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I'm going to echo your sentiments regarding "Watchmaking" by George Daniels[1]. Anyone even remotely interested in watchmaking should order that book immediatel

I'm going to echo your sentiments regarding "Watchmaking" by George Daniels[1]. Anyone even remotely interested in watchmaking should order that book immediately. I hate to be overly pedantic, this is HN after all, but Roger Smith still gets mainsprings, balances, sapphire crystals, and screws from outside sources. This of course does nothing to take away from his timepieces. [1]https://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043 https://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677...

robert_tweed 9y ago
> Roger Smith still gets mainsprings, balances, sapphire crystals, and screws from outside sources. I wasn't 100% sure about that and knew someone would point out if I was in error. I also want to be clear that my comment should not detract from the work of Masahiro Kikuno either, which looks incredible. Whether there are one or two people in the world doing this makes little difference to what an achievement it is. Also Roger Smith now has a fairly large workshop with apprentices doing some of the work for him. He's no longer one man working in his spare room, although that is how he started. In fact, when he first approached George Daniels about becoming an apprentice, Daniels told him to make a watch by himself and he'd appraise it first. So he did. Daniels told him it wasn't very good and made him do it again. So he did. After that, Daniels gave in.
- Inconel 9y ago
  Wonderful anecdote about Smith getting his start in Daniel's workshop, I had never heard that before. It seems like the late 90's and 2000's saw somewhat of a renaissance in independent watchmaking. You've had people like Smith, Voutilainen, Dufour, Laurent Ferrier, the Gronefeld brothers, Romain Gauthier, Daniel Roth all become successful to varying degrees. I feel like the internet played a huge role in making this all possible since it allowed them to gain exposure on watch forums and now Instagram without the heavy cost of marketing.

robert_tweed 9y ago

> Roger Smith still gets mainsprings, balances, sapphire crystals, and screws from outside sources. I wasn't 100% sure about that and knew someone would point out if I was in error. I also want to be clear that my comment should not detract from the work of Masahiro Kikuno either, which looks incredible. Whether there are one or two people in the world doing this makes little difference to what an achievement it is. Also Roger Smith now has a fairly large workshop with apprentices doing some of the work for him. He's no longer one man working in his spare room, although that is how he started. In fact, when he first approached George Daniels about becoming an apprentice, Daniels told him to make a watch by himself and he'd appraise it first. So he did. Daniels told him it wasn't very good and made him do it again. So he did. After that, Daniels gave in.

Inconel 9y ago
Wonderful anecdote about Smith getting his start in Daniel's workshop, I had never heard that before. It seems like the late 90's and 2000's saw somewhat of a renaissance in independent watchmaking. You've had people like Smith, Voutilainen, Dufour, Laurent Ferrier, the Gronefeld brothers, Romain Gauthier, Daniel Roth all become successful to varying degrees. I feel like the internet played a huge role in making this all possible since it allowed them to gain exposure on watch forums and now Instagram without the heavy cost of marketing.