This is a recent example of the Roger W. Smith Series 1*, with a 40mm white gold case and a silver dial with engraved Roman hours and heat-blued hands. The watchmaker has offered to create an additional dial and hands for the new owner. This Series 1 is one of the smallest series produced watches and the waitlist for it is now closed.
The story of Roger W. Smith
Smith started again from scratch, perfecting his skills while relearning others to a standard Daniels would approve of. After working on it for five years, Smith nervously presented it to Daniels who, after closely scrutinising it, offered Smith the apprenticeship he had coveted for so long. Smith moved to the Isle of Man and there began a fruitful symbiotic relationship. “I got to learn all I could from the man, and he got a young pair of skilled hands to help finish the work he had started,” Smith said of his time working with Daniels.
The skills he acquired from this experience helped Smith transition from pocket watches to wristwatches. In 2001 he set up his own workshop, down the street from Daniels’ and began work on his first watch, marrying modern production techniques to the Daniels Method, whilst finding ways to improve on the Daniels’ Co-Axial escapement.
His watches, be they the Series 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, have all featured Smith’s style, marked by the signature scalloped hands, intricate guilloche and ornate engravings that adorn the movement. Owing to exacting and hand-finished nature of his process, Smith’s body of work from the last two decades is understandably small. However, it is undoubtedly substantial in its significance as the very pinnacle of modern independent watchmaking in Britain. Today, his workshop employs the next generation of watchmakers whom Smith is mentoring much as Daniels guided him.
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