Tucked away in a corner of an exhibition hall, Roger Smith considers the delicate matter of selling watches to collectors used to getting what they want, when they want. “It’s never been about sales,” says Smith, whose workshop on the Isle of Man produces arguably the world’s most in-demand timepieces.
A Mancunian and former apprentice of George Daniels, who was widely regarded as one of the finest watchmakers in the world, Smith cuts an unusual figure among the millionaires gathered in Dubai’s Burj Park, the small artificial peninsula under the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa. Smith is in Dubai for a three-day frenzy of buying and selling, which provides evidence that the city has positioned itself as a rival to Basel in Switzerland as the world’s luxury watch hub.
Unlike Rolex, Patek Philippe or any of the other famous brands, Smith has little time for marketing or gimmicks. There are only a handful of items on display at his booth. All of them are — in the wealthy world of watch collecting — reasonably priced at tens of thousands of pounds. Charming and happy to talk, Smith makes time for the crowds who come to pay homage.
“It’s about trying to get the word out about British watchmaking,” says Smith, who co-founded the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers. “Sometimes the Brits, we’re very good at innovation but we’re not very good at capitalising on that and taking it to the next stage.”
His order book is full, but the waiting period of up to six years frustrates customers. Still, one collector says as he inspects the watches, he’ll get a Roger W Smith one day because it is the missing piece of his collection. “Can we insert a nice quote from the collector here, he’s anonymous so it should be easy,” quips Smith. Later, a minister from a Gulf state approaches, accompanied by an entourage. An aide explains that the items he looks at may be the most significant on display.
Among enthusiasts, Smith needs no introduction. He has made fewer than 200 watches. His second creation, a pocket watch that persuaded Daniels to take him on as an apprentice in 1998, was eagerly snapped up by Bill Ackman, the American billionaire, for $4.9 million when it went up for auction in 2023. Smith had sold it years before for £70,000. Others, such as Ed Sheeran, the singer, have spoken about their delight when finally getting a Roger W Smith.
Britain once led the world in watchmaking but has been dwarfed by Switzerland, Japan and Germany. In the 17th century, Robert Hooke, the British physicist, invented the first balance spring, a minuscule coil that allowed the balance wheel to swing with a frequency and paved the way for the wider adoption of pocket watches. Almost a century later, Thomas Mudge, who counted King Ferdinand VI of Spain among his clients, invented the lever escapement, the ubiquitous heart of a mechanical watch that regulates its timekeeping.
It was Smith’s mentor, Daniels, who invented the coaxial escapement, an improvement hailed as the most important innovation in recent decades. It was adopted by Omega, the Swiss manufacturer that made the first watch worn on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. “He was just relieved that his escapement had been accepted,” Smith says. “For a British watchmaker to have conquered the Swiss industry with a new escapement is quite something. For him, all the great historical makers, the British makers, they’d all created great escapements.”
Smith has made it his life’s work to refine Daniels’s inventions. His watches are housed in gold cases, with the delicate movements on display behind sapphire crystal. In a business where tastes and styles change, his watches are timeless.
Smith’s association, meanwhile, has gone from 20 to 120 members and brands, and has 1,600 employees. The British watch industry is worth £206 million, up from £125 million four years ago. It includes “heavy hitters” such as Bremont, the independent British company that was acquired by Ackman, and upstarts such as Studio Underd0g, which assembles Chinese and Swiss movements in Britain, with irreverent dial designs, such as the “Smoked Salm0n” in pink and grey and the av0cado in green.
Bremont and Studio Underd0g are present at Dubai Watch Week, hoping to promote their brands to a lucrative Gulf market. Davide Cerrato, the Bremont chief executive, says: “We still have fantastic artists like Roger Smith … but unfortunately all the infrastructure for modern companies is gone.” His company has expanded to a 35,000-square-metre facility in Henley-on-Thames that employs 120 people, while training future watchmakers.
Smith says Britain is starting to remember it is good at making watches. “If there is no watchmaking, then we get very annoyed even though we were responsible for its loss,” he says. “We suddenly realise how poor it is that there is no watchmaking so we do something about it. We’re mortally offended.”
