![]() ![]() But that fact does not keep me from dreaming about it at night or lusting after it during the day. Sadly, this watch may never grace my wrist or many others’ as it is a unique piece, on loan to the GREAT Britain campaign, and highly coveted by any and all collectors of haute horology. This allows for much faster acceleration and much less abrupt deceleration, making this escapement an engineering feat and a legend all by its lonesome. Smith was the perfect apprentice for Daniels, as he has taken the Co-Axial escapement and improved upon it even more by making it out of one piece and reducing the weight by more than 23 percent. ![]() For he loved it so much, he gave it to the world (or to be more precise, to Omega) and now we are blessed to live on a planet where there is an escapement that has almost no friction, needs little in the way of lubrication, and is extremely accurate, as much or more than the long-championed Swiss lever escapement. The Co-Axial escapement is Daniels’s pride and joy. The balance bridge – also engraved – holds a handmade, free-sprung balance wheel with counterweights sitting above the biggest element of Daniels legacy that appears in this watch. Based on Smith’s Series 2 movement, the architecture has been redesigned to exhibit traditional British watchmaking even more clearly, and the choice was a good one.Ī raised barrel bridge stands on pillars like the pocket watches of old and is ornately engraved with a floral motif – the makers mark – and the Isle of Man triskelion symbol.īlued screws and red gold chatons complete the bridge and mark this movement as the utmost in quality. Who am I kidding though my heart still belongs to that movement, that oh-so-beautiful, handmade, British, three-quarter plate movement. But, just like the legends of old Loch Ness, horological knowhow been passed down to the next generation. So with that fact bubbling around your brain, you might assume that British watchmaking is actually a remnant of the past long relegated to mechanical curiosity instead of serious horological production. Daniels (1926 – 2011) is the only one to have been active recently the others made their marks over two hundred years ago. All are considered geniuses in their own right and all made immense contributions to the art and science of watchmaking in Great Britain and worldwide. There are other names that might not be as familiar to the average history buff, though they are giants in the field of horology: John Harrison, Thomas Tompion, George Daniels. Names like Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking are just a small list of the many brilliant minds to emerge from the cold, wet British winters. The people that inhabit the fair country are very diverse while sharing a common history.įor hundreds of years Great Britain also was the epicenter of science and technology and gave rise to the Industrial Revolution. ![]() For a relatively small island country, Great Britain is steeped with history and folklore handed down through the generations. Great Britain! The land that birthed so many legends, from King Arthur to the Loch Ness Monster. ![]()
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