![]() "The new 'Open Dial' Series 2 attracted a huge amount of attention and the feedback was great."Įach of Roger's Series 2 wristwatches has over 220 individual pieces and can take up to five months to make. Caroline who is from the island said: "We displayed four of our watches and the response was fantastic." ![]() Smith's wife joined the business a year ago as the general business manager. Is the only event of its kind in the UK and drew collectors, enthusiasts and media from across the globe to experience first hand the very best in contemporary watch making. The SalonQP exhibition attracted collectors from all over the world "He designed it back in the 1970s to celebrate man landing on the moon and he was so passionate about his work that I knew at that point that this is what I wanted to do with my life." It was a very famous watch known as the 'space traveller'. He pulled out the most incredible pocket watch. "I remember he came into the workshop and I asked what he had on the end of his watch chain. "I didn't realise at that stage that it was possible for a man to make a watch entirely by hand from start to finish. "I first met George when I was 19-years-old and he came to the college for a day to talk to the students. The highlight of the recent show was the unveiling of the prototype Daniels' Anniversary wristwatch by Daniels himself. George and Roger have stayed in close contact, and earlier this year George, now 84, announced his designs for a new limited series of watches, which are to be made for him by Roger. He worked with Daniels until completion of the Series 3 years later, and then set up his own workshop on the Island where he now makes his own series of spectacular hand made watches - the Series 2. Smith was inspired to take up the art of watchmaking by Dr George Daniels Smith moved to the Isle of Man in 1998 to learn from Dr Daniels while working on the now famous 'Millennium' Series of watches. "My first pocket watch took a year and a half to complete and my second took five years. There are over 30 individual trades involved in making a complete watch and there are only a handful of people in the world that can do so. "It is an unusual job but I have never been one for following the pack." "For the first time in my life I enjoyed schooling and we were using tools and machinery to make clock components, it was an amazing experience. ![]() "The first day was the best day of education I had ever received. I was accepted and the rest took off from there." "The course taught you how to repair clocks and watches and I thought it sounded like a great idea. The 40-year-old admits he did not enjoy his time at school and was wondering what his next step would be when his father suggested the horology course. ![]() Like George, I think a mark of success for a new complication is to see it adopted by other watchmakers - especially the larger manufacturers, and the eagle eyed collector will have no doubt spotted our travelling aperture being adopted by some major brands.There is currently a two year waiting list for Smith's creations It simply reverses the function, by having the Travelling Aperture orbit the outer edge of the dial, thus removing the need for that problematic hand! The function which had always stumped watchmakers was the date-hand, since this travels and sits over key date information for several days at a time thus compromising the dial’s legibility.Īfter several years of drawings and experimentation I came up with my new Travelling Aperture, which I believe is the first time this complication has been created. ![]() The real challenge was to successfully conceal a complex function within a deceptively simply aesthetic, while preserving the primary purpose of a watch - to tell the time in an instant. So, with the Series 4, celebrating the complexity of the complication wasn’t the quest. George absolutely hated watches which looked like an Enigma machine… and needed an Alan Turing to work out the time! As we curate the revival of British watchmaking, I believe ‘elegant simplicity’ must be the core of our collective design creed. “An uncompromising principle that George Daniels drummed into me as a young man was the importance of clear and simple design. ![]()
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