RWS watches Roger W. Smith men and womes watches:
Roger W. Smith, born 1970 in Bolton UK, resident The Isle of Man, is an independent watchmaker.
In 1992, at the age of twenty-two, following the classic book Watchmaking by watchmaker George Daniels, Smith made a tourbillon pocket watch. Smith then took the tourbillon to the Isle Of Man to seek Daniels' opinion on his work. Daniels was impressed with his first effort and suggested Smith make another. Smith then assisted George Daniels for three years in Daniels' workshop on the Isle of Man.
Eventually, at Daniels' suggestion, Smith moved permanently to the Isle of Man where he now has his own handmade watchmaking business, Roger W. Smith Ltd.
Handmade watches
Despite the broad scope and tremendous numbers of watches created and presented each year, only the merest fraction of these will be eligible to carry the predicate hand made. In the distant past, hand made pocket and wristwatches were the only kind available, yet the march of industrialization through the centuries means that today such creations have become the object of dreams for collectors and connoisseurs of watchmaking across the globe, cloaked in an aura of exceptional rarity.
There are many reasons for this situation. The intensive amounts of handwork involved in the creation of such timekeepers requires a great amount of devotion, time, patience and skill that finely weaves together many different disciplines and techniques into the final product. A watchmaker working in this manner will have direct control and responsibility over all the aspects of the watch; the entire design and manufacturing of the movement including the escapement, dial, hands, case, polishing, assembly, testing and a myriad number of other details too numerous to mention.
This is perhaps the greatest and clearest distinction between a hand made watch and the rest: all of these decisions will have been made by only one artisan; an artisan who has become a master of several inter-related disciplines. In the following pages we hope to be able to unveil some of the mysteries and work that lay at the center of the watchmaker's art, when handwork is able to imbue life and breath to simple pieces of metal, and the result equals more than the sum of the parts.
Roger W. Smith, born 1970 in Bolton UK, resident The Isle of Man, is an independent watchmaker.In 1992, at the age of twenty-two, following the classic book Watchmaking by watchmaker George Daniels, Smith made a tourbillon pocket watch. Smith then took the tourbillon to the Isle Of Man to seek Daniels' opinion on his work. Daniels was impressed with his first effort and suggested Smith make another. Smith then assisted George Daniels for three years in Daniels' workshop on the Isle of Man.
Eventually, at Daniels' suggestion, Smith moved permanently to the Isle of Man where he now has his own handmade watchmaking business, Roger W. Smith Ltd.
Handmade watches
Despite the broad scope and tremendous numbers of watches created and presented each year, only the merest fraction of these will be eligible to carry the predicate hand made. In the distant past, hand made pocket and wristwatches were the only kind available, yet the march of industrialization through the centuries means that today such creations have become the object of dreams for collectors and connoisseurs of watchmaking across the globe, cloaked in an aura of exceptional rarity.
There are many reasons for this situation. The intensive amounts of handwork involved in the creation of such timekeepers requires a great amount of devotion, time, patience and skill that finely weaves together many different disciplines and techniques into the final product. A watchmaker working in this manner will have direct control and responsibility over all the aspects of the watch; the entire design and manufacturing of the movement including the escapement, dial, hands, case, polishing, assembly, testing and a myriad number of other details too numerous to mention.
This is perhaps the greatest and clearest distinction between a hand made watch and the rest: all of these decisions will have been made by only one artisan; an artisan who has become a master of several inter-related disciplines. In the following pages we hope to be able to unveil some of the mysteries and work that lay at the center of the watchmaker's art, when handwork is able to imbue life and breath to simple pieces of metal, and the result equals more than the sum of the parts.
