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NEXT STORY

My aim was to produce an original watch

RELATED STORIES

Moving to the Isle of Man
George Daniels Master watchmaker
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I came to the conclusion that I should leave London when I had fulfilled all my ambitions. I'd been master of the Clockmakers' Company and I'd got this well-established business and a good reputation as a watchmaker, not just a watch restorer, and it seemed to me that it didn't matter where I lived. I was always in touch with people and if I went to the Isle of Man, I would see more of Sam Clutton, who had moved there earlier and it's a very beautiful place. Are we in the Isle of Man now? We are, aren't we?

And it's a very beautiful place. I had a workshop built in the garden and the workshop was built exactly to my specifications. You know, all the light was correct from different directions and so forth, and I started again here making watches again, and the first watch made here was the Space Traveller.

George Daniels, CBE, DSc, FBHI, FSA (19 August 1926 - 21 October 2011) was an English watchmaker most famous for creating the co-axial escapement. Daniels was one of the few modern watchmakers who could create a complete watch by hand, including the case and dial. He was a former Master of the Clockmakers' Company of London and had been awarded their Gold Medal, a rare honour, as well as the Gold Medal of the British Horological Institute, the Gold Medal of the City of London and the Kullberg Medal of the Stockholm Watchmakers’ Guild.

Listeners: Roger Smith

Roger Smith was born in 1970 in Bolton, Lancashire. He began training as a watchmaker at the age of 16 at the Manchester School of Horology and in 1989 won the British Horological Institute Bronze Medal. His first hand made watch, made between 1991 and 1998, was inspired by George Daniels' book "Watchmaking" and was created while Smith was working as a self-employed watch repairer and maker. His second was made after he had shown Dr Daniels the first, and in 1998 Daniels invited him to work with him on the creation of the 'Millennium Watches', a series of hand made wrist watches using the Daniels co-axial escapement produced by Omega. Roger Smith now lives and works on the Isle of Man, and is considered the finest watchmaker of his generation.

Tags: The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, Isle of Man, Cecil Clutton, Cecil (Sam) Clutton

Duration: 1 minute

Date story recorded: May 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008