Beyond style, Smith is very much a man of substance occupying much of his time spent on research with advancing the practical limits of the Co-Axial escapement by way of his reductive approach towards the design of the escape wheel. Since 2001, Smith produced wristwatches under his own name, and like the first generation of contemporary artisanal watchmakers, very much in the style of Daniels and Breguet before him. Smith not only learnt the skill of making a watch by hand from Daniels but also inherited the Daniels mantle of English watchmaking – quite literally, as Smith now works out of Daniels’ workshop on the Isle of Man. I’m not sure back then, having just turned thirty, if it was arrogance, or. The approach with which I’d become familiar working with George was his preference to make a dial from a single component. After which he was largely responsible for the development, construction and production of the Daniels Anniversary watch launched in 2010 and which a decade later, is witnessing its last watches in the process of being delivered. Smith that you established in this Series 1 was the building of dials from multiple components. Having been hand-picked as an apprentice of the famously prickly Daniels in 1997 – Daniels had rejected all apprentices before - Smith was instrumental in helping Daniels complete the Millennium series of watches powered by Omega’s Co-Axial movements, a three-year project that ended in 2001. Daniels’ legacy, however, lives on in Dr Roger W. It’s an exceptional moment for watches by both Roger and his great mentor to be sold at the same auction.All of the gentleman who were crucial figures in late 20th century independent watchmaking are no longer with us only their timepieces remain. This is the fourth pocket watch that George made out the 23 he produced during his lifetime. The Series 1 watch is to be auctioned alongside a George Daniels piece known as the ‘Edward Hornby Tourbillon Pocket Watch’. The piece, made by Roger in 2019, was the first of this series to be completed and is a classic, round, time-only watch in red gold with a silver dial. Smith Series 1 which will come up for auction at Phillips 2021 New York Watch Auction, 11-12 December 2021. This exceptional price has already generated huge anticipation for a Roger W. In doing so, it beat the previ-ous record held by Roger from earlier this year. When the hammer came down, the watch achieved $715,478, tripling its pre-sale high estimate and representing a record price for any piece by the British watchmaker. It was therefore a rare opportunity to acquire one of Roger’s current watches after the recent closing of his order book. Amongst these five, it’s only one of two which Roger made with an engraved barrel and balance cock.Īs a latest iteration of the Series 2 watches, this piece houses Roger’s single-wheel evolution of the Daniels co-axial escapement. Rarity is a given for all Roger’s pieces, given their extremely limited production, but this Series 2 is also one of only five pink gold watches that he made with an engraved dial and silver chapters. The Series 2 is one of Roger’s more recent pieces, being made in 2016. There was further confirmation of the rapid evolution of independent watch values with several records being set at the Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XIV on the 5th November 2021, including a new British record being achieved by one of Roger’s more recent pieces.
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