Exactly a decade ago, George Daniels passed away. He was truly a master watchmaker who never completed a formal education – yet nonetheless pushed the boundaries of mechanical watchmaking to an extent that had not been seen since perhaps Abraham Louis Breguet or fellow Briton Thomas Mudge (who, over 250 years ago, heralded the arrival of portable timepieces with his lever escapement). George Daniels completed a mere 37 mechanical masterpieces throughout his lifetime, including prototypes. Left to his own devices, he trained himself in all 34 trades needed to create them on his own. Through his universal, intense study of mechanics, he also made a revolutionary breakthrough, inventing the first lubrication-free escapement system for mechanical watches, which he termed the Co-Axial escapement and was eventually acquired by the Swatch Group for OMEGA in 1999.
In September 2011, Joern Frederic Kengelbach, as Watch Editor of GQ magazine that time, sent a writer along with a photographer to the Isle of Man, lying between England and Ireland, to visit the genius himself. No one suspected that they would be the last journalists to speak with this modern Michelangelo of watchmaking. 10 years later and in memory of this great man, Joern returns to the Isle of Man and - in search of Daniels‘ legacy - visits his only student Roger W. Smith, who now continues Daniels‘ life‘s work and is himself one of the most sought-after independent watchmakers on the planet.
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