tweeter domes in every model in the range.
2010: P5
P5 was a statement of intent: beautifully crafted headphones that were a joy to wear and even better to listen to.
2015: 800 Series Diamond
The latest version of our flagship introduced a complete redesign and revolutionary new technologies, such as the Continuum™ cone.
2016: 800 D3 and P9 Signature
We marked our 50th year with the launch of two new flagships, the 800 D3 reference speaker and P9 Signature headphones.
2016: EVA Automation
EVA Automation purchased Bowers & Wilkins - the first time a startup acquired a brand with such a powerful global presence.
2017: PX headphones
The launch of the PX headphones sees intuitive digital technologies combined with world-class sound engineering.