It was here that Roger first met Dr. George Daniels CBE (1926 - 2011), widely regarded as the greatest horologist of the last 250 years.

The Space Traveller

Dr Daniels was a visiting speaker and during his presentation, he revealed his hand-made pocket watch to the students in Roger's class.

This was the pivotal moment in his life. Roger knew that he had witnessed true greatness and, beyond his vocation, he had now discovered his destiny.

Roger had now discovered his destiny...

...to hand make a watch.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Roger began his first pocket watch during his spare time, two years later he had completed his first working pocket watch, aged just 22.

Once completed he took the pocket watch to the Isle of Man to present it to Dr. Daniels.

To Roger’s initial dismay, Dr. Daniels advised him to go back and start again because, although the watch functioned, it looked ‘handmade’ and not ‘created’.

It was here, with this distinction, that Roger realised what was at the heart of Daniels’s philosophy;

“A watch should seem to have simply appeared from thin air, without any sign of the maker, other than the realisation of their aesthetic.”

Dr. George Daniels

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Despite the unprecedented achievement of creating a working pocket watch at such a young age, Roger had also stumbled at the ultimate test.

Flying back to Manchester, Roger took stock and soon came to terms with this setback. Now he understood the truly monumental nature of the challenge in front of him and the brutal and ‘binary’ truth of the watchmaker:

Perfection... or failure.

Roger spent the next five and a half years making, and remaking, his second pocket watch until he had perfected all 34 of the requisite skills comprising Daniels’ Method.

THE ISLE OF MAN

Roger took the pocket watch back to Dr. Daniels, after a lengthy and close examination, the watch passed the great master’s test. And so had Roger.

In his seven-year journey, Roger had become the complete watchmaker and realised it was a path he was always meant to have taken alone.

Rather than an apprentice, Dr. Daniels sought a collaborator with sufficient mastery of the watchmaker’s craft. Shortly afterwards, in 1998, he invited Roger to move to the Isle of Man and work with him on the now legendary ‘Daniels Millennium’ series.

This was the finest ‘finishing school’ Roger could have wished for, and he worked with George Daniels until the completion of this series, three years later.

Having happily settled in the Isle of Man, Roger harboured dreams of setting up his own workshop and in 2001, Roger W. Smith Ltd was incorporated.

Roger produced his 'Series 1', comprising 9 rectangular cased watches fitted with a retrograde calendar complication.

Roger's ambitions were to completely disrupt horological standards by creating his own completely handmade production wristwatch.

And so the Series 2 was born.

Series 2

Roger Smith's first edition of the Series 2 is arguably the most important watch in the history of the company being the first production watch by a British watchmaker in modern times.

Almost every one of the watch’s 225 parts were created in the Roger W. Smith studio, including the cases, dials, hands and most importantly, the most technically advanced escapement in 250 years – the Daniels co-axial.

The Series 2 fully established Roger’s unrivalled skill as an absolute master. It also became a mechanical embodiment of Roger’s watchmaking manifesto, namely to create a means of telling the time which is an object of beauty and art that, if properly maintained, will last forever.

In 2009, Roger embarked on what would become his final collaboration with George Daniels, to produce a series of 35 wristwatches appropriately numbered to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of Dr. Daniels' invention of the Co-axial escapement.

These Anniversary pieces are as exquisite as they are rare and their design is set firmly in the English style as perceived by Daniels and Smith – flawlessly frosted plates contrasted with hand-engraved silver and gold dials, blued screws and a wealth of detail.

ISLE OF MAN

Nearly twenty-five years after meeting George Daniels, the great master had passed the baton to Roger to continue his work.

The year was a coming of age for Roger, but was also very poignant. Dr Daniels' approval of the Anniversary watch design was his final swan-song.

He passed away just a few weeks later in October 2011, aged 85.

LONDON 2012

In 2012, while enjoying the wonderful spectacle of the London Olympic Games, Roger had no inkling that this would eventually lead to perhaps his most famous unique piece. But it did.

This incredible spotlight that the Olympians had shone on Great Britain had inspired national pride, celebration of multiculturalism and a realisation that pillars of the country's reputation needed to be built upon.

The GREAT Britain campaign was born on this legacy.

To promote the very best of Britain to the world. Roger was invited by the Prime Minister’s Office of Communications to become an ambassador for the campaign, exemplifying as he does British innovation, creativity and craftsmanship.

Roger quickly realised that this could also be a perfect opportunity to raise awareness of British watchmaking. So in 2013, he decided to create its standard bearer...

THE GREAT BRITAIN

The GREAT Britain would be based on Roger’s Series 2 watch, but would became famous for having perhaps the most complex dial ever made by hand.

THE GREAT BRITAIN

Roger poured all his accumulated knowledge in developing a movement which was also one-of-a-kind and featured his latest evolution of the single wheel coaxial escapement.

THE GREAT BRITAIN

Curated by the WatchClub in London, The GREAT Britain has subsequently toured the world on trade missions and international expos, appearing as a centre-piece of the Shanghai Festival of Creativity in 2015.

THE GREAT BRITAIN

By 2014, Roger began to reflect on the horological achievements of the past decade and the accumulation of knowledge from his production watches and unique pieces, as well as arguably his peak of artistic excellence, the Open Dial watch.

A realisation began to dawn, and a new imperative; to create the first range of truly British watches for nearly fifty years, since Smiths Industries ceased production of their watch editions in the 1970s.

So after a two-year development cycle, Roger announced his intent at the 2015 Salon QP by showing prototypes for a Series 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus the latest addition to the range (in 2018) the Open Dial Series 5.

As ever, the core of the watches is Roger’s very latest version of the co-axial escapement. Having successfully lightened the escape wheel by 23% in The Great Britain watch (resulting in further improvements to timekeeping), Roger now embarked on scaling the escapement down by up to a third in order to explore further benefits to timekeeping and new opportunities to develop his aesthetic.

The completely revised Series 1 (now a time-only piece) and new Series 2 watches are accompanied by Roger’s first new production watches for a decade; the Series 3 (which has a calendar movement) and the Series 4 (a more complicated calendar watch), which completes the range. As before, the Series 5 is an Open Dial version of the Series 2 functions.

THE ISLE OF MAN

During 2017 and 2018, Roger realised a long-held ambition, to build a purpose-designed workshop in which to work with his team of superb craftsmen and women.

The spacious and eco-friendly facility was fitted out and completed during the summer of 2018 and, apart from providing a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the Daniels Method of watchmaking also honours the memory and work of George Daniels with a dedicated working museum celebrating the great master's work.

It was during the reconstitution of the original Daniels workshop that Roger discovered what was presumed a long-lost prototype of enormous significance.

A Rolex Oyster which was the original proof-of-concept used by Dr Daniels’s to show a sceptical watch industry that his original co-axial escapement could not only achieve mass production, but that mechanical watches were still a vital and evolving quantum of horology.

In refurbishing what looks on the outside to be a standard Rolex Oyster (case ref.16030), Roger has also restored this triumphant work to its rightful place in the pantheon of historic watches.

In 2018, Roger received the greatest honour of his life and career so far, when he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON

The Queen’s Honours recognise the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom and, in demonstrating the breadth of service given by people from all backgrounds, Roger has been recognised for ‘outstanding services to watchmaking’.

Roger delivers the George Daniels Lecture at City, University of London

As the decade came to a close, Roger stepped up to give his lecture in November, entitled ‘The Development of the Mechanical Watch’, to a packed theatre of over 300 delegates. The lecture also proved to be a culmination of learnings and insights from the last 30 years…

“The Blue” wristwatch. Designed by George Daniels and created by Roger, achieves £1m on private sale

The Blue, Roger’s first fully handcrafted wristwatch (built between 2001 and 2006) is a tonneau styled watch with a dial-side tourbillon. The famously elusive watch had not been seen since its original sale to a collector in 2006 and achieves an unprecedented £1m price in a private sale in the closing weeks of 2019…

2020 - ROGER IS CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF THE ALLIANCE OF BRITISH WATCH AND CLOCK MAKERS

2020 saw the launch of the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers, established to develop the nation’s exciting resurgence in horology. The foundation of a trade body for British watches has always been a long held ambition for Roger and as co-founder and Chairman he hopes this will help to guide and develop the sector.

“Above all we want to promote British watch and clock making around the world and let people know that, while our sector is still small, we’re truly back in contention! I have my own passion for helping Britain return to making more of our watches and clocks within our shores. We’re right at the start of that journey of course; but that’s what makes it so exciting. Ultimately it’s about bringing new talent, from all backgrounds, into horology and providing opportunities not just for watch and clock makers, but skilled people within a growing supply chain” says Roger.

By the end of 2020, the Alliance had already welcomed 35 British trade members, comprising most of the leading brands.

2021 - Roger completes his landmark 100th watch – the first Series 4 – following a five-year gestation since announcing his design prototype.

The Series 4 is a 41mm cased, manually-wound wristwatch displaying hours, minutes, seconds with date, day, month and phase-of-moon complications. As with all Roger’s current watches, the heart of the Series 4 is his latest single-wheel co-axial escapement. However, what truly defines this piece is the ground-breaking ‘Travelling Aperture’ calendar complication, which Roger began designing back in 2012. To celebrate its special place in the pantheon of Roger W. Smith watches, the Series 4 is identified by a gold plaque, engraved “The 100th R.W.SMITH”.

Ultra rare Series 1 “Onely Theo Fennell” achieves over $600,000 (£428,000) and a British record at auction

The watch smashed its estimate becoming one of the highlights of Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XIII on the 9th May 2021.

The sole White Gold Series 1 “Theo Fennell” edition was a particularly rare watch to appear atan auction. For Roger this was a key moment in his horological journey being sold.

This watch exemplifies the rectangular design that was very popular at the time of the build. This particular watch displays an intricate guilloché dial, retrograde date and a rectangular movement with Roger’s typical English finish, with frosted and gilded plates, gold chatons and flame-coloured screws.

Of the nine rectangular Series 1’s made, three of them were part of this “ONELY” series commissioned by celebrated London jeweller, Theo Fennell (‘Onely’ being a Middle English word for ‘one of a kind’). The Fennell logo is placed at 12 and Theo’s name is engraved on the main plate.

5th November 2021 - Phillips Geneva watch auction XIV - A Roger W. Smith Series 2 achieves a new British record price of £532,441 ($715,478)

2021 ENDS ON A HIGH WITH A WORLD RECORD $730,800 (£551,000) ACHIEVED FOR A 2018 SERIES 1 AT AUCTION

This particular Series 1 was made by Roger in 2018 and is an extremely rare pink-gold wristwatch with subsidiary seconds, co-axial escapement, and engine-turned silver dial.

It is also numbered ‘1’ for this later iteration of the Series 1, which was part of the range which Roger first announced in 2015.

The final bid achieved $730,800, more than tripling its pre-sale ‘high’ estimate and pushing up the previous records held by Roger from earlier this year.

Alongside this Series 1 was a notably rare George Daniels piece known as the ‘Edward Hornby Tourbillon Pocket Watch’. Built in 1971, this is the fourth pocket watch that George made out the 23 he produced during his lifetime and it achieved $1,663,500, which is hugely impressive given the more selective appeal of pocket watches. Paul Boutros, Head of Watches, Americas, said the price “underscored Daniels’ enduring legacy in the field”.

Roger is appointed a trustee of the George Daniels’ Educational Trust

George Daniels was passionate about education, and his legacy, the George Daniels’ Educational Trust, established upon his passing on the 21st October 2011, is a lasting tribute to this remarkable man.

In December 2023, Roger was appointed as a trustee to help steer the next chapter of his great mentor’s legacy. Roger joins the existing trustees who oversee the George Daniels’ Educational Trust to further its long-term objectives.