Roger Smith - The New York Watch Auction: EIGHT New York Saturday, June 10, 2023 | Phillips

The New York Watch Auction: EIGHT

New York Auction 10 - 11 June 2023

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  • “It's the most important watch I've made,
    without a doubt”
    —Roger W. Smith    In recent memory, there has been no other singular watch known to have completely defined the life of a renowned watchmaker. Roger Smith’s Pocket Watch Number 2 epitomizes a “make or break” moment for both Roger himself and subsequently for contemporary English watchmaking. Without the completion of this watch, and its acceptance by George Daniels, there would be no Roger Smith brand. Arguably then, the renaissance of English watchmaking in the 21st century would have been stilted, or at least its most proficient scion would have never been. The painstaking, years-long creation of Pocket Watch Number 2 is a poetic tribute to one man’s absolute focus in the pursuit of his chosen trade. It was with this watch that Roger Smith became George Daniels’ only apprentice, anointed to continue Daniels’ legacy beyond his lifetime.

     

    Born in the former mill town of Bolton, outside of Manchester, Roger W. Smith, OBE, found focus and reward in practical things early in life. At 16, he applied to either woodworking or watchmaking school, and was accepted to the latter first. A lecture in his final year at the Manchester School of Horology offered an opportunity for Roger to encounter George Daniels for the first time. In a post-script published in Daniels’ memoir, All in Good Time, Smith writes “That evening, my eyes and mind were opened to an area of horology that I, and indeed no one else there, had had any insight into before – a new world that had been created entirely by George Daniels.” Reading and re-reading Daniels’ Watchmaking further inspired Smith to create a watch by hand, and he wrote to Daniels on the Isle of Man asking for an apprenticeship. The apprenticeship was denied by the master who worked alone, but Daniels invited Smith to come visit him at his workshop, where he was presented with a 19th century watchmaker’s lathe – Smith’s first tool that would help him complete his own watch.  

     

    With the audacity and fearlessness inherent to youth, Roger Smith set up shop in his parents’ garage in Bolton and set himself on the path to creating, entirely by hand, his first pocket watch. In Michael Clerizo’s section on Roger Smith in Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, Smith says that the creation of this first pocket watch entailed 18 months of work. It was a tourbillon pocket watch with spring detent escapement and twin barrels. When he finally presented it to George Daniels, the reception was not positive. “Not up to scratch” was the verdict, and Smith then received the key piece of advice inherent to the Daniels method: that watches should appear “created” rather than handmade. Further enhancements and refinements were needed. Roger returned to Bolton, undaunted and determined to channel everything he had into his next pocket watch.

     

     

    Image courtesy Roger W. Smith

     

    Smith wished to further push himself with the development of Pocket Watch Number 2 and decided to incorporate a perpetual calendar and moon phase to the tourbillon with spring détent escapement, an escapement he used in his first watch. Clearly, he was not going to take the easy route. 

     

    Over the course of five years, from 1991 to 1996, Roger Smith devoted himself to this second pocket watch. The aesthetics draw inspiration from English watchmaking in the late 19th century, as well as the Daniels method and Daniels’ own watches. According to Smith, the bastions of English watchmaking are gilded and frosted plates that cover the winding works, straight bevels, minimal coloration, purple-blue hand-heated screws, and gold chatons.  

    Image courtesy Roger W. Smith

     

    Every single component of the watch was hand created from raw materials by Smith himself. Each part of the movement was drawn on a piece of sheet steel, hand-cut, filed, and polished. The three-part case began as a single bar of gold, hammered and soldered to perfection. The crystals that protect the dial and the movement were heated, shaped, and fitted – all by Smith, in his small workshop in Bolton. He would spend a few days a week on the clock and watch repair and restoration work that paid his bills, and the rest of the time on this pocket watch. The watch, with all its components taking an immense amount of time, would near completion only for Roger to realize that the more recent components were superior to the older components, and he would have to remake them. Five times he remade the entire pocket watch, tempering and refining each individual element up to 11 times. Finally, his efforts culminated to a point where he was happy with the result. It was time to present the watch to Daniels.  

     

    Per Smith’s recollection in Michael Clerizo’s  Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, when he handed the watch to Daniels, he “knew that in a few minutes, years of effort could be dismissed.” He continues, “’I really felt that I had given it my all and if he didn’t like it, I’d just have to find something else to do with my life. I could have wasted six and a half years on two pocket watches.” Each moment of waiting for a decision must have contained multitudes while Daniels carefully inspected the watch that would define the rest of Roger Smith’s life. Daniels asked Smith who made each of the components, one-by-one. To each query, Smith answered “I did.” At the end, Daniels congratulated him. “You are now a watchmaker.”

     

    It was this acknowledgment of Smith’s craftsmanship, that the path he had set before himself of continuing the tradition of English watchmaking and the Daniels method was the right one, which gave him the energy and enthusiasm to continue. He returned to Bolton with a private commission for a pocket watch and his own clock and watch repair services to attend to. It was soon after that fateful meeting when George Daniels called and asked for his help in completing a series of watches to celebrate his co-axial escapement recently adopted by Omega. This was to become the Millennium series - 48 (including one prototype) yellow gold and 8 white gold wristwatches featuring the Daniels co-axial escapement with engine-turned dial. The engine-turned dial and every set of hands on the Millennium series was Smith’s to create and refine, furthering the skills he had begun to master during the production of Pocket Watch Number 2.  

     

    George Daniels wrote the book, literally, on contemporary watchmaking. He was a devotee of both traditional English watchmaking techniques and the school of Breguet. Daniels redefined what it is to be an independent watchmaker, and pioneered one of the most important innovations in watchmaking since Abraham Louis Breguet created his first tourbillon. In six decades as a watch and clock maker, he only ever had one apprentice: Roger Smith. 

     

    Once the Millennium series was completed, in 2001, Smith decided to set out on his own and create his own wristwatch. He set up a stand-alone workshop alongside Daniels’ on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and set to work. The Series 1 wristwatch was born, heavily inspired by Daniels’ work, first in a rectangular case inspired by the then-recently released Arkade by A. Lange & Söhne. After the production of the rectangular Series 1 followed the Series 2, a round wristwatch with a power reserve display. In 2013, Roger Smith was invited to be part of the GREAT Britain campaign, showcasing the splendor and innovation of contemporary British watchmaking. 

     

    Image courtesy Roger W. Smith

     

    After Daniels’ death in 2011, Roger Smith inherited his workshop on the Isle of Man, as well as the current production and future service needs of any Daniels wristwatch or pocket watch. More than an heir to this throne, Smith has also advanced the cause of contemporary British watchmaking in the past two decades. His wristwatches, made under the aegis of Roger Smith on the Isle of Man, are wildly in demand by collectors. He completes just over a dozen watches per year. 

     

    The present No. 2 watch itself, immense and weighty, is a spectacular sight to behold. 

     

    Placed side-by-side with the chapter in Daniels’ Watchmaking on engine-turned cases and dials, in the execution of this dial, Smith clearly sought to experiment with every possible skill set described in the book. Four different types of engine-turning are present: barleycorn for the outer portion of the main dial, basket weave for the seconds dial displaying the moon phase, clous de Paris within the calendar dials, and a wave and trough pattern delineates the hours and minutes sectors. The hour and second rings are straight-grained, engraved, and filled 12.A unique, career defining, and historically important yellow gold perpetual calendar tourbillon pocket watch with moon phase, leap year indicator, and spring detent escapement, every component hand-made by Roger Smith with ink. A small cartouche below the moon phase displays ‘R.W. Smith’ and discretely at 12 o’clock a “No. 2” is engraved. Rather than drawing inspiration from traditional British watchmaking, the dial is quintessentially Breguet. 

     

    Beneath the dial lies the exquisite double barrel spring detent escapement and tourbillon carriage. Unlike Swiss watchmaking, there is no anglage or Côtes de Genève present on the movement. Instead, the movement is created from a single brass plate that is first given a type of distinctly English finish called “frosting” and then immersed in an acid bath and gilded. The finishing of the edges is straight, rather than curved. The winding mechanism is hidden, so that when the watch is opened to view the movement, the viewer only sees the most exceptional components.  

     

    In total, Roger Smith has made only three pocket watches. His Pocket Watch Number 1, deemed insufficient by George Daniels, was disassembled and only the movement remains now, still in the workshop on the Isle of Man. Pocket Watch Number 3, made as a private commission, remains in private hands. Pocket Watch Number 2, the present watch, stayed in Smith’s possession until 2004, when it was sold to fund the launch of his eponymous brand. Offered by an important collector, it has never surfaced publicly - until now. Virtually unused since it was sold in 2004, even the original caseback sticker applied by Roger Smith remains in place.

     

    Image courtesy Roger W. Smith

     

    For its spectacular aesthetic beauty and presence, its incredible level of hand-craftsmanship requiring half a decade to perfect, and its profound impact not only on contemporary English watchmaking but also 21st century mechanical watch culture, the significance of the present lot cannot be understated. It is without any doubt, one of the most important and impressive timepieces made by any contemporary Independent watchmaker or brand, and consequently one of the most important watches in the world.

     

    Phillips is privileged and honored to offer what we consider to be Roger Smith’s greatest masterpiece – and a true trophy watch for the elite collector.

    • Manufacturer: Roger Smith
      Year: 1998
      Case No: No. 2
      Model Name: Pocket Watch No. 2
      Material: 18K yellow gold
      Calibre: Hand-made, spring detent escapement with tourbillon, perpetual calendar, and moon phase.
      Dimensions: 66.5mm diameter and 21.5mm depth
      Signed: Dial signed R.W. Smith, movement signed Roger Smith, Bolton, and dial signed RWS. Case with British assay marks for Birmingham and 1998.
      Accessories: Associated 18K gold chain with three-sided winding and setting key, and two leather pouches.
      Literature: The story of the creation of Pocket Watch Number Two, and Roger Smith’s relationship with George Daniels, is detailed in Michael Clerizo’s Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, pages 213-231, as well as in George Daniels’ All in Good Time: Reflections of a Watchmaker, pages 207-216.

    • Literature

      The story of the creation of Pocket Watch Number Two, and Roger Smith’s relationship with George Daniels, is detailed in Michael Clerizo’s Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, pages 213-231, as well as in George Daniels’ All in Good Time: Reflections of a Watchmaker, pages 207-216.

12

Roger Smith

A unique, career defining, and historically important yellow gold perpetual calendar tourbillon pocket watch with moon phase, leap year indicator, and spring detent escapement, every component hand-made by Roger Smith

1998
66.5mm diameter and 21.5mm depth
Dial signed R.W. Smith, movement signed Roger Smith, Bolton, and dial signed RWS. Case with British assay marks for Birmingham and 1998.

Full Cataloguing

In excess of $1 million

Sold for $4,900,000

Contact Specialist

Paul Boutros
Head of Watches, Americas
+1 (212) 940-1293
WatchesNY@Phillips.com
 
Isabella Proia
Head of Sale, New York
+1 (212) 940 1285
iproia@phillips.com

The New York Watch Auction: EIGHT

New York Auction 10 - 11 June 2023