George Daniels would imprint his vision of horology, inspired by the work of Abraham-Louis Breguet, on twentieth-century watchmaking. Entirely self-taught, his legacy, which includes the invention of the co-axial escapement, is that of a man who rose to the summit of his profession with purpose and determination. He was born in 1926, the second of eleven children, and grew up in poverty in the East End of London where he was put to work early, assembling springs in a mattress factory or selling firewood. After serving in the Second World War, in 1949 he enrolled at Northampton Polytechnic for evening classes in watchmaking, which he attended three times a week after work. Returning to London, he set up in business as a watch repairer; an activity that would lead him to specialise in the restoration of rare and precious timepieces. His introduction to Abraham-Louis Breguet (he would restore several pieces by the master) together with his love of classic cars drew him into a world which revolved around fine mechanics. Thus George Daniels embarked on an adventure to produce his own watches, taking the “all or nothing” approach that he would make every part of the movement and exterior by hand and without assistance, in his workshop. This process of some 2,500 hours spread over a year would become recognised as the Daniels Method, which he describes in his book, Watchmaking.
George Daniels
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Entirely self-taught, George Daniels’ legacy, which includes the invention of the co-axial escapement, is that of a man who rose to the summit of his profession with purpose and determination.
His first watch, completed in 1969, was a tourbillon pocket watch with a pivoted detent escapement – already an exploit. During his lifetime, George Daniels would produce 27 watches (in addition to a dozen prototypes), all pocket watches and each unique. Among them are the Grand Complication with tourbillon, perpetual calendar, equation of time, minute repeater and moon phases, and the Space Traveller with an independent double-wheel escapement. Widely regarded as the twentieth century’s greatest watchmaker, George Daniels worked out of his studio on the Isle of Man, his home from 1982 until his death in 2011. Unparalleled in his knowledge of Breguet, he would prove a worthy heir with the invention of the co-axial escapement: a revolution in mechanical watches whose heartbeat was still that of the Swiss lever escapement. Despite its evident qualities, this near frictionless, tangential impulse escapement failed to convince the Swiss watch industry and was passed up, including by Patek Philippe and Rolex. These were the 1970s, the “quartz crisis” years, and brands were more concerned with ensuring their survival than launching novel mechanical solutions. Nicolas Hayek, at the head of Swatch Group, would take the plunge… some twenty years later.
The rest is history. ETA, the Swatch Group-owned movement manufacturer, primed Daniels’ mechanism for industrial production and the co-axial movement would become a hallmark of Omega, which has exclusive use. A series of 50 Millennium wristwatches was launched in 1998 to celebrate the acceptance of the co-axial escapement by the Swiss watch industry. They were made by George Daniels with his protégé Roger Smith (who had first approached Daniels with a watch of his making in 1997), using the first Omega movements to incorporate the co-axial escapement. In 2010, at the age of 84, George Daniels and Roger Smith again combined their talents to develop a new English calibre for production by Smith, now an independent watchmaker, in his workshop. This Co-Axial Anniversary wristwatch, of which 35 were made, displays hours, minutes and small seconds, calendar and power-reserve. It crowned an extraordinary and distinguished career that put a tiny island on the horological map.
1950
Opened a watch repair shop, later restoring antique timepieces.
1965
Publication of “Watches”.
1969
First watch: a pocket tourbillon with pivoted detent escapement.
1974
Publication of “The Art of Breguet”; George Daniels became Breguet’s London agent.
1976
Presentation of the co-axial escapement.
1981
Publication of “Watchmaking”.
1982
Moved to the Isle of Man.
1996
ETA integrated the co-axial escapement into a series-production movement.
1999
Omega adopted the co-axial escapement to gradually equip all its watches.
2000
Publication of “All in Good Time: Reflections of a Watchmaker”.
2000
Sotheby’s London organised a retrospective of George Daniel’s work.
2010
Made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to horology.
